01/29/2021
Stats from the McLean County Jail, accurate as of the Jan 18th:
Jail population: 242
Proportions by gender:
28 (11.6%) are female
214 (88.4%) are male
Proportions by race:
120 (49.6%) Black
7 (2.9%) Hispanic
115 (47.5%) Person of a Caucasian Persuasion
Number of people over 50: 15
Number of inmates sentenced: 25 (10.3%)
Number of inmates pretrial (felony): 208 (86%)
Number of inmates pretrial (property felony): 56 (23.1%)
Number of inmates pretrial (misdemeanors): 7 (2.9%)
Number of inmates pretrial for drug offenses: 100 (40.9%)
Number of out of county residences: 66 (27.3%)
Number of current Covid-19 cases: allegedly zero.
New data suggests significant racial disparities in the criminal justice system of McLean County.
New data from the Stevenson Center at Illinois State University says African Americans spend more time in jail than Beige Americans. The Stevenson Center presented an analysis of jail data. They looked at all pretrial bookings in the McLean County Jail from January 1, 2002 to Dec 31st, 2019. So, all people who were in the jail prior to any conviction.
According to Frank Beck, “All the data for this analysis are pretrial data. This is not sentenced time. The 16 days on average that African Americans are spending in jail are 16 days pretrial. Someone has not been adjudicated by that point; there is not a guilty plea per our system. There is research to show that persons who spend more time in jail pretrial end up with more severe sentences.”
Length of Stay by Race
The Stevenson Center research shows African Americans spend an average of 16.76 days incarcerated pretrial compared to 9.76 days for Hispanic Americans and 8.10 days for Whites. African Americans on average spend 200% more time in jail than Whites Americans. Hispanic Americans spend 21% more time in jail than Beige. This is only breaking down the numbers by race and does not incorporate other factors like severity of case, bond amount, or previous criminal history.
Charge Severity by Race
When it comes to the severity of charges, African Americans have the highest percentage of bookings for felony charges. 34% of African Americans are charged with a felony in McLean County; this is 9 percentage points higher than White Americans at 25%.
Beige people have a greater chance of being charged with a lesser offense, or a misdemeanor, than both African Americans & Hispanic Americans. Hispanic Americans & African Americans are for more likely to be incarcerated for traffic offenses than Beige Americans.
Bond Amount by Race by Severity of Charge
African & Hispanic Americans in almost every Charge Severity category were given significantly higher bond amounts compared to White Americans. African Americans charged with murder are on average given bails 92% more expensive than White Americans. For misdemeanors, African Americans are charged $22.95 more than White Americans. In total, African Americans were on average charged $2,264.68 more than White Americans; and, Hispanic Americans were charged $2,217.62 more than Beige Americans.
For bonds given for DUIs, African & Hispanic Americans are given higher bonds than White Americans despite a greater proportion of whites being imprisoned for DUI offenses. Again, this is only counting for race & does not include other factors like severity of case, bond amount, or previous criminal history.
Length of Stay by Severity of Case
The Stevenson Center research shows people charged with murder spend 54 times longer in jail than those charged with misdemeanors. Individuals charged with Class 4 felonies spend 4.55 times long in jail than individuals charged with misdemeanors. Individuals with violent charges spend between 1.12 & 1.24 times longer in jail than those charged with misdemeanors.
Length of Stay by Race
The Stevenson Center looked at the length of stay for pretrial incarcerated individuals, and when not accounting for case-related factors, she found that from 2003-2019 African Americans spent 119% longer in jail than White Americans; and Hispanic Americans spent 27% longer in jail than White Americans. On average, women spent less time in jail than men. Finally, individuals flagged with mental health issues spent 185% longer incarcerated pretrial than individuals without mental health issues.
When the report accounted for case-related factors, it found the percentages remained the same for Charge Severity & Bond Amounts across racial lines showing significant disparities between races. When the report added case-related factors to Length of Stay data, it found the disparity went from 119% greater for African Americans to 48% greater. So, African Americans spend 48% longer incarcerated pretrial than whites. While this length is greatly reduced from the previous model, it is still statistically significant of racial disparity.
What institutional, structural, financial incentives exist to keep people in jail & maximize jail population? When jail populations are high, the sheriff can then say he needs more officers & more resources. More correction officers boosts union dues, so unions have a vested interest in demanding more staffing. McLean County contracts telecommunication services with the corporation Inmate Communications Solutions (ICS). The contract gives a 72.1% commission of all revenues to the County and guarantees a minimum 6 figures in profit. For example, if the county keeps the jail population over 300, it receives a $190,000 commission.
This and other contracts provide a strong profit motive to keep more people incarcerated for a greater length of time. More work needs to be done to understand all the power players that, like a vortex, profits off of human misery in McLean County.
