Cook County’s Conviction Integrity Unit Repeatedly Denied Freedom To Incarcerated People Who Were Later Cleared

Cook County’s Conviction Integrity Unit Repeatedly Denied Freedom To Incarcerated People Who Were Later Cleared

This story was produced by Injustice Watch, a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago that investigates issues of equity and justice in the Cook County court system. Sign up here to get their weekly newsletter.CHICAGO — Still in prison after 18 years despite the flimsy evidence of his guilt, Kevin Jackson tore open the letter from the Cook County conviction integrity unit — a squad in the prosecutor’s office set up to dig into cases such as his and free t…

Cook County’s conviction integrity unit repeatedly denied freedom to incarcerated people who were later cleared

Still in prison after 18 years despite the flimsy evidence of his guilt, Kevin Jackson tore open the letter from the Cook County conviction integrity unit — a squad in the prosecutor’s office set up to dig into cases such as his and free the wrongfully convicted. He was filled with hope prosecutors in the unit would see his innocence in the accounts of witnesses who recanted, the allegations of strong-arming by detectives and the surviving victi…