Getting your phone call while in the custody of Chicago police should get easier after city officials on Wednesday settled a lawsuit with activist and legal aid groups alleging CPD routinely denied arrestees access to lawyers.
The lawsuit was filed by the Cook County Public Defender’s office and a coalition of other organizations amid mass arrests by CPD during the wave of protests in the summer of 2020. The lawsuit demanded CPD install phones in every interrogation room, make all detainees aware of their right to counsel — and allow them to make a phone call within a reasonable amount of time after arriving at the station. Per the agreement, the new phones are to be installed by Oct. 1.
Roughly a quarter of more than 1,000 arrestees represented by the Public Defender’s Office in the spring of 2020 were never allowed a phone call, and those who did get a call waited an average of more than four hours, according to the lawsuit.
State law requires police to give detainees their call within an hour of arriving at the station.
The settlement also will require CPD to allow attorneys to talk to clients over the phone, rather than in person, and CPD is to issue new directives to guide officers, the lawsuit states.
The Public Defender, #LetUsBreathe Collective, Black Lives Matter Chicago, MacArthur Justice Center, First Defense Legal Aid and other organizations were among the plaintiffs. The settlement states the city does not admit the allegations in the lawsuit, and the city is not expected to send a representative to a news conference hosted by the plaintiffs Wednesday afternoon, MacArthur spokeswoman Jessy Neves said.
