Cracks at Hotel California
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Cracks at Hotel California Issue #7 – Black August
Commemorate Black August 2025 at Cook County Jail! Black August (BA) is a commemorative month which recognizes the sacrifices and struggles of Black people in the ongoing fight for freedom and real liberation from the American nightmare. It’s a month-long observance for reflection, study, and self-discipline, in honor and memory of those who came before…
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A Letter to the Outside
Inmates write about conditions at CCJ The following is a letter sent to Dare to Struggle – Chicago from a group of inmates inside Cook County Jail’s Division 11. Inmates have requested the letter be published in full to further expose conditions inside the jail and the problems people inside are facing. We salute them…
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Cracks at Hotel California: What happened to Attica?
A call to action from Dare to Struggle – Chicago For more than 6 months now, Dare to Struggle – Chicago has been going out to Cook County Jail, talking with inmates and their loved ones about the horrors behind its walls. The conditions people are forced to endure are deplorable. Food and water that…
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January 3rd Memorial for Alteriq Pleasant
Alteriq would be celebrating his 30th birthday this day, but he died in the custody of Cook County Jail after experiencing a medical emergency. Alteriq should still be here along with so many more. Learn more from an interview with his mother, Vicki Willis, here.
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“A Compromise from the Start”
An interview with a Chicago Police district council member Every time we go out to talk to people on the streets about their experiences with the Chicago Police Department, Dare to Struggle hears stories about the routine harassment and abuse that young Black and Latino people in Chicago suffer at the hands of these pigs.…
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Cracks at Hotel California: Incarcerated for Over a Decade without Being Found Guilty
Fredrick, a Cook County Jail inmate for 13 years, discusses the conditions of the jail, the violation of rights of inmates, and how the system is stacked against them. Shortly after this interview, Fred was found guilty on the charges of attempted murder My name Fredrick. I’ve been locked up 13 years now. 12 of…
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Cracks at Hotel California: An Interview with a Recently Released Inmate
Antwand, a recently released inmate, discusses how collective punishment is weaponized in Cook County Jail If there’s a fight on the deck and they apprehend the two people on the deck, they still punish th entire deck. They’ll put the entire deck on lockdown because of a fight. They will remove the two people fighting…
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An Interview with the Mother of a 22-Year Old Inmate of Cook County Jail
Lucy, a mother of a 22-year-old inmate in Chicago’s Cook County Jail, discusses the conditions there, her son’s fight to get out, and the system he is up against My son was arrested June 2023 on an attempted murder. They arrested him and put him in general population, and that’s where the harassment began. The inmates…
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Cracks at Hotel California: Exposing the Realities of Cook County Jail
Issue #1 Nov-Dec 2024 A modified interview with Vickki Willis (Alteriq Pleasant Foundation) mother of Alteriq Pleasant, who died in Chicago Police custody at Cook County Jail. The last time I spoke with my son was July 19, 2022, and he called to tell me he got arrested. Somebody was trying to hurt him and…
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