Cook County Jail population drops with more electronic monitoring

The population at the Cook County Jail has dropped below 8,000 for the first time in years due to more detainees being sent home on electronic monitoring.

The number of detainees at the jail recently fell to 7,999, according to a statement from the Cook County sheriff’s office.

As of Nov. 4, the jail had 2,207 detainees at home on electronic monitoring, Sheriff Tom Dart said in the statement. The sheriff’s office regularly works with prosecutors and public defenders to “weed out cases of people who don’t need to be in jail.”

The program also reduces jail costs and saves the county money, Dart said.