Case Study M. P.

Charge: Retail Theft of Hygiene Products

Days in Jail: 369

Cost to taxpayers: $52,767

• 25 arrests, 5 bookings into Cook County Jail, 1 IDOC admission – her 5 bookings total 507 days spent in Cook County Jail at a cost to taxpayers of $72,501 – these totals do not include days or cost for time spent in IDOC or any medical treatment received while in the jail.
• 54-year-old M.P.’s most recent arrest occurred July 5, 2014 at a local supermarket. She placed several person hygiene products totaling $86.65 in her purse, and attempted to exit the store. The store manager observed this and asked her to stop. M.P. attempted to run away through the store parking lot. He eventually caught up with her and M.P. bit him on the hand. She was charged with Retail Theft and Aggravated Battery to a Merchant.

  She was on probation at the time of this arrest for a similar retail theft that occurred in October 2013. She was sentenced to 2 years’ probation with intensive supervision and community service on this case. The July arrest was a violation of her probation, which brought her back into jail custody with no bond.

• She has been in jail for 369 days on this string of cases. This booking alone has cost about $52,767.
• On July 6, 2015, M.P. was sentenced to 2 years in prison on these cases. Because she spent so much time in jail pre-trial that was credited towards her sentence, she has already completed her term and will not spend any time in prison. Instead, she will be shipped to a state facility, booked into their system, and released onto parole the same day.
• A large majority of M.P’s arrests and all of her bookings over the last 15 years are for Retail Theft. She usually attempts to steal various amounts of hygiene products totaling less than $100.
• Arrest reports indicate that M.P. has cancer.