Case Study S. B.

Charge: Retail Theft of meat from Jewel

Days in Jail: 174

Cost to taxpayers: $24,882

  • 34 arrests total – 13 bookings into Cook County Jail – 11 Admissions to the Illinois Department of Corrections over 20 years. His IDOC admissions are for a range of charges: 5 Retail Theft, 3 Theft, 2 Burglary, and 1 Robbery.
  • 45-year-old S.B.’s 13 bookings into CCDOC total 981 days spent in jail at a collective housing cost of about $140,283. These numbers do not include time spent in IDOC and cost to house in IDOC.
  • S.B.’s most recent arrest occurred on August 28, 2014. He attempted to steal several packages of meat from a Jewel-Osco. Bond was set at $55,000. This case was continued 5 times before S.B. was sentenced to 2 years IDOC on February 18, 2014. He had been in jail custody for 174 days when he was sentenced– about half of what he would be required to serve in state prison.
  • Since 2007, all of S.B.’s convictions have been for the same charge – Retail Theft – for attempting to steal the same thing – packaged meat from the grocery store. The total cost of the items he is trying to steal is usually about $100. In one arrest report, S.B. states that he was stealing the meat to bring to a friend’s house to a barbeque.
  • S.B. has Robbery and Burglary convictions from 20+ years ago in his background. These combined with past retail theft convictions serve as a mitigating factors that trigger lengthy prison sentences for these low level crimes.