Crime and Punishment
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VOLUME 42 NUMBER 2 MARCH/APRIL 2013 $5 Crime and punishment In the ongoing ‘war on drugs,’ lawmakers pass harsher laws with little examination of the extra costs. page 6 CHICAGOREPORTER.COM INSIDE March/April Founded in 1972, the Reporter is an investigative bimonthly that identifies, analyzes and reports on the social, eco- nomic and political issues of metropolitan Chicago with a focus on race and poverty. It is supported by grants from The Chicago Community Trust; Chicago Tribune Foundation; Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; Ford Foundation; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; The Fund for Investigative Journalism; IRE Data Journalism Fund, sponsored by Google Ideas; McCormick Foundation; Open Society Foundations; Woods Fund of Chicago; and by subscriptions and individual contributions. FOUNDER John A. McDermott INTERIM PUBLISHER Laura S. Washington INTERIM EDITOR Rui Kaneya Interstate 290 is dubbed the “heroin highway” because of the availability of the drug in the PRESENTATION EDITOR bordering neighborhoods. Photo by Lucio Villa. Christine Wachter REPORTERS Angela Caputo María Inés Zamudio On the cover We’re blogging daily. WEB EDITOR 6 Road to ruin www.chicagonow.com/ Melanie Coffee chicago-muckrakers BLOGGERS/REPORTERS Lawmakers continue to pass harsher drug Megan Cottrell laws. And that’s come at an enormous cost. Yana Kunichoff 12 Cell blocks Celebrating 40 years COPY EDITOR James Tehrani Taxpayers are spending billions to The Chicago Reporter is incarcerate Chicagoans who hail from a celebrating its 40th anniversary PHOTOGRAPHY FELLOWS small fraction of the city’s blocks. this year. The Reporter will be Jonathan Gibby hosting several social events Lucio Villa Also inside and forums to commemorate CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER the occasion. Make sure to Joe Gallo 18 Too young to die subscribe to our weekly e-blast INTERNS As the city leads the nation in murders, at www.chicagoreporter.com to Natasha Hemley youth are often the ones who die— ensure that you’re up to date on James Reddick and who kill. all the ways we’re celebrating. Andrea Watson EDITORS & PUBLISHERS EMERITI 22 No rooms for refuge Kimbriell Kelly As Hotel Chateau closes, a couple fears Got a news tip? Alden K. Loury becoming homeless. The Chicago Reporter brings Alysia Tate Laura S. Washington injustice to the forefront in the 25 Reprieve denied Roy Larson areas of criminal justice, labor, An immigration judge blocks a prosecutor’s housing, health, immigration and offer of leniency for a Mexican father. government. If you have a tip, 332 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 500 call (312) 427-4830, ext. 4040, Chicago, Illinois 60604 (312) 427-4830 Fax: (312) 427-6130 Other departments or send an email to [email protected] Publisher’s Note/News.................... 3 [email protected]. www.chicagoreporter.com Q & A................................................... 6 ON THE COVER: ISSN 0300-6921. In Focus............................................. 26 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOE GALLO © 2013 Community Renewal Society 2 THE CHICAGO REPORTER | March/April 2013 PUBLISHER’S NOTE Reporter News Time to sound the alarm It could have been Drew. going “Too Young to Die” se- in Newtown, Conn. “Last That thought has been my ries, featured in this issue. year, there were 443 murders personal preoccupation late- During the past five years, with a firearm on the streets ly. I think often about my the number of Chicagoans of this city, and 65 of those younger brother, who could murdered before their 25th victims were 18 and under,” have been a casualty of mul- birthday surpassed 1,000. In the president said. “So that’s tiple wars—in Afghanistan, 2012, 243 homicide victims the equivalent of a Newtown Iraq, and right at our back were under 25, a 26 percent every four months.” door—on the South Side of increase from 2010, shows He called for more “lad- Chicago. a timely analysis by Alden ders of opportunity,” like jobs, Drew could be just another K. Loury, a former Reporter economic development and number, one of the 506 people publisher and now a senior educational enrichment pro- killed in Chicago last year. investigator for the Better grams. He urged more focus On Dec. 31, Sgt. First Class Government Association. on the promotion of marriage Andrew N. Washington Jr. of- Most of the victims of and parental responsibil- ficially retired with an honor- this “epidemic” of violence ity, and renewed his push for able discharge after 21 years Laura S. Washington, are African Americans and more gun control. in the U.S. Army. Our family Interim Publisher Latinos on the city’s South Obama was eloquent as embraced the moment with Opinions expressed by the and West sides, Loury re- ever, but I have seen this ecstatic relief. interim publisher are her own. ports. Sadly, they are killing movie before. The politicians He did a stint in Afghani- each other. have been talking programs stan in 2002. In 2003, he was We welcome letters. Send them Those same neighbor- and community cohesion dispatched to Iraq to help to [email protected] hoods break the scales when for the last 10, 20, 30, 40, launch a war. After that, South or 332 S. Michigan Ave., Suite it comes to the all-too-famil- 50 years—back to the Great Korea. He managed to sur- 500, Chicago, IL, 60604. Please iar measurements of urban Society. Untold millions of vive those tours unscathed. include name, address and a day- maladies: low-performing government and private dol- I am relieved, but also proud, time phone number. Letters may schools, rampant foreclosure lars have been invested in our especially of his 12-year as- be edited for space and clarity. rates, high unemployment, inner cities. signment to the 160th Soar and teenage pregnancies. I don’t know the answers. (A), the elite Army helicop- and violence. On Feb. 15, the carnage I do know those old solutions ter unit famously involved Ironically, if he had stayed finally brought President Ba- didn’t help Drew decades ago, in the “Black Hawk Down” in his youthful stomping rack Obama back home to and I fear they are just as in- operation and the Osama bin grounds—Chatham, South appear at Hyde Park Career adequate today. Laden mission. Shore, or Woodlawn, he Academy on Chicago’s South We need to “sound the Back in 1991, Drew enlist- might well be dead today. Side. alarm,” Loury writes. We ed to escape the economically For too many young people, In his speech, Obama of- must change the conversa- depressed, perilous streets the Windy City has earned a fered up his own set of num- tion and acknowledge that of the South Side neighbor- tragic, new nickname: Mur- bers to describe a city buck- we have created and tolerated hoods where he grew up. He der Central. ling under the scourge of gun a culture of violence. The en- is not alone. Many minori- That’s the chilling conclu- violence. He compared Chica- tire community must step up, ties choose the military as an sion from a new installment go’s trauma to the mass mur- claim long-term responsibil- alternative to urban poverty in The Chicago Reporter’s on- ders at an elementary school ity and act to abolish it. n recognition for Cottrell, who has been at the 24th Anniversary Studs Terkel Reporter News blogging for the Reporter since 2010. Community Media Awards benefit. With this issue, The Chicago Reporter “Cottrell is a risk-taker; yet every The Reporter is one of eight news kicks off two new features, “#Muckrak- chance has led her career along a outlets worldwide to receive a grant ers” and “In Focus.” They will show- Terkelian road,” noted the Community from the Investigative Reporters and case investigations, enterprise report- Media Workshop, the award’s sponsor. Editors Data Journalism Fund, spon- ing and photojournalism previously “Cottrell’s storytelling style reflects sored by Google Ideas. The grant will published at www.chicagoreporter.com her passion for people and her need fund a Reporter investigation into and on our Chicago Muckrakers blog. to make their stories heard by making Chicago’s public housing programs. Blogger/reporter Megan Cottrell news approachable.” Other Google Ideas awards went has been named the recipient of a Cottrell joins two other Terkel to the Centre for Investigative Report- Studs Terkel Community Media Award. award recipients: Dave Hoekstra, staff ing in the United Kingdom, selected The honor, which goes to “outstand- writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, and to investigate industrial facilities and ing media professionals for excellence Fernando Diaz, the managing editor emissions in Europe, and to El Pais in covering and reflecting Chicago’s of Hoy and a Reporter alumnus. The newspaper in Spain for its data journal- diverse communities,” is well-deserved awards will be presented on March 14 ism training program. WWW.CHICAGOREPORTER.COM | THE CHICAGO REPORTER 3 Q & A Tim Shaw In 1999, Tim Shaw, a veteran of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, created an acrobatics team to provide a positive outlet for young people in the neighborhood. Today, the team draws aspiring performers from all over the Chicago area. Photo by Lucio Villa. Balancing act Acrobatics coach strives to take youth to new heights By Andrea Watson acrobatic classes as a See them in action 4-year-old in his Engle- wood neighborhood. he gym sits on the city’s South Side, a few blocks from Visit www.chicagoreporter.com Shaw, now 35, went a local church, a few liquor stores and the 95th Street to watch a video of the Chicago on to spend five years TRed Line stop. Without stepping inside, hardly anyone Boyz Acrobatic Team and hear as a professional acrobat would know it’s used for practicing trampoline stunts, jump- about their team experience.