Prairie State Wire

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has repeatedly justified his support for the SAFE-T Act in Illinois because he says it addresses "the problem of the single mother who shoplifted diapers for her baby" and is held in jail until her trial because cash bail is too expensive.

Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow (D), who presides over the state's fourth-largest county by population, with nearly 700,000 people, says they don't exist.

“We don’t have any such people in our jail," Glasgow said. "On low level offenses, a person gets $30 credit for every day they serve in jail. So, if bond is $3,000, they wouldn’t do more than ten days."

Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis (R) said "shoplifting single mothers" aren't being held in Illinois jails on bail they cannot afford, and that prosecutors have their hands full with violent criminals.

"Nobody's there right now. That is not happening right now. There are already laws in place for that," said Weis.

McHenry County State's Attorney Patrick Kenneally (R) said Pritzker's claim is "misinformation" and that it is “impossible” for a shoplifting  mother to “be held pretrial for six months under current bail laws.”

“This type of misinformation appealing to emotion, the ongoing campaign to smear law enforcement and prosecutors, and the sometimes tragic way business is conducted in Springfield is what gave rise to (the SAFE-T Act) in the first place,” Kenneally told the Cook County Record.

A Prairie State Wire analysis of current jail population records from 42 Illinois counties, including the state's 20 largest, couldn't find any examples of an inmate fitting that description.

Of the 3,143 inmates booked into Lake County jail in 2021, 15 were charged with misdemeanor retail theft, according to Lake County Jail Records. Just four were women, and their average stay was 1.1 days.