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Sunday, May 10, 2026
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Chicago Lost Track of 246 Ankle-Monitored Criminal Suspects — Some Charged With Violent Crimes — And Nobody's Even Embarrassed

Chicago authorities have officially admitted they've lost track of 8% of all criminal suspects wearing ankle monitors — 246 people out of 3,048 in the program — and some of those missing individuals were charged with violent crimes including assault and weapons offenses. In Chicago. The city that can't keep the lights on at a crime scene.

So just to be clear: the whole point of an ankle monitor is that you know where someone is. That's literally the only thing it does. And Chicago is batting .920 on that. Congrats.

According to Just The News, the data came from the Office of the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, which oversees the electronic monitoring program. As of May 8, 2026, 246 participants had active warrants and were classified as AWOL — meaning they were either outside their allowed area during curfew for more than a few hours, or their device lost power or connectivity. In other words, they either cut the thing off, let the battery die, or just walked away. All three options suggest these folks aren't exactly committed to the rehabilitation process.

Chief Judge Charles Beach II, who runs the Circuit Court of Cook County, released a statement that sounded like it was drafted by a PR firm that charges by the word: "Transparency is not optional — it is a core obligation of this office. The public has a right to know how this program operates, what the data shows and what we are doing every day to make it stronger. We are releasing this information because that is what accountability looks like."

That's a nice speech, Your Honor. But accountability would be knowing where 246 criminal suspects are. What you just described is a press release.

Let's zoom in on the fun part. Some of those AWOL suspects weren't in the program for shoplifting or unpaid parking tickets. We're talking violent crimes. Assault. Weapons charges. These are people a judge looked at and said, "Yeah, you can go home, just wear this bracelet." And then those people vanished.

One name that keeps surfacing in Chicago's electronic monitoring disaster is Lawrence Reed, who allegedly set fire to a Chicago train back in January. That's not a misdemeanor. That's not a "youthful indiscretion." That's arson on public transit in one of the largest cities in America.

Nearly one in ten monitored suspects just... gone. Think about that number for a second. If an airline lost 8% of its luggage, it would be shut down by the FAA. If a hospital misplaced 8% of its patients, someone would go to prison. But Chicago loses 8% of its violent criminal suspects and the response is a transparency report.

This is what happens when a city treats the criminal justice system like a suggestion box. Ankle monitors aren't deterrents if nobody's watching the screen. They're just accessories. Fashion jewelry for people awaiting trial on weapons charges.

The 3,048 participants in Cook County's electronic monitoring program were presumably placed there because a judge decided they weren't dangerous enough for jail but weren't trustworthy enough for the honor system. The ankle monitor was supposed to be the middle ground. Instead, it's become a punchline.

And somewhere in Chicago right now, 246 people who were charged with crimes serious enough to warrant electronic monitoring are walking around without anyone knowing where they are. Some of them are violent. All of them decided the justice system was optional.

Sleep tight, Chicago. Your government's got this totally under control.

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