Chicago Criminal Attorney Demand Grows with the Elderly?

Authorities identified 20 residents in public nursing homes in the Chicago area who have outstanding arrest warrants ranging on from domestic violence to indecent exposure, many of them for felony charges. It is likely that many of them will need Chicago criminal attorneys.

The raids came after the Chicago Tribune exposed the widespread abuse of nursing home residents. Twenty-five federal marshals, Chicago police officers and Cook County sheriff's officers took part in the sweeps; which were ordered by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Eight residents were arrested earlier this week. Nine of the warrants were not "immediately enforceable" because they were issued by other jurisdictions, two of the residents were too sick to be arrested. and one fugitive remains at large.

But this is not the first such nursing home sweep. In total, 41 warrants and 13 arrests have been made for residents of Chicago-area nursing homes. Nearly half of the those warranted and/or arrested were picked up at two South Side facilities: Kenwood Healthcare Center and Rainbow Beach Care Center. The two facilities are three miles apart from each other.

The two nursing homes house high numbers of felons and have both reported "frequent police reports of violence," according to the article.

At Rainbow Beach, police say, 17 assaults or batteries, three narcotics charges and two sexual violence incidents were reported between march 2008 and July 2009. During the same period, 30 assaults or batteries and six narcotics cases were reported at Kenwood.

Madigan has publicly expressed her outrage over conditions at many of Chicago's public nursing homes. For more information on nursing home abuse and safety, please visit our Related Resources links.

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