Parking at cook county jail 


The jail has street parking only on california and on 26th street. On California you will be ticketed or towed between 4-6 pm so don’t park at that time. There is plenty of parking on the streets behind and to the side of the large parking lot on the east side of California and 26th St.

You must pay for street parking about $2.00 per hour using quarters or a credit card.  The pay boxes are located at intervals around the block and you must put a receipt in your window or you will get a ticket.  There are no individual parking spaces and parking meters have all been removed.

Don’t get confused that there are no parking meters.  You still have to pay for parking at the pay boxes and put the receipt into your car window.

A company was contracted with to provide and maintain the pay boxes and the City got ripped off in the deal (they received millions up front, but far less than the total contract over decades is worth).

Handicapped parking is not available. You must park on the streets and pay unless you have a new yellow handicapped parking card. Yes it is illegal for the city to fail to provide handicapped parking spaces near the jail, but the City of Chicago and the Cook County Courts hold themselves above the law and IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whose job it is to enforce federal laws pertaining to handicapped persons parking and accommodations has refused to enforce the law.

Only prosecutors, prosecution witnesses, people undergoing exam in the forensic psychiatry clinic on the 10th floor of the court services building, and employees can park in the parking garage or use the handicapped spaces in the parking garage.

The parking garage is not big enough to accommodate all persons who come to the jail and courthouse.

Defense witnesses, defense attorneys, and family members or people viewing trials from the gallery must  park on the street or in the private expensive parking lot on the NW corner of 26th & California.