Summary: Shermain Miles, a 51-year-old Chicago woman, has spent the majority of her life in trouble with the law.
The Huffington Post reports that Shermain Miles, a 51-year-old Chicago resident, has certainly been busy over the last four decades. She’s accumulated nearly 400 arrests and has gone by 83 different aliases during that time. Right now, she’s in a jail in lower Illinois.
Many wonder how long it will be until she lands in the slammer again. She certainly has become familiar with the criminal justice system in the state of Illinois. In August, she was arrested after chasing James Cappleman, Chicago’s 46th Ward Alderman. However, she did not stop at a simple chase. She decided to smack, hit, and otherwise harass bystanders along the Uptown neighborhood’s Broadway Street.
After the incident, Cappleman commented that Miles has long “terrorized the community” with her antics. He added that he hopes “to get this woman help, so she is off the streets.” She also “has a history of pulling a knife and holding it to people’s necks,” according to Cappleman.
Miles was taken to a prison in Lincoln, Illinois. The Illinois Prisoner Review Board is meeting Tuesday to determine if she violated her parole from a 2010 conviction for robbing an elderly man at knifepoint. If the Board decides that Miles violated her parole, she could be held in the prison until April. Otherwise, she may be back on the streets.
Sadly, it appears Miles grew up in an abusive home. Her first arrest in 1978 was for breaking into a car. Her impressive arrest record includes drug possession, burglary, assault, and public indecency. She has been convicted 73 separate times. 1988 was apparently her most troublesome year, with an incredible 25 arrests. She has also been treated for psychological ailments at mental health hospitals and has been imprisoned ten times. When she wasn’t in jail, she lived on the streets.
Cappleman noted that Miles’ criminal history “raises the issue about a very broken system.” He said, “I am tired of this. The community is tired of this…We have someone…who is terrorizing our community, and we can’t stop it.”
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