Visitor to Ill. jail was trapped for 32 hours

CHICAGO--The Cook County, Ill. sheriff's office will not pursue disciplinary action against jail employees after a visitor was trapped for 32 hours in a small room at the jail last month, reports CBS affiliate WBBM Newsradio.

Cook County Jail executive director Cara Smith described the incident as a "perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances."

Farad Polk, 51, visited the jail on the evening of July 5 to see his son, and ended up imprisoned as well, when he walked into the wrong room. He got locked in a small visiting room in the super maximum security Division 9 area of the jail without food, water, or a toilet.

"The investigation showed that our staff, both in our lobby and in the visiting room that Mr. Polk's son was to visit with him in, both staff went above and beyond to try to find out where Mr. Polk was when he didn't come to the visiting room," Smith said said.

Smith said another visitor in the lobby thought Polk had left. That led the staff to think Polk was no longer at the jail.

WBBM reports that Polk has filed a negligence lawsuit against the county.

His ordeal came to an end early in the morning on July 7, after he broke a sprinkler system on the ceiling, causing the room to start flooding. It also triggered an alarm and firefighters who responded rescued him.

Polk's attorney, Cannon Lambert, said Polk was handcuffed after he was found trapped. He implied to WBBM that jail staffers may have left him there on purpose.

"He could hear voices of guards on the other side of the door. Presumably, if he could hear them, they could hear him," Lambert said.

Jail officials flatly rejected any suggestion Polk was intentionally left locked inside the room.

The jail, which has had 160,000 visitors so far this year, has implemented a new system - giving visitors a receipt which they have to return when they leave.