Feb 12, 2006 11:11 pm US/Central
Cook Co. Sheriff Dealing With 3 Recent Jail Breaks
by Jay Levine
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan is on the defensive Sunday after six inmates escaped overnight from the county jail.
As CBS 2's Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, dealing with his third escape in less than a year, after going 10 years without even one, is not the way Sheahan wanted to end his fourth and final term as Cook County sheriff.
"If there's a lapse in security, I take responsibility and I hold myself accountable and I hold my staff accountable. But, you know, at times you have to investigate, you have to find out what happened inside," Sheahan said.
Figuring how six inmates managed to make their way to an easy-to-scale fence may be the easiest part of the investigation. Understanding how this jail went from escape proof to escape prone is something else.
It began with the escape of accused rapist Randy Rencher last spring and accelerated in the last three weeks with the shooting of three inmates with a gun smuggled into a maximum security section.
Another accused armed robber Warren Mathis was allowed to slip into a laundry truck on Friday, remaining at large for just over 24 hours. Two days later, the jail was struck with mass break-out.
All incidents are different, but all involve corrections officers' failure to do their jobs.
A statement from the officers' union blames "the twin plagues of understaffing and overcrowding."
Cook County is already under federal court order to add more staff.
"We need a thorough investigation as to what happened here, but President Stroger clearly bears some responsibility because he's failed to provide adequate jail guards there despite a federal judge's mandate," said Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool.
County Board President John Stroger wasn't available to react to that charge. And Sheahan, who has battled Stroger over budgets in the past, said staffing was only part of the problem.
"It's not an excuse. You're responsible for your job, it's not an excuse, but it does help if you have roster management and you have enough people to fill the roster. But its not excuse. We don't accept excuses," Sheahan said.
Sheahen agrees he needs increased staffing. but he's already shaken up the top brass at the jail, and isn't absolving officers either.
"If something is wrong here, we will take it and make sure there's accountability. We've always done that," he said.
Sheahan has already moved to fire three guards involved in Friday's escape and is investigating others who missed the gun smuggled into the jail last month. He says he's probing whether those who broke out last night were helped by anyone inside the jail.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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