What happened last Saturday at the McHenry County Jail (a/k/a McHenry County Correctional Facility)? Normally, male and female inmates are kept segregated But now, it seems, not always.
There is a door between the men's and the women's sections. Naturally, this door is supposed to be closed and locked. Locked, as in closed tightly. Secure. Guards (now called Corrections Officers (COs)) have keys to pass through locked doors. They are supposed to close and lock doors behind them. Supposed to.
It seems that last Saturday a CO passed through such a door and failed to ensure that the door was tightly closed and locked. I mean, this ought to be a no-brainer; right? You close the door and "test" it. You try to turn the knob or lever. You shouldn't be able to pull it open.
But the door didn't lock. This can only mean the the guard failed to check it, after passing through it.
A male inmate was able to open the door, leave the men's section, enter the women's section and proceed to a cell of someone he knew. Let's see; what might a man want to go to a woman's cell for? Particularly, if they were already "pretty well" acquainted? You guessed it.
He didn't do this unobserved. The story is that it was noticed that he had passed through, and it was reported to at least two guards.
What should have happened next? The first guard to whom it was reported should have immediately reported it to his or her supervisor. He or she then should have commenced a search for the man in the women's unit. It shouldn't have been too hard to find the male inmate. It seems his destination was known and reported.
If there were some fear that the male inmate might overpower the CO, then the CO could just slam the cell door and lock both the man and the woman in the woman's cell. I can, of course, think of a reason not to do that: what if the man was there to harm the woman?
Possibly the first guard might have waited for a second before commencing the search. The story that came to me was that
90 minutes passed before a search was initiated. The first two COs did not immediately begin to check out the reports that a male inmate had entered the women's section. What possible reason could they have for not investigating immediately?
Jail supervisors have to know who went through the door and failed to secure it. There is video surveillance of the interior of the jail.
By Thursday no word had reached the outside world. Who would have been informed? Certainly, jail supervisors - those are sergeants. And their lieutenants. And the Deputy Chief in the Jail would have been informed - that's Patrick Firman, And the Chief of the Jail - that's Dan Sedlock. And, of course, the Undersheriff - that's Andy Zinke, who wants to be the next sheriff. And also the Sheriff - that's Keith Nygren, who probably had his cell phone on at some time during the week.
MCSD made a big deal recently of all its certifications; for ex., from the American Correctional Association. Would something like this very important lapse in security be enough for the ACA to yank its accreditation?
Zinke is likely to take a big hit on this one, because it is he who is believed to be running the Sheriff's Department. Zinke is not insulated by the lengthy chain-of-command. Zinke is responsible for everything that happens at the Jail and with the deputies - whether he likes it or not.
