Visitor accidentally locked up in Chicago jail for 32 hours awarded $600,000 payout
- 7 years ago
CHICAGO — A man who was accidentally locked up in a Chicago jail for more than 30 hours was this week awarded $600,000 in compensation.
Farad Polk, 51, was visiting his son at the Cook County Jail in July 2014, when guards told him to “go down the hallway and turn right,” NBC 5 Chicago reported.
Following the guards’ directions, Polk entered a visiting room used for super-maximum security prisoners, only for the door to slam shut behind him.
As it was a weekend, the room wasn’t being used and nobody could hear Polk shouting for help.
Polk spent 32 hours locked up, without any food or water, no bed to sleep in and nowhere to answer the call of nature.
Polk was busted out when he broke a sprinkler head and the fire department showed up to see what the problem was. He was handcuffed and questioned before he was released, and also had to get stitches in one of his thumbs from when he broke the sprinkler.
Polk said he thought he would die in the jail and sued for emotional trauma. He also said he has been unable to return to the jail to visit his son, who is being held there on drugs charges.
On Monday, Polk was awarded a $600,000 settlement. A spokeswoman for the jail described the incident as “a bizarre set of circumstances” and said they were sorry.
Farad Polk, 51, was visiting his son at the Cook County Jail in July 2014, when guards told him to “go down the hallway and turn right,” NBC 5 Chicago reported.
Following the guards’ directions, Polk entered a visiting room used for super-maximum security prisoners, only for the door to slam shut behind him.
As it was a weekend, the room wasn’t being used and nobody could hear Polk shouting for help.
Polk spent 32 hours locked up, without any food or water, no bed to sleep in and nowhere to answer the call of nature.
Polk was busted out when he broke a sprinkler head and the fire department showed up to see what the problem was. He was handcuffed and questioned before he was released, and also had to get stitches in one of his thumbs from when he broke the sprinkler.
Polk said he thought he would die in the jail and sued for emotional trauma. He also said he has been unable to return to the jail to visit his son, who is being held there on drugs charges.
On Monday, Polk was awarded a $600,000 settlement. A spokeswoman for the jail described the incident as “a bizarre set of circumstances” and said they were sorry.