Handcuffed Prisoner Abandoned for 18 Hours

The Kane County Sheriff is apologizing after a man was left in handcuffs in a room for 18 hours.

Husan Smith, 32, of Elgin, was being transferred to the county jail to serve four days for violating his probation on a drug offense, according to the Chicago Tribune. Instead, he was put in a conference room smaller than a jail cell inside the courthouse.

Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez says he didn't know why the man was put in the room instead of a nearby holding cell, but says "someone dropped the ball".

The newspaper reports that Smith had no access to food, water or a bathroom in the 18 hours he was left. He kicked and screamed for hours in an attempt to get someone to notice he was in the room and even tried to set off the room's sprinkler system by maneuvering his hands around his ankles in front of him -- a trick he saw on the television show "24".

In an attempt to calm himself, Smith says he was able to take a slipper off his foot and get it onto an aluminum table to use as a pillow, but he couldn't get comfortable as his hands were behind his back.

A guard finally heard the prisoner banging on the conference room door and released him. He was fed and taken to the jail.

Smith was sentenced to a 30-month probation for a charge of felony possession of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to four days in jail December 29 after he failed a drug test.

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