Update: No jail stay for Lake County's sheriff. At least not right now. In a press release following Monday's announcement, Sheriff Mark Curran has canceled this week's news conference and jail stay "due to a previously unidentified scheduling conflict."
Lake County's sheriff is about to do jail time -- to prove a point.
Sheriff Mark Curran said Monday he will spend a week as an inmate at the Lake County Jail in Waukegan "as a show of faith he personally has in his corrections personnel" following a lawsuit pointing to "events that have occurred in the jail."
A woman recently sued the county and Curran, blaming them for her brother's death after he suffered a broken neck while in custody last year at Lake County Jail.
The lawsuit claims Eugene Gruber, 51, of Grayslake, was beaten by jail guards and withheld medical treatment for a day. At Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, Gruber underwent two surgeries and died months later.
Curran's attorney has said the jail's staff did not beat up Gruber and didn't know he was injured.
The sheriff scheduled a Tuesday news conference to lay out his reasons for entering the jail as an inmate.
In a statement, Curran said he hopes to highlight "the exceptional treatment of the inmates at the jail, as well as the dedication of the correctional officers that serve them."
