Sheriff Sentences Self to Jail to Find Out How It Feels Like

Posted by Alex in Crime & Law on August 26, 2008 at 2:32 pm


What does it feel like to be in jail? Sheriff Mark Curran wanted to find out, so he sentenced himself to a week in lock-up!

"People who have never been in jail," he says wryly, "don’t know what it’s like to sit on the toilet in full view of everyone."

Lake County, the stretch of area north of Chicago to the Wisconsin border, is a land of extremes– from the mansions of Lake Forest to the mean streets of Waukegan. The wealthy tend to be white, and the poor are usually African American or Latino. Inside the jail, the other inmates know who Curran is. Some act friendly when he says hello. Others turn away, or greet him with glares.

The sheriff says he understands the reaction, "I’m just another white guy—like the prosecutor, probably; like the person who sold him down the river; like the judge."

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COMMENT

17 comments to "Sheriff Sentences Self to Jail to Find Out How It Feels Like"

  1. ????? ??? ?????
    August 26th, 2008 at 2:42 pm

    This is an excellent post . Thanks a lot . I am grateful to you .

  2. Jood42
    August 26th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    I am so glad I voted for him.

  3. Katharine
    August 26th, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    I find it disgusting that he’s making them read the Bible. Not everyone in the United States is Christian.

  4. Dave
    August 26th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    Sorry to pick nits, but “Find Out How It Feels Like”???? How about “Find Out How It Feels”, or perhaps “Find Out What It Feels Like”. The way it is sounds a bit redundant and repetitive. Not to mention redundant.

    @Katharine: It sounds like only those who attend his Malachi program are required to read the Bible, but the program doesn’t sound mandatory. And if you’d take the time to research other Christian groups that reach out to inmates you’ll find some amazing success stories about how their attendees’ recidivism rates are a fraction of the national average.
    http://www.pfm.org/
    http://www.billglasscfl.org/

  5. Alex
    August 26th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

    Halt, grammar Nazi! :)

  6. ted
    August 26th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    Dude makes $140,000/yr. Does he really think he’s going to “connect” with prisoners by letting them watch him take a dump?

  7. Tim
    August 26th, 2008 at 6:33 pm

    ted, I think he was pretty clear that he knows his experience does not represent the average inmate’s experience.

    Katahrine, you must know something that wasn’t stated in the article, because I don’t see where it says that the inmates are required to participate in his program.

  8. Peeves
    August 26th, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    I think the real experience is really what it’s like when they’re not in actual jail. I live in Lake County and it really is segregated. If he wants to know what it’s like to be his inmates the closest he’ll get is living on the average wage and in the average apt, etc.

  9. lucky
    August 26th, 2008 at 7:40 pm

    i like the story…and dave…it makes me smile that you corrected things…and alex…your statement made me laugh out loud to my cat (cause no one else is home)

  10. ted
    August 26th, 2008 at 8:33 pm

    Exactly, Tim.
    It’s just PR.

    So why do it? He’s showboating.

  11. Gladeye
    August 27th, 2008 at 12:03 am

    Bah. Anyone who values good grammar or spelling gets mocked as a grammar nazi. I’d be embarrassed to write a caption like that. I wonder how it feels like for the guy who wrote this one.

  12. Alex
    August 27th, 2008 at 12:37 am

    Halt, grammar Nazi sympathizer! ;)

  13. Juan Motaim
    August 27th, 2008 at 2:36 am

    This guy sounds like he’s on the road to true empathy with the inmates, which is always in short supply in our correctional system.

    With that said, while he’s receiving a government paycheck, it’s pretty unconstitutional for him personally to bring religion into his workplace. (I know there are a lot of religious outreach programs in our prisons, and as long as access is fair and equal for all, that can be a good opportunity for the inmates. But when tax dollars pay the salaries of the people running them, that’s totally different.)

    Look at it this way — if his Malachi program were about readings from The Qur’an, rather than The Bible, he’d likely be booted out of office pretty quickly, and the article in Newsweek would be all about that.

  14. Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
    August 27th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    Would you rather have a sheriff who doesn’t have any idea what your situation is like… or one who might have a bit of an idea because he’s put himself in his prisoners’ shoes?

    Now if we could just get politicians to temporarily live on the salaries of their constituents and doctors to spend time in their own hospitals, we’d be well on the way to creating more empathy in society.

  15. Thomas
    August 27th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    I gotta say, spending the night in the pokey isn’t fun, and I hope to not do it again any time soon. Most people feel that you deserve whatever you get in jail, and don’t realize that it becomes a dehumanizing experience, not a corrective one.

  16. Tom Beirne
    August 29th, 2008 at 11:34 am

    I help out in the Chaplain’s office of a correctional facility with Scripture and discharge planning. After release, arranging for employment, decent housing, AA/NA counseling, and fellowship meetings attended by mentors and mentees together to resolve problems and pray. Mostly Christian but faith based. The most rewarding aspect is when these men decide to give back and mentor to those leaving prison in fear as they were–addressing the mind, body, and Spirit.

  17. Nick
    August 29th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    One Sheriff I’d like to see try this is Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. His program of housing prisoners in military style tents, feeding them the cheapest food possible, and dressing them in stripes and pink underwear are very popular with his non-convicted constituents and apparently have not been ruled constitutional.


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