Sheriff Michael Sheahan of Cook County, Ill., has asked prosecutors to investigate whether a civil rights lawyer conspired to stage fights between inmates and guards at Cook County Jail, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Jean Maclean Snyder represents five inmates — all accused or convicted of murders — in a lawsuit accusing correctional officers of physical abuse during a jailhouse brawl in July 2000. She is involved in investigation into a fight in July 2003.
Wednesday, the sheriff sent a letter to Cook County State’s Attorney Richard Devine saying Snyder was involved in a “pattern of questionable conduct.” Sheahan pointed out that before each incident, calls were made to Snyder’s office from the jail tiers where the fights took place. Calls from the jail to her office followed each fight. Snyder flatly denies conspiring to set up fights at the jail and called Sheahan’s questions into her conduct “ridiculous.”
Link: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-jail10.html