5/4/2022

At today’s McLean County Justice Committee, Sheriff Sandage publicly denounced District 7 Board Member Sharon Chung.

Sheriff Sandage made a number of accusations against the County Board member. Accusations include allegedly creating safety hazards at the jail by corresponding with inmates and, in one case, trying to help an inmate take legal action against the county.

Sheriff Sandage said there had been some issues at the jail, but gave exactly zero details what those issues or incidents are. At one point in November, Member Chung allegedly commented on the transparency issues at the jail. The Sheriff–with a straight face–said there is no transparency issue at the jail. It’s the sheriff’s department that won’t share jail population information without an official FOIA request made (causing unnecessary work for the record’s staff). It’s the Sheriff that refuses to give detailed reports about the population, demographics, and the type of offenses alleged to the county board. He only gives it to me because he’s forced to by law. It’s the sheriff that has repeatedly omitted, mischaracterized, or made flat-out false statements regarding COVID-19 numbers, claiming to both the board and the mainstream media there were no COVID cases. There were over 70 according to his own office responding under penalty of law. The sheriff’s claim of transparency would be hilarious if it wasn’t obfuscating such ghoulish deeds.

Sheriff Sandage than mentioned how Member Chung at one point stated the jail was expanded under the guise of mental health (a statement that is true), before claiming Member Chung was completely ignorant of the mental health in the jail or the alleged improvements they’ve made.

At the same time, Sheriff Sandage did not provide any information explaining what the jail’s mental health provisions were, how many people are staffed, what improvements–if any–had been made, what programs were available, these programs availability or frequency, any statistics whatsoever on mental health in the jail, the efficacy of solitary confinement on the mental health of inmates, the number of inmates facing depression or suicidal ideation, the ability of staff to meet the mental health needs of those incarcerated, the types of mental/behavioral/developmental disabilities incarcerated individuals have, and like… a lot of other questions. If only there was this person in charge of the jail who has no transparency issues.

Next, Sheriff Sandage alleges that Member Chung told an inmate’s family member, “the Sheriff [Sandage] is not seeking reelection and he just does whatever he wants.” Sandage asked Chung, “Did you state the new sheriff has democrat family members, so things would be changing in the jail?” The sheriff did not provide any evidence of an inmate’s family member stating this.

Sheriff Sandage then asked Member Chung if she had contacted an attorney on behalf of an inmate to potentially sue the county. A WGLT article states Sheriff Sandage received this info via a FOIA request he filed; however, no e-mail was provided to the county board by the Sheriff at the time of the accusation.

Member Chung later told WGLT she recalled contacting an attorney over an inmate’s situation, but said she was only “exploring possibilities” on behalf of inmates she felt were being mistreated. She would not discuss the nature of the complaint, citing privacy concerns for the inmate.

Sheriff Sandage then asked Member Chung whether she had provided guidance on how an inmate might acquire certain legal forms? It’s not clear what the problem is with making sure people have access to their rights. Is the Sheriff advocating withholding legal documents people should have access too?

On April 22nd, Sheriff Sandage says he sent Member Chung an email stating, “that your name was coming up a lot in jail phone calls and that your name was being shared by jail inmates and that is a safety concern.” Sheriff Sandage provided no recordings, messages, or any form of communication of people sharing Member Chung’s contact information.

However, there is evidence that in the past, the Sheriff has shared Chung’s information with inmates. Not just Chung’s information; the entire county board. Last November (during another political stunt) the Sheriff manufactured a problem by choosing to take away inmate access to tablets. He then blamed the County board and gave every inmate in the jail (including accused and convicted murderers, rapists, violent gang members, & pedophiles) the county board’s contact info–including phone numbers–and encouraged them to contact the names listed. I personally called the jail, and a corrections officer explicitly told me to contact county board members regarding the issue.

Here’s the evidence to prove it:

Sheriff Sandage continued, talking about an inmate he said was not currently in solitary confinement but was instead in disciplinary segregation. To be clear, both are 23-hour a day lock down. Such semantic distinctions are meant to sanitize the fact the same horrible experience is occurring regardless of the term used. Sheriff Sandage sounded like former-Vice-President (and war criminal) Dick Cheney who argued waterboarding wasn’t torture but enhanced interrogation. Either way, you still can’t breath.

The Sheriff went on to say this individual (currently locked down 23-hours a day) was disciplined because of an alleged incident involving another inmate allegedly practicing Ramadan. The Sheriff provided no incident reports, disciplinary reports, grievances, or even any communication amongst his staff regarding the alleged incident.

He then went on to claim this inmate on disciplinary segregation’s¹ partner filed a FOIA request to “see if someone is an informant in the facility, therefore to harass that person.” Unfortunately, the sheriff did not provide a copy of the FOIA request, it’s specific language, or what evidence leads him to believe that the information requested was meant to either reveal “an informant” or harass the alleged informant.

“Miss Chung, I suggest if you want to know more about the jail you come tour the jail, otherwise, your half-truths and the way you are going about it is causing conflict in the facility, and is making it unsafe for not only staff, but inmates,” Sheriff Sandage finished before storming out of the room in a huff.

Member Chung did not respond during the meeting. Her young children were in the audience.

A request for comment extended to Member Chung was not responded to. However, she did give a few comments to WGLT.

Chung said she’s not interested in a jail tour because she doesn’t believe Sandage would allow her to see how inmates are actually being treated. “I am still not quite understanding how locking people down for 18 hours a day can help anybody’s mental health,” said Chung, referring to COVID-related restrictions which she said Sandage has been too slow to relax.

Chung said she has been contacted by at least a dozen inmates or their family members because they had concerns about how the inmates were being treated.

“I feel I’ve been in touch with enough people that I feel like everybody can’t be lying about what’s happening,” Chung said.

Chung said she considers her conversations with upset inmates and their families a part of her job to represent them as she would anyone else in her role on the county board. “I have that duty to take these issues seriously and raise questions about how people are being treated in there,” she said.

From BloNo With Love

1. I.e., 23-hour a day confined in a cell in an isolated, some might say solitary manner.