CHICAGO (AP) - The Cook County sheriff says a lawsuit alleging “sadistic violence and brutality” by guards at the Cook County jail is “outrageous” and “a fictional account.”
Tom Dart said Thursday after lawyers filed the suit in federal court in Chicago on behalf of male inmates. It claims regular beatings of inmates and describes conditions as “tortuous.”
Dart says he’ll fight the suit. He has frequently raised problems of overcrowding and a lack of mental health services. He says federal monitors have had “unfettered access” to inmates for more than four years.
The suit names Dart and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle as defendants, among others.
Preckwinkle spokeswoman Kristen Mack says twice-a-year Department of Justice reports from monitors “do not appear to support” the lawsuit’s allegations.
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