A man who was mistakenly imprisoned for over a day has received a $600,000 settlement.
In July 2014, Farad Polk went to the Cook County Jail in Chicago to visit his son. He was directed to a specific visiting area, and when he walked through an open doorway, the doors slammed shut behind him. It turned out the room was used for visitors of super-maximum security prisoners, and was not open on weekends.
Seeing a camera mounted to the wall, Polk thought he could alert the guards quickly.“I see the camera up there, so I figure I get into a little trouble, I start waving my hand, kicking on the door, making noise," Polk told CBS 2 in Chicago.
But unfortunately for Polk, those cameras didn't work.
Polk spent nearly 32 hours in the room by himself, and was rescued by the Chicago Fire Department only after managing to break a sprinkler head on the ceiling and flood the room.
Cook County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Sophia Ansari confirmed the settlement of over half a million dollars on Tuesday.
"As we said at the time of this very unfortunate incident, we are so very grateful Mr. Polk was found safely. We are pleased that this matter has been resolved," Ansari said.
