I think you’re right, Rebecca.

SorryWatch did cover Daniel Chong’s story too. As “Dude! Who said you could hang out in our cell, wearing our handcuffs?”

https://sorrywatch.com/dude-who-said-you-could-hang-out-in-our-cell-wearing-our-handcuffs/

Um, I don’t think Mr. Polk had been given the run-around for two hours before being directed down the hallway. I THINK it was two hours from when he entered the maximum security waiting room that he realized that it wasn’t the usual scenario. Of course that could mean that every other time, it took 1 1/2 hours of waiting before he’d see his son. But absolutely right about everyone getting signed in and out. In fact I’d go further, and wager that even though the camera in the waiting room was disabled, there were plenty in the corridor which would have showed him walking down and either turning into the room or disappearing before the next camera feed. He should absolutely sue. Biggest impetus for change.
The story made me think of Daniel Chong, the student who was “forgotten” for five days in DEA detention, also without having been charged with a crime (Oh, and no agent was ever disciplined).

I think it’d be a good thing if the whole group of people managing the jail (under the Sheriff, I suppose) were worried about lawsuits. If they didn’t just think they could get a decent person to apologize and talk to the press.

Smith called it a “perfect storm.” Lots of things went wrong (not just the contractor leaving the door in the wrong position). So lots of things need to be fixed. Maybe the lawsuit will encourage that.

If we believe that a sincere apology is complete with an attempt at restitution, Smith perhaps should have done more than get up at three a.m. and given a guy a ride. There must be some way to make this right… more ways than to appear on TV and throw a nameless contractor under the bus. Further, there’s potentially a larger issue at stake with this particular jail, and if Polk’s suit is instrumental in peeling back the layers of wrongdoing — well, then I’m all for it. He’s not suing Smith personally, after all.

That being said, I live in a litigious state, so I’m hesitant to say “Go, extraneous lawsuits,” but:

a.) Polk was directed to that room, by someone who’d given him the runaround for two hours. Two. Hours. When they see him every week, as he’s there to see his son? Really?

b.) Polk was ignored — you cannot tell me that he heard voices and no one heard his. Further, they MUST HAVE KNOWN that that room wasn’t done, and no one even checked? Further, when you visit inmates you must check out and check in at a front desk… So, there’s the niggling issue that someone must have known, maybe thought to give him more crap – and then forgot. A dangerous game by power-mad guards? Who knows.

b.) he was handcuffed. I deliberately didn’t check any links, so I don’t know the man’s color, but his very young son is in on a drug charge? His seizure for standing-near-trouble-whilst-a-person-of-color is a high possibility, no? So, there’s potentially dodgy racist-based reasoning to deal with.

Now I’ve read all the links, and read that he went to the jail this past weekend, and couldn’t bring himself to go in — so he’s in fear. He’s seen how easily him being innocent can turn into being guilty. He’s afraid, and I don’t blame him.

Lawsuits don’t fix that, though.