By Stephen Anderson

It’s not unusual for a county sheriff to visit the county jail, but usually the law enforcement officer is safely outside the bars of prison cells.

Not so for Lake County Sheriff Mark C. Curran Jr., a former prosecutor, who spent a week in the Waukegan correctional facility last month to evaluate programs and services as the inmates see them.

An attorney since 1990, Curran spent eight years in the Lake County state’s attorney’s office, including service as senior felony prosecutor.

After that, as an assistant Illinois attorney general, he created a Sexually Violent Persons Bureau and headed the Gang Crimes Bureau.

In 2002, Curran started a private practice in civil and criminal defense litigation and for a time was special counsel to the Department of Children and Family Services. He also teaches criminal justice at Columbia College.

When he ran for county sheriff in 2006, and won, Curran was familiar with the criminal justice system from the outside, but wanted to know more about the inside.

“I believe that my experience in jail will help me to better understand our existing programming, as well as any possible unmet needs that exist in our inmate programming,” he said.

Booked, photographed, fingerprinted and clothed in a blue jumpsuit and maroon sandals, Curran began his voluntary internment on Wednesday, Aug. 20, calling it “a little surreal.”

He spent uncomfortable nights trying to sleep on a thin mattress in his eight-by-six-foot cell. Not much of his early breakfast fare was palatable.

His days involved working in the kitchen and on road and construction site cleanups. He also sat in on educational classes and a substance abuse group meeting.

On his third day in “custody,” Curran met with other county officials to review a budget. His jailhouse garb was in style for that “casual Friday” meeting.

On Sunday, he attended a Catholic Mass presented in both English and Spanish, then shot baskets for a while and later endured a television interview with a Chicago crew.

On Monday, Curran was among privileged inmates who filled trash bags with litter picked up along city streets. On Tuesday night, he joined hands with other inmates during a prayer service.

An innovator at heart, Sheriff Curran in two years has implemented an ethics policy for employees, a school safety team that works with school officials, and a special operations group that can deal with riots and similar problems.

Although more than 600 individuals are detained in the jail, most of them awaiting trials, Curran did not consider his stay risky. “We run a safe jail,” he said.