By Paul Rubin
Yes, the Sheriff decided last month with only a bit of fanfare (that's the first clue) to see firsthand how the other half lives inside his jail.
Stop the presses? Not so fast, Kimosabe.
Can you find Sheriff Joe in this photo?
We're not talking about our own sheriff, the one widely known by his first name.
Joe Arpaio does make the occasional "appearance" at his infamous lockup, but only when some suck-up media type rolls into town to "profile" the daffy old gent.
But according to the Reuters news agency, Sheriff Mark Curran of Lake County, Illinois, walked into his own jail for a week last month, saying he was "divinely inspired" to learn what it is like to be confined and to sample jail programs designed to reduce recidivism.
"The biblical adage that we reap what we sow is very true in criminal justice," the sheriff said before he slipped on his prison jumpsuit near Chicago.
How true.
Curran spent time in the general population, hob-nobbing with inmates awaiting trial on charges of murder, rape and lesser crimes. He apparently slept in own cell at night.
The sheriff sat in on high-school equivalency classes, spent a night in the high-security unit, and another in the medical unit. No word on the cuisine, though one can rest assured that green baloney wasn't on the menu.
Gotta love the fantasy of angry old Joe being forced to chow down on the gook with his newest best friend Bubba, um, looking on from behind.
