EDITORIAL: Where was common sense in sheriff lockup sex assault case?

The Cook County Board worked fast this week in paying $3.25 million to a woman who was sexually assaulted by two male prisoners in a county lockup.

Of course the board worked fast. What happened to the woman was an outrage. She deserved the quick financial settlement, though money alone will never erase the pain of her experience.

And the faster the county settled, the faster it could cork the bad publicity.

But this is a case, nonetheless, that requires a full and formal accounting, in writing, even as it continues to play out in the criminal courts. How such an assault could happen in an environment staffed by many sheriff’s deputies boggles the mind.

On the day of the attacks, the 52-year-old woman was in one holding cell at the Markham Courthouse and the male prisoners were in another holding cell, which lacked a bathroom. When the men separately asked to use the bathroom, Cook County sheriff’s workers allowed them into the lockup where the woman was being held — though even a quick look around would have alerted the guards to the woman’s presence.

One of the two men was being held on charges of aggravated kidnapping of a child. The other man was being held on murder charges. Now both men also face charges of criminal sexual assault.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart plans to fire nine employees as a result of the incident. On Monday, he is scheduled to file merit board complaints against at least some of the workers, beginning the firing process. Dart’s office also has announced a number of reforms, including a requirement that deputies wear body cameras when in any area of the courthouse where there are not fixed security cameras, that additional trained supervisors be assigned to the Markham Courthouse, and that unannounced security audits be conducted at all courthouses.

Dart also wants to install cameras in the lockups.

But none of that will suffice if something more basic continues to be in short supply — common sense.

Nobody should have to explain to anybody that keeping male and female detainees separated, at all times and in all circumstances, is among the most important jobs at a jail.

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