Today we continue our tour of the McHenry County Jail with a June 1977 delegation of young political leaders from China. The visit was sponsored by the American Council of Young Political leaders.
I thought a visit to the jail might be interesting because so many Chinese end up in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) floor built under Sheriff Keith Nygren’s guidance.
Lots of television screens in the control room.
There we looked at the control room.
We were on an observation floor.
I wasn’t the only one taking pictures.
Mike Lucas explained more about the way prisoners were housed.
Here’s the day room we saw.
This is where prisoners spend the time in the McHenry Jail when they are not in their cells. Steel tables and chairs.
There was a cell isolated from the others we were allowed to examine.
We were given a closer look at a cell. Everything is indestructable.
It was a room with a view…of the parking lot behind the courthouse.
A room with a view at the McHenry County Jail.
A phone was nearby.
One woman pretended to be phoning home.
It was time to leave.
Milling around before leaving the observation floor of the McHenry County Jail.
The photographers had taken their pictures.
The tour guide is to the right wearing the Cubs tee shirt.
It was back to the bus.
Mike Lucas held the door as we left the cell block area.
Although I thought all the photos in the jail had been taken, some more were desired.
More photos were taken of the McHenry County Jail's "tour guide," Mike Lucas.
Then, the delegation wanted a photo of him with their leader. She agreed.
After the tour of the McHenry County Jail, Mike Lucas poses with the Chinese delegation leader at her delegations' request. She was President of the Hunan Provincial Youth Federation at the time.
For some reason, they even wanted me in a photo. It embarrassed me, but I complied with their request.
Tomorrow we’ll take a look at what was clearly the hit of the visit to McHenry County.