Judge is reassigned after video shows her forcing child into lockup
A judge in Chicago has been reassigned to administrative duties after a video showed her placing a child in a holding cell behind her courtroom.
The Cook County judge, Jackie Portman-Brown, has been reassigned pending a meeting of the court’s executive committee, report WGN 9, the Chicago Tribune and NBC 5. All three news outlets received a video of the incident though the Freedom of Information Act.
The child appears to be about 6 to 8 years old and was held for about 10 minutes Feb. 19, the publications report.
The girl is thought to be a relative who was locked up after Portman-Brown gave her a lecture about bad behavior, WGN reports.
Sources told WGN that Portman-Brown originally told courtroom deputies to lock the child up. When they refused, Portman-Brown did it herself.
A sheriff’s deputy who locked the door to the lockup stayed to talk to the girl. An unidentified woman who entered Portman-Brown’s courtroom with the child also checked on her.
Portman-Brown and the unidentified woman left the courtroom with the child after the incident.
The sheriff’s deputy who stayed with the child and another deputy shown on the video have also been assigned to administrative duties pending an investigation.
