Jail takes heat over Drew's radio call
JOLIET — Drew Peterson can't stay out late. He has nowhere to go. But despite being all alone, he can call radio shows.
Yet Will County sheriff's police insist personnel at the county jail are not misbehaving by allowing the retired Bolingbrook police sergeant to reach out and touch broadcast listeners.
Peterson, who is being held on murder charges for the 2004 death of his third wife Kathleen Savio and has been named as a suspect in the "potential homicide" of his fourth wife, Stacy, called into a radio show Wednesday afternoon with jokes and comments about the routines of the adult detention facility on Chicago Street.
"It's become a problem for the department because people think he's getting better treatment than other inmates," sheriff's spokesman Pat Barry said. "When he's on his free time (out of his cell) in the day room by himself, he's allowed to call whoever he wants if they are collect phone calls.
"Those are the only calls he's allowed to make and that's the same policy for every other inmate."
In segregation
As a former police officer and high-profile inmate, Peterson is being kept in solitary confinement in the facility's medical unit, which is the easiest area to segregate prisoners. Behind the clear door of his 6-by-9 foot cell, Peterson has a bed, toilet, sink and shower, which faces a centralized open area where guards monitor activity from a raised command bridge.
The lighting in the center area is significantly dimmer than inside the cells so inmates "can't really see what's going on out here," a jail official said.
Peterson is allowed out of the cell for 90 minutes each day when he can sit in the common area, look through the small library of lawbooks or use a computer that does not have Internet access for legal research.
Peterson used one of a bank of phones near the chairs to call the radio station Wednesday afternoon.
"I've received four or five calls from ordinary citizens who were concerned that means he's getting special treatment, but he has not been convicted of a crime and has certain rights," Barry said, "though I have to admit we haven't had concerns with other inmates calling radio shows to develop their standup comedy routine."
Barry said he did not hear the broadcast, but talked to people who did.
"Some of the things he said were not accurate. He said he was taking showers with other inmates, but he also showers by himself since he's kept segregated," he said.
Barry said his office will continue to address any public complaints about the treatment or behavior of jail inmates.
"There's a guy charged with murder and whether he's found guilty or not, I can understand how people would be upset at his attempts to gain notoriety," he said.