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Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan tried to delay today's scheduled release of a report on two alleged beatings of prisoners at the Cook County Jail in 1999 and 2000 as well as overall conditions at the jail. Attorneys for Sheahan and lead investigator Thomas Hett declined comment after Wednesday's closed-door hearing, but the report's release is still scheduled for this afternoon, so apparently Sheahan either lost or will get only a few hours' advance peek at the report. Hett, a retired Cook County judge, was appointed by Criminal Court Presiding Judge Paul Biebel to lead a grand jury investigation of conditions at the jail after prisoners accused correctional officers of two large-scale beatings of prisoners. Sources said the report will find fault with Sheahan's office in the 1999 alleged beating, both for the officers' alleged actions and for the Sheahan administration's handling of the charges afterward. The investigation reportedly finds arguments for both sides being at fault in the 2000 confrontation. Prisoners have filed civil suits in both cases and Sheahan has accused the prisoners of setting up the confrontations in order to win civil verdicts against his office. The Cook County Board has approved millions of dollars in settlements over the years with prisoners who say Sheahan's correctional officers have beaten them up. Sheahan has complained that Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine's office settles too many of those cases and should fight more of them. In the weeks leading up to today's scheduled release of the report, Sheahan has criticized Hett's credentials, saying that a federal informant said a now dead mob-connected politician called Hett a "player." Hett, who was highly rated by bar associations as a judge, has denied the charge. Sheahan's attorneys requested Wednesday's closed-door hearing before Biebel to argue that they should be able to see the 100-plus page report before it is released today so that Sheahan could respond to charges against employees in his office named in the report, said Sheahan spokeswoman Sally Daly. Biebel said the report and Wednesday's deliberations were still part of the grand jury proceeding and so were not open to the public. He and the attorneys present at the two-hour hearing in his chambers Wednesday afternoon declined to answer any questions about it. Two former prison guards who back up the prisoners' account of the alleged 2000 mass beating have filed their own civil lawsuit against Sheahan's office, saying they were targeted for harassment after coming forward.