The Chicago Tribune today reports that a Menard inmate was found dead in his cell at 5.10am on Saturday. Foul play is suspected. I have it from another source that he was strangled by his cellie. This happened in the segregation unit and no other part of the prison was put on lockdown. Perhaps Stateville could learn from that!!! The dead man is Joshua Daczewitz, 22.

Also reported is the fact that a former CO at Stateville, Steven King, 26 of Chicago, was given nearly 4 years in prison for his role in smuggling crack cocaine to be distributed to inmates. He would have got longer but he'd cooperated with investigators.

Rose

My heart goes out to his family. They sure didn't waste anytime getting rid of his information on the IDOC website. Despite whatever crime he did to put himself in prison, he certainly didn't have to die there--expecially at the hands of another inmate. Him and his family will certainly be in my prayers.

Illinois Department of Corrections officials on Tuesday were investigating the possible strangulation of an Arlington Heights man over the weekend in his cell at the Menard Correctional Center.

Joshua Daczewitz, 22, was found dead about 5:10 a.m. Saturday in the cell he shared with another inmate, according to Sergio Molina, spokesman for the Department of Corrections.

Randolph County Deputy Coroner Randy Dudenbostel said Tuesday that Daczewitz died as a result of foul play, but would not release any specific information.

"[Daczewitz] was in a cell with a cellmate, and we think there was foul play," Dudenbostel said. "There was not an actual weapon like a knife or gun."

Daczewitz's lawyer, James Reilley, said the family was told Daczewitz had been strangled and his body found in his bunk.

Daczewitz was serving a 7-year term for residential arson and robbery. He had recently been transferred from the minimum-security Vienna Correctional Center to a segregation unit in maximum-security Menard because of an unspecified rule violation, Molina said.

"A Corrections Department team was called in to investigate Daczewitz's death, said Molina, who would not release other details.

It was the second inmate death in three months at Menard. Charles Platcher, 31, of McHenry County, died at the prison Dec. 25. He was serving a 40-year sentence for the fatal stabbing of his mother in 2001.

The cause of Platcher's death is still under investigation, officials said.

Daczewitz pleaded guilty July 23 to setting a fire in a friend's home in Palatine. Authorities said Daczewitz set fire to clothes in the basement to cover up an attempt to steal marijuana. The Jan. 14, 2003, fire caused more than $100,000 in damage.

Daczewitz also pleaded guilty to robbery in connection with a March 2002 holdup at a Des Plaines snack shop. Daczewitz was the driver of the getaway car, according to Reilley.

The news of Daczewitz's death left his family devastated and angry, Reilley said. His mother was notified Saturday afternoon in a phone call from a guard at Menard who offered no details, Reilley said.

"The family hasn't been told anything--that's the part that hurts," Reilley said. "They just want some closure."

Reilley said Daczewitz was an example of "a young guy who got involved in using drugs and went out and hung with the wrong people." Most of the time, Daczewitz worked at the doughnut shop his family operates in Palatine, Riley said.

Molina said prison officials attempt to take issues such as compatibility and aggression levels into consideration when housing inmates.


Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune

Former Stateville guard gets 46 months in prison Wednesday March 03, 2004 CHICAGO (AP) A former Stateville Correctional Center guard has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for conspiring with an alleged drug dealer to provide crack cocaine to an undercover FBI mole.

Steven King received a break at sentencing in return for his cooperation in a federal investigation that uncovered drug dealing at the maximum security prison in Joliet.

The former guard faced up to seven years in prison. Prosecutors agreed to a sentence of three years and 10 months when King pleaded guilty in October.

U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo agreed to the deal Tuesday. He said King's conduct made a mockery of the criminal justice system.

In his signed plea agreement, King admitted he repeatedly set up drug deals for a female guard at Stateville. Unknown to him, she was an undercover mole for the FBI and was taping their conversations. Her name was not revealed.

According to the plea agreement, King admitted to the undercover mole that he had distributed drugs inside the prison at one time but no longer wanted to do so.

King is one of three former Stateville guards charged in the ongoing investigation. Another has already admitted being a member of the Gangster Disciples street gang and a female ex-guard acknowledged she distributed drugs inside Stateville and engaged in sex with inmates.


(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

omg , u scared me , i have family there ,

its sad , i agree , u would think seg , meant seg , overcrowding is makin sed a non sed deal !!

Thanks, Lizzie, for posting the articles. I've yet to learn how to do that!!!

Rose

No problem Rose.

Can anyone help with this..........
Im looking for a Birthday Cake picture/drawing that I can cut out and send with seperate cut out candles-
Any other Brithday ideas?

Liz

Ill start a new thread with this quest for help....

Apparently, the two Seg cellies got into a heated argument the end result being that one guy strangled the other -- and then just went to sleep! The dead man was found the next morning when breakfast trays came around.

I didn't even realize they doubled up the Seg cells.

I heard a rumor that huge lockdowns with massive, all-institution shakedowns will be limited this year due to budget constraints. But, they're still looking for a lockdown just before they go from inside to outside rec in the spring which WILL be a full-scale shakedown of all cells.

Nobody knows. Rumors, rumors, rumors...

Can someone explain the inside/outside rec change to me because Tony still gets outside rec? He has done throughout winter. What has changed is the fact that he gets an EXTRA rec session during winter, the use of the gym. Is this unusual, are they supposed to get both or just one or the other?

Doubling up in seg is very common at Menard, as in the other max prisons, or at least, that's what I've ubderstood from others.

Rose

Rose-
D's schedule runs like this-
He gets yard Mon. am., Wed. pm, Fri. am. and Sun am. He says he gets gym on Thursday pm. - winter only. The morning hours spent trying to stay unfrozen!! But worth it to get outside!
I dont understand either.
Glad your feeling a little better now!

Now, see, that's twice the number of yard sessions that Tony gets, winter or summer, and they're both in Menard. He gets gym on Frid. am, one yard session on Wednesday but I'm not sure of the second. I suppose it could be something to do with him, being in PC. I'll have to ask him when I'm there, don't like not knowing these things!!!

Thanks for your good wishes, although I don't know if I deserve them. The headache was a migraine brought on by red wine - I just know I shouldn't touch a drop but I do, occassionally. Self inflicted, I'm afraid.

Rose

Yeah, D's been real good for a while with no incidences--and he isnt in PC. Guess that may explain it. But who knows the ways of the IDOC. Nothing ever makes much sense....otherwise that pig would be flying past the window!

Ouch-the ol' self inflicted headache-helps short term but sure makes the next day hell!

Now, see, that's twice the number of yard sessions that Tony gets, winter or summer, and they're both in Menard. He gets gym on Frid. am, one yard session on Wednesday but I'm not sure of the second. I suppose it could be something to do with him, being in PC. I'll have to ask him when I'm there, don't like not knowing these things!!!

Thanks for your good wishes, although I don't know if I deserve them. The headache was a migraine brought on by red wine - I just know I shouldn't touch a drop but I do, occassionally. Self inflicted, I'm afraid.

Rose
Ill add a little feedback to that since the population is so big in prison they usually set schedules for yard/gym/library etc... in mimimum security its either 2 yards a day or 2 gyms depending the unit schedule library is twice a week at certain times and they can only go at their unit scheduled time

I'm back from my visit. Jim's rec schedule is that during the winter months, he goes to the gym every other day during the week for two hours, and on Saturdays and Sundays for two hours, he goes outside so he can run the track. In the spring months (what I refer to as outside rec), he goes outside every day; or maybe Monday-Saturday; not sure about Sunday. The inside rec periods alternate between the two gyms. As for library or the law library, he just has to put in for a pass, but he seldom does because it's a pain.

Thanks, jims, Tony's never had that much time outside since he's been in gen pop, not even before he went to PC. Must be the security level. And I won't say on an open forum what I think of that!!!

Rose