:(

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS MAN'S DEATH DETAILED

By Richard Wronski
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 13, 2004

CHESTER, Ill. -- A Menard Correctional Center inmate used a braided bedsheet to strangle the Arlington Heights man with whom he shared a cell in February, an Illinois investigator testified Wednesday.

Corey L. Fox told investigators that he strangled Joshua Dascewitz, 22, on Feb. 28 because he was "tired of having a cellmate," John Schweighart, an internal security investigator with the Illinois Department of Corrections, said during a coroner's inquest.

The two men had been paired together in a segregation unit in the maximum-security portion of Menard since December, he testified. There was no indication they were not getting along, he said.

But immediately before the killing, Fox told investigators, he punched Dascewitz in the mouth for smoking a cigarette in the cell, Schweighart testified.

A Randolph County coroner's jury ruled Dascewitz's death a homicide after the hourlong inquest, the first public detailing of the death.

Fox has not yet been charged in Dascewitz's slaying, according to Assistant State's Atty. Mike Burke.

"He's not going anywhere," Burke said.

Fox, 28, had been at the Menard facility since 2001, serving a life sentence for a Madison County murder, according to the Department of Corrections Web site. He has since been moved to the so-called supermaximum-security prison at Tamms.

Dascewitz was serving a 7-year term for residential arson and robbery after pleading guilty last July 23 in Cook County Circuit Court.

Fox told investigators he strangled Dascewitz with a sheet braided like a rope, then flushed the sheet down the toilet, Schweighart testified.

Corrections officers found Dascewitz's body in his bunk after Fox passed a note to a guard telling him that his cellmate was dead. Fox later wrote his sister a letter describing the death, officials said.

Fox was described as weighing 165 to 170 pounds, and Dascewitz weighed more than 200 pounds. Dascewitz's body showed extensive trauma, including cuts, bruises and hemorrhaging, Deputy Coroner Randy Dudenbostel testified.

Dascewitz was originally sent to the minimum-security Vienna Correctional Center but was transferred to Menard because of an unspecified rules violation.

His arson charge stemmed from an incident Jan. 14, 2003, at a friend's home in Palatine. Authorities said Dascewitz set fire to clothing in the basement to cover up an attempt to steal marijuana. The fire caused more than $100,000 in damage.

The other charge involved a March 2002 holdup at a Des Plaines snack shop in which Dascewitz drove the getaway car.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0405130122may13,1,1265597.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed

This happens more often than we think. Being in such close quarters, under unbelievable conditions, people breakdown. I wou.d be interested in knowing if the family of the young man who lost his life had any inkling what was going on with their boy. If they did, we'll probably never know. To loose your child to prison and then lose him in prison is a hell I pray more parents will be spared. No one gains. We all lose.

My question is why would you pair those two in a cell together? Wouldn't you want two individuals with more in common than that. My meaning is their sentencing for the time being, was way off. I would think you would put two short timers together and two long timers together, so they are able to have more in common and maybe this is a little girly on my part but when times get hard they have someone to talk to that can relate to them better. Doing time is hard, but when you have a life sentence in front of you it can be harder then knowing your out date.
You should never keep two people in a cell that long together anyway. That would drive anyone to craziness.
How do you flush down a bedsheet even if it is braided and aren't the guards watching these men? Wouldn't you notice someone braiding a bedsheet and even if he tries to conceal it wouldn't you notice a bedsheet missing since they count everything in their cells? There are too many unanswered questions to this.
I can understand how one individual could strangle another even with the weight difference, especially if one individual was asleep and was strangled then.
What in the hell kind of rules violation can have you moved to Menard? All rules violations I am aware of that would have you moved to Menard involve being charged with another crime.
An old friend of mine got transferred to Menard, but that is after he was charged with assaulting a CO and was given more time.
Why would a man who killed another man send out a letter about killing him?
This all seems very fake. I think a CO got carried away in beating this prisoner and to cover it all up they have created this story that the cellmate killed him. This is bull****, does anyone else agree?

Just to clarify in the last part of that response. I don't believe anyone should be beat for any reason, especially not these men. So please disregard the carried away part. One guard beat that man to death or maybe more than one guard and I really believe this to be a cover up job completely.

I'd be very careful what you say about COs in an open forum if I were you, you must know this is monitored and, when you accuse someone in this way, you are leaving yourself wide open for legal action.

This young man was sent to Menard because he was in segregation. This happened in the seg unit. It's very common for people who break the rules and get sent to seg to then be transferred to Menard. It's believed, but by no means sure, that this youngster got a ticket because of drugs. And there are a lot of guys in minimum/medium security who end up in Menard seg for that reason.

Word from the seg unit on the day said this happened in exactly the way it's stated. There should be an inquiry as to why this young man was put with someone known to be violent and why he wasn't checked more often but we all know this won't happen. There's a question mark over the whole incident but to say the guards beat and killed this young man is very dangerous without any proof whatsoever.

We all have to be aware this site is monitored and, for that reason, watch what we say. Some things are best said in pms, not in an open forum.

Rose

Very well said Rose. My own experience with seg. confirms everything that you have just said. I needn't say more.

Well I can't believe they put two men in one of those cells. I could be wrong, but I thought they were using the smaller cells (!) for Seg. It's bad enough they have two men in the larger (!) cells. Plus, isn't the whole meaning of segregation to be segregated from other inmates? I also heard they took down the bars and put up solid doors in the Seg units. Again, it could just be one of the rumors. I also heard that anyone receiving a 6-month Seg sentence or more gets sent from Menard to Pontiac. I just have to wonder if the inmate who was killed was sent to the Menard Seg unit for offending a CO, being verbally assaultive. I could see him getting sent to Menard for a drug violation, but if he were a coopertive inmate otherwise, I can't see him being put into a cell with a violent offender.

I don't think we'll ever be privy to all that goes on in a maximum security prison, or even to anything but the administration's version of the "truth." Like the government in general, the public only hears what they want us to hear. And who is going to challenge them?

jims...

Some of the cells in seg are two-man. Tony's in alone but that's because when he got taken there they looked at him and said 'Death Row - single cell.' And believe me, he's not objecting to that!! I don't know what sort of door he has this time, but last year when he did 60 days he was pleased to have the bar type, saying he could see trees and grass, something he'd not been able to see on a regular basis for many a year.

As for going to Pontiac, well, I'm not sure. I do know Pontiac's just segregation, protective custody and Death Row but I don't know of anyone who's been sent there from Menard.

Rose

I have no knowledge of segregation or anything like that. But I, personally find this story to be just terrible. Can't something be done to more insure the safety of inmates? Just like out here, they should have the right to not live in fear, no matter what they may have done. Like I said, its just terrible.

I also heard that anyone receiving a 6-month Seg sentence or more gets sent from Menard to Pontiac.

I can confirm that isn't accurate... JD originally got 6 months which is what got him transferred TO Menard... but he then got an additional 2 years seg time and then another 6 months seg time and he has remained at Menard...

There are cells in seg that are 2-man and ones that are 1-man... and there are both solid steel doors and some barred cells.... JD was "behind the door" for awhile... I guess that's even worse-- you can't see anyone and he was around a lot of the more "problematic" guys-- who he said were always yelling/pounding on their doors, flooding their cells, etc....

I thought it was so sad when Tony wrote last year that he could see trees and grass. I was glad he'd been given one of the barred cells as his 19 years on the Row was behind the steel doors, and the same in PC. Can you imagine living like that for so long and he said, much like JD, that during his 19 years it was never quiet, there were guys banging on doors and yelling 24/7???

Mrs Barnes, there is no safety inside the walls, something most of us know from bitter experience, it shouldn't be so, but it is and nobody gives a damn!!!

Rose

Just for the record, the dead inmate's name is spelled Joshua Daczewitz. The Chicago Tribune is correcting the error.

Thank you for that, RDW!!

Rose

D is in for life and the majority of other guys he has been in a cell with (either in Menard or another prison) have been short timers. And it DOES wear on them if they are not compatible to be in such close quarters for the amount of time they are behind the bars. Im not sure if I could handle it myself. I guess in time you learn to shut another out...but still.

Tony's having a real hard time adjusting to life in general population after being on the Row for 19 years and being totally isolated. They have paired most ex-Row guys together but, because of other issues that I won't go into on an open forum, it's not worked out for Tony. He had to be put into protective custody after just a few months in gen.pop. and you all know how that turned out recently!!

Rose

Lizzi... I think you mentioning "compatibility" is KEY!! No matter HOW much time one has to serve... whether they get along with their celly and whether they respect boundaries in the same way.... that's the key....

Although I DO believe that the DOC will at times place people together to set them up... I know there was a time in the past-- back when JD was very young.... and had a VERY hard time adjusting to an adult max facility when he first transferred from juvenile that he was QUITE the problem child!! There was a time when they told him they were going to put someone in a cell with him (in seg) and he told them they should NOT do that as he could NOT handle it.... They not only put someone in there-- they put someone in the cell that they KNEW he would have problems with!! It didn't go well at all... but they got what they wanted in a sense... because they got to keep JD in seg a LOT longer after that!!!

I believe there are times when it's intentional... and times when it is not... but when issues could be prevented if the DOC would look at certain things. I know there's been a lot of rumors on the inside about the fact that there were many CO's who were "against" the guy who ended up dying.... Who knows how much of it is true.... I don't think we will ever know...

It is so easy to blame DOC for such incidents.... but in the end that other man is responsible for what he did.... But when such tragedies occur.... I hope and pray that the DOC does look hard at what may be done to prevent it from happening again!!

How can a CO know a threat will be carried out? People say things, they don't always act on them.

I almost commented on this, but this thread is almost 5 yrs old.....

Stacy

A suit was just settled regarding this situation. There is current information on the internet regarding the outcome.