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player ready...At least 44 inmates and 15 guards were injured Tuesday afternoon in several fights during two outbursts in a Cook County Jail building where inmates have been kept under lockdown since an escape Thursday.
In the first eruption, some of the 350 inmates housed in four tiers of Division 5 began fighting among themselves, breaking windows and burning mattresses at 3:15 p.m., according to Sally Daly, spokeswoman for Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan. The division is one of three maximum-security buildings at the jail complex.
Hours later, a second and more violent round of fighting erupted between inmates and correctional officers.
”Officers had a problem with one of the tiers when inmates refused to go back to their cells or be handcuffed,” Sheahan said.
”We had to go in and take the tier by force,” said J.W. Fairman, director of the jail, who insisted that the melee only had been a disturbance and not a riot. ”They flat out refused to follow orders to go back to their cells.”
The second round involved 90 inmates, he said.
At a news conference after the second outburst, Sheahan said the guards were hurt when they entered Division 5 about 6:15 p.m. wearing riot gear. Inmates kicked and punched them and hit them with makeshift weapons, such as mop handles and trash cans, Sheahan said.
The sheriff said most of the guards and inmates were not seriously injured.
Thirty of the inmates were being treated at Cermak Health Services at the jail, and the rest were taken to nearby hospitals, Sheahan said.
Sheahan said the disturbances were a result of the lockdown.
Shotgun-carrying deputies and correctional officers remained outside the buildings into the night, where relatives of inmates gathered before dusk.
Information was slow to come. ”No one has told us anything but to stand here,” said Darlene Bailey, an inmate`s mother, at about 8 p.m.
Relatives who had been visiting Division 5 were asked to leave shortly after the first fights were reported.
Charles Edwards, business representative for Teamsters Local 714, was in Division 5 before the problems began. He had gone to the jail to accompany two correctional officers who were to be questioned about the recent escape.
After the meeting ended about 3:15 p.m., Edwards heard a correctional officer call in a disturbance in one tier, he said. Minutes later, another correctional officer in another tier also reported a disturbance.
Other disturbances quickly followed, Edwards said.
The lockdown order was issued after the escape of Ergodan Kurap, 39, a suspected high-ranking drug dealer with access to large sums of money.
Jail officials have been questioning inmates and correctional officers in Division 5 to see how Kurap got away.
Although inmates have received visitors and have been allowed to make phone calls, none of the 2,000 inmates in Division 5 has been allowed outdoor recreation, Daly said.
She said the division remained on lockdown because questioning still was under way and because ”there were a lot of tensions in the division.”
One probationary correctional officer has been placed on paid suspension and two other officers have been questioned about the escape, but officials have not said whether the officers played a role.
Daly said overcrowding also partly caused the disturbances. The jail has about 9,000 inmates, many of whom are members of rival gangs. Daly said inmates also are aware of media attention the escape has focused on the jail. Daly said that after the first fights, 300 to 350 inmates from the Division 5 tiers were moved to Division 1, the oldest and most secure division. Inmates were housed two to a cell overnight so that work crews could enter Division 5 to repair broken windows.
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As repairs were under way, the second wave of disturbances erupted.
One of the guards was in serious but stable condition at St. Anthony Hospital, where she was being treated for a chemical reaction she suffered after she was sprayed with flame retardant from a fire extinguisher, a hospital administrator said.
Two inmates at St. Anthony were in serious but stable condition, the administrator said. One had suffered lacerations to his head, and one was unconscious from a head injury, the administrator said.
Mt. Sinai Hospital Medical Center treated a guard and three inmates. They had suffered blunt-trauma injuries, and all were in fair condition, an administrator said.
One of those inmates had been stabbed in the forearms and beaten, the administrator said. The inmates were expected to be returned to the jail overnight, the administrator said.
Cook County Hospital received seven inmates who suffered blunt trauma during the conflicts. They were in fair condition, a hospital administrator said.
”We are dealing with violent people awaiting many years ahead of them in prison,” Sheahan said. ”Anytime you get involved with violent offenders, you`re going to get hit.”