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| Officials Say Ill. Jail Riot Was Planned |
| By Daily Herald |
| Published: 06/25/2003 |
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Five inmates involved in a Sunday night riot inside the maximum-security cellblock of the Kane County jail planned to attack corrections staff for days, if not weeks, authorities said Monday. Charges were pending Monday against the group, who had all been charged with murder and had records of disciplinary problems in jail, officials said. The Kane County sheriff's office identified the inmates as Frank Aquino, 23; Anthony Butler, 22; Jovan Daniels, 26; Jesse Martinez, 22; and Sherman Shamley, 23. Martinez was convicted in 2001 of shooting three people and killing another in 1999 at the Howard Johnson motel in North Aurora. He is currently seeking a new trial. The other four inmates are awaiting trial. The melee began about 6:30 p.m. as a corrections officer and nurse medicated an inmate, authorities said. As the two attended to one prisoner, another in an adjacent cell grabbed the corrections officer's hair through bars, said Chief of Adult Corrections Todd Exline. A third tried to grab the nurse, but she pulled free, Exline said. The officer broke away from the inmate and radioed for help but became backed up against a wall at the cellblock's end, said Kane County Undersheriff Daniel W. Schindlbeck. The inmates then threw excrement and soap on her until other corrections officers were able to get her out. According to Exline, the fact that five had saved up cups of feces and urine suggest the attack was premeditated. 'I don't think anyone keeps that lying around just for anything,' Exline said. The inmates then took a defensive posture, wrapping sheets and towels over their mouths and noses, assuming they would be blasted with tear gas, he said. They also smeared soap and excrement on the walkway floor and set paper on fire, possibly with matches, to hinder responding officers, police said. A tactical team was brought in to subdue the inmates, authorities said. The officer first involved had to change her uniform but was not seriously hurt. 'She kept her cool and she did everything she was supposed to do,' Exline said. Although the incident is still under investigation, authorities believe the inmates intended to hold the officer captive, although the motive is unclear. 'I think we can assume if they were attempting to take the corrections officer as a hostage, they were probably trying to negotiate some type of deal,' Schindlbeck said. Authorities are looking at their procedures to see if there is anything that needs to be changed, but said everything done Sunday abided by those policies. The jail has remained on lockdown since and will remain that way for an undetermined amount of time, Sheriff Ken Ramsey said. The five prisoners were the only ones in the cellblock, which consisted of five cells in one row across from the day room, Exline said. Two cells had two people inside, and the third held the one inmate who grabbed the officer's hair. Overcrowding at the jail, a short-staffed corrections team and poorly designed cellblocks contributed to the riot, authorities said. In past years, the department has been at odds with the county board in securing more resources. County board members are currently discussing plans to expand the jail. 'All we want is a safer environment for the officers and a safer environment for the inmates,' Exline said. |
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