Detainee dies of apparent suicide in Cook County Jail

A detainee died of an apparent suicide Sunday evening at Cook County Jail on the Southwest Side.

The 30-year-old man was found unresponsive from an apparent suicide about 6 p.m. in his cell in Division IX, according to Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Matt Walberg.

Correctional officers and medical staff immediately began life-saving measures, Walberg said. He was taken by paramedics to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he died at 7:05 p.m.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office said autopsy results were pending Monday afternoon. He lived in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side, the medical examiner’s office said.

Walberg declined to say if the man was on suicide watch, or had made attempted suicide in the past.

He was being held in the 2600 block of South California in Division IX, a wing described by the sheriff’s office website as a “super maximum security” building that holds more than 1,000 detainees.

Cook County Corrections notified the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force to respond to conduct a death investigation, Illinois State Police spokeswoman Delila Garcia said in an email. She declined to comment further.

He was being held on a $100,000 bail since Sept. 30 on a domestic battery charge, Walberg said.

At least one other detainee at Cook County Jail has died from suicide this year.

On May 8, Giovanny Gomez was found with injuries from the attempt inside his cell, and died at Mt. Sinai Hospital several days later, the sheriff’s office said at the time.

Other deaths at Cook County Jail this year include a man who died of a blood infection in February, and a 51-year-old woman who died of a drug overdose.