A sign pleading for help hangs in a window at the Cook County jail complex on April 09, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. With nearly 400 cases of COVID-19 having been diagnosed among the inmates and employees, the jail is nation’s largest-known source of c …
CHICAGO - A third inmate at a Chicago jail under court order to reduce the spread of the coronavirus died after testing positive for COVID-19, officials said.
Nicholas Lee died Sunday at Stroger Hospital in Chicago, six days after he was hospitalized, the Cook County sheriff’s department said. Officials suspect he died of cardiac arrest, but a cause of death won’t be determined until an autopsy is conducted.
Lee was one of 306 inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19 and the third detainee with the virus to die in about a week. The sheriff’s department said that 218 employees also have tested positive, 181 of which are correctional officers.
At the time of his death, Lee was being held without bail on felony charges of unlawful use of a weapon, armed robbery and aggravated battery of a peace officer that stemmed from an October 2016 incident.
A federal judge last week ordered the jail to take prompt action to stem the spread of the virus, including by ensuring inmates have access to adequate soap and water. Sheriff Tom Dart, whose office runs the jail that houses more than 4,000 detainees, has said his office had already taken all but one of the steps the judge ordered.
Also last week, the family of Jeffery Pendelton, the first detainee to die at the jail, filed a federal lawsuit alleging that his treatment in the days before his death was unconstitutional.