Released Chicago detainee says jail in virus chaos

A detainee who was released from Cook County Jail in Chicago on Monday described conditions inside the facility as "complete chaos" as both inmates and officers struggle to deal with the influx of coronavirus cases inside the jail.

Charles Woodhouse, 25, has asthma and was released from Cook County Jail on Monday.

"The detainees are losing their minds because they have less time to speak to their loved ones. You have people that are really contracting the disease... they don't publicize it, but some people are dying," Woodhouse said.

Since March 27, the number of detainees to test positive for COVID-19 has risen from 28 to 230. Additionally, 92 sheriff's personnel at the jail have tested positive.

Officials on Tuesday said they believe a man who was detained at the Cook County Jail has died of complications of the coronavirus. An autopsy will be conducted to determine cause of death for 59-year-old Jeffery Pendleton. It could be the first virus-related death of a detainee in the Chicago jail.

The county jail detainee, Jeffery Pendleton, was booked in July 2018 on charges of armed violence and being an armed habitual criminal, according to a sheriff's office news release. After he tested positive for the virus, he was taken to Stroger Hospital on March 30 and died there Sunday.

He is the third in Illinois to die of COVID-19 while incarcerated. The Stateville prison in Joliet, where the virus has infected 95 inmates and 24 staff members, has reported two deaths of unnamed inmates, a man in his 50s on March 30 and a man in his 60s on Sunday.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.