VINCENT BORN

CHICAGO SUN TIMES

KANE SUED OVER INMATE PRESCRIPTION OVERDOSE

By David Gialanella Staff Writer
June 15, 2007

GENEVA -- With a lawsuit recently filed by the family of convicted murderer Vincent Born -- who died of a prescription-drug overdose a year ago while incarcerated in Kane County Jail -- medication distribution remains a paramount security issue inside the county's correctional facility, officials say.

Born's mother, Vickie, filed a wrongful-death suit this week against the Kane County Sheriff's Department, former Sheriff Ken Ramsey, current Sheriff Pat Perez and a former jail guard who was disciplined and eventually fired for his alleged misconduct in the incident.

Born, who already had served 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on a murder conviction, was in jail awaiting sentencing on a robbery conviction.

He had been hoarding his medication, intended as a treatment for his bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses, and may have been selling the pills to other inmates, authorities said.

The 41-year-old Elgin resident -- whose criminal history included multiple felony charges and convictions -- was pronounced dead on May 31, 2006, at Delnor Community Hospital in Geneva after overdosing on the medication and complicating an existing heart condition.

Authorities say Corrections Officer Jose Rivera, 26, of Batavia, may have tipped certain inmates off that cells were to be raided, prompting Born to swallow the pills he'd been hoarding and subjecting him to several hundred times the normal dosage for the antidepressant drugs. Rivera was convicted by the Sheriff's Merit Commission of insubordination and misconduct and subsequently was fired by the county.

Medication distribution has been a hot topic at the jail since the incident, according to Perez, with officials taking special care to make sure inmates actually ingest the pills rather than spit them out and save them in a stash.

"How we're distributing (medication), we've done our best to tighten it up," Perez said.

Perez said the layout and direct-supervision style of corrections at the county's new facility -- under construction on Route 38 adjacent to the criminal courthouse -- will better lend itself to safeguarding against prescription drug hoarding.

"It' going to be a more open environment," Perez said. "The corrections officers are going to be in there with (inmates) full time" instead of behind a glass door, he said.

The new jail is scheduled to open in a little more than a year.

HABIB SOLEBO

INTELLIGENCE REPORT: DEAD INMATE SOUGHT MEDICAL ATTENTION

Chuck Goudie, Chief Investigative Reporter
ABC 7 News

May 1, 2007 - The Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago was locked down for several hours Tuesday while officials investigated the death of an inmate. The body of 23-year-old Habib Solebo was found during routine bed checks. ABC7 investigative reporter Chuck Goudie has learned the inmate had been trying to get medical attention for a mysterious health problem. Habib Yori Solebo had been locked up for more than a year awaiting trial on heroin trafficking charges. His codefendant was recently acquitted in the same case federal case. But the 23-year-old Solebo will never have a chance to see justice because he is dead from a serious medical condition that his lawyer says the Bureau of Prisons did little to address.

When Habib Solebo was found dead in his cell at the Metro Correctional Center Tuesday, it had been at least 10 months since prison officials, prosecutors and the court had been notified that he had been suffering from seizures.

Solebo's medical condition had become of such concern that his lawyer filed a plea for help from a federal judge, last December asking prison officials for an expeditious transport of Solebo to a non-prison medical facility for a neurological exam to determine the cause of his seizures and blackouts. Federal Judge Ruben Castillo agreed with the request and granted it.

But exactly what was done to check and treat the seizures is unclear. Solebo's attorney Keri Ambrosio tells the I-Team that she was never informed he ever left the MCC for medical attention, nor was she informed that he died there Tuesday. Ambrosio says she found out he was dead while working on another case.

During the prison investigation, some Dirksen courtrooms were empty Tuesday because inmates were not allowed to leave the federal lockup for their appearances.

In a statement released late Tuesday afternoon, US Bureau of Prison officials said, the "vital functions of Mr. Solebo were not present" when he was found Tuesday morning. In an additional statement, they told the I-Team that the "staff at the MCC Chicago make every effort to provide appropriate care for inmates...and to comply with all court orders...relating to medical treatment."

Federal authorities say that Solebo was taken out of the MCC for medical treatment a week ago and that it wasn't the first time he had been taken out of the facility to see a doctor. Regardless, the accused heroin dealer is dead, and after an autopsy Tuesday night the Cook County medical examiner said the official cause of death was "seizure disorder."

PAUL WENZEL

MURDER SUSPECT FOUND HANGED

Inmate was held in fatal stabbing

Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
By Karen Mellen
Tribune staff reporter
April 27, 2004

A man accused of fatally stabbing his girlfriend apparently hanged himself with bedding in the Will County jail as other inmates in his wing were cleaning their cells, officials said Monday.

Paul Wenzel, 38, whose last address was a room next to his girlfriend's beauty shop on Lincoln Highway in Plainfield, was taken to Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet about 8:30 a.m. Sunday after guards found him unresponsive, said Pat Barry, a Will County Sheriff's Department spokesman.

Wenzel was pronounced dead at 12:17 a.m. Monday in the hospital's intensive care unit, the Will County coroner's office said. An autopsy found that he died from a lack of oxygen to the brain, and the office said the death appeared to be a suicide as officials found no indications of foul play.

Barry said Wenzel hanged himself in a sitting position but provided no further details out of concern that others might try the same approach.

Barry said officers did not find a note, nor did Wenzel exhibit any change in behavior, such as trouble sleeping or eating, to indicate he was a suicide risk.

He was not on a suicide watch, but was in an individual cell for disciplinary reasons, which included disobeying orders, Barry said.

Wenzel was a suspect in his girlfriend's death when he was taken into custody in late January on a parole violation and burglary charges, and Barry said he received a psychiatric evaluation then.

Wenzel saw a nurse about a week ago, for reasons Barry did not know, and no mental health issues were raised at that time, he said.

Wenzel's girlfriend, Maria Elena Ibarra, 37, of Joliet was found stabbed to death in her shop, Great Looks by Maria Elena, on Jan. 21. Police said Wenzel stole her car and credit cards.

On April 8, the Will County state's attorney announced murder charges against him in Ibarra's death. Prosecutors had not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.

An official of a prison watchdog group said Monday that there ought to be more psychiatric screenings of inmates during stressful times, such as when charges are upgraded or after they are found guilty.

"Even though it's not really required, it's good practice," said Charles Fasano, director of the prisons and jails program at the John Howard Association in Chicago.

Will County faces two wrongful death lawsuits for suicides at the jail in 2001 that family members said could have been prevented if staff had more closely watched the men. The lawsuits stem from the suicides of Mark Barnes, 19, who had been treated at Tinley Park Mental Health Center before being incarcerated, and Lawrence Kut, 52, who had tried to kill himself while in the presence of Naperville police.

Will County State's Atty. Jeff Tomczak said he directed the private attorney hired to defend the county in those cases to review Wenzel's apparent suicide to determine whether jail policies need to be changed.

Wenzel showed no outward signs he was suicidal, Barry said, adding that with about 500 inmates, it would be impractical to repeat psychiatric screenings without an indication of something wrong.

"If you don't have any indication [of suicidal thoughts], and somebody is bound and determined, they will find a way to do it," Barry said.

Jail staff opened Wenzel's cell door about 8 a.m. Sunday because the inmates in that unit were cleaning their cells, Barry said. When guards checked on him about 30 minutes later, they found him unresponsive, jail officials said.

Ibarra's relatives said they were stunned by the death, coming so soon after murder charges were filed. Suzanne Ibarra of Joliet said her sister-in-law wanted to end the relationship and she believes that triggered the attack. "We would have hoped that he would have stood trial as a man and faced what he is being accused of," she said.

Suzanne Ibarra said her 8-year-old son, who considered his aunt his second mother, feels cheated because he will not have the chance to tell Wenzel how deeply he hurt the family.

"Our family never realized how much violence there was in the world, until this," Ibarra said. "You think it's only you. And you hear it [murder cases] on the news every day. We pray for those other families every day because there's a new family every day."

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