Illinois Department of Corrections officials on Tuesday were investigating the possible strangulation of an Arlington Heights man over the weekend in his cell at the Menard Correctional Center.
Joshua Daczewitz, 22, was found dead about 5:10 a.m. Saturday in the cell he shared with another inmate, according to Sergio Molina, spokesman for the Department of Corrections.
Randolph County Deputy Coroner Randy Dudenbostel said Tuesday that Daczewitz died as a result of foul play, but would not release any specific information.
“[Daczewitz] was in a cell with a cellmate, and we think there was foul play,” Dudenbostel said. “There was not an actual weapon like a knife or gun.”
Daczewitz’s lawyer, James Reilley, said the family was told Daczewitz had been strangled and his body found in his bunk.
Daczewitz was serving a 7-year term for residential arson and robbery. He had recently been transferred from the minimum-security Vienna Correctional Center to a segregation unit in maximum-security Menard because of an unspecified rule violation, Molina said.
“A Corrections Department team was called in to investigate Daczewitz’s death, said Molina, who would not release other details.
It was the second inmate death in three months at Menard. Charles Platcher, 31, of McHenry County, died at the prison Dec. 25. He was serving a 40-year sentence for the fatal stabbing of his mother in 2001.
The cause of Platcher’s death is still under investigation, officials said.
Daczewitz pleaded guilty July 23 to setting a fire in a friend’s home in Palatine. Authorities said Daczewitz set fire to clothes in the basement to cover up an attempt to steal marijuana. The Jan. 14, 2003, fire caused more than $100,000 in damage.
Daczewitz also pleaded guilty to robbery in connection with a March 2002 holdup at a Des Plaines snack shop. Daczewitz was the driver of the getaway car, according to Reilley.
The news of Daczewitz’s death left his family devastated and angry, Reilley said. His mother was notified Saturday afternoon in a phone call from a guard at Menard who offered no details, Reilley said.
“The family hasn’t been told anything–that’s the part that hurts,” Reilley said. “They just want some closure.”
Reilley said Daczewitz was an example of “a young guy who got involved in using drugs and went out and hung with the wrong people.” Most of the time, Daczewitz worked at the doughnut shop his family operates in Palatine, Riley said.
Molina said prison officials attempt to take issues such as compatibility and aggression levels into consideration when housing inmates.
