Menard investigating possible homicide

<span>CHESTER -- Illinois Department of Corrections officials have said a Nov. 19 incident at Menard Correctional Center is a possible homicide.</span>

<span>The body of 34-year-old Bernard Simmons was found lying on the floor of a cell by a correctional officer conducting a routine check of the North 2 Cell House.</span>

<span>Information released by the IDOC to the media said Simmons was discovered at 9:30 p.m. during a standard tour of the cellhouse after the 9 p.m. count of inmates.</span>

<span>Tours are conducted every 20 to 30 minutes. The cell in question is a "segregation" cell, according to the IDOC.</span>

<span>The IDOC has identified a possible suspect, a 34-year-old black male serving a life sentence for murder out of Cook County who has been an inmate at Menard since 2003. He is Simmons' cellmate and his name is being withheld pending the results of a full IDOC investigation.</span>

<span>Simmons was also serving a life sentence for murder, also out of Cook County. He had been at Menard since 2010.</span>

<span>IDOC officials said two medical personnel members, as well as a lieutenant and a sergeant at the prison, were immediately summoned after Simmons was found lying on the floor of the cell.</span>

<span>The unnamed second inmate and cell were secured. Simmons was unresponsive and lifesaving attempts were unsuccessful.</span>

<span>Investigators with the IDOC and Illinois State Police arrived and the facility was placed on a Level 4 lockdown, which is the second-lightest at Menard.</span>

<span>According to the IDOC, this is the first possible homicide in an IDOC prison in 20 months and only three homicides had occurred system-wide in the past five and a half years.</span>

UPDATE:

Randolph County Coroner Randy Dudenbostel has called last week's incident a "suspicious death" and said the matter is still being investigated by the IDOC and Illinois State Police.