Jason Van Dyke Beaten In Cell After Prison Move: Reports

CHICAGO, IL -- Ex-Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke was beaten last week in his prison cell after being transferred from an Illinois state correctional facility to a federal prison in Danbury, Conn., news reports say. His family claims they were unaware that Van Dyke had been handed over to federal authorities. Van Dyke, 40, was being held in isolation in an undisclosed Illinois prison prior to his transfer.

Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for the October 2014 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Van Dyke was arrested following the release of a police dash-cam video that showed the white police officer shooting the black teen 16 times, who was reportedly breaking into trucks with a pocketknife. The release of the video ignited racial tensions and protests throughout the city.

The ex-Chicago police officer was sentenced last month to 81 months in prison, which McDonald’s family members and community activists felt was too lenient. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Special Prosecutor Joe McMahon announced they would be challenging the legal reasoning of the sentence in the Illinois Supreme Court. If successful, the move could lengthen Van Dyke’s sentence.

During his sentencing hearing on Jan. 18, Van Dyke’s wife, Tiffany, said she was petrified for her husband’s safety in the prison system.

The attack reportedly occurred about three hours after Van Dyke was transferred to the Connecticut prison on Feb. 5, sources told WGN. Van Dyke was transferred to the Rock Island County Jail near the Illinois-Iowa border to await sentencing as a high-profile detainee. Immediately following his sentencing, Van Dyke was taken to an undisclosed Illinois prison before being turned over last week to federal prison authorities.

Tiffany Van Dyke told the Chicago Sun-Times that her husband had been moved into the general population at the federal which was never supposed to happen. She wants the situation “rectified immediately.” Details about the attack were not immediately available.

FCI Danbury is a low-security federal correctional institution, with an adjacent low security satellite prison and a minimum security satellite camp, according to the prison's website. The prison is about an hour from New York City and houses 1,040 inmates.

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