Tiffany Van Dyke: 'I Can't Bury My Husband'

CHICAGO, IL -- The wife of ex-Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke said her worst fears were confirmed after she learned her husband was attacked in his jail cell after being transferred to an out-of-state federal prison. Tiffany Van Dyke said she found out Wednesday that her husband’s safety had been compromised at the Danbury Federal Correctional Institute in Connecticut.

“My number one fear is for my husband’s safety, that someone will get him and hurt him,” Tiffany Van Dyke said during an often tearful press conference at the office of her husband’s trial attorney. “He’s been taken to a federal institution for reasons unknown to me. I have not been allowed to speak to my husband, my children have not been allowed to speak to their father. There has been no visitation.”

Up until two days ago, Tiffany said she did not know where her husband, who was sentenced to 81 months in prison, was being housed after he was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for the October 2014 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

Tiffany Van Dyke said she received a phone call on Wednesday that “there was a group of individuals who physically harmed him."

“I don’t know if he is safe at this moment or the extent of his injuries,” she said. “He was in a state facility where he was safe. He was convicted. Everyone got what they wanted. He’s not been allowed to speak to social workers, preachers, priests. Every prisoner is afforded those rights.”

Tammy Wendt, one of Van Dyke’s co-counsel during his murder trial last fall, stated that she learned two days ago that Van Dyke had been transferred on Feb. 5 to federal custody.

“I received a call after the transfer from the Illinois Department of Corrections chief of operations. They said nothing had happened,” Wendt said. “I inquired if there was a safety issue and was told there was nothing that they could tell me as to why, but that it was a joint decision.”

The attorney was given a contact at the Danbury federal prison who she said would elaborate on a safety plan for Van Dyke and his housing at the minimum security correctional facility, but has yet to receive a phone call.

“I’ve called and left messages. I call the chief warden, and she had not returned my call,” Wendt said.

Van Dyke apparently told of the attack, which happened hours after his arrival at the federal prison, during a conference call with his appellate attorneys. The attorneys told his wife that Van Dyke could not fully explain what happened because he was handcuffed during the conference call and there was a guard standing next to him, “violating his attorney-client privileges."

"I immediately started making phone calls,” Wendt said.

A statement issued by Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an assault on Van Dyke did take place that resulted in minor injuries.

"[In] accordance with privacy concerns, Bureau of Prisons (BOP) will not disclose any further information regarding the incident. The BOP is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all inmates in our population, our staff, and the public. Accordingly, allegations of misconduct are thoroughly investigated and appropriate action is taken if such allegations are proven true, including the possibility of referral for criminal prosecution when appropriate."

Wendt says she was contacted by an employee at the federal prison. She stated she could not reveal who the informant was because it was a confidential phone call. The employee/informant said he was “very concerned about Jason’s safety.”

“He searched us out,” Wendt said. “He needed to let us know that Jason’s safety was at risk … he indicated to me many things that are going on there that I won’t elaborate on, but most important this man came forward to advise us of this attack when no one else would.”

Although the federal prison where Van Dyke is currently being housed is considered a low to minimum security prison, Wendt added the inmates are “gang bangers” and violent offenders on the last leg of serving out their sentences.

“To put a police officer whose spent his entire career locking up bad guys in with these bad guys, it doesn’t take a genius to know that it’s obviously going to get him in trouble,” Wendt said

Van Dyke’s lead counsel Dan Herbert said they didn’t know if the attack on former police officer occurred with any “malice aforethought by the guards," or if was a “mistake or misunderstanding.” The mentality of some members of the public is that they won’t rest unless his client is killed in prison or given a life sentence, Herbert said.

“Quite frankly, we’re not to concerned about the reason, we just want to make sure the end result is that it doesn’t occur again,” he added.

Wendt said they knew the attack was because of Van Dyke's case and that it wasn’t random.

“The informant told me."

Since the beating, Van Dyke has been segregated from the federal prison’s general population 23 hours a day in a section called “the shoe,” where inmates are sent to be punished.

“He’s not afforded any time out,” Tiffany said. “Even if he was, I don’t think my husband would leave that location because he’s fearful for his life. If they can get to him in general population, they can get to him anywhere.”

Even in “the Shoe,” Wendt said, Van Dyke has a cell mate. She compared the area of the Danbury prison to Alcatraz, a now-defunct federal prison on an island in the San Francisco Bay that housed such infamous inmates as Chicago mobster Al Capone, with “bars and inmates” everywhere.

Tiffany Van Dyke said she hasn’t heard from or spoken to her husband since he was sentenced on Jan. 18. She relays messages from home to Van Dyke through his attorneys. If or when he is granted visitation privileges, she said traveling to the East Coast would be a financial hardship for their family.

“I want him to be safe. I don’t need people to go into his cell and attack him,” Tiffany sobbed. “The next time this happens they could kill him. I cannot bury my husband.”

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Special Prosecutor Joe McMahon announced earlier this week that they would be challenging the legal reasoning of the sentence in the Illinois Supreme Court — a move that could potentially lengthen Van Dyke’s sentence.

“My reaction is to leave it alone and let him serve the time he was given,” Tiffany said. “The judge was right in [giving Van Dyke 81 months], I’m okay with the sentence, my husband is okay. We know there is a future for my husband at the end of this. There was light at the end of the tunnel … It sickens me that they want to put more time on my husband."

Coverage of Tiffany Van Dyke's press conference | Patch Editor Amber Fisher.

~ Photo: Tiffany Van Dyke sits between her husband's attorneys Tammy Wendt and Dan Herbert | Patch Editor Amber Fisher contributed to this report.