The family of a man who died in Cook County Jail over the weekend gathered outside the criminal courthouse Monday morning to call for clarity on the circumstances of his death.
Shamire Jackson, 35, was one of two jail inmates who died over the weekend, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
“Shamire entered Cook County Jail alive, and while under the full custody and care of the government, he suffered a sudden and catastrophic death,” Zane Smith, an attorney for Jackson’s family, said Monday. “The county has failed to provide an explanation that is either credible or complete as to what happened.”
Jackson was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital shortly before 8 a.m. Sunday, though the medical examiner’s office had not yet determined a cause of death.
A spokesperson for the Cook County sheriff’s office said Jackson was found unresponsive and without trauma in the jail’s residential treatment unit Friday. Jail personnel attempted life-saving measures before he was taken to Mount Sinai by the Chicago Fire Department. He was pronounced dead shortly before 8 a.m. Sunday, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Jackson was taken into custody by Chicago police officers Nov. 24, court records show. Police said they arrested Jackson after he brandished a glass bottle of tequila at a motorist before trying to enter his vehicle.
When officers tried to place him under arrest, Jackson resisted and threatened to kill one of them. At the police station, he “became irate and assaulted (an officer) followed by spitting in his face,” Jackson’s arrest report reads.
He was charged with 10 felony counts, including aggravated battery, robbery and aggravated assault, records show. After his initial court appearance, Jackson was charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer.
Late Saturday, another jail inmate, 41-year-old Lamont Johnson, was found dead in his cell.
Johnson had been in the jail since his arrest in November 2023. He was charged with murder in a September 2023 shooting in the North Lawndale neighborhood that left one man dead and a woman injured.
Johnson also showed no signs of trauma, and his cause of death was also not released Monday.
The sheriff’s office has requested the Illinois State Police public integrity unit investigate both deaths.
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