Youth at Cook County Juvenile center dies

A boy in custody at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center on Chicago’s West side died Saturday after a “medical event,” officials reported.

No information about the age or hometown of the child was available.

Teresa Abreu, chief legal counsel for the facility, said Saturday night that the resident had a “medical event” at the facility at 1100 S. Hamilton Ave. and was taken to Stroger hospital in an ambulance at about 3 p.m.

Staff members at the facility were notified a few minutes after 4 p.m. that the young man had died, she said.

Earl Dunlap, federally appointed transitional administrator at the facility, has set up teams to investigate the death and a grief counseling team to help the family, residents and staff, according to a news release from the center.

Because the person who died is a juvenile, the staff is not allowed to release any identifying information or anything about the criminal case, Abreu said.

The facility, which has residents from age 10 to 16, has been under a transitional administrator since 2007, she said.

Three federal court actions against the facility in the last decade resulted in the appointment of the administrator.