Two weeks after the Crusader published an investigation into the nation’s broken system for tracking deaths in police and correctional custody, another man has died inside Cook County Jail and, as of press deadline, the cause remains unknown.
Martinez Duncan, 24, died Nov. 20 after a fire broke out in his cell in the jail’s residential treatment unit, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. An autopsy was conducted Nov. 21, but the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said the cause and manner of death are pending toxicology results. As of press time, no ruling has been issued.
The death occurred as the Crusader awaited a response from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office to a records request seeking comprehensive data on in-custody deaths from 2020 to the present. That request remains outstanding.
Duncan’s death underscores the systemic transparency failures documented in “Die and Disappear: Alarm Raised on In-Custody Deaths,” a Crusader investigation published Nov. 11. Based on verified data from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, 61 people died while in custody in Cook County between January 2020 and November 2025. The racial breakdown is stark: 33 were Black, 20 were white and eight were Latino or Hispanic, meaning 54 percent of those who died were Black, mirroring the county jail’s long-standing racial disparities.
According to a statement released to the Sun-Times from the sheriff’s office, correctional officers responded to a fire inside a cell at approximately 7:15 p.m. at the jail complex on South California Avenue. Officers extinguished the fire and removed Duncan and his cellmate from the cell. Both men initially walked under their own power to a holding area for medical examination, but once inside, Duncan reportedly became unresponsive. He was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A preliminary review indicated the fire was caused by a lit wick, which authorities described as “a smoldering portion of tightly wound toilet paper commonly used to smoke illegal drugs.” Duncan had been in custody since Nov. 13 on aggravated battery charges, accused of stabbing a family member and a responding Chicago police officer.
The Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force is investigating potential criminal behavior by jail staff. The sheriff’s office said it is also investigating potential criminal behavior by other inmates. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for additional comment.
Duncan’s death comes amid a wave of controversial in-custody deaths across the country involving African Americans. In Wyandotte County, Kansas, the family of Charles Adair, a 50-year-old Black man who died July 5 after a detention officer knelt on his back for 86 seconds, is seeking $25 million in a federal lawsuit. An autopsy ruled Adair’s death a homicide due to complications of mechanical asphyxia, drawing comparisons to George Floyd. Deputy Richard Fatherley has been charged with second-degree murder. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Adair family, held a rally outside the Wyandotte County Courthouse Nov. 18.
In Georgia, Crump filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Oct. 21 on behalf of the family of Christon Collins, a 27-year-old Black Army veteran who died in the DeKalb County Jail in March 2024 after lying on the floor for more than three hours without medical assistance following a fentanyl overdose. Video showed officers on their phones while Collins lay unresponsive. A May 2025 study in the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine found 229 cases of prone restraint-related deaths between 2010 and 2019 nationwide and most victims were Black males.
The Crusader’s November investigation highlighted that Cook County Jail, unlike jail systems in New York and Los Angeles, does not publicly announce deaths or post updates when someone dies in custody. “If I wanted to know how many people died this year, I wouldn’t be able to find that out without asking for records,” Carlos Ballesteros, an investigative reporter with Injustice Watch, told the Crusader. “Let’s imagine the person is just a normal person, not a reporter, having to find that out. It’s just mind-boggling.”
Injustice Watch, a nonprofit investigative journalism group, reported last year that 18 people died at Cook County Jail in 2023, the highest mortality rate in at least two decades. About half of those deaths were preceded by failures in supervision or medical care. Others were attributed to natural causes, suicide or the consumption of illicit drugs smuggled into the facility.
Dr. Roger Mitchell Jr., president of the National Medical Association, co-authored a landmark study on gaps in reporting on in-custody deaths published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The study concluded that despite the federal Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, the nation still lacks a complete record of these fatalities. In 2021, the Government Accountability Office found nearly 1,000 in-custody deaths went unreported nationwide.
“We would never try to fight cancer, not knowing how many people are dying from cancer,” Mitchell told the Crusader. “So, the question becomes, do we really want to stop people dying in our criminal justice system?”
Illinois data reveals a disturbing pattern. According to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 546 people died in custody between 2019 and 2022. Nearly half—263 victims, or 48.3 percent—were Black, despite African Americans comprising less than 15 percent of the state’s population.
Unlike the Chicago Police Department, which operates under oversight from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, there is no comparable independent agency monitoring the Cook County Sheriff’s Office or the jail. Community groups have demanded the creation of a public fatality review board and mandatory independent autopsies.
As families from Chicago to Kansas City to Atlanta continue to demand accountability, Duncan’s death adds another name to the growing list of those who have died behind bars and it is a list that remains largely invisible without sustained pressure from advocates, grieving loved ones and public policy leaders.
The medical examiner’s office said Duncan’s toxicology results could take several weeks.
Stephanie Gadlin is an award-winning, independent investigative journalist whose work blends historical analysis, data reporting, and cultural commentary. Her work is published in the Crusader and other publications across the country. She specializes in uncovering the intersections of Black culture, public health, environmental justice, systemic racism, public policy and economic inequality in the U.S. and across the African Diaspora. For confidential tips, please contact: [email protected]
- Stephanie Gadlin
- Stephanie Gadlin
- Stephanie Gadlin
- Stephanie Gadlin
