Gang member stabbed by rivals at Cook County Jail

The same day a Chicago Sun-Times story hit the streets saying Cook County Jail doors don’t work, inmates broke free from their cells and stabbed a rival gang member, authorities said Thursday.

The stabbing happened Saturday morning in Division 9, a super maximum-security wing of the jail at 31st and Sacramento. Four inmates sneaked out of their cells and attacked Antonio Allison, 18, an armed robbery suspect, said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Patterson. Allison was outside his cell awaiting a transfer to another facility. He was stabbed with a homemade knife and is recovering at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Playing cards were jammed in some doors to defeat locks. Other locks were “just worn out,” said James D’Amico, director of the county’s Facilities Management Department.

A Sun-Times story published over the weekend revealed at least 288 problems with doors in the jail’s other maximum-security wing, Division 1, between February 2007 and last May.