Elderly Cook County Jail inmate dies at hospital
Sun-Times Media January 4, 2013 4:34PM
Chester Finklea / Photo from Cook County Sheriff's office
Updated: January 4, 2013 9:49PM
The second oldest inmate at Cook County Jail died of natural causes Thursday night.
Chester Finklea, 79, was sentenced June 26, 2012, to 240 days in Cook County Jail for driving on a suspended license, said Cook County Sheriff’s office spokesman Frank Bilecki.
Finklea was immediately housed at the jail’s hospital, Cermak Health Services of Cook County, with a variety of health problems, Bilecki said. He was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital just days after beginning the sentence.
Finklea died at the hospital at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. An autopsy determined he died of coronary atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus, and the death was ruled an accident.
Bilecki said Finklea was the second-oldest person in custody at the time of his death. The oldest is 84-year-old Clyde Jones, who was booked into the jail Oct. 12, 2012, on domestic battery.
