Federal Detainee Convicted of Assaulting Kankakee County Correctional Officers

URBANA, Ill. –On September 24, 2026, a federal jury returned two guilty verdicts against Jermaine Turner, 27, of Chicago, for Assaulting a Correctional Officer with a Dangerous Weapon. Sentencing for Turner has been scheduled for January 25, 2027, at the U.S. Courthouse in Urbana, Illinois.

During one day of testimony, the government presented evidence that, on November 20, 2023, Turner was being held by the United States Marshals Service at the Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee, Illinois, pending a federal trial. While detained, Turner assaulted two correctional officers with a wooden broom handle. After being told he would be disciplined for entering another detainee’s cell without permission, Turner picked up a broom and hit a correctional officer on the back of the head, causing a large hematoma. Turner then refused orders from another correctional officer to drop the broom, approached the officer, and attempted to hit him on the head. The officer blocked the blow with his forearm, and correctional officers disarmed and restrained Turner.

Turner remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending sentencing. 

Turner faces statutory penalties of up to twenty years of imprisonment, up to three of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine on each of the two counts of conviction. 

Turner is currently serving a 120-month sentence of imprisonment for Armed Bank Robbery in the Northern District of Illinois. 

The case investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Field Office. Supervisory Assistant United States Attorney Eugene L. Miller represented the government at trial.