Illinois state officials are investigating whether officers at Pontiac Correctional Center severely beat an inmate last week, the Journal Star reported.

Preston McDowell, a 35-year-old repeated sex offender, has been at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria since Saturday. The hospital would not release any information about McDowell; however, sources said his beating was severe, resulting in multiple injuries. Sergio Molina, chief spokesman for the Illinois DOC, declined to talk in detail about McDowell. However, he did say, "This case is currently under investigation."

Sources told the Journal Star that Illinois State Police have been interviewing officers at Pontiac Correctional Center all week and that criminal charges against an unspecified number of officers are possible.

Sources say McDowell threatened another prisoner, and officers soon swarmed the two inmates. McDowell, who stands 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 155 pounds, was repeatedly battered. He was sent to OSF Saint James Medical Center in Pontiac, then transferred to St. Francis.
No one else was injured in the beating. No officers have been suspended.

Pontiac Correctional Center is a maximum-security prison that houses inmates disciplined for infractions while in the custody of the Corrections Department. Some inmates are kept in single cells, while others have one cellmate. All prisoners are confined to cells a minimum of 23 hours a day. Some are allowed an hour of recreation, but troublemakers are kept behind bars around the clock.

Information was unavailable Thursday about McDowell's cell status and in-prison record.

McDowell has been serving time in Pontiac for two crimes. In 1991, he was sentenced in Winnebago County to 15 years' imprisonment for criminal sexual assault with force. In 1994, he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for aggravated battery with great bodily harm. That case was adjudicated in Will County, which at the time hosted two state prisons, and the battery could have occurred in prison.

The corrections web site lists his projected parole date as March 17, 2007. It also states he is on "medical furlough." McDowell's prison record also includes a six-year term for deviate sexual assault in Cook County in 1983.

Illinois State Police declined to discuss the investigation.