Marilyn Hartman, the Chicago woman who’s made a name for herself as the “Serial Stowaway” by sneaking onto airplanes, was attacked at the Cook County Jail, sources said.
Hartman, 68, was attacked during an altercation about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at the jail’s designated hospital area for females with mental health issues, a spokesperson for the Cook County sheriff’s office said.
A woman who was in the middle of a mental health episode jumped up and started hitting Hartman and another incarcerated person, the sheriff’s office said. They both were evaluated by medical staff and no injuries were found.
Hartman — who has been arrested multiple times at O’Hare, Midway and airports across the country from Florida to Hawaii — has been in jail since October, when she was denied bail for violating her probation by visiting O’Hare Airport.
The 18-month probation was related to a 2018 flight she took from O’Hare to London’s Heathrow Airport after slipping aboard a British Airways flight.
The sheriff’s office said it has advocated since 2015 that Hartman should receive treatment and stable housing in the community, rather than incarceration.
A Cook County judge had also ordered a mental fitness evaluation for Hartman last fall.
Contributing: Andy Grimm
