Correctional Officer Trainee, Cecil H. Harbison, 30, couldn’t wait for inmate William Crews to make up his mind whether he wanted to go to the recreation yard the morning of Nov. 30, 1984. So Crews remained locked in his cell until the other inmates returned later that morning. As Harbison turned the crank to let the other inmates back into their cells, Crews charged him and stabbed him a dozen times with a shank. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Crews, doing 20-60 years for murder, also committed suicide in his cell at the condemned unit at Pontiac. Harbison had been employed at Menard since May and would have become certified as a Correctional Officer within a few weeks. “Cecil Harbison was just beginning his career with Corrections and had a bright future tragically cut short,” Director Michael P. Lane said. A resident of Chester, Harbison was survived by his wife and a daughter.