Not guilty verdict given in inmate death

7-29-17 Missouri:

A Cole County jury has found a man not guilty of charges in connection with the killing of an inmate at the Algoa Correctional Center in December 2015.

David Young, 43, had been charged with second-degree murder and violence against a Department of Corrections offender.

His defense had argued he was an accomplice and not the person who killed Harley Holt, 35, who had been serving a four-year sentence for two counts of failure to register as a sex offender in Greene and Howell counties at the time of his death.

Young was serving a sentence for drug possession at the time Holt was killed.

Tomas Beauford might have survived a seizure had Mesa County jailers not taken away his bracelet

1-28-17 Colorado:

A bracelet might have kept Tomas Anderson Beauford alive.

Despite mental and behavioral illnesses that meant the 24-year-old functioned more like a 6-year-old, Beauford had mastered the use of the magnetic bracelet that combatted his epilepsy.

But on April 16, 2014, Beauford didn’t have his bracelet. It had been confiscated by deputies at the Mesa County Jail.

Taking his prescribed medications also might have kept Beauford alive. But in jail without family and caretakers who often cajoled him with promises of Starbursts and Sprite, Beauford hadn’t taken his meds regularly in six weeks when he died.

In the hours before his death, Beauford’s jailers saw him suffering what they would later realize were several violent seizures in his cell. Attorneys representing Beauford’s mother wrote that if deputies had reacted correctly, he might never have died.

“Alone in his cell, Mr. Beauford ultimately had a series of seizures, fell off his bed and died with his head jammed underneath his desk,” the attorneys wrote in a civil lawsuit naming Mesa County and the jail health care providers as defendants last spring. “Mr. Beauford’s demise could have undoubtedly been prevented had defendants provided him with prompt and appropriate medical attention and treatment.”

Inmate who killed Jeffrey Dahmer reveals why he murdered the serial killer

4-29-2015 Wisconsin:

CANON CITY, Colo. — The inmate who fatally beat serial killer and sex offender Jeffrey Dahmer, 34, in prison in the early-1990s has revealed his reasons for doing so in a new interview.

Christopher Scarver, who was incarcerated at the same Portage, Wis., prison as Dahmer back in 1994, recently divulged the details of his killing to the New York Post.

“Some people who are in prison are repentant — but he was not one of them,” he told the Post, recounting details of Dahmer’s brutal and unapologetic taunts to other inmates.

Scarver said in the interview Dahmer used to fashion limbs out of the prison food, applying ketchup on places to represent blood.

Child rapist killed in suspected inmate attack

11-8-2015 Florida:

A St. Johns County man serving a 45-year sentence for the rape of his girlfriend’s daughters was killed by a fellow inmate at Jefferson Correctional Institution Wednesday, authorities told Record news partner First Coast News.

William Clarence Dillow, 29, died Wednesday morning at the Monticello prison and the case is being investigated as an inmate homicide. The state Department of Corrections did not provide other details about the death.

Dillow was convicted of child molestation and sexual battery by threat in St. Johns County in 2014 for the rape of his girlfriend’s preteen daughters. He was sentenced in April.

Dillow and his girlfriend Rhonda Lynn Wilkerson, 50, were arrested after the victims told staffers at a Flagler County School about the attacks.

The children were under the age of 12 when the abuse began. Wilkerson was arrested on one county of sexual battery on a person 12 to 18 and sexual battery by threat. ..Source.. by Dana Treen

Algoa inmate dies

12-23-15 Missouri:

JEFFERSON CITY — An inmate at the Algoa Correctional Center in Jefferson City has died in custody.

According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, 35-year-old Harley Holt was pronounced dead at University Hospital in Columbia at approximately 7:30 Tuesday evening.

Holt was serving a four year sentence for two counts of failure to register as a sex offender in Greene and Howell Counties, according to a release issued by the department. No other details about Holt's death were made available. An autopsy will be conducted. ..Source.. by

Algoa inmate dies

2-23-15 Missouri:

35-year-old Harley Holt, an inmate at the Algoa Correctional Center in Jefferson City, was pronounced dead at University Hospital in Columbia Tuesday evening.

JEFFERSON CITY — An inmate at the Algoa Correctional Center in Jefferson City has died in custody.

According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, 35-year-old Harley Holt was pronounced dead at University Hospital in Columbia at approximately 7:30 Tuesday evening.

Holt was serving a four year sentence for two counts of failure to register as a sex offender in Greene and Howell Counties, according to a release issued by the department. No other details about Holt's death were made available. An autopsy will be conducted. ..Source.. by Dan Claxton

Prison lifer accused of drowning inmate in toilet dies

1-11-2010 Michigan:

Ionia -- A prison lifer has died just weeks after he was charged with first-degree murder in the drowning death of a fellow inmate at the Macomb County Correctional Facility in Lenox Township, state police said today.

Andrew Terence Neal, 42, who was relocated to Ionia Correctional Facility after admitting to investigators that he used bedding to restrain an inmate and forced his face into a toilet in September, was found dead in his cell Jan. 4. Police say preliminary autopsy findings attribute the death to a pulmonary embolism.

Michigan State Police Richmond Post Detective Sgt. Patrick Young said Neal told authorities he attacked 32-year-old Anthony Wayne Lee on Sept. 6 because he "wanted to kill someone."

Neal, whose last known residence was in Grand Rapids, allegedly confessed to the murder the same evening it occurred. He was relocated to Ionia and his security level was increased.

Neal was incarcerated on a murder charge from Kent County and armed robbery, weapons and assault to commit armed robbery from Wayne County.

Prison Murder was predictable family says

12-28-2006 Nevada:

LAS VEGAS (CN) - Nevada prison officials put a Native American-Latino inmate in the same cell as a white supremacist, who stabbed him to death, the late man's family claims in Clark County Court.

Anthony Beltran, 33, died of chest wounds inflicted by his cellmate, Douglas Potter, on Dec. 28, 2006, according to the Oct. 30 lawsuit from his three minor children and their guardian.

Beltran's family claims that prison officials improperly classified Beltran as a "white supremacist" himself, despite his racial heritage. Potter killed him eight days after he was placed in the cell; he had demanded a single-prisoner cell and said he would main or kill anyone placed as his cellmate, according to the complaint.

Around 8:10 a.m. that day, a prison guard handcuffed Beltran to the cell door and waited outside while Potter stabbed Beltran several times with a shiv, his family says in the lawsuit. Beltran was pronounced dead at 8:48 a.m.

Inmate Stabbed to Death in Carlisle Prison

12-29-2014 Indiana:

A murder investigation is underway at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility following an inmate death.

25-year-old Kango Douglas was stabbed multiple times in the face, neck and head shortly before noon on Friday. The incident took place in the south campus recreation yard.

Indiana State Police detectives and WVCF Internal Affairs investigators have a person of interest linked to the attack.

The offenders identity will not be released pending the outcome of the criminal probe. The suspect has been placed in a restrictive status housing unit.

Douglas was rushed from the WVCF by ambulance to Terre Haute Regional Hospital. He was then LifeLined by helicopter to and Indianapolis hospital. Douglas remained unresponsive for questioning.

Inmate who was assaulted in Kern County jail has died

10-8-2014 California:

An inmate who was assaulted over the weekend in the Lerdo Pretrial Facility has died.

Christopher Earl Pettenger, 34, was assaulted by other inmates. He was found Saturday suffering from severe head injuries inside his cell, according to the Kern County Sheriff's Office.

The coroner's office released his name Wednesday, a day after he died at Kern Medical Center. An autopsy is scheduled.

Sheriff's office spokesman Ray Pruitt said he couldn't comment on suspects or a motive, citing the open investigation.

Dade Correctional back in spotlight after inmate strangling

8-4-2014 Florida:

Prison protocol dictates that inmates be isolated when they express fear for their lives, at least until their complaints can be evaluated

MIAMI — An inmate at Dade Correctional Institution who pleaded to be transferred because he feared he would be killed by his cellmate was found strangled in his cell Monday, allegedly by that same cellmate.

It was the latest in a series of problems at the prison compound south of Homestead, which saw its warden fired last month amid reports of persistent management problems. Those problems ranged from filthy conditions in the food preparation area to unexplained deaths that are now under investigation to allegations that mentally ill inmates were deprived of food, taunted and sexually abused by staff and forced to fight each other for the entertainment of guards....

Prison protocol dictates that inmates be isolated when they express fear for their lives, at least until their complaints can be evaluated. According to multiple sources, that was not done in the case of Lavar Valentin, 35, a slightly built convict who remained in a cell with his alleged tormentor, Eduardo Carmenates-Zayas, now suspected of strangling him.

Elmore Correctional Facility prisoner dies from injuries after altercation with another inmate

10-17-2013 Alabama:

A prisoner at Elmore Correctional Facility has died from injuries suffered in an altercation with another inmate.

Derrick Dennis, 34, died Tuesday at 2:55 p.m. at Jackson Hospital in Montgomery, according to Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett. The altercation happened Saturday.
Dennis was serving a life sentence for rape, assault and burglary out of Jefferson County. He was sentenced on Jan. 10, 2006.

Inmate Christopher Smith is a suspect in the death. Smith, 29, is serving a 25-year sentence out of Mobile County for trafficking, possession of a controlled substance, and receiving stolen property.

The Department of Corrections’ Investigation and Intelligence Division is investigating the homicide. Elmore is a medium security prison with about 1,180 inmates.

The incident is at least the fourth inmate-on-inmate homicide in Alabama prisons since Oct. 1, 2012.

In August, an inmate at St. Clair Correctional Facility was stabbed to death by another inmate.

The Department of Corrections reported in its July statistical report that there had been two inmate on inmate homicides during since Oct. 1, 2012, one at Donaldson Correctional Facility and one at Bibb Correctional Facility. ..Source.. by CONUS TOC

Cellmate of dead prisoner identified

6-18-2013 Missouri:

Court documents have confirmed the name of the cellmate of a registered sex offender found dead in his cell at the Buchanan County Law Enforcement Center last week.

Tony King, 29, of Bethany, Mo., who awaits sentencing after being convicted of murdering his 7-year-old son, was identified as the other inmate inside the jail cell when Michael A. Bozarth, 25, died last week. Officials called the death “suspicious” but have not filed any charges in connection with Mr. Bozarth’s death.

The identity of the other cellmate was revealed when Mr. King’s attorney filed court documents requesting that his murder sentencing be delayed until July. Mr. King was scheduled to be sentenced last week.

The motion for continuance states the reason for delay, “Mr. King is experiencing severe mental trauma as a result (of his cellmate’s death).”

Mr. King was found guilty last month of first-degree murder, arson and felony child abuse. A jury agreed with charges that he killed his 7-year-old son, Jeremiah Lamm, and then torched his Bethany, Mo., mobile home with the body inside. The charges originated from Harrison County but were moved to Buchanan County on a change of venue.

Early last Tuesday, Mr. Bozarth was found dead on his bed mat inside the jail. Other inmates had alerted deputies to sounds coming from the cell before the body was discovered.

Sheriff Mike Strong told FOX 26 KNPN he anticipated charges to be filed late this morning or early afternoon.

Mr. Bozarth was required to register as a sex offender after being convicted of third-degree sexual misconduct in January 2005.

On Jan. 13, he pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and was sentenced to 90 days in the Buchanan County Jail. He had remained in custody on two charges that stemmed from alleged incidents in which Mr. Bozarth sodomized two children under the age of 9 through various sexual acts, according to court documents. ..Source.. by Julie Love

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Accused Child Molester Killed in Missouri Jail Cell While Awaiting Trial

6-11-2013:

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- An accused sex-offender was found dead in his cell in the Buchanan County Jail Tuesday morning. Sheriff Mike Strong says jail staff discovered Michael Bozarth, 25, around 2 a.m.

Bozarth was in jail awaiting trial in November on three counts of 1st degree statutory sodomy. In court documents, police say he molested two children under the age of nine.

Bozarth has a long history of crimes involving sex, drugs and violence: In July of 2005, Bozarth was convicted of sexual misconduct, sentenced to 15 days in jail, and ordered to register as a sex offender. Since then, he has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 252 days for loitering near a school building. In June of 2007, he pleaded guilty for failing to register as a sex offender. He was sentenced to five days in jail, according to court records.

Authorities say there were only two people in the cell. Buchanan County Sheriff Mike Strong called the death suspicious. He would not comment on how Bozarth died. This is the first homicide in the county jail on Strong's watch. He says the investigation is ongoing. ..Source.. by MissouriNet

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Accused Sex Offender Found Dead In Buchanan County Jail Cell

n accused sex-offender was found dead in his cell in the Buchanan County Jail Tuesday morning. Sheriff Mike Strong says jail staff discovered Michael Bozarth, 25, around two a.m.

There were only two people in the cell. Strong called the death suspicious. He would not comment on how the man died. This is the first homicide in the county jail under Sheriff Strong’s watch.

“The nature of the crime scene, the setting and a lot of things just don’t fit,” Strong said in an interview. “We’re investigating it as a homicide.”

Bozarth was scheduled for jury trial in November on three counts of 1st degree statutory sodomy for allegedly molesting two children under the age of nine.

Bozarth had a long criminal history involving sex, drugs and violence.

In July of 2005 Bozarth was convicted of sexual misconduct, sentenced to 15 days in jail, and ordered to register as a sex offender. Since then he has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 252 days for loitering near a school building. In June of 2007, he pleaded guilty for failing to register as a sex offender. He was sentenced to five days in jail, according to court records. ..Source..