Prisoner Tells the Simple Reason He Killed His Child Molester Cell Mate

10-16-2016 Michigan:

If you had any doubt that prisoners who are sentenced for crimes against children, especially crimes of a sexual nature, serve extra hard time while locked away in prison, let this story remind you that they almost always do, one way or another.

That was the case with convicted child molester Theodore Dyer, a 67-year-old man who was incarcerated in Michigan’s Saginaw Regional Correctional Facility for a “really bad case” of child molestation. His cellmate, Steven D. Sanidson, killed him in the middle of the night for it.

“The reason I killed him was because he was a child molester,” Sandison told a judge when asked why he murdered his cellmate.

Sandison, a 51-year-old man who was already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for a murder he committed in 1991, gave a detailed account of the killing to his lawyer, James Gust.

“That night he was trying to justify why he did it, and I told him to keep quiet and that he’d have to leave in the morning, find a new cell. But he continued to talk about it, try to justify it,” Sandison said.

The murder weapon was a cord he had in his cell, which he used to strangle Dyer after pummeling him with punches to the face.

'I snapped,' says killer accused of slaying child-rapist cellmate

7-21-2016 Florida:

A man already serving time in prison for murder has been charged with the crime again after killing his cellmate, a rapist, for inappropriately touching him, officials said.

Sheddrick Bentley was scheduled Tuesday to be arraigned in Volusia County on Aug. 4 on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Hans Christian Anderson, court records show.

Anderson, 58, died of ligature strangulation — a sock was found around his neck — and blunt force injury to his abdomen Feb. 17 at Tomoka Correctional Institution near Daytona Beach, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement charging affidavit.

Prison officials confirmed Feb. 18 that Anderson, serving a 25-year sentence for raping a 13-year-old girl, had been killed by another inmate, but they wouldn't release the suspect's name or details of the death.

Bentley asked corrections officers to put him in handcuffs Feb. 17, and when the officers asked why, the 38-year-old said, "I did it, he made me do it," according to the affidavit filed July 12. Officers found Anderson lying face down on the floor of the cell he shared with Bentley.

Bentley told investigators that Anderson was trying to "mess" with him, according to the affidavit.

"Did he physically touch you or was he talking to you to see if you wanted to?" Bentley was asked, according to the affidavit. Investigators said Bentley then shouted that Anderson had grabbed Bentley's genitals while Bentley was sleeping.

"He never done that (expletive) before. I snapped," Bentley told investigators. He also said he was unaware of why Anderson was incarcerated.

Anderson brutally beat and raped a teen in 1998 in the basement of a church in Pinellas County, according to records.

Bentley is serving time in prison for second-degree murder, burglary of an occupied dwelling, grand theft auto and false information to a pawnbroker, records show. The crimes were committed in Collier County. ..Source.. by Katie Kustura

Inmate Who Killed Child Molester Offers Simple Explanation For Why He Did It

11-3-15 Michigan:

Steven D. Sandison, 51, a now-former inmate at Saginaw Regional Correctional Facility in Freeland, Michigan, offered a simple explanation for killing his cellmate, Theodore Dyer, 67, in October 2014.

"The reason I killed him was because he was a child molester," Sandison told Chief Circuit Judge Fred L. Borchard on Monday, MLive reported.

While being questioned by his own attorney, James Gust, Sandison willingly divulged details about killing Dyer after discovering he was incarcerated for a "really bad case" of child molestation.

"That night he was trying to justify why he did it, and I told him to keep quiet and that he'd have to leave in the morning, find a new cell. But he continued to talk about it, try to justify it,” Sandison said.

“So, he was a little bit bigger than me, so I got down, and I hit him in his face a few times. When he fell, I wrapped a cord around his neck and I took his life.”

Many sex offenders killed by inmates in California prisons

3-19-15 California:

California state prisoners are killed at a rate double the national average, and a disproportionate number of the dead are sex offenders.

ACRAMENTO, Calif. — Shortly after 2 a.m. on April 6, 2010, a guard at Salinas Valley State Prison noticed Alan Ager’s cellmate trying to stuff something under a mattress. It was Ager, blood trickling from his mouth and a cloth noose tied around his neck.

The convicted child molester died 10 days later without regaining consciousness, his death earning his cellmate a second life sentence.

California state prisoners are killed at a rate that is double the national average – and sex offenders like Ager account for a disproportionate number of victims, according to an Associated Press analysis of corrections records.

Male sex offenders made up about 15 percent of the prison population but accounted for nearly 30 percent of homicide victims, the AP found in cataloging all 78 killings that corrections officials reported since 2007, when they started releasing slain inmates’ identities and crimes.

The deaths – 23 out of 78 – come despite the state’s creation more than a decade ago of special housing units designed to protect the most vulnerable inmates, including sex offenders, often marked men behind bars because of the nature of their crimes.

Murderer says he killed Saginaw prison cellmate 'because he was a child molester'

3-2-2015 Michigan:

SAGINAW, MI -- When given the chance, a convicted murderer had straightforward explanation for killing his cellmate in October at the Saginaw Correctional Facility.

"The reason I killed him was because he was a child molester," Steven D. Sandison said Monday, Feb. 23, in Saginaw County Circuit Court.

Speaking during his plea hearing before Chief Circuit Judge Fred L. Borchard, the 51-year-old Sandison was polite, addressing the judge as "sir," in explaining why he killed Theodore Dyer on Oct. 29 at the prison in Freeland.

At Borchard's request, Sandison first answered questions from his attorney, James Gust, to establish a "factual basis" for why he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. After answering "Yes" to several of Gust's questions, Sandison then provided his explanation.

"But," Gust then asked, "you did, in fact, kill him?"

"Oh, sure," Sandison said. "Oh, sure, of course."

Borchard later in the hearing asked Sandison how he killed the 67-year-old Dyer.

"If it's all right," Sandison replied, "I can tell you where it started."

"Go ahead," Borchard said.

Michael DeWayne Walker: Lawsuit Over Child Rapist's Prison Death Allowed to Continue

See original record HERE

9-12-2011 Texas:

Michael DeWayne Walker was serving a 21-year sentence for aggravated sexual assault of a child when he was put in a cell with Wilbert "Peanut" Hamilton in 2006.

Hamilton beat him to death, and Walker's parents have sued on the grounds that guards and prison officials knew Hamilton was a violent psychotic and that he was allowed to have steel-toed boots in his cell.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice employees have sought to have the suit dismissed on grounds of immunity, but federal judge Kenneth Hoyt has ruled the parents' claims can be heard.

There's a factual dispute over how long the beating went on -- Walker's parents say it lasted five hours, and guards should absolutely have been able to hear it, while the defendants in the suit say it was only a few minutes.

The guards also say there was no formal policy made clear to them that child-sex offenders should be kept isolated from the general prison population for their safety, or that the steel-toed boots had to be left in the prison work area and not taken into the cell.

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.

Oklahoma County jail inmate admits killing another inmate to prove worthiness, investigator reports

5-23-2014 Oklahoma:

Ragle Demond Johnson is being held on a murder complaint in the Oklahoma County jail.

An Oklahoma County jail inmate suffering from psychosis has admitted choking another inmate to death early Wednesday in their cell, a state agent reported.

Ragle Demond Johnson, 38, of Oklahoma City, is now being held on a murder complaint.

Johnson said he killed “to prove his worthiness to Wahayoo,” Special Agent Martin Solorzano of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation wrote in a court affidavit filed Friday.

The reference to “Wahayoo” is not further explained.

Johnson “admitted to having psychosis and taking medication for it,” the agent wrote in the affidavit.