Alabama prisoner days from freedom dies after beating left him brain dead, family says

[Auburn85 434]

https://www.al.com/news/2023/11/alabama-prisoner-days-from-freedom-dies-after-beating-left-him-brain-dead-family-says.html

 

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Updated: Nov. 12, 2023, 11:22 a.m.

 

 

By

• Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

 

A 22-year-old Alabama man incarcerated at Staton Correctional Facility died last week after a days-long beating left him brain dead 14 days before he was supposed to be released, according to a post on GoFundMe.

 

Daniel Terry Williams was serving a 12-month sentence for second degree theft when the attack occurred. The post on GoFundMe said he was beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted.

 

“On Sunday, October 22, 2023, a possible inmate-on-inmate assault was reported at Staton Correctional Facility,” according to a statement from the Alabama Department of Corrections. “Inmate Williams was discovered unresponsive in his dorm and was transported to the Health Care Unit. Medical personnel treated Williams and monitored his condition. The decision was made to transfer him to an area hospital for further evaluation and treatment.”

 

The family removed life support on Nov. 5 after doctors said Williams was brain dead. He was transferred to the medical unit at Kilby Correctional Facility a few days later and died on Nov. 9.

 

 

The GoFundMe is seeking assistance for funeral expenses for Williams’ family.

 

 

Federal authorities have been investigating violence in Alabama prisons since 2019, when the U.S. Department of Justice issued a report saying the conditions violated the civil rights of inmates.

 

 

The department sued in 2020. The state does not do enough to prevent prison-on-prisoner violence and sexual assault, according to the report.

 

 

Prisons in Alabama have struggled with low staffing and officials have said they need new facilities to address the violence. Gov. Kay Ivey and other leaders have proposed building a 4,000-bed prison that could cost more than $1 billion.

 

Advocates for prisoners have said the state needs to release more inmates before building a mega-prison. According to the most recent report, the Alabama Department of Corrections has almost 20,000 people in facilities built for about 12,000. There were 1,897 total assaults in the first eight months of the year.

 

 

Leaders of the Equal Justice Initiative, a Montgomery-based nonprofit that advocates on behalf of inmates, said the state could do more to prevent prisoner deaths.

 

 

“Deaths like that of Mr. Williams are tragic, preventable, and happen all too frequently in Alabama’s prisons,” said EJI Director Bryan Stevenson.

 

 

“EJI receives reports from medical care providers, family members, and other incarcerated witnesses every month, about prisoners whose medical emergencies are dismissed by untrained officers as intoxication or somehow their own fault. In many of these cases, had the person been treated in time, they would have survived.”

 

 

 

[Auburn85 434]

https://www.alreporter.com/2023/11/09/incarcerated-man-brain-dead-after-being-tied-up-abused-inside-adoc-facility/

 

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November 9

Patrick Darrington

 

Daniel Williams just turned 22 years old and has only been incarcerated at Staton Correctional Facility since July. He was scheduled to be released in early November. 

But on Oct. 25, several weeks before Daniel’s release date, his family found out that he was hospitalized at Jackson Hospital and brain dead. Now, instead of preparing to see Daniel once released, his father Terry Williams, has had to discuss with doctors about his son being taken off life support and allowed to pass away peacefully.

On Sunday, Daniel was taken off life support as the doctor has decided to give Daniel a compassionate release and allow him to pass within 10 days. But if he doesn’t, the warden of Staton, Joseph Headley, will decide whether or not to send Daniel back to the prison. 

UPDATE: APR was informed that Daniel was moved to Kilby Correctional Center Thursday morning and subsequently passed away soon after arriving. The family was not expecting him to be moved so soon and still do not know why he was moved. 

There is also a GoFundMe that has been set up on behalf of Daniel and his family.

ADOC has a history of moving the incarcerated back to prison facilities denying families of having those final moments with their loved ones. The reasoning is likely associated with cutting the cost of hospital bills.

Conflicting accounts of what happened to Daniel

According to Terry and his wife, Taylor Bostic, when they first found out about Daniel’s hospitalization, Headley called them and said that Daniel suffered a drug overdose. But once they arrived at the hospital, it became apparent it was not a drug overdose but instead Daniel was assaulted.

Bostic, Daniel’s step-mother, and sources that APR spoke with, say that Daniel was bound, assaulted and “sold out”  by another incarcerated person on or around Oct. 22 — essentially kidnapped — for two or three days.  

“And when when I spoke to the warden myself, he said it’s obviously a drug overdose,” Bostic told APR.  “Okay so me and his father just assumed he got a hold of some bad drugs or something. And when we went to see him he’s beaten and bruised up and you can tell where his hands were bound. I mean, you can tell it’s obviously not a drug overdose. And that’s when [Terry] called the warden and asked him why the hell he told us that his son is dying from a drug overdose when it’s obviously assault. And all he could say after that was it’s under investigation.” 

Headley told them Daniel was taken to the hospital on Sunday, Oct. 22. However, Terry and Bostic weren’t notified by Headley until Wednesday, Oct. 25 that Daniel was at the hospital. But an incarcerated individual also called and told the family that Daniel was both found and hospitalized on the same day of Oct. 25.

Bostic said she and Terry were informed that Daniel was found in Dorm E1, which is not his dorm, and he was “tied up, beaten, and rented out for two to three days.” Bostic said Daniel was grey when the incarcerated individuals found him.

“One of the inmates found him and took him up to the office Wednesday at 11:04,” Terry said. “But the Warden is saying it happened Sunday. We didn’t get phone calls until Wednesday.”

Bostic said that both the hospital nurse and a doctor said there was clearly signs of abuse. The doctor said that there were visible hand print bruises between Daniel’s legs and he had never seen anything like it in his 30 years in the profession.

APR reached out to the the facility to talk to the Warden and left a message but have not received a response.

Terry also mentioned that he was only given 30 minutes to see his son each visit and he was not allowed to take his phone into Daniel’s room or take pictures. Terry said five guards were watching over Daniel, who is brain-dead. APR asked Terry what they were doing and Terry said “on their phones.”

Family struggling to get more information

Terry and Bostic said that they have attempted to get more information from the prison facility and the hospital but both entities keep passing the responsibility between each other. Terry said that when he asks the facility for information they’re told to ask the hospital and when he asks the hospital for information he is told to ask the facility. During instances of incarcerated people being hospitalized in Alabama, the hospitals primarily listen to the instructions of the warden as it pertains to the incarcerated because they are still under the custody of the state.

“If I ask them anything they tell me I need to talk to the Warden,” Terry said.

Terry has also obtained an attorney and said the hospital’s attorney is not responding to the inquiries of his lawyer. Bostic revealed that when they initially arrived at the hospital, she and Terry asked for a rape kit. Still, the hospital denied them initially saying it was too late to conduct the examination. However, on Nov. 1 the hospital decided to conduct the rape kit after the lawyer got involved.

Daniel “not coming back” from this state

Terry said he was informed that Daniel would not come back from the state he is now and that if his son does make it he will have to be taken care of for the rest of his life. Terry and Bostic were also given a letter at the hospital from the prison stating that Daniel would be given palliative care if he lived and would have to finish his sentence at the prison as his release date was moved back to February 9.

Daniel also has two children, a son and a daughter, who are both one year old.

APR has heard from sources that what happened to Daniel has happened to other people as well. Bostic also mentioned being informed of similar accounts occurring to incarcerated people. Terry is committed to trying to hold someone accountable for what happened to his son and prevent another family or individual from enduring what Daniel what through.

“We’ve got to stop this,” Terry said. “If I can save a couple lives. You know. I’m thankful.

 

 

[CoffeeTiger 5,228]

This stuff happens on a monthly basis in Alabama. Our state prisons are inhumane torture centers. Not places where anyone can be rehabilitated. 

[homersapien 11,513]

19 hours ago, CoffeeTiger said:

This stuff happens on a monthly basis in Alabama. Our state prisons are inhumane torture centers. Not places where anyone can be rehabilitated. 

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/10-most-religious-states-in-america?slide=11

Most Religious States in America

The states on this list are also overwhelmingly Christian.

1 (tied). Alabama

Pew categorizes 77 percent of Alabama adults as highly religious because 82 percent of adults say they believe in God with absolute certainty, while 73 percent pray daily. Of Alabama adults, 86 percent are Christian, 12 percent are unaffiliated with any religion and about 1 percent are non-Christian faiths.

 

(Tied with Mississippi)