Ten months later, significant amounts of contraband including video recordings and three bloody shanks were found in the ceiling above Walls office, according to his dismissal letter. Here are his plans. The state has changed the prisons leadership several times in recent years. A spokesman for the N.C. Department of Corrections says two inmates were taken to the hospital. In a cell block inside one of the states most dangerous prisons, an inmate stabs a rival gang member over and over, 13 times. One of Brazil's most notorious gangs, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), is said to have formed in 1993 as a response to the event. But after investigating for more than a year, the SBI closed the case. He stretches his arms wide above his head, then lowers them and covers his mouth with both hands. Wall had been assigned to another prison while the Turner investigation was underway. Had there been more, he said, one female officer might never have been assaulted. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. (Parsons) told me I couldnt say anything about another sergeant bringing in marijuana, Wilburn testified. But by that time, the officer was already bleeding profusely. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. The Killing Consensus: Homicide Detectives, Police that Kill and Organized Crime in Sio Paulo, Brazil. November 2013 - A gang member cut a correctional officer three times on the neck and face, requiring 39 stitches, according to a police report. A federal lawsuit, filed last month by five former Lanesboro inmates, alleges that corrections officers helped gang members wage attacks against other inmates. Both inmates are members of MS-13, a powerful Latino gang. POLKTON, N.C. - A lieutenant and a sergeant were stabbed by inmates at Lanesboro Correctional Institution around 2 p.m. Thursday and are being treated for their injuries at local hospitals, a Bridges said she doesnt believe that. October 2014 - Prison administrator David Mitchell was stabbed in the neck by an inmate wielding a plastic shank. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Washington, of the U.S. Attorneys Office in Charlotte, is in charge of the prosecution. They contended those numbers constitute "sensitive public security information.". No prison officials have been criminally charged. Other former Lanesboro inmates also say that corrections officers have made a dangerous environment more so. But minutes later, they are walking through a prison hallway with weapons, headed for a fight. Officers skipped their required rounds at the prison the night Quick died, records show. And with Wall's signal after the fact, telling (Vazquez) essentially to be quiet, I don't know what other inference you can draw from it.. Roy Cooper has asked him to review the circumstances "to ensure this doesn't happen again.". But, with the help of a source, the Observer obtained a prison surveillance video from the 2012 attack that killed inmate Wesley Turner, providing a rare glimpse into a prison murder. Heres how to check the conditions. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Following the attack, more than 800 inmates were put on lockdown for several months. In court documents, Parsons has denied that. "We've got to find a way to retain the people who work for us," Guice said. In 2012, an inmate at Lanesboro Correctional Institution was killed during a gang fight. Most (of the prisons officers) are good, hard-working folks, said Underwood, the SBI supervisor. Testimony from former unit manager Jeffery Wall came during the second day of a civil trial examining whether Walls supervisor, the top official at Lanesboro Correctional Institution, ignored serious problems and allowed Wall to maintain a violent, contraband-driven fiefdom.. If the officer knew an assault was going to take place, would he have opened the door? Bridges asked. Zelaya-Sorto did reply to the Observer, but wrote only: Este caso esta serado This case is closed.. Strong of the FBIs Charlotte Field Office, joins U.S. Attorney Murray in making the announcement. Prison leaders plan to examine many factors, including staffing patterns, Guice said. Furthermore, gunshot wounds were mainly found in the face, head, throat and chest. Relatives of those killed and human rights activists have both demanded and appealed for justice. [10] He was in charge of the special police unit ROTA that is known for having an aggressive approach to civil disturbance. Why would you keep them there, with the risk of them getting into the hands of an inmate? she asked. Experts say such corruption jeopardizes prison workers, wastes taxpayer dollars and endangers the public. Correctional officers were also prohibited from accepting gifts from inmates, performing favors for inmates, or providing inmates with narcotic drugs or any other item forbidden by LCI rules. Wilburn English, a prison sergeant who previously worked at Lanesboro, recalled a day when Parsons and Wall came to talk with him. One Polk officer made $29,800 in salary in 2015. Meggan Callahan was killed there allegedly by an inmate who beat her to death with a fire extinguisher. His dismissal letter states that he helped create conditions that increased the chance of death or serious bodily injury to employees, inmates or the public. In 2014, we reported that an inmate stabbed a prison administrator as he walked through the prison recreation yard. The father of two was shot and killed in front of his Charlotte, North Carolina home, and police are currently investigating whether or not the murder was somehow connected to his profession or incidences which may have occurred in the correctional facility where he is employed. It's as simple as that.". In October, the prisons top administrator, David Mitchell, was injured after he was stabbed in the neck by an inmate wielding a plastic shank. Correctional officers face significant dangers in their careers both inside and outside of prisons to which they are assigned. Lanesboro Correctional Institution Lanesboro Correctional Institution is located in Polkton North Carolina. Bridges said she hasnt watched all of the DVDs found in Walls ceiling, but has turned them over to the FBI. Wynn, who is serving a life sentence following a 2008 murder conviction, was permanently disabled after one of the attacks, his lawyers say. According to the indictment, between August and September 2018, while employed at LCI as a correctional officer, Blyther accepted a bribe to smuggle a controlled substance into the LCI on behalf of an inmate housed at the facility. A locked padlock That works out to about one officer for every 29 inmates. It was especially heartbreaking for me to see you go in the media from being a grieving father who lost a wife and a son to being the person indicted and convicted of killing them, Judge Clifton Newman said to Alex Murdaugh Friday. The murder, which occurred on Thursday June 5 in the hours before Easley and his father planned to watch the first game of the NBA finals together, left his family devastated. His attorney, Joseph Ledford, wouldnt discuss his case and said he advised his client not to talk. To cope with the shortages, many prisons have also paid hundreds of thousands each year for overtime. In a court filing, Wall denied the federal lawsuit claims, saying he never facilitated attacks or gave gang members preferential treatment. Searches found numerous cellphones, improvised weapons and marijuana. Prosecutors later dismissed the charge because of problems with the credibility of witnesses. It's unclear whether better staffing would have saved Callahan's life. Heres a look at incidents at Lanesboro Correctional Institution since its opening in 2004: January 2009 - Inmate Bill Rayburn alleged he was repeatedly pepper-sprayed by correctional officers twice while he was naked after he requested medical help. Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison for murders of wife, son in June 2021, Get ready to change your clocks. Experts said that better staffing at the prison likely would have meant more eyes and ears on what inmates were doing, faster response times and more officers on the scene. Cook, the target of the 2012 attack, was released from prison in March. Just out of view, in the lower right-hand corner of the video, a second fight erupts. In Lanesboro, as in many other prisons, gangs often battle for control over drugs and cellphones a lucrative trade for both inmates and corrupt officers. [22][23] The court judged that the massacre was an act of self-defense and that there was a lack of evidence to link the individual officers to the individual killings. Wynn, who also took the stand Tuesday, testified that some inmates simply walked around prison metal detectors. The North Carolina Department of Public Safety says a lieutenant and a sergeant were stabbed by inmates at Lanesboro Correctional Institution in Polkton around 2 p.m. Thursday. By Ames Alexander - [email protected]. Prison leaders say that when staff vacancies at a prison rise, they make adjustments, such as moving prisoners, reducing inmate programs and sending fewer staff members to special training. Hodges was sentenced to two years in federal prison. He reportedly belonged to Cooks gang and planned to go to his defense. Angela Smith, who worked as. Dawe, whose group shares research to help correctional officers, said that prison leaders who operate without sufficient staff "roll the dice with people's lives.". Brooke, James. The LCI housed medium and close-security inmates and was one of the states largest prisons. Located in Polkton, about 45 miles east of Charlotte, Lanesboro has repeatedly drawn. Other prisoners were killed by police dogs. The Carandiru massacre (Portuguese: Massacre do Carandiru, Portuguese: [msaki du kdiu]) occurred on Friday, 2 October 1992, in Carandiru Penitentiary in So Paulo, Brazil, when military police stormed the penitentiary following a prison riot.The massacre, which left 111 prisoners dead, is considered by many people to be a major human rights violation. Many of the large maximum-security prisons such as Bertie and Lanesboro are located in rural areas, where recruiting can be difficult. A search warrant affidavit filed earlier this year said that homemade knives were found in the ceiling above the office of Jeffery Wall, a former manager over the prison unit where Turner was killed. [25] Since the massacre, Brazil's federal government has passed new legislation to reform the prison system, all of which has yet to be enforced.[26]. Others believe that it was somehow connected to his job. He had 43. He said the injuries he suffered in the 2011 attack have made it impossible for him to lift much weight above his head or work some prison jobs. Dustin Bettis, a former inmate who did time in Lanesboro, told the Observer he saw Wall give a pocket knife to one inmate and a cellphone to another. "It's not safe," McCoy said. For almost two years, an Observer reporter exchanged letters with inmate Christopher Cook, who described what led to the attack that killed Turner. Then they returned to D pod, the unit where they lived. In 2012, an inmate filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Lanesboro corrections officers cracked his skull with a baton and then destroyed a surveillance video that showed the assault. But while North Carolina typically hires about 1,800 to 2,000 prison officers per year, it usually loses about that many as well. At Lanesboro, 45 miles southeast of Charlotte, it was common for 42 officers to watch about 1,200 prisoners on the night shift, according to Gregory McCoy, who worked there as a correctional officer from 2009 to 2016. As alleged in the indictment, as a correctional officer, Blythers duties included the supervision of inmates, and ensuring safe, secure and orderly prison operations. Angela Smith, who worked as an officer at Tabor Correctional Institution from 2010 to 2014, said she was often asked to work overtime because the prison was so understaffed. According to charges contained in the federal indictment, Blyther worked as a correctional officer at the Lanesboro Correctional Institution (LCI), since renamed Anson Correctional Institution, a state prison located in Polkton, North Carolina. Located in Polkton, about 45 miles east of Charlotte, Lanesboro has repeatedly drawn scrutiny after violence, contraband smuggling and allegations of improper conduct by corrections officers. ANSON COUNTY, N.C. One inmate is dead after an incident at Lanesboro Correctional Center in Anson County. SBI agents who investigated the killing said in interviews this week that they have no proof that corrections officers were trying to help the assailants. Ballistic evidence indicated that 515 bullets were found in the prisoners. The dismissal letter, signed by Lanesboros acting administrator at the time, called Walls statement a clear threat of injury or harm to staff.. Officers said excessive overtime work can leave them burned out and exhausted. In interviews with investigators, officer Kearry Hinson said he picked up one of the weapons used in the fight and gave it to Wall. Statewide, correctional officers received more than $12 million in overtime in 2015, the Observer found. B.S. Bridges said she doesnt buy that explanation. I didnt have enough cooperation to connect the dots, she said. But Jeffery Wall the unit manager who made the gesture has been accused in federal lawsuits of facilitating two other gang attacks the same year. If Cooks DNA had turned up on any of the shanks in Walls office, that could have helped tie them to the attack. September 29, 2016 / 6:08 PM But Vazquez stabbed and killed Turner using another improvised weapon, a sharpened metal plate. Some correctional officers have more than doubled their income by working overtime. Prison officials investigated the murder, but refused to provide the Observer their report. 11.291 (IACmHR, Apr. On the video, Cook, 41, is the tall inmate gesturing to other prisoners. [8] In 2013, hundreds of people attended a multi-faith vigil in So Paulo in memoriam of those killed in the massacre. Around 1:30 P.M., two groups got into a fight after a game of football; the fight quickly escalated into a prison riot that lasted three hours. Minutes before the Sept. 28, 2012, assault that killed Wesley Turner, two inmates involved visited the office of an assistant unit manager at the Anson County prison, State Bureau of Investigation agents say. Wall is the first staff member to arrive. In a statement to the Observer, N.C. Secretary of Public Safety Frank Perry wrote: Management changes have been made at Lanesboro, but many other initiatives are in the works that include increasing staff, providing additional staff training and partnering with outside law enforcement and investigative agencies.. Attorneys for Vazquez said their client never told them what led to the fight. But in his first public comments about the hidden weapons, Wall said Lanesboros top administrator at the time Lawrence Parsons was unaware that he kept the weapons in his ceiling. ", "The inmates literally say, 'You all are understaffed, so if we wanted to, we could overtake this prison.' State prison leaders refused requests for all surveillance videos that show incidents in which Wall is accused of helping inmates wage attacks. Two other inmates involved in the gang-related fight that day Julio Alberto Zelaya-Sorto and Joel Corto Ortiz also pleaded guilty to felonies and had up to four and five years, respectively, added to their prison sentences. But prison officials did release the monthly figures, which show that the prison had 211 officers available to work in April. One of those officers fell and hurt her knee when she went to Callahan's defense, Jernigan said. A prison officer and two inmates were injured during a fight at Lanesboro Correctional Institution Thursday morning, state prison officials said. He acknowledged that he had heard complaints about Wall from officers at the prison, but they had no concrete evidence.. Where, she wondered, were the shanks used to attack Cook and Turner? "You can only spread people so thin," she said. Other inmates had told investigators that Hodges was supplying contraband to an inmate gang member who she later admitted was her boyfriend, court records show. programs we write about. Inmates involved in the fight told investigators that one of the shanks was a real long knife, another resembled a razor, and the third was a plastic toilet bowl brush sharpened at one end. In an 11-week period in early 2016, more than 15 staff members left Lanesboro under suspicion of wrongdoing, Mitchell said. He also said he had not kept a gun in plain view inside his car, contrary to what a corrections officer had reported. There, Ortiz and Zelaya-Sorto attacked and seriously injured inmate Christopher Cook. A spokesman for the N.C. Department of Corrections says two inmates were taken to the hospital. The man turns and looks directly into the room. The massacre, which left 111 prisoners dead, is considered by many people to be a major human rights violation. ANSON COUNTY, NC (WBTV) - Five former prisoners of Lanesboro Correctional in Anson County say guards at the prison helped gang-affiliated inmates get weapons and wage attacks. Then shelter shared desperate plea, What to Watch Friday: Dateline and 20/20 update Murdaugh murder trial coverage, Mail carrier cant believe his eyes after seeing NC lottery win. Why fans love it. A North Carolina inmate was found guilty Monday of murdering four prison workers during a failed escape attempt two years ago. ANSONCOUNTY, N.C. -- A N.C. inmate has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that corrections officers at an Anson County prison cracked his skull with a baton . But Harkins said the numbers provided by North Carolina suggest Bertie was "severely understaffed.". Vazquez and Zelaya-Sorto are scheduled for release in 2028. He said three inmates believed to be involved in the assault have been identified and are being questioned. The settlement was reached after the trio and two other state prisoners, Orlando Harshaw and Stacey Wynn, sued Lanesboro Correctional Institution Superintendent Lawrence Parsons and other prison officials for allowing and facilitating attacks by gang members in a part of the prison run by Unit Supervisor Jeffrey E. Wall. Its the few who dont who make problems for everybody.. [24] Consequently, the prosecutor is initiating an appeal and the process remains ongoing. Statewide, about 16 percent of officer positions are vacant. The state Department of Public Safety says an inmate at Bertie. Forensic tests did not tie any of the shanks in Walls ceiling to the attacks on Turner, according to Bridges, the SBI agent. She and her colleagues in the Charlotte SBI office were frequently called to investigate crimes there, including officers charged with bringing drugs to inmates. Theyre within feet of an officer who controls the locked door to the block. Another prison manager in that cramped office at the time told investigators that she was not paying attention as Wall spoke to the gang members, Bridges said. [13] Although not entirely certain, his death was likely the result of his role in the massacre. The other inmate who was injured is being treated for his injuries. Staff researcher Maria David and editor Rogelio Aranda contributed. Seconds later, another prisoner follows. Soon afterward, he contacted a Lanesboro employee, asking her to retrieve the contraband from the ceiling of his old office, his dismissal letter states. A video taken inside Lanesboro Correctional Institution shows prison officials gesturing to suspects in an inmates 2012 murder to keep their mouths shut after the killing, lawyers who represented one of the suspects said. Turner, 35, a convicted murderer nicknamed Thug Life, has served most of his 21-year prison sentence. He got the nickname Ghost Face as the only white kid hanging out in a Durham housing project. Cook suffered lacerations and puncture wounds. ". Although the UN urged Brazil to bring justice to those most affected by the slaughter in September 2016, the court declared the trial on Carandiru massacre null. In 2014, a Lanesboro officer was paid $29,800 but made another $35,600 in overtime. Bertie isn't the only state prison with staffing problems. Parsons testified that it was easy for inmates to make weapons, from broom handles, batteries and even toothbrushes. Wall was eventually fired in 2013, after Parsons had left Lanesboro and after the homemade shanks were found hidden in the ceiling of Walls office. Officers said excessive overtime work can leave them burned out and exhausted. But SBI agent Audria Bridges, who led the investigation, said she was troubled to learn that inmates at the prison roamed freely in areas they should not have been in.. We had about 7 officers overseeing about 30 inmates in a kitchen to make sure they followed the recipes.prepared and use the right utensils to serve the food. Department spokesman Keith Acree said the two are being treated for their injuries at local hospitals. Editors note: This story is based on interviews with dozens of sources including inmates, investigators, lawyers and 19 current and former prison employees as well as court files, correspondence, criminal records and state prison documents. In such situations inmates will sometimes send associates to threaten the officers, or even assault them. Contact an Observer reporter: Ames Alexander | 704-358-5060 | [email protected], Gavin Off | 704-358-6038 | [email protected]. Some family members believe that the murder may have been connected to an incident that occurred at a convenience store earlier in the week. / CBS/AP. McCoy heard the officer curse and saw her struggling with an inmate. "When you don't have adequate staff to manage the inmates, and there's an incident, unfortunately people can get hurt and sometimes people even die," Webster said.