DOC inmate from Nashua found dead in cell

Here we have a death which authorities keep saying "under investigation" and by now a "autopsy" has been done with no report of why! If a suicide, there are signs, none of which are mentioned here. So who/what caused his death? It is now December and no answers...

8-13-2012 New Hampshire:

MANCHESTER – An autopsy is scheduled for Monday on the body of 43-year-old Nashua resident Mark John Amsden, an inmate at the N.H. Department of Corrections who died Sunday afternoon after being found unconscious in his cell, officials said.

Amsden, of 3 Kehoe Ave., Apt. A in Nashua, had been held at the facility since July 27, a day after Nashua police arrested him on three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and one count of felonious sexual assault.

Police said that Amsden was arrested on a warrant issued after a woman, whom Amsden reportedly knew, told police she had been sexually assaulted on several occasions.

DOC superintendent David Dionne said Amsden was alone in his cell when he was discovered unconscious at 1:17 Sunday afternoon.

“We had no indication Mr. Amsden was in any form of distress,” Dionne said.

He said correctional officers and on-duty medical personnel began emergency medical treatment, which continued until American Medical Response and Manchester Fire Department personnel arrived. Efforts to revive Amsden failed, and emergency personnel pronounced him dead at 1:51 p.m., Dionne said.

Dionne said Amsden was being held at the DOC on $50,000 bail since his July 27 Nashua District Court arraignment.

Dionne also said Amsden had 13 previous admissions to the DOC.

According to Telegraph archives, Amsden’s local criminal history dates back to at least 2004, when Nashua police arrested him in December on three counts of forgery in connection with the theft of checks from his neighbor. He was indicted in March 2005. At the time, Amsden gave an address of 4 Auburn St., one of several he had over the years.

In August 2005, Amsden, then of Revere, Mass., was charged with violation of a protective order. Two months later, he pleaded guilty to stalking, and received a suspended sentence.

Amsden was 37 when he was charged in February 2007 with felony failure to register as a sex offender. He lived at 28 Railroad Square at the time; In August that year, he lived at 18 Abbott St., Unit B, when he was charged with criminal trespass.

In February 2008, Amsden lived at 20 Harvard St., No. 3, when he was arrested for driving after revocation or suspension, records state. In October that year, while living at 24B Fletcher St., Nashua police picked Amsden up on a warrant for assault out of Portsmouth.

About a year later, Amsden was arrested for criminal threatening and stalking. On July 4, 2011, he resided at 23 Temple St., No. 302 when police arrested him on stalking and domestic violence charges.

And about a month before his most recent arrest, Amsden was again arrested on domestic violence – stalking.

Dionne said Amsden’s death is under investigation by Manchester police and corrections officials. ..Source.. by Dean Shalhoup

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Nashua Man Found Dead in Prison Cell

8-20-2012 New Hampshire:

A Nashua man with a long arrest history was found dead inside his prison cell Sunday.

Mark John Amsden, 43, was found unconscious at about 1:15 p.m. at Valley Street Jail in Manchester, according to Manchester Police Lt. Maureen Tessier.

Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead just before 2 p.m.

Amsden, of 3 Kehoe Ave., Nashua, was arrested July 26 by Nashua Police, charged with three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault; and one count of felonious sexual assault, a class B felony. Amsden had been incarcerated more than a dozen times over the past decade on charges ranging from forgery, stalking, and assault to criminal threatening.

Cause of death remains under investigation, pending results of an autopsy, which is scheduled for today, Tessier said. ..Source.. by Carol Robidoux

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Nashua Man’s Jail Cell Death Under Investigation

An autopsy is planned for a 43-year-old inmate at a New Hampshire jail who was found unconscious in his cell.

Mark John Amsden of Nashua had been at the Manchester Department of Corrections facility since July 27. He had been arrested on charges of aggravated felonious sexual assault.

he Telegraph of Nashua reports Superintendent David Dionne said Amsden was alone in his cell when he was found Sunday afternoon. Emergency medical personnel were unable to revive him.

His death is under investigation by Manchester police and corrections officials.

Amsden had a criminal record going back to 2004 including charges of forgery, stalking, and failing to register as a sex offender. ..Source.. by CBS Boston

Murders of prison inmates in Sterling, Colorado, spur state review

This covers death of Mark Frederick Hanson

November 2011 Colorado:

Department of Corrections officials will meet in Sterling today to try to understand why four inmates have been killed at the prison there in the past two years.

DOC executive director Tom Clements said he is meeting with Sterling Correctional Facility warden Kevin Milyard to be debriefed on each of the cases.

"We're looking at cell assignment protocols," Clements said. "We want to see if there are any common denominators. It's got my attention."

The focus is on Sterling because all other prisons in DOC have a total of just three murders in roughly the same time frame. .... ....

Five days earlier, convicted sex offender Mark Frederick Hanson, who was serving a two-year prison term for repeatedly failing to register as a sex offender, also was beaten to death at Sterling. Three of the four inmates killed there in the past 21 months were behind bars for either sex offenses or crimes against children. ....

Sanguinetti said DOC regularly takes measures to protect threatened sex offenders or child abusers or killers, including segregating them from the general population.

She said the inmates suspected of killing White and Hanson, who was murdered Nov. 25, are in segregation. The two were held in different sections of the prison, Sanguinetti said.

Hanson was in prison after three convictions for failing to register as a sex offender. ..Source.. by Kirk Mitchell

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Murders of prison inmates in Sterling, Colo., spur state review

12-15-2011:

Department of Corrections officials will meet in Sterling today to try to understand why four inmates have been killed at the prison there in the past two years.

DOC executive director Tom Clements said he is meeting with Sterling Correctional Facility warden Kevin Milyard to be debriefed on each of the cases.

"We're looking at cell assignment protocols," Clements said. "We want to see if there are any common denominators. It's got my attention."

The focus is on Sterling because all other prisons in DOC have a total of just three murders in roughly the same time frame.

The most recent Sterling case was Lyle Brent White, a convicted child killer who had told his sister he feared for his life before he was beaten to death.

"He's been threatened ever since he's been in there," said White's sister Elizabeth. "This totally could have been prevented."

An inmate who beat White to death Dec. 1 at Sterling told investigators the "cho-mo" — or child molester — got what he deserved, his sister said.

White had not been convicted of a sex crime but was behind bars for the murder of an 11-year-old boy.

Five days earlier, convicted sex offender Mark Frederick Hanson, who was serving a two-year prison term for repeatedly failing to register as a sex offender, also was beaten to death at Sterling. Three of the four inmates killed there in the past 21 months were behind bars for either sex offenses or crimes against children.

The rash of prison murders is extraordinary in a county that will go years without a single homicide, Logan County District Attorney Robert Watson said.

Watson said that errors in prison classifications or placements may have contributed to the deaths.

DOC spokeswoman Kath erine Sanguinetti said Sterling has more than 2,500 convicted felons, or more than 10 percent of the state's prisoners, and violent confrontations do occur.

"Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try to protect them, sometimes this kind of thing happens," she said.

White's sister said investigators contacted family members a day after he was killed, asking whether he told them about any threats. He had, she said, adding that he had repeatedly been taunted about being a child killer.

White was convicted of killing 11-year-old Centennial Elementary School fifth-grader Antonio Davalos, then throwing the boy's body into a trash bin in Littleton.

Initially, DOC officials moved him out of state, including a stint in Idaho, because his crime made him a target. But he was returned to Colorado several years ago, White's sister said. Despite his repeated reports to staff that he was threatened, White remained in general-population cell blocks, where other inmates learned his background.

Sanguinetti said DOC regularly takes measures to protect threatened sex offenders or child abusers or killers, including segregating them from the general population.

She said the inmates suspected of killing White and Hanson, who was murdered Nov. 25, are in segregation. The two were held in different sections of the prison, Sanguinetti said.

Hanson was in prison after three convictions for failing to register as a sex offender.

In another case, Jaime Rodriguez, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 13, 2010, beating death of David Guerrero-Estrada in his cell. Guerrero-Estrada was convicted in 2007 of attempted sexual assault of a child and sentenced to three years in prison.

Rodriguez has been found mentally incompetent and is being evaluated and treated at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo.

Two Sterling inmates are suspected in the murder of habitual burglar Cleveland Flood, 38, who was beaten to death in February 2010. Watson said charges could be filed next month. He declined to name the suspects. ..Source.. by Kirk Mitchell

Inmate Death at Folsom State Prison Under Investigation

2-27-2012 California:

Law enforcement officials are investigating a homicide that occurred Saturday in a medium-security Unit at Folsom State Prison. (FSP)

Inmate Richard Allen Leonard died after being assaulted with a slashing-type weapon. Responding staff began life-saving procedures before he was pronounced dead at 8:01 a.m. February 25, 2012, in Folsom State Prison.

Leonard, 44, was received from Orange County on September, 2, 1998, and was serving a 25-years-to-life term for aggravated sexual assault on a child.

His death is being investigated as a homicide by FSP Investigative Services Unit (ISU) and Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office investigators. The Office of the Inspector General’s Bureau of Independent Review was notified of the incident.

There is no suspect at this time. Folsom State Prison has been placed on a modified program pending further investigation.

Folsom State Prison is a medium-security facility that houses more than 3,100 inmates and employs nearly 1,000 people. FSP opened on July 26, 1880, and is the second-oldest state prison in California. ..Source.. by CDCR Today

One of two death-row 'suicides' may not be a suicide, official says

1-8-2010 Georgia:

Georgia's top Department of Corrections official has now acknowledged that one of two recent "suicides" on Georgia's death row may not have been a suicide.

And while Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens told his board Thursday the GBI is investigating the death, a GBI spokesman on Friday said that was not the case.

During the agency's board meeting, Owens was asked about the inmates' deaths. "One of them may not be a suicide," Owens told the board, according to a transcript of the meeting.

On Dec. 6, condemned killer Timothy Pruitt died at Augusta State Medical Prison after sustaining injuries on Nov. 19. On New Year's Day, guards found death-row inmate Leeland Mark Braley hanging in his cell. Both were housed on death row at the state Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

A number of family members of death-row inmates have said Pruitt's death was not a suicide and that he was likely killed by another death row inmate, Sara Totonchi, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said Friday.

At Thursday's meeting, board member Roger Garrison asked Owens if the GBI is investigating Pruitt's death. . "Yes, sir," Owens replied.

But on Friday, GBI spokesman John Bankhead said Corrections investigators only consulted with a GBI investigator about Pruitt's death. "As far as the GBI being actively involved in investigating either of these cases, we're not involved because we weren't asked," Bankhead said.

Corrections officials initially called Pruitt's death an "alleged suicide." Pruitt, 43, was sentenced to death for the 1992 rape and murder of Wendy Vincent, a 10-year-old Lumpkin County girl. Braley, 35, was sentenced to death in 1999 for the kidnapping and stabbing death of Kelli Hammond, an insurance agent from Zebulon.

Totonchi has said that death-row inmates may be preparing to wage a hunger strike because of recent get-tough measures imposed by Corrections officials. The prison recently eliminated all contact visits between inmates and their families and restricted prisoners to their cells all but one hour each day. ..Source.. Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Was death row inmate murdered?

1-31-2010 Georgia:

Inquest to be held for Pruitt, whose Dec. 6 death was first reported as suicide

A coroner’s inquest will be held in the strangulation death of a Lumpkin County man on Georgia’s death row that some believe was a murder.

The Dec. 6 death of Timothy Pruitt was first reported as the result of an apparent suicide.

Pruitt, 43, spent 12 years at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison awaiting execution for the 1992 rape and murder of 10-year-old Wendy Nicole Vincent of Dahlonega. He died 17 days after he was found hanging by a bed sheet in his cell at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Butts County Coroner Ralph Wilson said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the death of Pruitt and another death row inmate, Leeland Mark Braley, who was found hanging in his cell Jan. 1.

Wilson said witnesses will be supoenaed and juries seated to hear evidence about both deaths in separate inquests. He said he is waiting for the GBI and the Georgia Department of Corrections to wrap up their probes before scheduling the inquests.

Braley’s death is generally accepted as a suicide, but many within Georgia’s prisoner advocacy community believe Pruitt was murdered by another inmate, said Sara Totonchi, Director of the Southern Center for Human Rights and a member of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

“He was in the process of writing a letter to his fiance at the time of his death,” Totonchi said.

The Georgia Department of Corrections did not return several phone and e-mail messages seeking comment last week.

Kari Ohland, who said she visited Pruitt every weekend and was his fiance, said she spoke with Pruitt the day he was found hanged.

She said the letter that Pruitt was writing to her that day was later found and sent to her.

“There was no indication he was suicidal,” she said. “Not at all. He was saying how excited he was to see me that weekend. There’s no way he choked himself.”

Ohland said she was later told by another death row inmate, Michael Nance, that convicted quadruple killer Jerry William Jones was seen going into Pruitt’s cell shortly before he was found. Inmates’ cell doors were open and guards stayed inside observation booths during certain times of the day, she said.

Since the two deaths, death row has been on 23-hour a day lockdown, with no contact visits for inmates, Totonchi said.

Ohland said she refuses to believe Pruitt’s death was a suicide.

“There’s no way he would have done that to me,” she said. ..Source.. by Stephen Gurr

UPDATED: Attorney Convicted of Child Porn Killed in Prison

12-29-2011 California:

A 72-year-old retired attorney from Santa Fe was murdered at the California prison where he was serving a federal sentence for receiving child pornography on the Internet.

Robert A. Warren was attacked sometime before 7 a.m. Thursday at Federal Correctional Institution II in Victorville, Calif., a medium security facility housing more than 1,700 inmates, according to a news release provided to the Victorville Daily Press. He was pronounced dead just before 9 a.m.

Details about the cause of death were unavailable from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Warren’s sole criminal conviction had generated heated discussion at sentencing about the appropriate punishment for the crime. Prosecutors sought nine years, saying Warren was more than the “passive voyeur” he claimed to be and had fueled the industry by saving thousands of child porn images.

The defense said the five-year mandatory minimum was more than enough punishment for a man with no criminal history, a history of philanthropic giving and a list of medical issues. Society would be better served by allowing him to pursue specific treatment outside of prison, it said.

Because Warren is dead, the conviction and indictment are expected to be dismissed. It’s unclear if the family could recoup the $50,000 fine he was required to pay.

A spokesman at U.S. Bureau of Prisons office in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that the FBI handles homicide investigations in prisons.

Warren was charged in a seven-count, July 2009 indictment with receipt and possession of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He pleaded guilty to a single count of receipt and was sentenced in February by Chief U.S. District Judge Bruce Black to the mandatory minimum five years.

“These mandatory minimums make it impossible for judges to tailor a sentence to fit an individual, especially someone as medically fragile as Mr. Warren,” said Marc Lowry, Warren’s attorney.

Lowry said he had written the Bureau of Prisons twice to urge transfer of his client after Warren was attacked within 12 hours of arrival at Victorville. Black had recommended Warren be allowed to serve his sentence at a federal medical prison facility.

Court pleadings filed by the defense say Warren had a variety of health problems, from diabetes and neurological defects that made him unaware of the effects of his behavior.

Federal prosecutors cited recognition by the Congress, the Supreme Court and U.S. Sentencing Commission that child exploitation offenses should be punished severely, noting that the clear trend since 2003 was to increase sentences.

“The child pornography industry would not be in business if there was not a demand from … (those) willing to pay money for such images and videos,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlyn Rees said in a sentencing memorandum.

Warren’s plea agreement reserved his right to appeal the court’s July 2010 ruling denying suppression of evidence against him.

Warren had sought to suppress the evidence based on an argument that the search warrant affidavit used was insufficiently specific and that it contained false information about a prior arrest attributed to him that was of a different Robert Warren.

In Warren’s plea to Count 2 of the indictment, he admitted knowingly receiving a video more than three minutes long that showed a man performing sexual acts on a girl tied with ropes. Forensic examiners identified more than 2,000 child pornography images from 141 child victims.

Court documents say Warren had been identified as a subscriber to child pornography websites in seven national investigations dating back to 2002, but he was not arrested until the FBI in 2007 used a fake new child pornography website to capture the Internet addresses of those who attempted to access it. ..Source.. by Scott Sandlin/Journal Staff Writer

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Feds mum on death of Santa Fe man in prison

1-5-2012:

Federal Bureau of Prisons officials remain tight-lipped about the investigation into the death of a former Santa Fe attorney last week in a California prison.

But the attorney of Robert A. Warren, 72, who died in federal custody Dec. 29 after pleading guilty to child pornography charges, is being very vocal about his concerns that his client's death could have been prevented.

"He agreed to a period of incarceration. He didn't agree to be murdered," Marc Lowry, one of Warren's attorneys from the Rothstein law firm said Wednesday.

James Engleman, a spokesman for the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex, has not returned emails or telephone calls seeking comment on the death investigation. Lowry, meanwhile, said neither he nor Warren's widow have been apprised of many, if any, details into how her husband was killed or if anybody has been charged.

Lowry has little doubt his client was targeted from Day One in federal custody because of the nature of his crimes. Warren, Lowry said, was first attacked at the Victorville prison facility in Adelanto, Calif., within 12 hours of his being transferred there in July after his guilty plea and five-year sentence for a charge of receiving child pornography on the Internet. While waiting for his morning medication the morning after arriving at the facility, two fellow inmates attacked Warren, landing him in the hospital and in protective custody for much of his prison stay after that.

"I think he was targeted because of the charges against him, and that's a problem because the Bureau of Prisons knows that people entering prison with these types of problems are subject to abuse," Lowry said. "It is their duty to protect inmates they know are targets."

Lowry and co-counsel Peter Schoenberg wrote in July to both the U.S. Department of Justice and to the warden of the Victorville prison asking to have Warren transferred, to no avail.

Aside from Warren being targeted by fellow inmates, the 72-year-old man walked with a cane, had diabetes and wasn't in the best physical condition, which is why, Lowry said, U.S. District Judge Bruce D. Black recommended at sentencing that Warren be confined to a medical prison facility in Arizona. Warren had no prior criminal record.

But once in federal custody, the Bureau of Prisons does not have to adhere to a judge's recommendations.

"I think that's one of the tragic downsides of this, that the federal Bureau of Prisons should be considering some sort of facility solely for people with charges like this," Lowry said.

The sentencing itself for Warren allowed no wiggle room for Black, because Congress has approved guidelines requiring mandatory sentences that leave no discretion to sentencing judges.

An alternative for a man such as Warren, Lowry said, would have been house arrest with an ankle bracelet and no access to the Internet, children or a smart phone while serving his sentence.

"His death is a tragic loss for the community," Lowry said. "There was widespread support for Mr. Warren within the community, and everyone that came to the sentencing was mystified that a man of his age and in his physical condition could get a sentence for so long. ... The tragedy here is judges aren't allowed to escape the mandatory sentences called for by Congress."

The Rothstein firm was appealing Warren's conviction related to an issue the defense had with how police conducted a search of Warren's home.

Lowry said it would be premature to discuss whether the firm and Warren's widow will be seeking legal action against the Bureau of Prisons for Warren's death. ..Source.. by Geoff Grammer

Homicide Unit investigating prisoner’s death

12-9-2011 Maryland:

North Branch Correctional Institution inmate found unresponsive inside celll

CRESAPTOWN — The suspicious death of an inmate at the North Branch Correctional Institution on U.S. Route 220 is being investigated by the Internal Investigative Unit of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit.

Correctional officers found the 57-year-old inmate unresponsive in his cell in Housing Unit 3 of the maximum-security prison shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday and immediately started CPR until paramedics arrived. Officers were alerted after “an inmate approached a correctional officer and said something was wrong with his cell mate,” police said.

The unresponsive inmate was taken to the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

The identity of the inmate is being withheld pending notification of his family. He was serving 40 years on a rape charge.

Cresaptown Volunteer Fire Department ambulance responded to the call at 6:20 p.m., according to the Allegany County 911 center.

The Maryland State Medical Examiner will determine the cause and manner of death.

By law, Maryland State Police are the lead investigators in the case of a suspicious death inside a Maryland correctional facility. ..Source.. by Staff Reports Cumberland Times-News

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Inmate's death caused by strangulation, ruled a homicide

12-12-2011 Maryland:

CUMBERLAND, Md. — Maryland State Police say an inmate who was found unresponsive in a Cumberland prison was strangled and his death has been ruled a homicide.

Fifty-seven-year-old Lewis J. Thompson Jr. was found in his cell at the North Branch Correctional Institution on Dec. 8 and pronounced dead at a local hospital. He was serving a 40-year sentence on a rape charge.

The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown reports that state police are conducting the investigation into Thompson's death. No charges have been filed yet. (http://bit.ly/sCAG6j) ..Source.. by The Republic

Coroner: Lieber inmate strangled to death

9-29-2010 South Carolina:

RIDGEVILLE, SC (WCSC) - An inmate found dead Saturday at Lieber Correctional Institution was strangled, according to the Dorchester County coroner.

The inmate, 72-year-old Saverio Piazzola, a male inmate, was found dead in his cell around 6 p.m. Saturday. Piazzola was serving 10 years in prison for criminal sexual conduct with a minor and began serving his sentence in August 2005. He was from Richland County.

The State Law Enforcement Division and the South Carolina Department of Corrections are investigating.

A corrections department spokesman said that there are suspects in mind, but no arrests have been made. ..Source.. by Live5News

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SC prisons officials investigating inmate's death

RIDGEVILLE, S.C. — South Carolina prison officials are investigating the death of a 72-year-old inmate at a maximum security facility in Dorchester County as a homicide.

Corrections Department spokesman Josh Gelinas says Saverio Piazzola (sah-VEHR'-ee-oh pee-ah-ZOH'-lah) was found dead Sunday evening in his cell at Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville.

The Dorchester County coroner's office said Piazzola died from strangulation.


Gelinas said Piazzola had a cellmate and that the department and the State Law Enforcement Division are conducting independent investigations.

Gelinas said it was the second inmate homicide this year. In January, 26-year-old Lamont Perry was stabbed to death at McCormick Correctional Institution. Investigators charged 21-year-old Jack Cooper with murder in that case.

Piazzola was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2005 after he was convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in Richland County. ..Source.. by The State

Inmate death at Augusta Correctional Center under investigation

8-11-2010 Virginia:

CRAIGSVILLE — The Virginia Department of Corrections is investigating the death of a 57-year-old inmate at Augusta Correctional Center.

Donald L. Mawyer of Arrington died in late July, according to the VDOC.

Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the VDOC, wrote in an e-mail Monday, "We had an inmate death at Augusta Correctional Center on July 24th. The incident is under investigation and I cannot comment further."

In 1999, Mawyer was released from prison after spending five years behind bars for a rape in Nelson County. In 2003 on Valentine's Day, Mawyer received a 30-year prison sentence in Albemarle County Circuit Court after being convicted of abduction, according to the VDOC. He also had a parole violation in 2000, along with a conviction in 2002 for failing to register as a sex offender. Mawyer was scheduled for release in August 2028 at the age of 75.

Daniel A. Braxton, warden at Augusta Correctional Center in Craigsville, referred all media inquiries to the Department of Corrections. The Medical Examiner's Office in Roanoke said Monday that a cause of death has not been determined.

A phone call placed Monday afternoon to a Mawyer family member was not returned. ..Source.. by Brad Zinn/staff

MD- Inmate fatally stabbed at city detention center

4-2-2009 Maryland:

A 26-year-old man awaiting trial on a rape charge was fatally stabbed Thursday morning inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, according to a statement from state prison officials.

The victim was identified as Nathaniel George, who had been held without bail since August pending trial. The statement from the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services says authorities have identified a suspect but charges have not yet been filed.

Officials said the stabbing occurred about 10:45 a.m. in the recreation yard at the East Eager Street complex. The institution is not on lockdown and officials are not yet commenting on what kind of weapon was used or the motive. Details of the charges against George were not immediately available.

Corrections officials said that violence has dropped at the jail,that "no serious weapon assaults by detainees on staff" have been reported over the past three years and that other assaults on staff have dropped 71 percent over the past two years. Physical assaults by detainees on other detainees have dropped 18 percent over the same period,and assault with weapons has dropped 52 percent. ..News Source.. by Baltimore Sun reporter

SC- Inmate stabbed to death at Lee Correctional

1-4-2009 South Carolina:

An inmate was stabbed to death Sunday morning at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, the S.C. Department of Corrections said.

About 11:15 a.m., Lenmont Jones, 29, was stabbed by another inmate inside a dormitory at the maximum-security institution. He transported to a hospital, then pronounced dead about 12:15 p.m., said Josh Gelinas, spokesman for the Department of Corrections.

Inmates are being kept in their cells as the investigation continues. The State Law Enforcement Division also is investigating.

SLED spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons said investigators are not sure who stabbed Jones.

Jones, 29, started serving a 20-year sentence for criminal sexual conduct with a minor Feb. 14. He was convicted in Richland County.

This is the second violent incident in the state prison in the past week. ..News Source.. by JASON WERMERS, Item Staff Writer

Inmate killed in Bellamy Creek was a repeat sex offender

1-19-2007 Michigan:

IONIA - Jimmy Wayne Crawford, a white male, was a career sex offender. On his 51st birthday he was killed in Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia where he was serving five to ten years for criminal sexual conduct. Department of Corrections officials would not say it was a murder, though other media sources have made that claim. Crawford died on Saturday, January 13 at Bellamy Creek.

“The Michigan State Police post in Ionia came over and processed the scene and then began their investigation,” Marlan said. “The investigation is still continuing, and we haven't charged anybody yet.”

If charges are filed, the Ionia County Prosecuting Attorney will handle the case, he added.

Crawford had two sexual conduct convictions prior to 1977, when he was charged with third degree sexual conduct in Berrien County. He was sentenced to 10 to 15 years on that occasion.

“Then he had another criminal sexual conduct conviction in 1987,” said Russ Marlan, Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman. “It was for second degree sexual conduct again out of Berrien and he was sentenced two and a half to five years for that.”

He was discharged for that offense in 1992 and did not see the inside of a penitentiary until he was convicted of his final offense in July 1998. ..more.. by Ionia Sentinel-Standard

Sex offender killed in Granite prison

5-4-2007 Oklahoma:

An inmate at the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite was found dead in his cell Tuesday evening. Donald Sullivan was serving 600 years for sex crimes.

Greg Brooks, spokesman for the prison, would not comment on how Sullivan died, but said Sullivan had multiple wounds.

Brooks said Sullivan was found by a staff member around 6:45pm Tuesday, around the time when all the cell doors are open just prior to the evening head count.

Sullivan did share a cell, but so far, the prison isn't saying anything about a suspect.

The prison was put on lockdown after Sullivan's body was discovered, and remained locked down as of Thursday evening. ..more.. by KSWO TV