But if another staff member had been standing beside the officer that morning, "there's a possibility (Mosley) would have kept walking," McCoy said. The state Department of Public Safety says an inmate at Bertie. He joined the Folk Nation at age 16, was convicted of damaging property soon afterward, and later committed armed robbery, kidnapping and more than a dozen other crimes. 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 was shocking to see the place wasnt being supervised with more of the restrictions that youd expect in a prison, she said. 11.291 (IACmHR, Apr. 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. It did not appear to be a normal prison relationship that a correctional officer should have with inmates, Underwood said. A correctional officer in the state of North Carolina was recently murdered, just one month before his wedding. He said he based his suspicions on information from inmate informants and prison surveillance video. Next is Joel Sour Ortiz, who is in prison for armed robbery and shooting a motorist in the head during a road-rage attack on Raleighs beltline. The confrontation began at about 8:30 a.m., when an inmate assaulted another inmate at . Tony Underwood, who headed the Charlotte areas SBI office at the time, said hes still troubled by what investigators learned about Walls relationship with inmates. The four staff members at the Lanesboro. CHARLOTTE, N.C. A federal grand jury sitting in Charlotte has indicted Erice Lemond Blyther, 46, of Hoffman, N.C., for smuggling a controlled substance at Lanesboro Correctional Institution while employed as a correctional officer. For almost two years, an Observer reporter exchanged letters with inmate Christopher Cook, who described what led to the attack that killed Turner. Ortiz was sentenced to 37 to 57 months. Walls dismissal letter, obtained by The Observer, states that he had hidden bloody weapons in the ceiling of his old office. The Observer repeatedly tried to reach Wall to discuss the Turner murder and the lawsuit allegations. The incident was reported around1:30 p.m. at theLanesboro Correctional Institution in Polkton. But after investigating for more than a year, the SBI closed the case. State prison leaders refused requests for all surveillance videos that show incidents in which Wall is accused of helping inmates wage attacks. They were planning to go to that unit to settle a dispute with Cook, who belonged to a different gang. He was not asked to explain why. Roy Cooper has asked him to review the circumstances "to ensure this doesn't happen again.". 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. POLKTON, N.C. -- Authorities in North Carolina say two supervisors were stabbed and two correctional officers were assaulted with a broom handle in an attackat a state prison. Phillip Boney, a former Lanesboro officer, told the Observer that right after the fight, he saw Wall put a shank inside an unlocked wooden podium near the cell block. Inmates catch a mid-morning nap at Lanesboro Correctional Institution, in Polkton. Bridges, 46, a North Carolina State graduate and former Concord police officer, was familiar with Lanesboro. The first to enter is Julio Zelaya-Sorto, convicted of shooting and killing a man at a Greensboro nightclub. The commanding officer of the operation, Colonel Ubiratan Guimares, was initially sentenced to 632 years in prison for his mishandling of the rebellion and the subsequent massacre. No prison officials have been criminally charged. Attorneys for the state quizzed Wynn why he didnt take steps that might have allowed him to avoid the attack. A prison officer and two inmates were injured during a fight at Lanesboro Correctional Institution Thursday morning, state prison officials said. Others believe that it was somehow connected to his job. [14] Wesley Turner has come to defend Cook, his friend. They entered their dogs in fights and watched them die. The gashes in the officer's face and neck required 39 stitches. They pepper-spray and beat Vazquez with batons to stop him from stabbing Turner. [1], The incident was started by a prisoner revolt. But Harkins said the numbers provided by North Carolina suggest Bertie was "severely understaffed.". Corrections officers flocked to the scene after the stabbings, but only one shank was recovered. 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. Surveillance video from that day offers a look behind the prisons walls: Inmates mill about in a hallway, some high-fiving, others hugging or bumping fists, as if they are high-school students changing classes. State figures show that in April, when Callahan died, roughly one of every five correctional officer positions at the eastern North Carolina prison was vacant. Some correctional officers have more than doubled their income by working overtime. Prison leaders say they have begun assigning new officers "career readiness coaches," who provide pointers on dealing with inmates, keeping themselves safe and attaining career goals. in Criminal Justice - Corrections, and M.S. Asheville:(828) 271-4661. In 2017, The New York Times published an article captioned "Brazils Deadly Prison System". Main Office: Officers skipped their required rounds at the prison the night Quick died, records show. 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. [8] In 2013, hundreds of people attended a multi-faith vigil in So Paulo in memoriam of those killed in the massacre. And, he said, they would even go so far as to tie dental floss around forbidden items, flush them down the toilet before a cell search and later use the dental floss to retrieve them. Ballistic evidence indicated that 515 bullets were found in the prisoners. ". Officers said excessive overtime work can leave them burned out and exhausted. 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. Many of the large maximum-security prisons such as Bertie and Lanesboro are located in rural areas, where recruiting can be difficult. [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. "And this time it came up snake eyes," he said. Prison video shows Wall making a keep your mouth shut gesture stretching his arms wide and then folding them so his hands covered his mouth to the office where Vazquez had been taken, Roberts and Smith said. 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. One inmate dead, another injured in prison incident, Medical Marijuana bill passes NC Senate; some cannabis supporters against bill, 8-year-old helps raise money for favorite Waffle House worker in need of car, PLAN AHEAD: Latest Weather Forecast Video. research before making any education decisions. Zelaya-Sorto pulls out a shank a handmade knife from inside his jumpsuit and lunges at Cook. 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. Following the attack, more than 800 inmates were put on lockdown for several months. Turner was scheduled to get out of prison this year, too. As soon as the inmates entered D pod, Ortiz and Sorto attacked Cook, surveillance video shows. Ortiz and Vazquez didnt respond to the Observers requests for information about the case. SBI officials say theres no proof that happened in the Turner case. Less than an hour after the fight, SBI agent Audria Bridges began investigating the murder. The weapons were found nearly a year and a half after the deadly fight, and forensic tests did not tie any of them to the attacks on Turner and Cook. ", "The inmates literally say, 'You all are understaffed, so if we wanted to, we could overtake this prison.' In a cell block inside one of the states most dangerous prisons, an inmate stabs a rival gang member over and over, 13 times. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Nikki Haley will be at Horry-Georgetown Technical College on March 13, a month after she launched her White House bid. Lanesboro has a standard operating capacity of 864 close-custody male inmates, with 128 segregation cells and 8 health care beds. New documents, interviews and a lawsuit paint a picture of a place where some officers seemed to collaborate with gang-affiliated inmates and gave them free rein to roam. Driver arrested after video shows him nearly hitting students at their school bus stop. The vigil and pleas for justice led to several trials for the officers involved in the massacre that same year. Vazquez, 32, had already been serving an eight- to 10-year sentence for second-degree murder. Once in a lifetime, After years of negotiations, GOP leaders reach a breakthrough on Medicaid expansion, Alex Murdaughs attorneys say theyll appeal double-murder conviction, 16-year-old Raleigh teen charged with murder in Robeson County killing, The evidence was clear: Murdaugh juror reveals quick deliberation in SC murder trial, Day 29: Murdaugh sentenced to life, attorneys say theyll appeal to US Supreme Court if needed, What were the deciding factors in the Murdaugh guilty verdict? 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 | aalexander@charlotteobserver.com, Gavin Off | 704-358-6038 | goff@charlotteobserver.com. The N.C. Department of Public Safety has declined the Observers requests for copies of the video, citing ongoing investigative reviews.. Another prisoner also slips through the door. 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. "When your shift starts at 5:30 a.m. and you work 12 hours and you get told you're held over till 9 (p.m.) you're not alert. Staff researcher Maria David and David Raynor of The (Raleigh) News & Observer contributed. ANSON COUNTY, N.C. One inmate is dead after an incident at Lanesboro Correctional Center in Anson County. It's odd that (the gang members) are meeting with Wall minutes before the attack, Smith said. 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. December 2010 - Thirteen inmates assaulted staff members in various attacks, state records show. He said I could face an EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) complaint for making false accusations.. Wynn alleges that another inmate stabbed him in the chest with a weapon resembling a filet knife, then threw a chair at him. Soon afterward, he contacted a Lanesboro employee, asking her to retrieve the contraband from the ceiling of his old office, his dismissal letter states. Fan-favorite Buc-ees gas station confirms new Florida location near Interstate 75, Jo-To Japanese Steak House, a Bradenton-Sarasota landmark for 40 years, to close soon, Ghislaine Maxwell appeals verdict and 20-year sex-trafficking sentence, Judge releases Florida students jailed for posting TikTok videos with Nerf gun filter, Public has a right to know: Lawmakers seek to open Jeffrey Epstein grand jury records, 3 young teens charged with murder after 15-year-old shot in Bradenton, sheriff says, Deputies arrest Parrish student accused of making false tip of school shooting threat, Florida man known as Milkshake pleads guilty to assault in Jan. 6 Capitol Riot. Heres how SBI officials say the early afternoon fight unfolded: Shortly before the attack, two of the convicted inmates visited the office of an assistant unit manager. To investigators and the killers lawyers, his meaning seemed clear: Keep your mouth shut. The LCI housed medium and close-security inmates and was one of the states largest prisons. Charlotte, NC 28202, Charlotte: (704) 344-6222 His friend may be next. Prison officials investigated the murder, but refused to provide the Observer their report. One of those officers fell and hurt her knee when she went to Callahan's defense, Jernigan said. 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. Two state investigators said they reached the same opinion. The massacre also gained international attention, with The New York Times, publishing one article titled "111 Killed When Police Storm Brazilian Prison During Inmate Riot" the same year as the massacre. At Polk Correctional Institution, north of Durham, two or three officers are routinely put in charge of monitoring more than 200 inmates in the chow hall, said Sierra Gravitte, an officer who this month resigned from the prison after four years on the job. Brian Dawe, executive director of the American Correctional Officer Intelligence Network (ACOIN), said Bertie like most of the nation's prisons appeared to be badly understaffed, based on the numbers that state prison officials provided to the Observer. "It's not safe," McCoy said. Its clearly not a place where theyre learning to go the straight and narrow, he said. Lo's lawyer confirmed to Brazilian news outlet G1 on Sunday that Lo was killed Saturday at a concert in So Paulo. September 2012 - The stabbing death of inmate Wesley Turner spurred an SBI investigation and led to three felony convictions. "I think if I hadn't gotten over there in time, (Mosley) probably would have cut her throat," McCoy said. 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.". [9] October 2014 - Prison administrator David Mitchell was stabbed in the neck by an inmate wielding a plastic shank. An officer at the gate house said Wall was upset and had a gun visible in his car, which violates prison policy. Parsons declined to talk with the Observer about that and other allegations. Zelaya-Sorto did reply to the Observer, but wrote only: Este caso esta serado This case is closed.. Roberts and Jeremy Smith, the state-appointed lawyers who represented Vazquez, said they watched prison surveillance video taken on the day Turner was killed and learned the following: Around lunchtime on Sept. 28, 2012, Ortiz and Zelaya-Sorto, along with one or two inmates who were members of a gang called the United Blood Nation, were in an administrative office with Wall and an assistant unit manager. Ortiz, the inmate charged in that stabbing, said his weapon was a plastic toilet bowl cleaner with a sharpened end. Three correctional officers were assaulted late last week at the same state prison where an officer was killed two years ago. An investigation by The Charlotte Observer found that state prison policies and management failures allow corruption to thrive. He reportedly belonged to Cooks gang and planned to go to his defense. Soon, the three convicted inmates all reported gang members were waiting at the door that would allow them into E pod, an adjacent unit. 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. The state says the prison was on lockdown while they investigated the incident. 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. Turner reportedly belonged to the same gang as Cook and was trying to go to his defense. Both are members of the Folk Nation. Prison officials refused to open Cooks cell door so that investigators could get a DNA sample, Bridges said. [19] In August 2013, another 25 policemen involved in the massacre were sentenced to 624 years each for the deaths of 52 inmates. Parsons testified that it was easy for inmates to make weapons, from broom handles, batteries and even toothbrushes. But while North Carolina typically hires about 1,800 to 2,000 prison officers per year, it usually loses about that many as well. He sued and won a $10,000 settlement from the state. [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]. He stretches his arms high. I believe its not a coincidence that they are in that office within minutes of carrying out that hit, Bridges told an Observer reporter. Parsons, now retired, testified Tuesday that during his time at Lanesboro, he took a number of steps to reduce violence and keep weapons out of the hands of inmates. And they say pay increases approved by the legislature in 2015 will also help with recruiting. Seconds later, another prisoner follows. But he said that Gov. Contact SAP - Penitentiary Administration of So Paulo (Secretaria da Administrao Penitenciria), Brazil, Corrections in So Paulo, So Paulo Brazil. Turner, 35, had also been serving time for second-degree murder and was scheduled for release in 2017. Prison surveillance video doesnt capture that meeting, so its unclear what they discussed. At a pre-disciplinary conference, Wall told prison officials he was planning to put the shanks in a display case that would be used to train new staff members. At least 12 dead after winter storm slams South, Midwest, The Saturday Six: Dental device controversy, scientist's bug find and more, Indonesia fuel depot fire kills 18; more than a dozen missing, 3 children killed, 2 others wounded at Texas home, Man charged for alleged involvement in 2 transformer explosions, Nikki Haley slams potential GOP contenders, and Trump and George W. Bush, Duo of 81-year-old women plan to see the world in 80 days, Tom Sizemore, actor known for "Saving Private Ryan" and "Heat," dies at 61, Alex Murdaugh trial: What to know about the double murder case, Colombia wants to deport "cocaine hippos" to stop them from multiplying, Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murders of wife and son. Authorities believe all three of the convicted inmates had homemade knives, commonly known as shanks. Inside his cell block, inmate Christopher Cook expects trouble. A video taken inside Lanesboro in 2012 and obtained by the Observer shows Wall meeting with gang members just minutes before those inmates, armed with homemade weapons, became involved in a. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Washington, of the U.S. Attorneys Office in Charlotte, is in charge of the prosecution. The massacre has also sparked ongoing discussions, both in Brazil and internationally about Brazil's prison system. Officers said excessive overtime work can leave them burned out and exhausted. "If you had more staff, then you might have been looking at hurt staff instead of dead staff" (on the day Callahan died), Harkins said. Lanesboro Correctional Institution is a state men's prison in Polkton, North Carolina, first opened in January, 2004 and operated by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety Adult Corrections.As one of the state's four largest prisons, the official capacity is 1,800 prisoners. What happened to (the shanks)? asked SBI agent Audria Bridges, who led the investigation into Turners murder. [12] Guimares, who was also a member of the So Paulo state legislature, was assassinated in September 2006. Finding people who are willing to work as prison officers isn't easy. A corrections officer opened the door that allowed the three convicted inmates into an adjacent pod. Once in a lifetime, Murdaugh verdict sends a Lowcountry message: No one is above the law | Opinion, Charlotte Waffle House found with live roach, unclean equipment during health inspection, The top-ranked pie in North Carolina doesnt look like pie at all. November 2013 - A gang member cut a correctional officer three times on the neck and face, requiring 39 stitches, according to a police report. [11] On 16 February 2006, a Brazilian court voided Guimares' conviction because of mistrial claims; the court accepted his argument that he was only "following orders". In January, police and prosecutors teamed up with the prisons new administrator, John Herring, to begin criminally charging inmates caught with weapons. Jeremy Smith, who also represented Vazquez, formed the same opinion: Our theory is that, at best, the corrections officers knew (the attack) was going to happen and did nothing to stop it, he told the Observer. If the officer knew an assault was going to take place, would he have opened the door? Bridges asked. Correctional officers face significant dangers in their careers both inside and outside of prisons to which they are assigned. That was one of three times inmates attacked Mitchell. A third inmate involved in the altercation that day Julio Alberto Zelaya-Sorto pleaded guilty last month to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. Drive down U.S. 74 toward the beach and you may not realize its there. Bridges said forensic tests did not conclusively tie any of the weapons in Walls office to the attack on Turner. A federal lawsuit, filed last month by five former Lanesboro inmates, alleges that corrections officers helped gang members wage attacks against other inmates. John Sapper is appointed as the new administrator at Bertie Correctional Institution in Windsor. Opened in the town of Polkton in 2004, the state-run prison has for years been plagued by stabbings, smuggled contraband and allegations of wrongdoing by corrections officers. In February, the FBI charged former Lanesboro officer Evangeline Hunt with smuggling in drugs and other contraband for inmates. Investigators and lawyers believe a prison manager knew the attack was coming. One of those shanks was stained, possibly from blood, Bridges said. Shortly after 3 p.m., almost three hours after the attack, correctional officers lead Vazquez into a nurses office. I characterize the lack of supervision there as, quite frankly, shocking, Roberts said. At no time did (I) knowingly or willingly allow any inmate to attack any inmate, he wrote. Officials say the men used a homemade shank as a weapon. Ortiz later told investigators his weapon was a plastic toilet bowl cleaner with a sharpened end. Several days after the incident police still had not arrested a suspect or determined a motive for the murder. He acknowledged that he had heard complaints about Wall from officers at the prison, but they had no concrete evidence.. Department spokesman Keith Acree said the two are being treated for their injuries at local hospitals. They were among five inmates formerly held at Lanesboro Correctional Institution, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) east of Charlotte, who said they were stabbed by gang members who operated openly in a prison wing overseen by Jeffrey Wall.
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