An Alabama inmate died after allegedly being beaten, tortured and “rented out” by a prison gang just days before his release, his family says.
An Alabama inmate died after allegedly being beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted in prison for days — just two weeks before he was due to be released, according to his family.
Daniel Williams, a 22-year-old dad of two infants, was near the end of his one-year sentence for second-degree theft when he was found unresponsive on October 22 at Staton Correctional Facility, two weeks before he died in a hospital, prison officials confirmed to the NY Post on Monday.
It was reported as a “possible inmate-on-inmate assault”, two weeks before he eventually died in a hospital, the Alabama Department of Corrections confirmed.
However, Williams’ family claims they were not told until October 25 that he was brain dead in the hospital — and that warden Joseph Headley blamed it on drugs.
“I spoke to the warden myself, he said it’s obviously a drug overdose,” Williams’ stepmom, Taylor Bostic, told the Alabama Political Reporter.
She and Williams’ dad, Terry, “just assumed he got ahold of some bad drugs or something”, she said.
“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,” she said.
“And that’s when [dad Terry Williams] 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.”
Williams was a father of two young children. Picture: Facebook
They eventually learned he had allegedly been kidnapped and raped or “tied up, beaten, and rented out for two to three days” by another prisoner, the outlet reported, citing prison sources — who claimed such violence was not uncommon there.
An online fundraiser also alleged he “was beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted … by a gang of people with only 14 days until his release”.
The dad of two was taken off life support on November 5 and died four days later.
Terry Williams and Ms Bostic have hired a lawyer to hold someone accountable and prevent future attacks, according to the report.
“We’ve got to stop this,” the grieving father reportedly said. “If I can save a couple lives. You know. I’m thankful.”
Prison officials blamed his death on drugs. Picture: Alabama Department of Corrections
The warden did not respond to a request for comment from the outlet.
Corrections officials confirmed that Williams was the victim of a “possible inmate-on-inmate assault” that left him “unresponsive” at Staton Correctional Facility.
“The decision was made to transfer him to an area hospital for further evaluation and treatment. He remained at the hospital until the family decided to remove him from life support,” Alabama Department of Corrections spokeswoman Kelly Windham Betts said in a statement.
“The ADOC Law Enforcement Services Division is investigating the incident,” the department said, without saying if any charges have been pressed.
The deadly incident came as the Department of Justice is suing Alabama for failing to prevent inmate violence and abuse from prison guards at its state penitentiaries.
A federal trial is slated for next year, according to the Alabama Appleseed Center for Justice and Law.
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