Category Archives: Murder in Prison
23 Brazillian Cops get 156 Years Each for Killing 13 Prisoners
The prison being demolished in 2002
Read Converse – the national newspaper for prisoners in England and Wales
A jury has found 23 Brazilian police officers guilty of killing 13 inmates during the 1992 riot at Sao Paulo’s Carandiru prison that left 111 inmates dead.
Three officers were acquitted in the case.
Judge Jose Augusto Marzagao sentenced each of those convicted to prison terms of 156 years.
No-one can serve more than 30 years in prison under Brazilian law. Their attorney has filed an appeal.
The officers had originally been charged with killing 15 inmates, but prosecutors said that two of those prisoners were stabbed to death by fellow inmates.
The officers are free pending the outcome of their appeal.
Another 79 officers will be tried in the coming months in connection with the slayings at the now-defunct prison.
Read Converse – the national newspaper for prisoners in England and Wales
Court Refuses to Downgrade Cat A Jail Killer
A killer convicted of murdering a paedophile in a top security jail in Cambridgeshire has failed to persuade a High Court judge to soften his prison regime.
Michael Cain complained that prison bosses had unfairly refused to downgrade his category A prisoner status.
But Mr Justice Stadlen has refused to declare his grading unfair, after a hearing at the High Court in London.
Cain – who is in his mid 40s – was given a life term in 1987 after being convicted of murdering a shopkeeper during a robbery.
In 1995, Cain was given a second life term after he and another inmate were convicted of murdering child killer Leslie Bailey – who was known as “Catweazle” – at Whitemoor prison near March, Cambridgeshire, in 1993.
His minimum prison term expired in 2010 but parole board officials have not recommended his release.
Mr Justice Stadlen was told that Cain had not accepted responsibility for Bailey’s murder until four years ago.
Cain told a psychologist that he had “held the belief for many years” that Bailey was not a “victim” because of the “nature” of his crimes.
He said he had acted as a “look out” while “his associate” John Brooks went into a cell to beat and strangle Bailey.
Mr Justice Stadlen said he recognised that his conclusion on the grading challenge would be “unwelcome” to Cain.
But the judge said Cain was to be “commended” for his “belated admission of responsibility” for Bailey’s murder and willingness to address his “offending behaviour”.
In recent years Cain has been held at Frankland jail near Durham and Full Sutton jail near York, the judge heard.
Gunmen storm jail and murder four prisoners
Indonesian police on guard at Cebongan prison where four prisoners were murdered by unidentified gunmen
A group of well-trained gunmen stormed an Indonesian jail and killed four inmates accused of murdering a special forces soldier.
At least 17 masked men angry over the killing of a member of Indonesia’s elite military unit, known as Kopassus, broke into the prison on the main island of Java early today, said police chief Brigadier General Dabar Rahardjo.
They were angry about the death of the member of Kopassus, allegedly by the four men detained in Yogyakarta’s Cebongan prison
The attackers tortured several guards and forced them to open the jail cell.
The four detainees were dragged from their cell and shot with automatic weapons before the gunmen destroyed surveillance cameras and fled.
“They looked very professional,” Brig Gen Rahardjo said. “Their acts were completed in just five minutes.”
He said the attack was apparently triggered by the murder of a Kopassus member on Tuesday at a Yogyakarta cafe.
Four suspects were arrested by police hours later and three others remain at large.
Police and military investigators were still collecting evidence from the scene, and several witnesses were being questioned.
“Whoever did it should be immediately arrested and prosecuted,” said Djoko Suyanto, co-ordinating minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.
Kopassus troops have been implicated in a range of war crimes and human rights violations over the years. Indonesian officials say they have worked to address the problems.
Earlier this month, dozens of Indonesian soldiers angry over the killing of a comrade by police, attacked and burned down a police headquarters and four other stations in South Sumatra province.
Gang Rape Accused Commits Suicide
A man on trial for the gang rape and fatal beating of a woman on board a New Delhi bus committed suicide in an Indian jail today, according to police, but his lawyer and family allege he was killed.
Ram Singh, who was accused of driving the bus on which the 23-year-old student was raped by a group of six men in December, was under suicide watch at New Delhi’s Tihar Jail when he hanged himself with his own clothes at about 5.30am, police officials said.
His death raises further questions about a criminal justice system already being criticised for failing to protect the nation’s women.
Singh and his four fellow defendants were facing the death penalty if convicted of the attack, which horrified Indians and set off national protests. A sixth accused is being tried and jailed separately because he is a juvenile.
India’s deputy home minister, RPN Singh, said an inquiry had been ordered into the suicide, according to the Press Trust of India.
Ram Singh’s family and lawyer alleged foul play over his death.
“There were no circumstances which could have led to Ram Singh committing suicide. There was no mental stress. He was very happy,” his lawyer, VK Anand, said. Lawyers for the defendants had previously accused police of beating confessions out of the men.
Ram Singh’s father, Mangelal Singh, said his son had been raped in prison by other inmates and had been repeatedly threatened by inmates and guards. Nevertheless, he said he visited his son four days ago and he appeared fine and gave no hint of the despair that could drive him to take his own life.
Ram Singh, 34, also had a badly injured hand and would have been unable to orchestrate a suicide, his father said, speaking from outside his small home in a New Delhi slum.
“Somebody has killed him,” he said, insisting he would push for a top-level investigation into the death.
Mangelal Singh said he feared for the safety of another son who is also on trial in the rape case.
The defendants were being housed in separate buildings on the jail grounds and were all under suicide watch, a jail official said.
Indian jails have a reputation for overcrowding, poor management and brutal treatment of inmates.
The rape victim and a male friend were attacked on December 16 after boarding the bus as they tried to return home after watching a film, police said.
Six men, the only occupants of the private bus, beat the man with a metal bar, raped the woman and used the bar to inflict massive internal injuries to her, police said. The victims were then dumped naked on the roadside, and the woman died from her injuries two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.
The brutal attack set off nationwide protests about India’s treatment of women and spurred the government to hurry through a new package of laws to protect them.
Singh’s death comes as the trial continued, with another hearing scheduled for today. The four surviving defendants were produced in court, but left after a short time because their lawyers were not there amid an attorney’s strike.
KTS Tulsi, a former top lawyer in the office of the solicitor general of India, said the suicide should have no impact on the trial, which is being held in a closed courtroom under a gag order which prevents news organisations from publishing details of the proceedings.
He said Singh’s death highlighted how important it was for society not to demonise people who have been accused of crimes but not yet been convicted.
“It is so unfortunate that the media goes on to presume that they are guilty and goes on to condemn them and demonise them to an extent that it makes the life of these people not worth living,” he said.
In 2011, 68 inmates in India died by suicide and another eight were killed by fellow inmates, according to India’s National Crime Records Bureau.
Tihar Jail is badly overcrowded, with nearly twice as many prisoners as it was designed to hold. Jail authorities have been working to soften its reputation in part by selling TJ’s cookies baked by the inmates to the public.
CONVERSE EXCLUSIVE! Murder in Long Lartin – Victim had been paid thousands of pounds by the Prison Service for previous attacks by prisoners
Converse can exclusively reveal that Subhan Anwar, who was killed in HM Prison Long Lartin on 14th February 2013, had been paid thousands of pounds in compensation by the Prison Service as a result of being attacked previously by prisoners at the jail.
Sources have confirmed that only two weeks ago the Maidstone personal injury solicitors Hesling Henriques who acted for Anwar, sent him a cheque for around £5000 in damages from the Prison Service for an assault he suffered at the hands of Long Lartin prisoners last year when he was wrongly put on an exercise yard by prison officers who failed to check his vulnerable prisoner status.
Anwar had also been attacked on a number of previous occasions at the jail.
Rhonda Hesling, senior partner with Hesling Henriques Solicitors told Converse: “It would not be appropriate for us to comment on damages paid to a former client.
“It is tragic that Mr Anwar has been murdered, he was a vulnerable prisoner who should have been cared for by the Prison Service – people like Mr Anwar have the right to be safe in prison, especially when the authorities are fully aware of the fact that he was at risk of attack.”
(c) Converse – the national prisoners newspaper
PRISONER KILLED – TWO INMATES HELD
Two prisoners are being held in police custody after Subhan Anwar, from West Yorkshire, who was jailed for torturing and murdering his partner’s two-year-old daughter, was found dead in his cell in Worcestershire, the Ministry of Justice said.
Anwar, who was jailed for a minimum of 23 years in 2009 for the murder of Sanam Navsarka, is understood to have been held hostage in a cell at HMP Long Lartin before he was killed.
His partner Zahbeena Navsarka was cleared of her daughter’s murder but found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for nine years.
A Prison Service spokeswoman said: “An incident at HMP Long Lartin on Thursday, February 14 resulted in the death of prisoner Subhan Anwar.
“Two prisoners are now in police custody and the matter is being investigated by police.”
Anwar and Navsarka, from Huddersfield, were condemned for their cruel and selfish treatment of Sanam.
The violence inflicted on the youngster happened near the end of her life.
Her tiny hand prints and bloodstains were found inside cupboards at the home in Huddersfield and also at a former property in Batley, West Yorkshire.
Both her thigh bones had been fractured, causing fatty deposits to enter her bloodstream and resulting in her death, and she had fractures to both her arms.
HMP HEWELL INMATE MURDER – FOUR IN COURT
Four men have been charged with murdering a prison inmate who died after a serious assault.
West Mercia Police said Jahnel Faure, 28; Jermaine Christie, 27; Paul Coulter, 27, and 34-year-old Barry Mundle had appeared before magistrates today charged with killing Adnan Rafiq.
Mr Rafiq, 25 and from Moseley in Birmingham, died last night in hospital after being found with critical injuries on Monday at HMP Hewell, near Redditch, Worcestershire.
A police spokesman said Faure, originally from West Bromwich; Christie, originally from Birmingham; Coulter, originally from Swansea, and Mundle who is from Wolverhampton, had been charged with murder last night.
Christie and Coulter appeared at Worcester Magistrates’ Court today, while Faure and Mundle appeared at Kidderminster and Redditch Magistrates’ courts respectively.
All were remanded in custody and ordered to appear at Birmingham Crown Court next week.
YOU COULDN’T MAKE IT UP – COULD YOU?
Converse, the national newspaper for prisoners in England and Wales: read it here
Dental floss may prevent toothaches, but it is giving jailers plenty of headaches.
When a group of New York prisoners led by Santiago Gomez (above) sued last month to get access to dental floss, officials said they had to consider the security issues.
They believe a Texas prisoner once used floss to cut his way out of his cell so he could kill a fellow inmate.
Ropes made of braided floss have been used in escapes or escape attempts in Maryland, Illinois, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
One inmate used floss to stitch together the dummy he left in his bed. Others used it to sew up their gunshot wounds after they escaped.
In New York, the state prison system permits floss, but only the unwaxed variety. A spokesman says waxed floss is much stronger.
Converse, the national newspaper for prisoners in England and Wales: read it here
FORMER OFFICERS GUILTY OF KILLINGS
Judges in Argentina have convicted three former navy officers of summarily executing 16 political prisoners, and called on the US to extradite a fourth suspect living in Miami.
The Massacre of Trelew in 1972 presaged the violence leading to Argentina’s bloody dictatorship four years later.
The inmates were shot even though a judge publicly guaranteed their safety.
The judges gave life sentences for murder to Emilio del Real, Luis Sosa and Carlos Marandino.
Former navy Captain Roberto Bravo was charged with them, but a US judge denied his extradition, saying Argentina’s military had absolved him.
Judge Enrique Guanziroli called it long-delayed justice, but their lawyers are preparing an appeal, saying killings do not qualify as crimes against humanity.
DISEMBOWELLING INMATES TO ‘DIE IN JAIL’
Two County Durham prisoners who disembowelled an inmate so they could eat his liver have been told by a judge that they are likely to spend the rest of their lives in jail.
Michael Parr, 33, and Nathan Mann, 24, shared fantasies of killing while serving life sentences in neighbouring cells at Frankland Prison.
They lured child rapist Mitchell Harrison, 23, into Mann’s cell where he was pinned down by Parr, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Mann, described by a psychiatrist as “a remorseless, callous psychopath” who “harbours cannibalistic urges” and is “one of the most dangerous men in the criminal justice system”, cut his neck with a scalpel made from plastic cutlery and a razor blade.
He also stabbed him in the eye with a pen and, after he was dead, cut his stomach open.
He and Parr had planned to cut Harrison’s liver in half and share it, but could not bring themselves to do it, the court heard.
Harrison, who was serving an indeterminate sentence for raping a 13-year-old girl in Kendal, Cumbria, in 2009, was found dead by prison guards as they released inmates from their cells on the morning of October 1 2011.
Robert Smith QC said Mann told prison staff he had attacked Harrison. “He told prison officer Graham in a calm manner that there was a dead body in the cell,” he said.
Officers found Harrison lying on the bed, surrounded by blood.
Both men were arrested and taken to Durham police station, where Mann admitted he and Parr had shared fantasies about killing.
