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An Alabama prisoner who died after two days of alleged rape and torture, a fortnight before being freed, asked people to 'pray for me' in his last social media post as he looked forward to being released.
Daniel Williams, 22, was serving a 12-month sentence for second-degree theft at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore, Alabama when a warden found him unresponsive in his dorm on October 22.
While the prison said he died of a drug overdose, his family were told that dad-of-two Williams was 'kidnapped, bound, assaulted and sold out' by another inmate for 'two or three days'.
On October 15, Williams wrote on his Facebook page: 'How every body doing.
'I ain't got to much longer left, pray for me, I'm coming home better then I was before, drug free. It's been a crazy ride, 3 different prisons now. It's almost over.'
It's unclear how he was able to access the internet while in prison.
Daniel Williams, 22, was serving a 12-month sentence for second-degree theft at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore, Alabama when a warden found him unresponsive in his dorm on October 22. Williams was declared brain dead upon his hospital arrival and was provided palliative care. He was taken off life support on November 5 and died four days later
Inside one of the rooms at ADOC's Staton Correctional Facility - where Williams was being held
Williams was declared brain dead upon his hospital arrival and was provided palliative care. He was taken off life support on November 5 and died four days later.
At least 12 prison cops at Staton Correctional Facility - along with adjoining Elmore and Draper prisons - have been arrested for assaulting inmates in the last two years.
Federal investigators have also been probing the state of Alabama and its prisons since a scathing lawsuit was lodged by the Department of Justice in 2019.
Amber Williams, Daniel's fiancée told WVTM: 'I went to the hospital and the nurses told me that he was assaulted and beaten really badly. And when I went into the room, had bruises all down his arm, like down to his fingers, he had bruises over here. He had cuts up and down and bruises on his legs. And it was bad.'
Speaking of their child together, Amber added: 'How am I supposed to tell her about her daddy? Like, why isn't he here? Why didn't he ever come home?'
The prisoner's father Terry Williams and step-mother Taylor Bostic also allege that their son's body showed signs of physical abuse, including that 'his hands were bound'.
The couple claims Williams' doctor described the alleged abuse as unlike anything he had ever seen throughout his 30-year medical career.
He is pictured with his fiancee, Amber Williams. She visited him in hospital while he was brain dead, and said that he was covered in bruises from being assaulted
Williams leaves behind his children and his fiancee, Amber
His family was not notified of his hospitalization until three days later, on October 25. They then visited him at the facility and observed bruises and injuries indicative of assault on his body. Williams is pictured with his child
The warden reportedly told his family that Williams (pictured) suffered a 'drug overdose', but insiders at the prison claim he had been 'kidnapped, bound, assaulted and sold out' by another inmate for 'two or three days'
Bostic said: '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.
'And that's when [Terry] 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.'
In addition to bruising and apparent binding, Bostic claims a nurse told her and Mr Williams that there were 'visible hand print bruises between Daniel's legs'.
The family said they asked for a rape kit to be conducted but claims their request was initially denied. They allege hospital staff finally examined him on November 1 after a lawyer got involved. The results of the kit are, as yet, unclear.
The hospital removed Williams from life support on November 5, and the 22-year-old was transferred to a medical ward at Kilby Correctional Center on November 9.
He died shortly after his arrival.
Terry Williams, his father, also said that he wasn't able to raise enough money to bury his son. Instead, he will be cremated.
He wrote on social media: 'I will let everyone know date and time once they tell me. Thanks everyone I really appreciate everything.
'Daniel Terry Williams fly high son, keep mom and granny company justice will be served. I love you son, till we meet again.'
His mother Tammy wrote online: 'My world my everything is gone why why why I promise you son I will take everything in my power to get justice for you.
'You didn't deserve any of this, they took you away from me, they took you away from your wife, your daughter. You asked me everyday to please watch out for your daughter I promise you son I will be here for the both of them.
'Your lovely beautiful daughter, you're beautiful wife, and I'll do everything I can I'm here for you son, I'm here for your daughter, I'm here for your wife.
'Everyday I talk to you to please just keep an eye on them don't let nothing happen to them, I promise you I would and I still will. I love you Daniel you're my sunshine, my only sunshine, and they took you away but I'll see you soon baby doll.
'I love you, you'll see me real soon, I love you to the moon and back.'
Daniel Williams, 22, was serving a 12-month sentence for second-degree theft at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore, Alabama
Daniel Williams and his fiancee, Amber. His family said that they weren't able to raise enough money to bury Daniel. Instead, he will be cremated.
A picture Daniel posted of himself in May
The Alabama Department of Corrections said in a statement: 'On Thursday, November 9, 2023, an inmate death was reported at Kilby Correctional Facility.
'Inmate Daniel Terry Williams was found unresponsive in the Health Care Unit. Medical staff attempted to revive him, but they were unable to resuscitate him, and he was pronounced deceased by the attending physician.
'On Sunday, October 22, 2023, a possible inmate-on-inmate assault was reported at Staton Correctional Facility.
'Inmate Williams was discovered unresponsive in his dorm and was transported to the Health Care Unit. Medical personnel treated Williams and monitored his condition.
'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.
'He was transported to Kilby Correctional Facility for long-term comfort care where he subsequently died. The ADOC Law Enforcement Services Division is investigating the incident.'
Staton Correctional Facility - where Williams was being held - has a fraught history.
This follows ongoing federal investigations into the violence in Alabama prisons. In 2019, the Department of Justice released a report alleging prison conditions violated inmate's civil rights.
The report alleged that the state did not take enough measures to prevent inmate-on-inmate violence and sexual abuse, failure to protect them from excessive force by staff, and failure to provide safe conditions of confinement.
The DOJ sued Alabama for its 'unsafe' prison conditions in 2020.
According to the lawsuit, Alabama violated the 8th and 14th amendments by failing to prevent prisoner-on-prisoner violence and sexual abuse.
They also allegedly failed to protect prisoners from the use of excessive force by security staff, and by failing to provide safe physical conditions of confinement.
As part of the lawsuit, they inspected Alabama's 13 men's prisons over 24 days and arranged interviews with 1,000 inmates.
The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a nonprofit organization that advocates for inmates' rights, has branded Williams' death as 'tragic' and 'preventable', alleging that cases like his occur 'all too frequently in Alabama's prisons'.
The EJI also argues that it 'many cases' medical emergencies are dismissed by prison staff as 'intoxicated' or being the inmates' 'on fault'. The advocacy group claims that often times deaths could have been prevented if the 'person been treated in time'.
In February this year, a scathing lawsuit lodged by the family of an inmate claimed that he froze to death at Walker County Jail in Alabama - after he was kept naked in a concrete cell and believe he was also placed in a freezer or other frigid environment.
Anthony Don Mitchell, 33, arrived at a hospital emergency room with a body temperature of 72 degrees - wildly below the bodily average of 98.6 degrees.
An emergency room doctor, who tried unsuccessfully to revive Mitchell, wrote, 'I do believe hypothermia was the ultimate cause of his death,' according to the lawsuit filed by Mitchell's mother in federal court.
Jail video shows Mitchell, who was mentally ill, was kept naked in a concrete-floored isolation cell, according to the lawsuit.
The suit speculated that Mitchell was also placed in the jail kitchen's 'walk-in freezer or similar frigid environment and left there for hours' because his body temperature was so low.
On the other end of the spectrum, in December 2022 another federal lawsuit was filed by the family of a deceased Alabama inmate, who they claim died after being 'baked' in his prison cell.
Thomas Lee Rutledge, 44, died of hyperthermia on December 7, 2020, in the mental health ward at William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama.
Rutledge was found unresponsive with a body temperature of 109 degrees in a cell reported to be between 101 to 104 degrees, the suit said.
The suit accused prison staff, wardens and contractors of 'deliberate indifference and malice' in his death.
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