Jade01
08-16-2005, 02:02 PM
http://www.ardemgaz.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=ArDemocrat/2005/08/16&ID=Ar00904
BY RAINER SABIN ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
An inmate at East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys was stabbed to death by another inmate Monday morning, authorities said.
Brian Ricks, 28, was distributing toilet paper and soap to inmates in a segregated unit at the correctional facility when Earnest Green, 47, attacked him, said Dina Tyler, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction.
Green hasn’t been charged, but he remains a suspect in a joint investigation by the Correction Department and the Arkansas State Police.
Reaching through the bars of his cell on the second tier of the three-level complex, Green plunged a makeshift knife into Ricks’ neck shortly before 9 a.m. while a prison guard stood on the floor below, Tyler said. At 9:05, Ricks, who began a 15-year sentence in 2003 for a sexual assault conviction in Ashley County, was pronounced dead in the prison’s infirmary.
"There were no indications [Green] had a beef with him," Tyler said. "It looked more like he was trying to hurt someone, to hurt anyone. It didn’t look like he was trying to get at this particular inmate."
Green’s weapon may have been fashioned from a light fixture, Tyler said, and he wrapped newspaper around it so he could grip the sharp object.
Green was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 slaying of Hazel James, 82, of Little Rock. He began serving a life sentence on June 16, 1988, and since then has committed approximately 100 prison rule violations, Tyler said. He also has been convicted of battery and weapon possession charges while serving time behind bars.
Green was sent to East Arkansas Regional Unit in April 2002 after spending 18 months at the Varner Supermax Unit in Grady under close supervision.
"We have had problems with this inmate," Tyler said. "He has been very aggressive in prison."
On Monday, Green was moved to a prison cell with a door that has no openings, Tyler said. He likely will be transferred back to Varner.
Bill Sadler, a spokesman with the state police, declined to comment on the investigation.
BY RAINER SABIN ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
An inmate at East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys was stabbed to death by another inmate Monday morning, authorities said.
Brian Ricks, 28, was distributing toilet paper and soap to inmates in a segregated unit at the correctional facility when Earnest Green, 47, attacked him, said Dina Tyler, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction.
Green hasn’t been charged, but he remains a suspect in a joint investigation by the Correction Department and the Arkansas State Police.
Reaching through the bars of his cell on the second tier of the three-level complex, Green plunged a makeshift knife into Ricks’ neck shortly before 9 a.m. while a prison guard stood on the floor below, Tyler said. At 9:05, Ricks, who began a 15-year sentence in 2003 for a sexual assault conviction in Ashley County, was pronounced dead in the prison’s infirmary.
"There were no indications [Green] had a beef with him," Tyler said. "It looked more like he was trying to hurt someone, to hurt anyone. It didn’t look like he was trying to get at this particular inmate."
Green’s weapon may have been fashioned from a light fixture, Tyler said, and he wrapped newspaper around it so he could grip the sharp object.
Green was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 slaying of Hazel James, 82, of Little Rock. He began serving a life sentence on June 16, 1988, and since then has committed approximately 100 prison rule violations, Tyler said. He also has been convicted of battery and weapon possession charges while serving time behind bars.
Green was sent to East Arkansas Regional Unit in April 2002 after spending 18 months at the Varner Supermax Unit in Grady under close supervision.
"We have had problems with this inmate," Tyler said. "He has been very aggressive in prison."
On Monday, Green was moved to a prison cell with a door that has no openings, Tyler said. He likely will be transferred back to Varner.
Bill Sadler, a spokesman with the state police, declined to comment on the investigation.