Lawton inmate dies of injuries from beating
2003-06-28
By Bob Doucette
The Oklahoman


LAWTON -- An inmate who was critically injured in an attack earlier this week died Friday from his injuries, Lawton police report.
Samuel J. Fidler, 20, died about noon Friday after suffering numerous head, neck and facial injuries. His death has been ruled a homicide, Lawton police Capt. William Mathis said.

Fidler was an inmate at the Lawton Correctional Facility, a private prison that houses medium- and minimum- security Oklahoma inmates.

A correctional officer found Fidler beaten and unconscious in his cell Wednesday. An ambulance was called and he was taken to a Lawton hospital.

Two units at the prison were locked down after the attack.

Fidler, serving a sentence for lewd molestation out of Oklahoma County, had been at the prison only 20 hours when he was attacked, Mathis said.

No suspects have been named by police, and investigators haven't said how Fidler's wounds were inflicted. Police suspect more than one person carried out the attack.

Fidler's body was taken to Oklahoma City for an autopsy. Investigators hope to have a cause of death and a motive for the attack identified soon, Mathis said.

He said he thinks police can present evidence for charges to prosecutors next week.

Yeah it's easy enough to presecute someone that is already dead! But what about preventing things like this from happening?! Sigh! What a world we live in!

They're not going to prosecute the guy who is dead. He was already prosecuted and sentenced. They're trying to gather information to prosecute whoever killed him.

:(

This is the kind of story that scares me half to death. It's no secret that guys with that kind of charge are not always well received, so why was he even left unprotected before he'd had a chance to settle in? Guess I know now what my next nightmare will be..

Grasshopper that was my very first thought in the matter too. First he should have been protected and secondly they rarely talk about there charges especially this type of charge and from wheere I stand my heart says either another inmate was in county with him during trial or a CO let the information drop either way it is neglect and irresponsible of the prison for this to be allowed to happen.

I talked to my husband about this...he said that he heard the kid asked to be moved to Lawton. I have heard Lawton is the last place that you want to be sent to...it is suppose to be really bad. They are locked up alot and the rough ones go there. The kid should of been moved to JHCC or JLCC, these are the safe havens for CM. It is really a sad situation...I really feel for the guy's family.....it really breaks my heart.

they dont care what is safe and not. This kind of stuff makes me sick

Lawton wackenhut is one of the hardest private prisons in okalhoma's system. The only worse one I can think of is Dick Connors in Hominy. I had three freinds get beat up there and many friends that had to sleep with an open eye.

I will tell you this that raise for him is right. CM's need to request to go to those yards. If people refuse the SO treatment program this is the first yard they send them to.

Before you rush to criticize Oklahoma DOC for "murdering" an inmate let me fill you in on the facts of the case.

Very few sex offenders in Oklahoma are allowed to go to minimum security facilities.

Most wind up on medium yards and a few go to maximum.

Samuel Fidler was basically a kid (18-20) years old when he came into the system. He was convicted in Oklahoma County for the lewd molestation of a 5 year old boy.

Fidler was not a model inmate but he was not a hardened criminal..he just did stupid things and made stupid choices.

In June of this year Fidler and his gay lover (another inmate) escaped from the Rex Thompson Minimum Unit at Lexington. Six hours later they were arrested by the Lexington Police dept. trying to burglarize a convenience store.

Now, DOC gave Fidler a break to begin with by placing him in minimum security primarily because of his young age. However, when an inmate escapes it is necessary to place an inmate at a higher security level.

Most get sent to Maximum security...Fidler was given yet another break by getting sent to Lawton, which is a medium security prison.

DOC made two efforts in the placement of Fidler in order to protect him from other inmates.

They could only do so much..if inmates want a child molestor dead then there isn't much that can be done to stop it from happening.

Fidler was responsible for his own death through his own actions.

I wasnt trying to critisize DOC I was wanting to know why he wasnt in one of the programs for CMs. I understand they were trying to give him a break but for his own safety he should have been placed in a CM friendly unit shouldn't he?

You have to understand that as the loved ones of an inmate the injury or death of our loved ones while in DOC custody is one of our biggest fears. We know that there is so many things that can happen to them where they are and we are helpless to do anything about it. So when we hear a story like this we cringe and cant help thinking what if it was my loved one. They may be criminals and made mistakes but we love them.