Tight security, . . whoops. An inmate murdered @ VSM today. Why? How? Some say a CO1 pushed the wrong button and the cell doors were opened, . . .an inmate ran into anothers cell and knifed him to death. Will the CO1 be held accountable? Will the news be out quick? This is all I know. We, of Arkansas need not be silent. Let us demand reparation from our Governor.




"It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them. - George Elliot -"

Man that makes me so damn mad. When the hell are they gonna get real officers? Instead of these rent-a -cops. Our people are dying in there and no one cares. I mean somewhere tonight a family is just finding out that they have lost there husband, father, son, etc.........

I know I have prayed for my sister to get locked up so that my parents and myself will have a peice of mind. And know that she is alright and off the streets.

It is sad when you have to worry about murder in prison. These so called officers come to work at night and instead of being on there post they are up at someone elses post talking or in the shift office having coffee and talking on the phone. Instead of tax payer's money installing camera's on the inmates. They need to be watching there officers. Thanks for letting me vent. I have lived this night mare. I know how they operate. What can we do? Where does this stop? I mean we as family are afraid to call and stir up trouble in fear that it may be the one we love next time.
This is ridiculious.

Kathy

Yes, Kathy you said it all. I thought I may not should write this because of the family. I'm not sure what to do. I want to email the newspaper, and yes afraid of my name and my son being in prison. I plan to email the Gov's office, just to say I know! Then we'll see. What do you think? Are you in Arkansas?

Inmate killed after 78 doors at prison open
Officials suspect faulty wiring unlocked cells, let convicts out
BY AMY UPSHAW
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

An inmate was killed Monday morning after the doors in a cellblock at Varner Supermax prison opened simultaneously, allowing the usually segregated prisoners to mill about for nearly an hour.
State prison officials said they aren’t sure why the 78 doors in the section of the prison suddenly opened, but they suspect faulty wiring. The high-security unit holds some of the most violent and troublesome inmates in the prison system.
As guards corralled and ushered the inmates back into their one-man cells, they discovered 51-year-old Jerry L. Ward lying on a cell floor with blood around his head, said Dina Tyler, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction.
Another inmate, Eric Thrower, also was in the cell. Thrower was escorted out of the cell, and medics were called to the scene. They could not revive Ward.
"Obviously we have a murder," Tyler said, adding that Arkansas State Police detectives are investigating the death. "Right now, the other inmate who was in the cell... is the prime suspect."
Investigators believe that Ward, who has dozens of convictions for burglary and theft of property, died from "blunt trauma to the head" possibly from having his head beaten against the floor or wall, Tyler said.
Ward was sentenced to 20 years in prison and had been eligible for parole since 2000, though he had been denied because of disciplinary problems, Tyler said.
Thrower, 31, is serving a life sentence for the 1996 shooting death of Hot Springs police officer Chris Anderson. When Thrower was convicted of capital murder, his mother told jurors that he had mental problems and that prison "will just make things worse."
Both men had a history of violence in prison, but guards were unaware of any tension between them, Tyler said.
Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Stevan Dalrymple, who also oversees cases in Lincoln County, said his office is not yet involved in the case and that he had no additional information.
State police investigators did not return a message for comment.
The incident began a few minutes before 10 a.m. when a maintenance man asked a guard in the control room to open a nearby door to a utility room, Tyler said. When the guard pushed the button to open it, all 78 doors in the three-tier cellblock opened into a "common area."
"It didn’t open to anywhere else," Tyler said.
"They [the prisoners] weren’t going anywhere."
However, the prisoners usually do not have any contact with one another because they are considered more "problematic" and "aggressive" than other inmates in the prison system.
Inmates at Varner Supermax eat and shower in their cells. The only interaction they have is when they are sent to individual exercise yards separated by chain-link fences.
Nineteen of the 78 inmates walked out of their cells when the doors opened.
"Some of them were milling about, and some of them were showing out. It wasn’t like a huge fistfight. Most of them were just curious," Tyler said.
One inmate crawled into a dumbwaiter.
By 10:45 a.m., guards had all the inmates back in their cells, and they found Ward.
"We’re trying to determine if there was something in the mechanics of the console, a wiring problem or whether the officer made a mistake," Tyler said.
A button doesn’t exist that would open all three tiers at once, she said, so it is unlikely that the guard made a mistake. There are buttons to open one tier at a time, but they are covered.
"You have to mean to touch them to make them work."

This story was published Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Well, it does sound like a wiring problem might have caused it, but where were the guards at the time? It seems like if they were paying attention, they'd have gotten real busy keeping anything like this from happening. I mean, if three tiers of doors suddenly open, SOMEBODY would have seen it you'd think, huh? Seems like they'd have sounded an alarm to bring in help from other places till the crisis was over. If only 19 left their cells, that seems like a fairly small number to be dealing with. Sad! And right at Christmas, too!

god but this is so sad.

When Thrower was convicted of capital murder, his mother told jurors that he had mental problems and that prison "will just make things worse."

No S***.

The co was held acountable but not so much. He was written up and sent to population. That's it. ADC looks at it like an acedient, and to error is human. ecause of one mans mistake ADC has to explain why someone is dead. The thing I worried about the most is I had just left that place.