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Video above: Previous coverageThe family of a Jefferson County man who died the day he was to be released from prison last year has filed a federal lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Corrections, claiming officials failed to keep him safe. Daniel Williams was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to assault and theft charges.Court documents show he spent some of his sentence in two other prisons before ultimately landing in Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore.The lawsuit claims that three weeks before he was set to be released, Williams was "held hostage" by fellow inmate Lamont Wilson, "brutally tortured," "forced to consume drugs against his will" and sexually assaulted for at least two days until he slipped out of consciousness on Oct. 19, 2023 and was found in Wilson's bed. Williams was later taken to a prison medical facility and died on Nov. 9, the day he was originally set to be released. The suit blames three wardens at Staton, Joseph Headley, Charles McKee and Charmelle Lucki, as well as ADOC's Commissioner John Hamm for Williams' death, stating that they "acted with deliberate indifference to the care and safety of inmates." It alleges that despite his lengthy record of sexual violence, the wardens "failed to take disciplinary measures" against Wilson that would have kept him away from the general population, instead keeping him in an "open bay dormitory setting where he would have free rein over other inmates."According to the lawsuit, Wilson had already been reported for sexual assault nine times at five different Alabama correctional facilities.The Department of Corrections did do an investigation on Wilson but he was never charged.WVTM 13's Lisa Crane spoke to Williams' family just days after he passed away last year.They told her that prison officials said he'd overdosed, but they say that he appeared to have been severely beaten with the lawsuit further alleging that he had "indentations in his head that appeared to be from the beatings."His fiancée was forced to come to terms with the fact that their daughter may never remember her father.“How am I supposed to tell her about her daddy? Like, why isn't he here? Why didn't he ever come home?”Williams' family has requested a trial by jury. You can read their full lawsuit here.
ELMORE, Ala. —
Video above: Previous coverage
The family of a Jefferson County man who died the day he was to be released from prison last year has filed a federal lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Corrections, claiming officials failed to keep him safe.
Daniel Williams was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to assault and theft charges.
Court documents show he spent some of his sentence in two other prisons before ultimately landing in Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore.
The lawsuit claims that three weeks before he was set to be released, Williams was "held hostage" by fellow inmate Lamont Wilson, "brutally tortured," "forced to consume drugs against his will" and sexually assaulted for at least two days until he slipped out of consciousness on Oct. 19, 2023 and was found in Wilson's bed.
Williams was later taken to a prison medical facility and died on Nov. 9, the day he was originally set to be released.
The suit blames three wardens at Staton, Joseph Headley, Charles McKee and Charmelle Lucki, as well as ADOC's Commissioner John Hamm for Williams' death, stating that they "acted with deliberate indifference to the care and safety of inmates."
It alleges that despite his lengthy record of sexual violence, the wardens "failed to take disciplinary measures" against Wilson that would have kept him away from the general population, instead keeping him in an "open bay dormitory setting where he would have free rein over other inmates."
According to the lawsuit, Wilson had already been reported for sexual assault nine times at five different Alabama correctional facilities.
The Department of Corrections did do an investigation on Wilson but he was never charged.
WVTM 13's Lisa Crane spoke to Williams' family just days after he passed away last year.
They told her that prison officials said he'd overdosed, but they say that he appeared to have been severely beaten with the lawsuit further alleging that he had "indentations in his head that appeared to be from the beatings."
His fiancée was forced to come to terms with the fact that their daughter may never remember her father.
“How am I supposed to tell her about her daddy? Like, why isn't he here? Why didn't he ever come home?”
Williams' family has requested a trial by jury. You can read their full lawsuit here.
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