The family of an Alabama man who was serving a one-year sentence in prison is demanding accountability after he died following an alleged beating by a gang behind bars.
“Daniel Terry Williams, 22, was serving a one-year sentence for assault and theft charges as part of a plea agreement, and he was set to be released on Nov. 9 — the same day he died, according to Jefferson County court records and his family. He had only been at Staton for about two weeks following a transfer to the Elmore, Alabama, correctional facility, when he was allegedly beaten and sexually assaulted,” Fox News reported.
Williams’ father Terry vowed someone would pay for the death of his son, himself a father.
“Somebody’s got to pay for it, and I’m not backing down. It’s my son,” Terry Williams told Fox News Digital. “I’ll go to my grave with this if I have to.”
The senior Williams’ wife indicated that a doctor told them the 22-year-old was “in a coma long before he ever got medical attention.”
A warden at Staton Correctional Facility reportedly told Taylor Bostic, Daniel’s stepmother, that he had been hospitalized due to a drug overdose on Oct. 22 when she called to get more information.
“Then, I called the warden myself to find out what was going on and why we hadn’t been contacted. And he said both of [Williams’] parents had been marked ‘N/A’ on the contact slip, which is, excuse me, but a crock of crap,” Bostic told Fox News Digital. “But, when I called, he told me Daniel’s on life support but the only time we call the family is when it looks like they’re not going to make it.”
She and her husband Terry were reportedly shocked at Daniel’s condition when they arrived at the hospital and recalled the non-answer they received after the young man died.
“He was black and blue from head to toe. He had restraint marks on his wrists. He had indents, almost, in his head from being beaten,” Bostic said. “So, my husband, Terry, called the warden and said, ‘Why the hell…did you tell me my son died of an overdose when it was obviously an assault?’ And the warden said it’s under investigation, and that’s all we’ve heard from them since.”
“Terry alleged that Daniel had been ‘tied up’ and beaten on Oct. 19, three days before another inmate took him to an officer for help on Oct. 22, citing what he has heard from other inmates at the facility,” according to Fox News.
Bostic told the Alabama Political Reporter that the inmate “was bound, assaulted and ‘sold out’ by another incarcerated person on or around Oct. 22 — essentially kidnapped — for two or three days.”
“And when when I spoke to the warden myself, he said it’s obviously a drug overdose,” she told APR. “Okay so me and his father just assumed he got a hold of some bad drugs or something. And when we 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.”
“Inmate Williams was discovered unresponsive in his dorm and was transported to the Health Care Unit,” the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“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 said.
The Department added that Williams was “was found unresponsive in the Health Care Unit” on Nov. 9 and, according to Bostic, he was returned to the prison after he was taken off life support.
Alabama faced a lawsuit in 2020 by the Justice Department after finding that “Alabama violated and is continuing to violate the Constitution because its prisons are riddled with prisoner-on-prisoner and guard-on-prisoner violence.”
Despite an investigation reportedly underway by the ADOC Law Enforcement Services Division, Williams’ family is still awaiting answers and accountability.
“Daniel Terry Williams fly high son, keep mom and granny company justice will be served. I love you son, till we meet again,” his father reportedly wrote on social media.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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