Washington: A prisoner was stabbed to death in a few hours after arriving at one of the safest federal prison facilities in the US, raising new questions about the government’s ability to keep detainees safely in the midst of severe staff shortages and a myriad of other crises.
Stephen Dwayne Cannada was killed in a fight with fellow inmates on the same day he arrived at USP Terre Haute, a high security prison in Indiana, two people who were familiar with the issue to the Associated Press.
The 47-year-old was stabbed repeatedly by fellow inmates, according to people, who could not discuss investigations openly and spoke to the AP in anonymity.
This is the latest serious security problem for the Federal Prison Bureau, which has long been hit by violence, violations, and lack of staff.
His death came a little more than a week after other inmates in the same prison, Michael Rudkin, was beaten to death in a fight with fellow prisoners.
Cannada was found unresponsive in Terre Haute prison around 9.30 Friday night, said the prison bureau.
USP Terre Haute is also home to the Federal Death Row, where 13 executions are carried out in the reduced months of the Trump Presidency.
No Cannada and Rudkin are death inmates.
Cannada serves a prison sentence of more than eight years because ownership with the intention to distribute metamfetamine.
He was sentenced in the US District Court for the East Texas District.
The Prison Bureau said the staff immediately responded to emergency calls, “initiated the saving steps” and called for an emergency medical crew.
Cannada was pronounced dead in prison by emergency medical personnel, the agency said.
Federal prison officials said they also told the FBI, a standard protocol when inmates were killed in federal custody.
Terre Haute’s prison holds more than 1,100 male inmates.