The family of Daniel Terry Williams has filed a lawsuit following his tragic death in an Alabama prison. Williams, 22, was brutally beaten, sexually assaulted, and drugged in a prolonged attack at the Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore, Alabama, just days before his scheduled release in November 2023. The lawsuit claims that prison officials failed to prevent the assault and did nothing to intervene, despite being aware of the violent conditions and history of abuse at the facility.
Williams had been incarcerated since July 2023 after pleading guilty to assault and theft charges, serving a one-year sentence. By October, he was looking forward to his release and shared his optimism on social media, stating that his time in prison was almost over and he was determined to return home a better person. However, just days later, Williams was violently attacked in a dormitory not assigned to him. He was tied up, held hostage, drugged, beaten, and repeatedly sexually assaulted by another inmate, Lamont Wilson, who had a documented history of violent offenses, including sexual assaults.
The assault began on October 18, 2023, when Williams was targeted by Wilson, a violent inmate with nine reported sexual assaults between 2017 and 2022. Despite this history, Wilson had not faced any disciplinary action, and prison officials failed to segregate him from other inmates. In fact, a risk assessment conducted just days before the attack gave Wilson a perfect score for “History of Institutional Violence,” which led to a recommendation that he remain in medium-security custody at Staton. This allowed Wilson to continue his violent behavior unchecked, culminating in the brutal attack on Williams.
On October 22, an inmate reported the ongoing assault to prison officials, but it wasn’t until Williams was found unresponsive in Wilson’s bed that authorities took action. Initially, prison staff claimed that Williams had overdosed on drugs, but his family, upon seeing him at the hospital, discovered the true extent of the violence. Williams had severe bruises, cuts, and signs of restraint on his wrists. His father described the horrific scene, noting that it appeared as though a mop handle had been used to strike his son. Despite efforts to save him, Williams was declared brain dead and taken off life support on November 9, 2023, the same day he was set to be released.
The medical examiner ruled Williams’ death a homicide, but as of now, no charges have been filed against the inmates involved in the attack. The lawsuit filed by Williams’ family names three wardens and the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), accusing them of negligence and deliberate indifference to the safety of inmates. The suit alleges that prison officials ignored the violence occurring within the facility and failed to take action to prevent Williams’ death.
At the time of the attack, Staton Correctional Facility was operating at 275% of its designed capacity, housing approximately 1,394 inmates in a facility built for only 508. The overcrowding and understaffing contributed to the lack of oversight and the inability to prevent the assault. The lawsuit also highlights a pattern of misclassifying deaths in Alabama prisons, with some deaths being labeled as natural causes or overdoses, even when they were clearly the result of violence.
The Department of Justice has previously reported on the failure of the Alabama Department of Corrections to protect inmates from violence, despite being aware of the dangerous conditions in its prisons. The lawsuit claims that the prison’s leadership fostered a culture of neglect, allowing violence to flourish unchecked. Williams’ family is determined to seek justice for his death and hold those responsible accountable for their actions.
The tragic circumstances surrounding Williams’ death underscore the ongoing issues of violence, overcrowding, and neglect in Alabama’s prison system. The lawsuit serves as a call for reform and accountability, with the hope that no other inmate will have to suffer the same fate as Daniel Terry Williams.
