| it was a crime, no doubt, but certainly not the worst of them. he had been caught stealing groceries. maybe he was a rotten person otherwise, maybe not - but there was a clear need. his was not a sin of greed, but rather an act of survival. he was told he would be taken to prison to await trial, but the prison he was being taken to was filled with members of the bloods gang. knowing that gangs were segregated to decrease violence, he told his captors he was a members of the crips. i think it is reasonable to infer from the facts that he was very afraid of the bloods. the most probable explanation is that at some point he had run afoul of one or more of their members and knew he wouldn't last very long is he was placed with them. so, as he had hoped, he was taken to the john f. grantham correctional facility instead - a prison where the crips gang was strong - but something went awry. within minutes of his arrival word spread among the inmates that he had lied, that he was not a member of the crips at all. at least ten men surrounded him in the shower area. they would later say they were initiating him into the gang by 'beating him in', a welcome mat made of punches and kicks rained down on the helpless applicant by a crowd of gang members. it is just as likely that they were simply beating him for having the audacity to claim that he was one of them. whatever the case may be, the beating was so brutal that he died in a pool of his own blood from multiple blunt force trauma injuries. it must have been an awful way to go - drowning in a sea of blows, hearing his ribs breaking as he lay on the cold, filthy floor. he probably never had a chance to consider how his actions had backfired, that his theft and his lie, both born only of his will to live, would lead to such horrific consequences - or that to call the punishment disproportionate to the crime would be an almost comical understatement. his last moments were more likely spent in the fetal position, vainly trying to cover his head and body and hoping that the guards would intervene and save him. he only survived approximately 45 minutes at the john f. grantham correctional facility. he was 19 years old. |
| an act of survival |
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| photo taken in the prison shower area. the event above occurred as described at this facility. |