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HomeNewsArchives2 MORE INMATES MOVED TO VIRGINIA PRISONS

2 MORE INMATES MOVED TO VIRGINIA PRISONS

July 20, 2001 — V.I. Attorney General Iver Stridiron is keeping his word about cracking down on "malcontents" in the Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility by sending two more inmates to a mainland prison.
Last week, Stridiron sent convicted murderer and past escapee Bradley "Hurtie" Maxwell to a maximum-security prison in Virginia. On Friday, Stridiron announced the transfer of inmates Gent Mosby and Delroy "Danger Mouse" Josiah.
Mosby is serving a life sentence for the 1994 murder of St. Thomas police officer Steven Hodge. Josiah is serving a 30-year sentence for his involvement in the murder of an elderly St. Croix man during the curfew following Hurricane Georges in 1998.
"In transferring these prisoners to Virginia we are following through on Gov. Charles Turnbull’s pledge of law and order in the territory," Stridiron said. "While the [V.I. Bureau of Corrections] will undertake to house and rehabilitate those who have been convicted of crimes, we insist that those who do not adjust to life in a Virgin Islands prison, those who are malcontents, those who commit violent offenses in the prison and those who attempt to escape from prison will be candidates for removal to a Virginia prison."
Mosby was convicted with five other men for the murder of Officer Hodge, who was killed in a hail of automatic gunfire in front of his parents’ St. Thomas home. It is believed that Hodge intercepted information about illegal drug activity involving local law enforcement officers and that he was expected to provide prosecutors with the information.
No police were ever charged but five men were named as his assailants, including Mosby, Elroy Harris, William Vanterpool, Carlos Fleming and Maurice Richardson.
Stridiron said Mosby had tried to escape from Golden Grove but was foiled by V.I. Department of Justice agents. The attorney general said that Mosby had vowed he would not spend the rest of his life in prison and was planning another break when he was placed in "lock-down status."
"We are equally determined that Mosby will serve out his life sentence in a prison, either in the Virgin Islands or elsewhere, and that he will never again be free to kill," Stridiron said.
Josiah was convicted in 1999 with three other men for the murder of 61-year-old Enfield Green resident Orlando Orta on Sept. 23, 1998, during the curfew following Hurricane Georges. Orta’s wife was shot and wounded during the robbery.
Stridiron said that recently, while in Golden Grove, Josiah had armed himself with a "shank," essentially a homemade knife, with which he had threatened to kill prison guards. Stridiron said that Josiah had actually kept guards at bay for several hours in his cell until he was overpowered.
"Josiah takes the position that he has killed before and he has nothing to lose," Stridiron said.
There are 13 Virgin Islands inmates now in U.S. Bureau of Prison facilities on the mainland who will also soon be transferred to Virginia state prisons under terms of an agreement signed by the V.I. government and the Commonwealth of Virginia, Stridiron said. The cost is about the same, $65 a day, to house prisoners here or on the mainland.

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