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Problems at Golden Grove Prison Continue with Stabbing, Apparent Suicide

May 23, 2007 — A 23-year-old inmate at Golden Grove prison faces additional jail time following his arrest on charges he stabbed another inmate with a homemade shank.
Sabre Spencer was charged with third-degree assault. His victim, a Hispanic male, was listed in critical but stable condition at Luis Hospital where he was treated for multiple stab wounds to the body, according to Police Spokeswoman Shawna Richards.
The incident comes nearly three months after Attorney General Vincent Frazer ordered an indefinite lockdown of the prison after a prisoner opened fire there, injuring four inmates in February. (See "Update: Suspect Arrested in Golden Grove Prison Shooting.")
At the time, Frazer said that he was canceling all privileges, including visits and work release. On Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Cornelius Williams said the prison was still under lockdown.
"The weapon in question is not something that's brought in" the prison, he said. "They're homemade in the system."
Meanwhile, the Justice Department is investigating an apparent suicide by a man serving a life sentence at the prison after a 2001 conviction on murder charges. Bryan Felix was found in his cell about 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, according to Evans.
Felix is said to have hung himself, but Evans said he did not immediately know how it happened. Felix, in his early 30s, was convicted in 2001 for the November 1999 murder of 19-year-old Miguel Crispin.
Felix had appealed his conviction all the way to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals and twice requested a new trial, at one point citing new evidence, but those requests were denied.
In addition to first-degree murder, Felix was convicted of attempted murder, unauthorized possession of a firearm in connection with Crispin's death and infliction of gunshot wounds to another victim, Leonard Rodriquez. The incident occurred in downtown Christiansted in the area formerly occupied by Pizza Hut.
On Nov. 6, 1999, Felix, was one of three black men riding in a car when they accosted thee Hispanic men — Crispin, Rodriquez and Jose Mercado. Rodriquez and one of Felix's friend, who had a prior feud, began fighting. Soon the others — except Felix — got into the Fray. Rodriquez identified Crispin as the shooter.
"It is unfortunate when anyone takes their own life," Cornelius said Wednesday. "We are investigating the circumstances and investigating it as a suicide."
Frazer, who has acknowledged that the V.I. prison system is overwhelmed with problems, has said that he will try to fix them, but that it will not happen overnight.
Even so, violence behind bars is not uncommon, especially at Golden Grove, a medium-security prison that has workshops — in efforts to rehabilitate prisoners — that use metal and other materials that inmates can pilfer to make weapons, like shanks.
Regular shakedowns of cells, which uncover such crude weapons and result in the loss of privileges, have apparently done little to discourage prisoners from getting involved in acts that could lead to longer prison time, officials say.
Shakedowns at Golden Grove have also yielded cell phones, drugs and small appliances, such as microwaves, in addition to homemade weapons.
Past attorneys general Iver Stridiron and Kerry Drue have had to deal with contraband being introduced in the prison after stabbings with shanks, one of which resulted in the death of an inmate. In September 2001, an inmate who had served more than half of a 15-year sentence — and would have soon been eligible for parole — was beaten and stabbed with a shank while in his cell. One of his killers was already serving a life sentence at the prison.
In the mid-1990s, a mentally ill man was bludgeoned in his cell at the St. Thomas jail and remained in a coma for several months before he died. That jail is also under a consent decree after prisoners, in 1984, filed suit against the government alleging violations of their civil rights.
Golden Grove has been under a consent decree since 1986, and federal officials charged with ensuring that local officials are in compliance painted a grim picture of the institution during a hearing held last February in District Court. (See "Judge Finds V.I. Government in Contempt of Court for Treatment of Mentally Ill Prisoners.")
Eugene Miller, a corrections consultant involved in the Golden Grove case since 1986, testified then that things had only worsened in the two decades since the decree. He cited staffing levels, mental health and general medical care as being far below national standards.
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