Prisoners Edgar Garcia and Mark Snarr couldn’t have scripted the murder of another prisoner, Gabriel Rhone, any better. Given that each of them were in single cells and were only allowed out after a thorough strip search and handcuffing, such a feat seemed more like a pipe dream or a fantasy. It would first require an insurmountable plot, straight out of an action-packed prison escape movie. Anything less wouldn’t work.
- Guards would have to forget, or ignore, strip searching them coming out of their Security Management Unit (SMU) cell for recreation, and going back in.
- They would have to overlook the fact that one of these inmates was under an order for a two-man guard escort.
- A prison disturbance would have to ensue, causing recreation to be terminated early.
- The guards would have to believe that the inmates’ need to use the bathroom was more important than the need to follow policy, allowing two inmates to be removed from their recreation cages at the same time.
As if in a blockbuster suspense thriller, every element that needed to be met, was met. A disturbance in another part of the prison ensued, resulting in guards being ordered to stop recreation and put each inmate back in their cell, one by one. Since one of them claimed he had to use the bathroom, Officers Dewight Baloney and Josh McQueen took a gamble, skipped the order to go in, and removed prisoners Garcia and Snarr from their single-man recreation cages.
As time was limited, the inmates weren’t strip searched, according to policy, both when they were coming out or going back into their cells. Thus, their handmade handcuff keys and shanks weren’t discovered. Fellow neighbors and Rhone, who had listened to Garcia and Snarr plot the murder through their cell doors days before, listened as the plot thickened down the corridor and the handcuffs fell free from behind Garcia and Snarr’s backs.
Officer Baloney was stabbed 23 times until he escaped to safety. Snarr approached Officer McQueen, stabbing him while demanding cell door keys. A poke of the shank by Garcia, and the keys were yielded to Snarr from McQueen’s duty belt.
Then both inmates dashed down the corridor to prisoner Gabriel Rhone’s cell. It was time for him to pay for talking shit and ejaculating on a female guard’s shoe through his cell door slot.(1)
Snarr fumbled with the keys before getting the right one into the keyhole, while Rhone was threatened. The cell door opened, and out came Rhone, panicked. One inmate who watched the gruesome stabbing claimed both killers were in a “frenzy,” stabbing Rhone over 50 times in the heart, lungs, and liver, as guards pleaded for them to stop.
On May 24, 2010, a jury sentenced Snarr and Garcia to death by lethal injection.
Killings like this one are why the federal penitentiary in Beaumont, Texas — USP Beaumont — is called “Bloody Beaumont.”
In 2001, Luther Plant was killed in a two-man recreation cage by Shannon Agofsky. Agofsky was serving a life sentence for the 1989 kidnapping and murder of State Bank of Noel president Dan Short. Agofsky repeatedly stomped Plant’s head into the ground, until he choked to death on his own blood.
On July 17, 2004, a jury sentenced Agofsky to death by lethal injection. Inmates questioned about the incident claimed that guards often place inmates in the two-man cages and watch them fight. This is sometimes called “gladiator school” or “Thunder dome.”
Officer Christopher Matt, who admitted placing Agofsky and Plant in the same cage together, denied having knowledge of gladiator school activities. He also claimed he didn’t know a murder was about to take place, nor did he see the fight.(2)
Bloody Beaumont had only been in business for two years when on December 16, 1999, the first murder occurred. According to court documents, Daryl Brown, Arzell Gulley, and David Lee Jackson had been seen arguing in an area of the prison called the compound, where inmates are allowed to intermingle. Brown could be seen fleeing the compound and into unit 3B-1, and eventually cell 125, while Gulley and Jackson chased after him with knives. Just under a minute later, Gulley and Jackson walked out of the cell and were apprehended by prison guards. A bloody and half-dead Brown then stumbled out of the cell, collapsing near one of his killers, where he died.(3)
In 2006, Jackson was sentenced to death by lethal injection, and Gulley was sentenced to life in prison.
Administrative officials have no control over any federal prison within the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP). So in an effort to tone down the violence, it is expected that gang leaders will run the prison for them, creating unwritten rules, punishing violators, and warring with gangs that try to impose their own counterproductive authority. And many try.
One gang, MS-13, mainly consisting of El Salvadoran immigrants, is considered the most violent prison and street gang in America. The federal government created a gang intelligence group within the FBOP called Joint Taskforce Vulcan, which focuses on the activities of gangs in general and MS-13’s violent rise within the federal prison system in particular.
On January 31, 2022, this joint task force operation proved ineffective. 54-year-old Guillermo Riojas, 34-year-old Andrew Pineda, and two other Hispanic inmates belonging to the Mexican Mafia and Sureños gangs respectively, were ambushed by seven members of MS-13.(4) The El Salvadoran group felt it was time to bust up the unity that Mexican Mafia and the Sureños created to strengthen their numbers against the larger MS-13.
Riojas and Pineda received the worst of the punishment, as Pineda was stabbed 45 times, and Riojas was stabbed multiple times in the heart and lungs. The other two unnamed inmates were the only survivors. The 15-count indictment included charges of racketeering, murder, and attempted murder. All 120 of the FBOP’s prisons were placed on temporary lockdown status, in anticipation of subsequent riots and vengeance. On February 24, 2022, the lockdown was fully lifted, and normal prison operations continued.
According to the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, the federal prison population has grown 1% since 2001. The annual murder rate increased by 44% from 39 a year to 120 in 2018.
Many relatives of victims who died while incarcerated find themselves being fed partially true statements or outright lies, being given the runaround, and having their Freedom of Information Act requests denied or painstakingly delayed. In many instances, even administrative prison officials don’t know the truth about what goes on in prison.
The violence that goes on at places like Bloody Beaumont is senseless. But many contributing factors can compel someone to play within or step outside of their comfort zone and commit murder. One is the underground drug trade. Another is violations of inmate-created penitentiary rules. Still another is the kind of inmates in federal custody, the resources they bring with them, and their reputations. Observing an active member of a drug cartel, mafia, or street enterprise on the compound is as common as a cavity search. Add this to the lethal mix of convicted millionaires and money-hungry guards who are overworked and underpaid, and you have an unregulated, untaxable, underground economy and environment that are virtually indestructibly violent, extortive, and bribable within the highest levels of the administration.
Before Bloody Beaumont, inmates in the federal prison system called it Club Fed, due to the average prisoner being either affluent or involved in crimes and schemes designed to meet that status quo, making it a felon’s Club Med. They spent their prison sentences enjoying the fruits of their labor and the vast amount of privilege given to them, which has since been slowly stripped to a bare minimum.
Plus, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), created to bring down entire mafias for the actions of one of its members, eventually began preying on ineligible, neighborhood gangs that had never risen above low-level drug dealing. On top of this, anyone convicted in the District of Columbia (D.C.) and sentenced to prison does their time in a federal facility, regardless of whether it’s a federal charge or not, as D.C. doesn’t have a state prison system.
As a consequence, Club Fed was watered down with reams of petty criminals who brought their petty tendencies and violence with them. Thus, the FBOP took away most of the privileges and leeway that the new wave took for granted–which was masked as accommodating budget cuts.
On May 6, 2005, Keith Barnes arrived at Bloody Beaumont, well aware that he would be killed immediately. In 1998, Barnes and several others were convicted for the murder and robbery of Israel “Dog” Jones in a Washington, D.C. apartment. Despite receiving hand-written death threats from James “Rat” Carpenter, a co-defendant who had killed Jones in his apartment, Barnes testified against his cronies in exchange for a lesser sentence. This resulted in Barnes being threatened and sought after. Each time he was transferred to a different federal prison to protect him from his co-defendants’ vast connections within the FBOP.
Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a D.C. congresswoman, wrote letters to the FBOP on his behalf, to no avail. Barnes explained his situation to his case worker upon arriving to Bloody Beaumont, but he was sent to general population anyway.
Marwin Mosley, Michael Bacote, and Charles Sherman (all D.C. residents) approached Barnes as soon as he hit the cellblock. He didn’t give them his real name, because he knew there was a hit out on his life. Routinely newly arriving inmates are asked who they are and where they’re from, then pointed to where the denizens of their geographical location mingle, or are dealt with accordingly if their name has a green light on it.
Mosley thought he recognized Barnes as the one who had testified against Carpenter, and explained this to Joseph Ebron. His real name was quickly figured out, and his murder plotted. Within less than 24 hours of his arrival at Bloody Beaumont, Barnes was discovered on his top bunk with over 10 stab wounds.(5)
After Sherman was investigated by officials, he fingered Ebron, Mosley, and Bacote as Barnes’ killers. In 2005, Ebron, Mosley, and Bacote were convicted for Barnes’ death. Ebron was the only defendant sentenced to death by lethal injection. Mosley died in 2006, resulting in the dismissal of his pending court appeals.
Christopher Cramer and Ricky Fackrell are members of a federal prison-based group called Soldiers of Aryan Culture (SAC). Cramer served as its general, while Fackrell held the rank of lieutenant during their stay at Bloody Beaumont. Among other rules and regulations, all members must abstain from drinking alcohol, doing drugs, and gambling. According to Fackrell’s own statement during his trial, one of the penalties of rule violations is to “touch the violator up a little bit.” Members are recruited based on their belief in white supremacy and paganism.
According to both Cramer and Fackrell, an unranked member named Leo Johns had been caught drinking and gambling, in violation of SAC rules. While Johns was in his own cell, Cramer and Fackrell entered it with shanks. Johns was stabbed until he died. On June 13, 2018, Cramer and Fackrell were convicted of Johns’ death and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Fackrell suggested to the court that their intention wasn’t to kill, but only to “touch up [Johns] a little bit.”(6) One can only wonder where the line is drawn in what one uses to “do a little touching up.”
U.S. Attorney Britt Featherston, who prosecutes federal cases in the eastern district of Texas, promised that any inmate who causes physical injury to another person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Nowhere in her diatribe did she suggest, or recommend, remedies that would curtail the death sentences that are being handed out like candy. As can be seen from the frequency in overkill deaths, the punishment for doing such a thing isn’t a hard enough measure, which would deter future inmates from attempting to top past slaughterings.
Nor have past reform measures done anything besides increase sentences and already full court dockets. Since the 1994 crime bill was signed into law by Bill Clinton, making all murders committed in federal custody eligible for the death penalty, the number of murders skyrocketed, while the number of inmates placed on federal death row increased to unprecedented numbers.
While Bloody Beaumont might be the most violent federal prison in Texas, when measured against the rest of the USPs under the jurisdiction of the FBOP, it can be seen as the nicer twin of a more sinister, more diabolical juggernaut. Bloody Beaumont is just one of three federal correctional complexes grouped together in Beaumont, Texas. The other two complexes are minimum- and medium-security compounds. Factors that determine who goes to a USP include criminal history, gang affiliation, current criminal charges, and the amount of points all of these factors generate. Other factors can reduce these points, such as taking responsibility for the charge, becoming a government informant, and maintaining good behavior.
In 2002, Carlos David Caro was serving time at a low security prison in Oakdale, Louisiana. As he had risen to the rank of leader of the Texas Syndicate (TS) prison gang, staff approached him and gave him the heads up that rivals of TS were scheduled to be transferred to Oakdale. They asked him if he would keep the peace.
Upon their arrival to Oakdale, Caro launched an attack on them. He beat one so badly that he was hospitalized. With bloody clothes and boots, Caro told guards, “I don’t give a fuck if they send me to the USP. My brothers follow orders. They know what they’re getting themselves into. It doesn’t even matter if we’re prosecuted.”(7)
Shortly after the assault, Caro was transferred to USP Lee in Jonesville, Virginia. In August 2003, Caro and another member of TS stabbed another inmate 29 times, resulting in Caro being placed in the prison’s Secure Housing Unit (SHU). The SHU and SMU are basically one and the same: double-man solitary confinement.
Caro eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to an additional 27 years in federal prison. On December 17, 2003, less than two days after Roberto Sandoval’s arrival as Caro’s new cellmate, Caro wet a towel, wrapped it around Sandoval’s neck, and strangled him to death. As guards walked by during their security check, Caro got their attention, showed them Sandoval’s body, and demanded that they remove it because it was stinking up the cell. Caro justified this by claiming Sandoval had disrespected him for confronting Caro about eating Sandoval’s breakfast while he was asleep.
Caro was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection for Sandoval’s death. On September 14, 2018, around 4:06 p.m., USP Lee guards were doing a security check when they discovered Samuel Silva standing at his cell door with his prison I.D. and shower shoes in his hands. Upon further observation, Silva’s cellmate, Abraham Aldana, could be seen lying on the ground, face down in a pool of his own blood. Medical examiners would learn that Aldana had been stabbed over 100 times, with a metal shank still lodged into his skull.(8) Silva was serving a 564-month sentence. At the time of the murder, USP Lee was on an institutional lockdown, which can last over a month, and stops all inmate movement and recreation until the lockdown is over.
A year later at USP Lee’s SHU, a mentally ill and delusional Eric Horne murdered his cellmate as an inmate in another cell watched. The inmate testified to the grand jury that he saw Horne place his arm around the victim in a headlock. Days before the murder, Horne had been acting psychotic, prompting other inmates housed in the SHU to warn the victim to get out of the cell immediately.
The FBOP has learned to conceal the ongoing epidemic of murders at USPs, making it difficult for the media to get details until years after an incident. Consequently, it will be years before many of Bloody Beaumont’s affairs will become public records.
Jason Renard Walker
TDCJ Powledge unit
P.O.Box 660400
Dallas, Tx
75266-0400
Sources
1) U.S v. Snarr,704 F.3d 368
2)Leah Caldwell, USP Beaumont,Texas: Murder and Mayhem In The Thunder Dome
3)U.S v. Gulley,562 F.3d 809
4)Keith Saunders, Gang Violence In Texas Federal Prison Results In Two Deaths, Nationwide BOP Lockdown
5)U.S. v .Ebron, 683 F.3d 105
6)U.S. v. Fackrell, 991 F.3d 589
7)U.S. v. Caro, 597 F.3d 608
8)U.S v. Silva, 2022 U.S.Dist. Texas 221466
