Sep 09 2008
Death of Inmate Blamed on Prison
Among other shortcomings, this lawsuit accuses the agency of mistakenly putting James Belli Jr. in a wing with violent offenders, even though he had no violent convictions on his record. Once there, it says, understaffed, poorly trained employees didn’t take necessary steps to protect Belli from the other prisoners.
Am I supposed to feel bad?
Belli was serving an eight- year sentence for burglary and other property crimes in Dorchester County. He was housed alongside hardened criminals, including convicted murderers. An escape charge on Belli’s record, which would have put him in a higher-risk group, was dismissed when he pleaded guilty to other offenses.
Belli was stabbed in the neck while in the Ashley Unit A-Wing of the Ridgeville prison on the morning of Aug. 23, 2006.
Perhaps the prison staff is somewhat culpable for releasing him into the more violent population, but the bottom line is if this kid wasn’t out stealing other people’s property he wouldn’t have been in that jail in the first place. As far as I am concerned there is one less parasite leaching off of society.
