THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 4, 1995 TAG: 9507040380
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Michael Stokes, a prison inmate allegedly beaten for talking to the state police about a gun found in the typewriter of executed inmate Willie Lloyd Turner, desperately sought help from Department of Corrections officials before he was attacked, according to a letter he wrote to an inmate advocacy group.
``I wrote to the warden, J. (John) Jabe, and (the) warden of A Unit . . . detailing the threats I have been receiving for me to change my story,'' Stokes wrote in a letter to the Virginia chapter of Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE).
``. . . I feel I shouldn't have to be subject to this treatment for doing something that's right, I don't understand it.''
Stokes enclosed a copy of an emergency grievance form, submitted June 21, in which he asked to see an investigator because he feared ``serious/irreparable harm.''
The form, submitted at 11:20 a.m., was returned to Stokes at 3:31 p.m. the same day. A box on the form marked ``Does not meet definition, return to inmate,'' had been checked.
Citing a Department of Corrections investigation into the beating, department spokesman Jim Jones would not comment on the letter or the form.
Stokes, 35, was one of 15 inmates who were housed with death row inmate Turner on a protective custody tier at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.
Turner was executed May 25. Before his death, he instructed his lawyer to search his typewriter. When the lawyer obliged, he found a loaded revolver hidden inside. Police later found 12 more bullets underneath it.
The Department of Corrections launched an investigation into the gun but ended its probe after 36 hours, with Corrections Director Ronald Angelone speculating that the gun had been planted by Turner's lawyer, Washington attorney Walter Walvick.
After protests from legislators about the effectiveness and propriety of the Department of Corrections investigation, Gov. George F. Allen turned the case over the the state police.
Stokes spoke to the state police in early June, according to his parents, Larry and Odell Stokes of Tampa, Fla. Two days later, he wrote in his letter to CURE, someone broke his cell window.
``I told the floor officer,'' wrote Stokes, ``. . . and he stated that (it) was just the beginning, and I should learn to keep my mouth shut.''
After weeks of threats and intimidation, Stokes' parents said, a correctional officer opened the door to Stokes' protective custody cell and let in Anthony Reynolds, an inmate classified as dangerous. As the officer looked on, Reynolds ripped the lid from a metal footlocker and attacked Stokes.
Stokes suffered a concussion and wounds requiring 32 stitches, said Larry Stokes, who learned details of the assault during a telephone conversation with his son last week.
``He said the officers told him he should not have talked to the state police because they did not want nobody to know that this inmate had a gun,'' Larry Stokes said.
Stokes is serving the 15th year of a 73-year sentence for a Prince William County armed robbery. He was put into protective custody about 10 years ago, his parents said, after testifying as a witness in a prison murder case. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Michael Stokes' parents say he was attacked because he talked to
state police about a gun found in a death-row inmate's typewriter.
KEYWORDS: ASSAULT INJURIES PRISONERS by CNB