Thomson – A former inmate from Sonora, Mexico, was charged with the death of his cellmate this week in an ongoing inmate death case at Thomson Federal Prison.

Javier Gonzalez Valenzuela, 47, was charged with second-degree murder and assault in the United States District Court for the Rockford District in the February 28, 2021 murder of Shay Paniry, according to the indictment. It is

Gonzalez Valenzuela became the fifth inmate charged in eight deaths at the prison since March 2020. At least three of the deaths involved cellmates.

Paniriy, 41, an Israeli gangster from Studio City, Calif., was found unresponsive with life-threatening injuries in an unspecified area of ​​the prison.

Gonzalez Valenzuela pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, deputy federal prosecutor Morris Pascal said in a news release.

A murder conviction carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and a assault conviction carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Federal court records show that Gonzalez Valenzuela was also charged with possession of a weapon (a handle and a piece of sharp plastic) used in a September 2020 brawl while he was an inmate at Thomson Prison on June 6. will be sentenced to show.

He is currently not being held in a high-security Carroll County detention facility, the statement said.

The most recent death of Joliet inmate Victor Gutierrez occurred on February 2. The cause has not been made public.

Fewer than 3% of all deaths in federal prisons from 2001 to 2019 were due to homicide. According to Justice Department data. That makes Thomson, which is chronically understaffed, one of the deadliest federal prisons in the nation.

On February 14, less than two weeks after Gutierrez’s murder, the BOP closed the prison’s special control cell, which housed the prison’s most problematic violent offenders and where much of the violence and abuse had been concentrated.

According to the Bureau of Prisons and court records online:

On October 19, 2022, Donta Maddox, 44, was also charged in the death of her cellmate Bobby Everson, 36, who was found unresponsive on December 15, 2021 after a fight. He was charged with second-degree murder and assault. For the indictment and previous release returned in federal court in Rockford.

On June 28, 2022, Houston A. Clyde, 25, was charged with serious injuries and assault with a weapon that killed his cellmate and Navajo fellow, Edsel Aaron Baddoni, 37. was charged with second-degree murder. Originally from Blue Gap, Arizona.

In December 2021, inmates Brandon C. Simonson and Christopher S. Martin, both 38, members of the Valhalla Bound Skinheads, were charged with murder, second-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit a hate crime. was done. All these sins last a lifetime. 10 years imprisonment for serious injury caused by assault.

They beat and killed Matthew Phillips, 31, of Texas for being Jewish, according to the indictment. Phillips was found unresponsive on the morning of March 2, 2020 with his life-threatening head injury. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead three days later, the prison service reported at the time.

Phillips’ parents, Jeff Phillips and his ex-wife Susan, are suing the Bureau of Prisons for wrongful death. The case was put on hold on January 24, pending disposition of two criminal cases.

All four murders are still pending trial.

According to the BOP, the four other inmates who died were:

Gutierrez, 32, who had served two years and nine months for illegally transporting firearms, was found unresponsive at around 9:20 p.m. on February 2 in an unidentified area of ​​the prison. He died later that night in a hospital in Clinton, Iowa.

Boyd Weekly, 49, of South Dakota, was found unresponsive after a brawl with another inmate on Dec. 3, 2020 at 2:30 p.m.

Patrick Bacon, 36, was found unresponsive in his cell two weeks later at around midnight on December 18, 2020. His death was ruled a suicide, his mother Sherry Bacon told the Show Local News Network.

The bureau reported that murder victim James Everett, 35, was found unresponsive in an unspecified area of ​​the prison, and died at around 8:30 p.m. on March 15, 2020. Death confirmed.

Following the first seven deaths and reports by National Public Radio and the Marshall Project A year ago, on June 1, an Illinois legislative delegation told the Justice Department allegations that inmates were being abused in prisons and that “serious abuse” by staff had caused some violence. asked for an investigation.

The report’s most serious allegations included staff encouraging assaults on sex offenders and informants, and tying men to beds for hours without food or water, exuding their own urine and faeces. This includes things such as being left as is. It also said staff members laughed at Phillips, a known white supremacist, who was beaten to death after being placed in an entertainment cage.

By the time Gutierrez was killed, the prison had 512 inmates. As of Friday, the prison population was 789.