A Connecticut inmate at Wallens Ridge State Prison died five days after being shocked repeatedly with a stun gun and then strapped to a bed, prompting yet another volley of criticism aimed at the “supermax” lockup.
Authorities have not determined if the death Tuesday of Lawrence James Frazier, a convicted rapist transferred to the Wise County prison last year, was caused by a stun gun used on him June 29.
Frazier was shocked “more than once” during a struggle with guards at the prison’s infirmary, according to Maj. Scott Semple of the Connecticut Department of Correction.
The 50-year-old inmate was then put in “five-point restraints” – plastic or leather straps used to secure an inmate’s hands, feet and torso to a bed – and placed in a medical cell. Some time later, he was found unconscious.
Although preliminary reports indicated that Frazier suffered from heart failure, an autopsy has yet to officially determine his cause of death, Semple said. A Virginia prisons spokesman referred all questions to Connecticut officials.
The incident quickly became fodder for critics of Virginia’s “supermax” philosophy, which touts tough treatment for hard-core inmates at Wallens Ridge and Red Onion state prisons.
The FBI is investigating complaints of inmate abuse at Wallens Ridge, and the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities recently voted to conduct its own inquiry.
Criticism has been especially harsh in Connecticut, which transferred nearly 500 of its inmates to Wallens Ridge last year. Since then, several of the state’s inmates have been shot with “stinger rounds” by shotgun-wielding guards, a prisoner who some said did not belong in a supermax hanged himself, and now Frazier’s death is being investigated.
“What’s going on down there?” asked Connecticut Rep. Michael Lawlor, a Democrat.
“I think we’ve gotten to the point where at least once a month, we can count on a major, embarrassing incident that would not have happened if these inmates were here in Connecticut.”
Lawlor said he was troubled by preliminary reports that Frazier had a heart condition.
If that was the case, he said, “What kind of guidelines do they have in using their stun guns? If the guidelines allow them to be used in a hospital on a heart patient … you’ve got to wonder.”
Semple gave the following account of what happened:
About 7:20 a.m. June 29, Frazier was taken to the prison infirmary with an undisclosed medical problem. After a doctor checked him and found no life-threatening problems, Frazier began “acting in an assaultive manner,” Semple said.
No prison officials were injured during the disturbance, which Semple said consisted of Frazier “thrashing about … singing and shouting,” and refusing at least three orders to remain on his gurney.
At some point, an officer used an Ultron II, a hand-held stun gun capable of delivering 50,000 volts, to shock Frazier “more than once,” Semple said. He would not say exactly how many times Frazier was shocked.
Frazier was then put into five-point restraints and placed in a medical cell. Some time later – Semple could not say just how long – staff members found him unresponsive.
After attempting unsuccessfully to revive Frazier, rescue workers took him to Lonesome Pines Hospital in Big Stone Gap. He was transferred the next day to the Medical College of Virginia’s hospital in Richmond. He died at 1:14 a.m. Tuesday – apparently after never regaining consciousness.
A representative in the medical examiner’s office in Richmond, which is conducting the autopsy, said it could take weeks to complete laboratory tests needed to determine a cause of death.
Meanwhile, the Connecticut Department of Correction will send a team of investigators to Virginia to look into Frazier’s death.
Semple said the team will examine the use of stun guns and five-point restraints as well as the medical response to Frazier’s condition. “We’ll get to the bottom of this and make sure there was nothing improper or excessive,” Semple said.
Lawlor, who as co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee monitors prison issues in Connecticut, said Virginia officials have never responded to his request for a copy of their policy on when guards are authorized to use nonlethal weapons such as stun guns and shotguns that fire rubber pellets.
In a presentation last month to the Virginia Crime Commission, Department of Corrections Director Ron Angelone defended the policy, explaining that force is used only when inmates ignore verbal commands and warning shots.
While bursts of electricity or stinger rounds can be used to prevent injury to other inmates or staff, the policy also allows such force “to compel inmates to comply with direct orders when no immediate alternative persuasion is effective,” the commission was told.
Angelone called the stun guns “the least intrusive type of equipment available” because they allow guards to control inmates without engaging in hand-to-hand contact.
Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Department of Corrections, did not immediately respond to questions about how frequently the stun guns have been used at Wallens Ridge.
Angelone told the Crime Commission that at Red Onion, guards used the devices 95 times last year. So far this year, he said, they have been deployed 35 times.
That’s too much in the mind of Jamie Fellner, a lawyer for Human Rights Watch, an international organization that released a scathing report last year on what it called excessive force by guards at Red Onion.
Based on inmate accounts, Fellner wrote in the report, “electronic stun devices are being used as punishment, rather than for legitimate control purposes.”
While details about what happened were sketchy Wednesday, one thing was clear: Unlike a small-time drug dealer who killed himself at Wallens Ridge months before his scheduled release, Frazier met the criteria for supermax confinement.
In 1974, he was convicted of breaking into a Westport, Conn., home and waiting for the family to return home from church. He then tied up a man, woman and their two children with rope and raped the woman repeatedly while the rest of the family was forced to watch, Semple said.
Frazier received a 30- to 60-year sentence for rape, deviant sexual intercourse, larceny and burglary. Since he was locked up, the inmate was cited 103 times for disciplinary problems that included fighting, assaulting staff, making threats, thefts and creating disturbances.