Incarcerated Man Beaten By Alabama Correctional Officers Died From Head Injuries
Steven Davis’s death was a homicide, caused by blunt force injuries to his head sustained in an assault.
BY BETH SHELBURNE, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, CAMPAIGN FOR SMART JUSTICE
That’s according to a medical examiner’s findings on his death certificate, which his family received this week. Davis’s mother, Sandy Ray, said the information wasn’t a surprise.
“I knew what had happened to him by looking at him,” Sandy said. “They beat him so badly his head was misshapen. He looked like an alien, or a monster.”
A spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) said the agency’s internal investigation into the incident is still underway, but it will be referred to the district attorney for grand jury placement in the coming weeks. The spokesperson also said one officer involved in the incident has resigned. The other is still working for ADOC.
On October 4, Sandy received a call that her son had been airlifted out of Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer with critical injuries. She rushed to UAB Hospital, where she saw her son before he was removed from life support. Sandy said Stevie, as she called him, was unconscious and unrecognizable. Doctors told her he’d been beaten.
“I assumed other inmates had done it,” she said. “I never would have thought officers would have done that. They are supposed to be there to protect them and make sure everything runs right.”
While still at the hospital, Sandy said she spoke briefly on the phone to the warden of Donaldson Prison, Gwendolyn Givens.
“I asked her ‘what happened to my son?’ and she would only say there was an investigation and she couldn’t make any statement or give me any information,” Sandy remembered.
It’s been over six weeks since Steven Davis died. Sandy hasn’t heard anything about the investigation into her son’s death or any measures ADOC has taken to hold someone accountable.
“Nobody has called,” said Sandy. “It’s like it didn’t happen, like he wasn’t even there. I don’t want Stevie to be forgotten.”
Steven was pronounced dead on October 5 at UAB Hospital. His family had to raise money to pay for his funeral. Just last weekend, they placed his headstone at his grave in Uniontown, Alabama.
Multiple sources said officers beat Steven inside a “behavior modification unit” or “hot bay” at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility. It is unclear why Steven was placed inside this unit, but sources said he had been transferred to Donaldson Prison from Bibb Correctional Facility in the days leading up to his death.
“Behavior modification units” or “hot bays” were cited in the recent U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into Alabama prisons as particularly violent. The report described the units as places where prisoners are disciplined for drugs or violence. They “are not allowed to leave the dormitory for meals or the canteen line, are not given a microwave or television, or allowed to attend any outside programs or jobs.”
The DOJ report includes a narrative about several horrific incidents that took place inside the “hot bay” at Bibb Correctional.
“Since we inspected Bibb and informed ADOC of our initial findings that the Hot Bay was critically dangerous, the Hot Bay at Bibb has been closed, but “Behavior Modification” dormitories continue to operate at other facilities,” the report states.
ADOC issued a news release on October 7 that stated Davis’s death was under investigation. It framed the incident, according to the correctional officers involved, as one in which officers felt threatened by Davis.
“Two Donaldson correctional officers say inmate Davis rushed out of his cell brandishing one prison-made weapon in each hand and attempted to strike an officer. After repeated verbal commands and the use of standard methods to disarm the inmate, Davis refused to comply. At that time, correctional officers applied physical measures to diffuse the threat in order to remove the weapons from the scene and secure the inmate.”
When Sandy read the account from ADOC, she laughed. Stevie was not an instigator, she said. He was a follower.
“This sounds like something out of the wild, wild west,” she said. “Stevie was in a confined area. He wouldn’t create an altercation. He didn’t want to die. He was coming home to take care of me.”
Multiple sources who witnessed the incident disputed ADOC’s claims. They said Davis dropped his weapons, and officers rushed him, not the other way around.
Steven Davis was in prison on a probation violation related to drug charges. In 2009, he pled guilty to a fatal robbery in which he drove a vehicle involved in the incident. He served close to 5 years and was released on probation, but was sent back to prison for possession of a controlled substance.
When I was invited to cover the tour of Holman Prison by Governor Ivey’s study group on prison reform last month, I asked Commissioner Jeff Dunn to describe the investigation process into a possible excessive force case involving a death.
He said prison wardens review any type of physical encounter officers may have with a member of the prison population. If the incident “rises to a certain level,” they then refer it to ADOC’s investigation and intelligence division for an internal investigation in which they determine whether the incident was a valid or inappropriate use of force. If it was inappropriate, ADOC refers the case to prosecutors. An ADOC spokesperson would not say whether investigators have determined Davis's death involved an inappropriate use of force, citing the ongoing investigation. However, the spokesperson said all cases that involve the use of force in the death of an inmate are referred to the district attorney.
As far as the training correctional officers undergo, Dunn said that starts in the basic training academy.
“We teach the principle of proportionality and de-escalation,” said Dunn. “We want to use the minimal required effort and force to de-escalate the situation and get it under control.”
Officers may be taught to de-escalate prison confrontations, but excessive force remains an ongoing issue for the agency. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to investigate whether ADOC is protecting prisoners from excessive force and sexual abuse from staff. In April, the DOJ released a damning report that found ADOC failed to protect prisoners from physical and sexual violence at the hands of other prisoners and failed to provide safe and sanitary living conditions.
This week, Equal Justice Initiative reported that six officers at the rank of sergeant or above have been arrested, suspended or resigned from ADOC for allegations of sexual misconduct or physical abuse of incarcerated people. Three members of senior ADOC leadership have also exited amid allegations of misconduct.
Since Steven Davis died, his mother’s grief has gotten worse, not better. Sandy said she’s left messages for the warden at Donaldson prison, but no one has returned her calls. She’s also been confronted by negativity on social media.
“It’s hard not to be upset when you see comments from people who think it’s OK to be raped or killed in prison,” she said. “I would just say to everyone, this could be your son. This could be your nephew, brother, uncle or father. I never would have thought this would be me. I want Governor Ivey to tell me why my son is dead.”
Beth Shelburne is an investigative reporter for the Campaign for Smart Justice with the ACLU of Alabama. For investigative reporting on Alabama’s prison and pardons & paroles systems, follow her on Twitter at @bshelburne.