By Aaron Miller
A corrections officer and an inmate were both killed after a brief fight at Luzerne County Jail on Monday night. They both fell five floors down an elevator Shaft.
The identity of the corrections officer was initially withheld but eventually disclosed due to press pressure, as Kristopher Moules . The dead inmate, Timothy Gilliam, 27, was listed as a homeless man. He was jailed for failing to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.
County manager David Pedri, said in a statement:
“I want to assure the public,” began Pedri, “that there is no threat to public safety at this time. This was an isolated internal incident, and that the Luzerne County Correctional Facility is currently on lock down,”meaning that restrictions have been severely restricted.
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Investigations are currently being conducted by State police, the district attorney’s office and prison officials are all conducting the investigation. Reports will be provided by the state.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Pedri told a news press conference here in America, that something happened to cause the door to jump off its track and open. A state expert, according to him, has been draughted in to identify the problem which he promised to publicly release to the public and implement any corrective action.
Pedri said the prison’s internal investigation showed Gilliam was on the fifth floor of the facility Monday and was not restrained when he and Moules briefly exchanged words before a “brief altercation” ensued.
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The altercation lasted seconds and spilt out into a common area near an elevator, he said.
“Moules was alone on the fifth floor of the five-story facility, except for another corrections officer in the security shack, Pedri said. Guards on other floors were summoned to assist in an “all available alarm,” and another guard arrived within seconds.
As the two guards tried to detain Gilliam, Gilliam and Moules crashed through the elevator door into the shaft, Pedri said. The other corrections officer, who was not named, also came “very close” to falling into the shaft. Prison officials claim their video recordings indicate that Mr.Moules did nothing wrong.
An autopsy performed Tuesday morning concluded Moules died of multiple traumatic injuries due to a fall, Lisman said. He said the manner of death will be determined soon pending further review.
Gilliam, 27, originally from New York, was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. at Wilkes-Barre General and also died from multiple traumatic injuries due to a fall based on an autopsy performed Tuesday, Lisman said. The manner of death has been ruled accidental, he said.
The prison, which employs about 300 people and usually is filled to its 505-inmate capacity, will remain on lockdown until the investigation is complete, which means inmates must remain in their cells 23 hours a day, Pedri said.
“This is a tragic day in Luzerne County,” Pedri said. “It is our duty now as county administrators to make sure that his name and the lessons learned from this matter are never forgotten.”
State police and the county District Attorney’s Office continue to investigate the matter.
Pedri said he doesn’t know what caused the altercation, but that might be part of the criminal investigation. It does not appear other inmates were involved, he said.
The elevator car was rising when Moules and Gilliam landed on its roof, but the exact distance the two men fell won’t be known until the criminal investigation is completed, Pedri said.
CRIMINAL HISTORY
Gilliam had a lengthy criminal history, including a guilty plea to charges he fought off police while clutching an infant he abducted from a Sherman Hills apartment.
Te criminal had pleaded guilty to sexual assault, interference with custody of children, simple assault, endangering the welfare of children, and resisting arrest since 2007.
Police said Gilliam was under the influence of synthetic drugs and was acting “extremely bizarre” when city officers in October 2011 found him on Northampton Street, holding the 14-month-old infant in his arms and cursing at people walking by. A pervert and weird, he certainly was, though his victims would have rather see him serve the full time for his crimes than escape punishment due to a death caused by a brief fight and a faulty elevator.
Corrections Officers attempted to pry the infant from Gilliam’s arms and subdue him, but Gilliam fought back and had to be hit with a Taser at least three times, according to a criminal complaint. Court records show Luzerne County Judge Fred A. Pierantoni III sentenced him to 10 to 23 months in county prison for the offence.
A month before the incident, violent Gilliam was convicted for punching and kicking his then-girlfriend inside an apartment at 320 North Empire Court in Wilkes-Barre. He was sentenced to 12 months’ probation on a misdemeanour simple assault charge.
In 2007, Gilliam was charged with two counts of rape and one count each of statutory sexual assault, sexual assault and corruption of minors, following allegations of raping a 14-year-old girl. Gilliam allegedly raped the girl while she was sleeping inside a residence on Dougher Lane in November 2007.
The girl told police she was inside the residence with Gilliam and two other people who fell asleep in a second-floor bedroom when she was awakened by Gilliam, who was sexually assaulting her, the criminal complaint says.
Gillian pleaded guilty the following year and was sentenced to six to 18 months in prison by former county judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr.
Gilliam had also been charged in March with failing to register as a sex offender with Pennsylvania State Police, as required under the law because of his convictions. He no longer will be able to commit sexual assaults, but someone else has had to lose their life in the process of dealing with him.
Image –road_less_trvled via Foter.com / CC BY-NCroad_less_trvled via Foter.com / CC BY-N
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