Latest news with #DepartmentOfCorrections
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Convicted ax killer David Brom says 'cloud of depression' impacted his thoughts in 1988
Jul. 18—ROCHESTER — David Brom said he felt like depression had been clouding his thoughts and emotions when he used an ax to kill his parents and two younger siblings in 1988. Members of the Minnesota Department of Corrections Supervised Release Board had to reconcile those acts carried out by Brom at age 16 with the 53-year-old man who appeared before them with a nearly spotless 37-year incarceration record. Brom had "changed everything about myself," he told the board in a January 2025 hearing reviewing his eligibility for release. Brom said he understood that the effects of his actions went beyond the lives he took and that his crimes affected the community and well as his family — "the family," as he referred to them. He said he understood his actions affected law enforcement, the community, people in the courts and the church his family attended. "I caused tremendous loss, incredible grief and pain left them with confusion and unanswered questions," Brom said. "I apologize for the ripple effects of losing an entire family in such a horrific way." "The gravity of this offense is enormous," said Paul Schnell, Minnesota Department of Corrections commissioner of corrections. However, Schnell and release board members noted that Brom has continued his education while incarcerated, and mentored other people in custody by working toward becoming an inmate chaplain. His only infraction in more than 37 years of custody was a single incident in which he had more people than permitted in his cell at one time. Schnell asked Brom to describe his crimes through the lens of his years of counseling, education and model inmate behavior. Brom said depression had "clouded his thoughts" and hampered his ability to process emotions when he carried out four brutal murders while he was a Lourdes High School student. "I had grown to a short sighted view that I thought these things were going to last forever," he said. "In the cloud of depression, I started to believe that other people were at fault for how I felt." Brom was convicted in 1989 of the four murders and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences — each carrying a minimum of 17 years in prison. Counting his time served in jail leading up to his trial, Brom was not eligible for release until 2037. However, a 2023 Minnesota law gives offenders convicted as juveniles a chance for review after they serve 15 or more years of a sentence. Although Brom had only started serving time for his third sentence at the beginning of 2022, he is eligible for parole or supervised release. Brom will be eligible for release July 29 to a supervised work release program at a Twin Cities halfway house. He will remain in state custody and be monitored by GPS, according to Aaron Swanum, Minnesota Department of Corrections media information officer. After six months, he will be reviewed for eligibility for parole. Complicating the decision to allow Brom to move toward release was the effect the decision would have on the community. Ultimately the board decided not to have Brom return to Olmsted County. In the January hearing, members suggested getting feedback about the decision. That's something Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson was more than willing to provide. As a deputy with the Olmsted County Sheriff's office in 1988, Torgerson was one of the first law enforcement officers on the scene of the murders . He responded to a call from Lourdes High School officials about a rumor Feb. 18, 1988, that Brom had hurt and possibly killed his father. Torgerson discovered the bodies of all four family members in the upstairs of the Brom home on the north outskirts of Rochester. "(I)t is still hard for me to accept and forget the sights and smells of what I saw that Thursday evening in 1988," Torgerson wrote in a statement Wednesday, July 16, 2025 responding to the SRB's decision to begin Brom's transition to parole. Togerson said he was asked in December prior to the hearing to provide written input about the decision to release Brom and that he spoke with one of the Department of Corrections commission members. In that written statement to the board that Torgerson later echoed in the public statement he made Wednesday, Torgerson said Brom has twice benefited from leniency. The first time was when his sentence for killing his youngest sister Diane was made concurrent with his sentence for killing his younger brother Ricky. "With the vicious severity and the needless nature of the killings of his little brother and sister it seemed he should have been expected to serve full sentences for both," Torgerson said. Brom's second break came with the 2023 legislation, Torgerson added. Torgerson said the sentencing decision disregarded community sentiment in 1989 and that the SRB's decision allowing Brom to move toward release at the end of the month likely does as well in 2025. Torgerson said he heard about Brom's new release date from local media. Although Torgerson said he feels his input didn't influence the SRB's decision, he said the decision has been made and that whatever happens next is up to Brom. "I hope and pray he has changed, can control his anger, and other emotions," Togerson said. "At this point we must trust he will."
Associated Press
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Muslim inmate who won US Supreme Court beard case claims retaliatory transfer by Arkansas officials
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A Muslim inmate who won a U.S. Supreme Court case upholding his right to grow a beard for religious reasons said in a lawsuit that Arkansas officials transferred him to a federal prison in West Virginia in retaliation for several other lawsuits he has filed. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas filed the lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Gregory Holt, also known as Abdul Maalik Muhammad, claiming the transfer violated his constitutional rights. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Holt could maintain a half-inch beard because Arkansas prison officials could not substantiate claims that the beard posed a security risk. The lawsuit filed Thursday argues his transfer was an effort to disrupt his advocacy on behalf of himself and other inmates. 'Mr. Muhammad's history of meritorious litigation showcases the ability of the legal system to provide justice to all, including prisoners,' the lawsuit said. 'The Court should not tolerate the (state's) retaliatory transfer aimed at suppressing Mr. Muhammad's meritorious litigation and legal work.' A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections declined to comment on the lawsuit. Jeff LeMaster, a spokesperson for Attorney General Tim Griffin, said Griffin's office was reviewing the lawsuit and would 'vigorously' defend the state. Holt has six active lawsuits against the Arkansas Department of Corrections, according to the complaint. The lawsuit accuses the head of the division of correction of unilaterally pursuing Holt's transfer to a federal facility after the idea was raised in a mediation session in one of his lawsuits. Since being moved to the West Virginia facility, the ACLU said, Holt has been denied access to basic hygiene, religious services and contact with his lawyers. The lawsuit said he also has lost access to ongoing casework and legal documents that support his cases. The lawsuit said that since Holt is still a state inmate, Arkansas has the power to order his return to a state facility. 'This ordeal has made Mr. Muhammad loathe to ever trust the mediation process or participate in a mediation with the ADC ( or any other government actor) again,' the lawsuit said. In his U.S. Supreme Court case, Holt claimed that he has a right to grow a beard under a federal law aimed at protecting prisoners' religious rights. He had the support of then-President Barack Obama's administration, religious groups and atheists alike. Holt is serving a life sentence for a brutal assault on his girlfriend and was being held at a maximum-security prison 26 miles (43 kilometers) southeast of Little Rock. His case first came to the Supreme Court's attention when he filed a handwritten plea to the court asking it to block enforcement of Arkansas' no-beard rule.
New York Times
03-07-2025
- New York Times
A Lawyer Was Wrongly Charged With Bringing Drug-Laced Papers Into Rikers
A public defender was visiting a client at Rikers last month, armed with papers he had printed out from his own computer to prepare for his client's upcoming trial on robbery charges. After the defender, Bernardo Caceres, 30, consulted with the client, he was flagged by a Correction Department dog, and his papers were tested for drugs. He was detained in a Rikers holding cell for two hours and then told his materials had tested positive for THC, the main psychoactive chemical compound in marijuana, Mr. Caceres said. He was arrested and charged with promoting prison contraband, and the accusations were widely broadcast in local news outlets. But on Tuesday, the day he was scheduled to appear in court, the Bronx district attorney's office called his lawyer to say the charges were being dropped, Mr. Caceres said. Subsequent testing had come back clean. A spokeswoman for the office confirmed on Thursday that Mr. Caceres's case had been dismissed and sealed. 'My name was smeared and my reputation clearly damaged,' Mr. Caceres said. 'Pretty much the only thing on the internet about me were accusations of me being a drug peddler.' Mr. Caceres and his lawyers said this was not the first time the Correction Department's drug testing was inaccurate and resulted in a false arrest. Earl Ward, a lawyer for Mr. Caceres, said that the Department of Corrections had 'been on notice' about inaccurate results, referring to a 2024 report published by the city's Department of Investigation that said the Correction Department's drug-testing results were often flawed. 'This is someone who is a professional,' Mr. Ward said. 'He had his face plastered all over the media as a drug smuggler.' And, Mr. Caceres said, his client is 'back to square zero' since his lawyer's arrest resulted in a mistrial. He is still in Rikers. 'I want the world to know what's going on, and just how wrong it is,' Mr. Caceres said. 'Because I'm not the first. And while I hope to be the last, I don't expect to be.' Following the arrest, the Department of Correction said that Mr. Caceres's papers were discolored, which can indicate the presence of drugs. The department declined to comment on the new results. Mr. Caceres worked for Queens Defenders, which represents indigent clients, at the time of his arrest. He has since been hired by Brooklyn Defender Services, which recently took over the Queens Defenders contract.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Yahoo
Union County: Afton man charged with parole violation
Jul. 3—Beau E. Boswell, 28, of Afton, was taken into custody June 30 at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on a Department of Corrections warrant for the charge of violation of parole. According to a Department of Corrections report, Boswell violated the terms of his parole April 10, when he was arrested in Decatur County and charged with assault causing bodily injury or mental illness. Boswell was transported to the Union County Jail and held without bond.
RNZ News
28-06-2025
- RNZ News
Death of prisoner at Mt Eden Corrections Facility treated as homicide
Mt Eden Corrections Facility. Photo: RNZ Multiple investigations have been launched after a man died at Mt Eden Corrections Facility in Auckland. Police said they were made aware of the death at about 4pm on Friday after an 'incident' at the prison. Detective Inspector Greg Brand told RNZ the death of the man was being treated as a homicide. Do you know more? Email "Police were made aware at about 4pm yesterday of a man who had died at the prison following an incident," he said. "Officers continue to follow positive lines of inquiry." Mt Eden Corrections Facility is the main prison for newly remanded prisoners in the Auckland region. The Department of Corrections said the man's next of kin has been notified and all evidence will be given to the police. "Corrections will also carry out a full investigation," Mt Eden Corrections Facility general manager Dion Paki said. "As the prisoner was in a double-bunked cell, the second prisoner who was residing in the cell has been moved to a single-cell." Paki said Corrections was expressing "sincere condolences" to everyone affected. "We acknowledge this will be distressing for staff and other prisoners in the unit and we are providing people with support," he said. Paki said this included access to chaplains and any cultural support. The Inspectorate Office for the department, which operates independently, would also be investigating the death. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
