Third Cellmate Killing in Seven Months at Michigan's Bellamy Creek Prison: 35-Year-Old Prisoner Found Dead in Two-Man Cell on October 25
Another suspected cellmate killing has occurred at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia County, Michigan, and state police are investigating it as a homicide. Michigan Department of Corrections spokesperson Jenni Riehle confirmed to the Detroit Free Press on October 27 that 35-year-old Donte Rashod Houston was found unresponsive in his two-man cell around midday on October 25; staff and responding emergency personnel attempted lifesaving measures, but he was pronounced dead.
Michigan State Police Lt. Duane Robinson confirmed the same day that Houston's death is being investigated as a homicide and that his cellmate is suspected of killing him, though that person has not been charged and has not been named. Houston, from the Detroit area, was sentenced in 2012 in a Saginaw County case to a long prison term that included a second-degree murder conviction.
This is the third case since March in which a Bellamy Creek prisoner is suspected of killing a cellmate: on August 19, 36-year-old Kevin Joseph Kelly was found with signs of trauma and later died; on March 27, 40-year-old Joshua Ray McGehee was found dead in his cell, and his cellmate, Michael Ryan Brewer, has been charged with open murder.
Byron Osborn, president of the Michigan Corrections Organization union, pointed out that Bellamy Creek has many Level IV two-man cells, and that a number of the prisoners in them should be classified at the highest Level V and housed alone. The corrections department announced in September that it would add 870 high-security beds, but Osborn said most of those beds will not be usable for years, while officers and prisoners need action now.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 密歇根州艾奥尼亚市中心航拍，贝拉米溪惩教所位于该市。 / Aerial view of downtown Ionia, Michigan, home to Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility.
