Violence plagued West Virginia prison before Bulger's murder

WASHINGTON (AP) – Long before notorious Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger was killed at a prison in West Virginia, lawmakers, advocates and even prison guards had been sounding the alarm about dangerous conditions there. But there has been no public indication that federal prison officials have taken action to address the safety concerns, as well as the last six months.

An independent government commission found that United States Penitentiary Hazelton has been overcrowded for years. Inmates in their high security prison, which houses 1,270 male inmates. A 2016 report from the District of Columbia 's Corrections Information Council said that prisoners warned officials, "Inmates can lose their lives quickly here.

In April, 48-year-old Ian Thorne was killed during an altercation with a fellow prisoner, and in September, Demario Porter was also killed in another fight with a fellow inmate.

Short records, oversight reports and news articles. In 2016, an untimely death in prison. In February 2015, an inmate stabbed a fellow prisoner with a hand-crafted weapon during a fight, according to short documents. Another inmate received an extended sentence in May for badaulting a fellow prisoner and possessing a deadly weapon.

"There are a lot of federal prisons that do not have a homicide rate like that," said Cameron Lindsay, a federal prison warden who now works as a security consultant.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is in charge of USP Hazelton.

Last week, 5 members of Congress wrote to the Attorney General Jeff Sessions about what they called "dangerous continual understaffing" at the federal prisons in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and their USP Hazelton.

Justice Department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said DOJ was "aware of the concerns raised in the letter" and would respond to the members of Congress.

In a separate letter this month, the District of Columbia's House delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, asked the Justice Department's general inspectorate to launch an investigation into the USP Hazelton's conditions, citing Thorne and Porter's deaths. Norton's Holmes said she had heard about the "brutal treatment" of inmates at the prison and was concerned that the incidents "may be indicative of larger, ongoing problems at the facility."

In a statement Tuesday, Norton said Bulger's death "underscores reports of a culture of violence at Hazelton."

Norton's office said, and John Lavinsky, spokesman for the general inspector, declined to comment.

The 89-year-old Bulger, who's got a huge amount of money with the FBI before spending 16 years in America's most wanted men, was found unresponsive on Tuesday morning, just hours after he arrived at USP Hazelton. He was declared shortly afterward. Authorities have not released a cause of death, but prosecutors said it was being investigated as a homicide. A Mafia hit man, Fotios "Freddy" Geas, who is said to hate "rats," and at least one other inmate are believed to have been involved in Bulger's killing, an ex-investigator briefed on the case said Wednesday. The longtime investigator was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bulger led a lot of Irish mob that ran loan-sharking, gambling and drug rackets. He also was an FBI informing who he was on the New England mob, his gang's rival hand, in an era when bringing down the Mafia was a top priority for the FBI.

It's not clear why he was transferred.

"What I do not understand is why the Federal Bureau of Prisons would transfer to a high-level public service, which is a known snitch, to a general population of a high-security prison. Lindsay, the train warden, said.

Union officials say the prison is operating at about 75 percent of its staffing level and has positions of vacant positions. They have also been known to increase, which has been increased, which has increased, and the number of prisoners in the field of custody has increased.

Justin Tarovisky, Executive Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 420, which represents Hazelton Prison Guards, said Bulger's death "outlines how dangerous this prison is." The union voiced its concerns about staffing a picket outside the prison as far back as 2015.

The letter sent to Sessions last week by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va .; Pat Toomey, R-Pa .; Shelley Moore Capito, R.W.Va .; and Bob Casey, D-Pa .; and Rep. Bill Schuster, R-Pa., Said that it would be more important to ensure that it would not be enforced. The legislators said they were concerned that the Bureau of Prisons has not followed Congress' direction to curtail its oversight on increase, particularly in housing units.

A hiring freeze imposed by the Trump administration has left the agency short-staffed and some already overloaded federal prisons have been housed immigration detainees in recent months as well.

President Donald Trump's key-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, Sessions – support the toughest possible sentences for drug and other convictions. Kushner, Charles Kushner, was incarcerated for 14 months after being convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering.

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Associated Press Writers Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.

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