ASP-Kingman's Deaths in Custody: Neil Early, 23.

UPDATE 05/19/19 

current campaign (over the SOS happening still)

#DARTHryan  #DarkSideRyan  

#CHUCKCHUCK  #DELIBERATEindifferenceKILLS

(I actually doubt @dougducey has the balls to #FIREChuckRyan but we should tell him to anyway)

UPDATE (1/25/15 3:20pm) 

I've heard from Neil's family since the post below, and they confirm he was murdered at ASP-Kingman/Cerbat. The AZ DOC should have cracked down on ASP-Kingman over the proliferation of drugs and violence there after the escape of John McClusky and friends, but by the sound sof things, it all only got worse once the spotlight was off this private prison.

Neil's mom has posted this message on her facebook, and has asked folks to share it far and wide.




 

(Neil Early 7/11/1991-1/19/2015)

We are the parents of Neil Early who was murdered in the Kingman Prison on Monday 1/19/15. Neil was only 23 years old. There are many untruths going on and we want to clarify a few details.

Neil wasn’t a bad man, misguided, but he wanted to do the right thing. He was in prison, doing 5 years and had 15 months left on his term. He was convicted of Drug Paraphernalia and Conspiracy to Commit Retail Theft. This meant that he stole some video games from two different stores and resold them for money. Stupid yes, but he shouldn’t have to die for a mistake he was already paying for. He now will never be a son again, a big brother, a cousin, or a father to his child. The family needs to know what happened to him! This should not be covered up! We are understandably very angry and need answers. He shouldn’t have had a death sentence for his mistakes!

The family is requesting anyone with ANY information please contact us:

Email: NeilEarly@bcaz.com
Website: NeilEarly.com

The Early Family
PO Box 1138
Black Canyon City, AZ 85324


Original Post (1/21/15 6:41am)

Arizona state prison officials have kept the recent death of 23 year old ASP-Kingman prisoner Neil Early on the down low since it happened. My condolences to the family; I hope you sue - that's the only way you'll ever get to the truth. You sure can't trust the AZ DOC to get at it for you. Contact me if you don't know where to start: Peggy Plews at arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com or 480-580-6807. 

I'd also like to hear from anyone else who can fill in the blanks - all I don't know about this kid's life, his dreams, and such that I can't find out from the AZ DOC website; I know there was more to him than what meets the eye. Send me a better picture, too, if you can.




Folks at Prison Talk suggest that Neil's death was a homicide, but none of the media outlets have reported it as such, and the DOC has nothing on their site (though his AZDOC profile has been updated to show he passed away.) Sadly, it appears he was having trouble with substance use in custody, up until shortly before his death. His judge did recommend he go to Marana facility for substance abuse treatment when he was sentenced. It's a shame they think (or pretend as if) people actually get any care in prison. They should have taken one look at him and known he would be prey in there, instead. It's time we stop sending non-violent offenders like him to prison on minimum mandatory sentences. That could be done this year, if the legislature had the will. 

Here's what AZCENTRAL.COM has to say this am:

 ------------------

Officials: Kingman inmate, 23, dies at private prison

Garrett Mitchell, The Republic | azcentral  

8:30 p.m. MST January 20, 2015

An inmate's death Monday at a private prison near Kingman has prompted an investigation from the Arizona Department of Corrections, according to a statement from the agency.

Neil Early, 23, was serving a sentence for two counts of organized retail theft and drug paraphernalia charges from 2011 in Maricopa County.

Early was sentenced to a 5-year prison term in May 2012 after having previously served less than a year in 2010 for for theft charges.

Kingman escapee McClusky gets life for Haas' killings; sister forgives.

John McClusky escaped the death penalty this week in New Mexico for the Haas' killing, when he was on escape from Kingman prison in the summer of 2010. I was saddened to hear that his accomplice Cassie Welch will likely die in prison for this; I corresponded with her and believe she is truly remorseful and never expected McClusky to kill people once free. While in jail in Mohave County she never complained to me about her own circumstances or conditions of confinement - she only expressed concern for other women there. I'm posting this account of McClusky's sentencing, though, because I was heartened that the sister of one of the victims here forgave them. That doesn't happen often. It will make no difference to McClusky, but I'm sending this to Cassie - it will matter to her, I think.

---------------------

Victim’s sister forgives killers

Albuquerque Journal

By Scott Sandlin / Journal Staff Writer
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at 10:23 pm
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at 1:27 pm 
 

If there was anything remarkable about the Tuesday sentencing of a double murderer whose fate was already known – life in federal prison with no chance of release – it was the words of forgiveness from one victim’s sister.

Sandra Morgan made it clear that she cannot forget her older sister Linda Haas or her brother-in-law Gary Haas, victims of the tall skinny guy in a bright yellow state jumpsuit at the defense table.

McCLUSKEY

The sudden decision by John Charles McCluskey, 48, on a hot summer day sent dozens of lives into a whirlwind. McCluskey, a prison escapee from Arizona, burned up their camper-trailer with their bodies in it – the one he’d carjacked only a few hours earlier – and went on a zigzag cross-country trip before finally being arrested at an Arizona campground three weeks later.

“How do you wake up each day with pain?” Morgan asked. “Sure, there’s counseling.” But memories come unbidden, she said, triggered by a song, a gesture, a photo.

Morgan said the hardest thing for her to overcome is the thought of how they spent their final day at the start of an annual camping/fishing trip to Colorado where they would meet with old friends, enjoy the scenery and take in the blessings of retirement before being carjacked at gunpoint and shot in rural eastern New Mexico.

The Haases’ daughter had such difficulties with the deaths that she “spiraled out of control,” and Morgan is now the guardian of the Haases’ grandson, born after the murders.

Morgan said that in the three years and 10 months she has had to think and learn about the awful events of August 2010, one word kept popping up in her mind: forgiveness.

After much thought and prayer, she said her deep Christian faith led her to a point where she has forgiven McCluskey, Tracy Province and Casslyn Welch, the trio responsible for the murders.

“I have no choice,” she said.

Province on Monday was given a life sentence, and Welch was given 40 years in prison.

Gary Haas’ sister, Linda Rook, and Erma Patrick, an aunt to the murdered couple, also spoke at McCluskey’s sentencing.

Patrick showed a photo of a memorial headstone for them, with a commemorative plaque acknowledging Gary Haas’ military service in Vietnam. She told McCluskey that although the legal case is over, it is not over for the family.

“We must deal with the loss for the rest of our lives,” she said.

Rook faced McCluskey defiantly, telling him about the invisible blows struck against her and Gary’s mother, who now cries daily although Rook only saw her cry once, ever, before that.

McCluskey was appropriately dressed in yellow, she said, the color of a coward who abused women to bend them to his will.

“What kind of man are you? I’ll answer. You are a disgrace to your mother, to your family, to society and to the human race,” she said.

McCluskey’s sole word to U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera was a curt “No” when she asked if he wished to speak.

The defense called no witnesses, and Herrera sentenced him to pay $3,820 in restitution to the Patricks.

For the 20 counts of the indictment on which he was convicted, she sentenced him to life plus 2,820 months in prison.

“If it weren’t for three votes on the jury, you’d be facing death today,” she said, referring to the lack of unanimity required for a federal sentence of death. She cautioned him not to take too much comfort in that.