This text is a part of the “Dying Behind Bars” collection.
Throughout a routine jail shift change on the Marshall County Correctional Facility in Mississippi, the lethal assault unfolding on Unit Charlie 2’s safety screens went unnoticed.
When a brand new crew would take over for the outgoing guards, the safety group could be preoccupied with mundane duties away from the screens, a lawsuit and testimony later recounted.
Sooner or later throughout that shift change, John Lowe was severely injured from the beating he acquired contained in the unit’s bathe space and was discovered by safety 10-minutes later, bleeding on the tile ground. He died two days in a while July 13, 2021.
County prosecutors had the proof they wanted for a homicide cost. The safety cameras had recorded the beating. A grand jury indicted a suspect a bit of over a yr later.
Then, for the following three years, the case was successfully forgotten by prosecutors and the jail system.
A cellphone name, then the indictment resurfaces
Lowe, who was serving a 15-year sentence for armed theft, was one in all at the least 43 incarcerated individuals killed inside Mississippi prisons since 2015.
In most different circumstances, the suspects have been by no means charged by native prosecutors, a group of Mississippi information reporters discovered. Solely six individuals have been convicted in reference to jail killings over the previous 10 years.
Outdoors of courtroom, the personal firm that ran the Marshall County jail for the state settled the lawsuit filed by Lowe’s household for an undisclosed quantity. The settlement requires the household to maintain particular particulars of the case confidential.
The suspect in Lowe’s loss of life, Terry McCline, was indicted on a homicide cost in October 2022. He’s at the moment serving 75 years for armed theft, carjacking and conspiracy, and gained’t be eligible for launch till he’s 98 years outdated in 2076.
Usually, McCline would have been formally served the indictment, would have gotten a lawyer, and, in the end, would have headed to trial, the place a jury or choose would have determined his destiny.
However McCline was by no means served the indictment to start out the method.
A grand jury had indicted McCline in the course of the center of the COVID-19 pandemic, which considerably restricted the operation of the state’s authorized system.
McCline’s dormant indictment was resurrected solely after a Clarion Ledger reporter requested Marshall County District Lawyer Ben Creekmore what occurred to the case.
Creekmore stated he then realized McCline was by no means served with the homicide cost. The serving of the indictment, Creekmore famous in a June 3 electronic mail to a reporter, would occur “ASAP.”
On Aug. 13, McCline was taken from jail, introduced earlier than a choose within the county courthouse and handed the indictment. He pleaded not responsible.
McCline has not responded to requests to talk with him. He’s the one individual indicted in reference to Lowe’s homicide.
Creekmore stated whereas it’s his workplace’s duty to ensure each indictment is served, the Mississippi Division of Corrections ought to have adopted by means of, too.
“What you’re figuring out might be that we have to have a greater system in place to make sure they get served faster,” he stated.
MDOC investigators introduced him the homicide case to current to a grand jury in 2022, a yr after the homicide, Creekmore stated. However by then, McCline had been transferred to a different MDOC facility outdoors the county. As a result of he was now not in Marshall County, he couldn’t be served with the county grand jury’s indictment, Creekmore stated.
Creekmore stated the indictment received misplaced in the course of the courtroom backlogs attributable to COVID-19. The method to indict MDOC inmates is tough as a result of incarcerated individuals can’t be served inside a jail, he stated.
“There are different points as properly. If someone is safely stored [by MDOC], it doesn’t simply soar off the web page and say, ‘Hey, that is one thing that must be taken care of,’ except I get a name from a sufferer’s household, legislation enforcement, the choose,” Creekmore stated, “or an investigative reporter.”
MDOC spokesperson Katelyn Head stated that it’s partly MDOC’s duty to make sure indicted prisoners are served as a result of it really works with county DAs “when [MDOC] is aware of” a prisoner has been indicted. MDOC took over operations on the Marshall County jail from the personal firm two months after Lowe’s homicide.
Head additionally stated that McCline was moved to a different jail after the killing, however earlier than his indictment. Transferring a suspect to a different facility is an ordinary safety follow, she stated.
Gaps in oversight
On the time of the assault, guards have been working for Administration & Coaching Company, a personal firm that managed the jail for the corrections division in 2021. Safety staffers routinely left shift change duties undone at a number of MTC amenities, which included watching the screens and checking cells, stated Chuck Mullins, an legal professional who represented Lowe’s dad and mom of their wrongful loss of life lawsuit.
In Lowe’s case, deposition testimony confirmed guards weren’t within the management tower on the time of Lowe’s assault, Mullins stated.
The 25-year-old Lowe was discovered on the bathe ground shortly earlier than 6:30 p.m. on July 11 and put below medical statement for many of the night time. He had cranium fractures, scratches and bruises to his head, face and neck, in line with video footage and particulars cited within the lawsuit.
In a latest interview, Lowe’s relations stated they considered the jail safety digicam footage and noticed about 4 males attacking Lowe within the bathe.
“You may see [there were] a number of [people], from what I might see, after watching the video that many occasions,” Lowe’s brother, Justin, stated.
Their lawsuit additionally said that “[v]ideo footage captured a number of inmates attacking” Lowe in “plain view.”
“The explanation why the inmates selected that specific time, and primarily based on the deposition testimony … is that that was throughout [a] shift change,” Mullins stated. “[Guards] would go away their publish to go do rounds so the inmates knew nobody was going to be within the management tower throughout that point … That they had that type of information.”
5 hours after being discovered, Lowe was transported from the jail to a close-by Oxford hospital after which 75 miles to a Memphis trauma middle. He died the following day.
Lawsuit settles
The wrongful loss of life lawsuit towards MTC was settled out of courtroom in late 2024 for an undisclosed quantity.
The lawsuit initially requested a jury trial for the household’s declare, which requested for greater than $75,000 in damages.
If the go well with had gone to trial, it might have introduced jail information about safety staffing, video footage of the homicide and extra into the general public eye.
Mullins declined to reveal the quantity the household acquired within the settlement, citing the confidentiality settlement. MTC additionally declined to reveal the settlement quantity or focus on Lowe’s homicide case. In courtroom information, MTC made no admission of wrongdoing.
The Lowe household settled as a result of they felt they might not show at trial that MTC uncared for its duty of holding incarcerated individuals secure, Mullins stated.
“There was nothing to point to MTC or their workers that [Lowe’s murder] was going to occur,” Mullins stated.
Wanda Bertram, a spokesperson and researcher for the Jail Coverage Initiative, a nonprofit felony justice assume tank specializing in prisons, stated jail operators in different circumstances have used the protection that, with out prior information of an act of violence, there isn’t a lot in the best way of legal responsibility. MTC made the identical arguments in courtroom papers, saying that it adopted the legislation always.
Prisons typically don’t prioritize prisoner-to-prisoner safety, opting to put money into methods to answer violent incidents, moderately than forestall them, she stated.
“Essentially, even whether it is technically a safety matter when somebody in jail kills one other individual, that’s probably not the kind of safety that prisons are desirous about offering,” Bertam stated.
Who was John Lowe?
Earlier than jail, Lowe was wanting ahead to beginning a profession. His household by no means thought he would find yourself in a Mississippi jail.
“He was an awesome brother,” Justin Lowe stated lately. “I couldn’t ask God to bless me with a greater one, as a result of he was that and, mentally, he challenged me on a regular basis … He simply stayed on me and [encouraged me] to remain in my books.”
John Lowe grew up within the Greenville space, competitively boxed at a neighborhood fitness center and helped care for the household.
“We began out [boxing] once I was about 9, he was 10,” Justin stated. “Then we gained the Golden Gloves collectively. After which he type of simply pale out, however he stored me going [with it].”
Earlier than his arrest, Lowe was working towards acquiring his GED and finally a welder’s license.
“He appeared like he had made up his thoughts earlier than [his arrest], that he was going to give attention to what he’s presupposed to do,” his father, John Sr., stated.
Lowe was a fan of gospel, R&B and rap music, Justin stated. A few of Lowe’s favourite artists embody Tupac Shakur, whose music touched on tradition, racial politics and the lives of Black males in America.
In jail, Lowe’s dad and mom stated he was an avid reader and drawer, and continued his schooling to remain busy.
Justin and John Sr. each stated they’re glad the homicide case is lastly transferring ahead, however stated it nearly looks like too little too late.
The true justice, they stated, would have been stopping Lowe’s loss of life within the first place.
“They didn’t make [the murder case] a precedence,” Justin stated with tears in his eyes. “The state of affairs nonetheless makes me very emotional. They might’ve executed extra. His life was taken below supervision … I can solely sit and wait and pray that my brother will get the justice he deserves.”
