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THREAD: Darnell McMillian died in Alabama's Donaldson prison on June 22, the 15th incarcerated person to die in AL under violent circumstances this year. He was 38 & had little family. His cousin says his mother died years ago. He was raised by a grandmother who died in 2010. 1/7
Last week @BurkhalterEddie reported that sources inside the prison say McMillian died after officers put him in a suicide cell with another man, then sprayed them with pepper spray during an altercation. His cousin was horrified to learn this. 2/7 https://bit.ly/2Z81ldW
I found a Facebook page that Mr. McMillian maintained in prison, presumably with a contraband cell phone. These are prevalent in Alabama prisons along with dangerous drugs, but looking through his FB feed provides a window into his incarceration. It is heartbreaking. 3/7
His posts are sporadic- about boredom, getting high in prison, struggling to be hopeful, and watching his favorite TV show Empire. He writes a lot about loving a woman named Tracy, but also tattooed the name "Rhonda" on his arm- "so she know it was real 17 years ago."
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His last post was 2017. "I go up for parole today!" he writes. 2 people wish him luck. A few posts before he asks if anyone will trust him "with a place to call home." A full year before that he is anxious having nowhere to live. "Who can help me," he writes. No one answers. 5/7
I did not know this man but he should not be dead. Our prison system harmed Darnell McMillian, and in turn, it also harmed the people he robbed & the community from which he was removed. No good came from locking him up. Nothing about it was "correctional." #prisonisabuse 6/7
The post that got me was this one. I imagine him writing it in an overcrowded, loud dorm as he wills himself to get through just one more hellish day. "At least I'm alive," he writes. "I will not lose." I wish we had done better for Mr. McMillian. I hope he rests in peace. 7/7
