Alabama man beaten beyond recognition in same prison gang ‘rented out’ and murdered inmate

An Alabama prisoner was brutally bludgeoned with a weight at the same notorious prison where an inmate was “rented out” and raped before being beaten to death, according to reports.

Christpher Louis Latham Jr. was struck with the object at Staton Correctional Facility in August, leaving him with gruesome swelling to the side of his head and two shut eyes.

Latham eventually recovered from those injuries and was sent to another Alabama prison — where he was then beaten to death last month in a separate attack over a $10 debt, according to the Alabama Political Reporter.

The Staton facility drew headlines this week after it emerged another inmate, Daniel Williams, 22, was beaten, tortured and raped for several days last month — just two weeks before his scheduled release.

Williams, father of two infants, was concluding his one-year sentence for second-degree theft when he was found unresponsive in his cell. He was removed from life support earlier this month and died four days later.

Meanwhile Latham was jailed 18 years ago at the age of 22 for an armed robbery of a Waffle House restaurant with a knife. He was sentenced to 20 years behind bars, despite it being his first felony conviction.

While at Staton, Latham was attacked with a heavy weight by another inmate and hospitalized. Sources told the outlet that he was never tested for brain bleeding despite the severity of his injuries.

He was eventually moved to Ventress Correctional Facility, and was again severely beaten over a minor prison debt, according to the outlet.

Latham again suffered head trauma and was put on life support before his family decided remove him from his ventilator.

Latham, his uncle told APR, had lost his mother to cancer as a teen and was beaten by his stepfather.

“I don’t excuse Chris for what he did but he didn’t deserve to die in prison,” Kevin Hyatt said. 

Despite being a marked man for the prior attack, prison officials told Hyatt that there was no protective custody option available at Ventress because of overcrowding.

Latham was less than two years from his scheduled release.

Williams’ family also ripped Alabama prison officials for a lack of oversight, telling APR that they initially thought he died from a drug overdose.

But they were later stunned to learn that he had been “tied up, beaten, and rented out for two to three days” by another inmate.

The gruesome incidents come as the Department of Justice is suing Alabama for failing to curb extreme violence at the hands of guards and other inmates at its correctional facilities.