Post by Crysis on Apr 10, 2009 15:26:32 GMT -5
Inmate faces more time for prison rampage
Thursday, April 09, 2009
By John S. Hausman
MUSKEGON COUNTY -- A prison inmate has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge stemming from a Dec. 4 bed-burning, cell-flooding rampage in Muskegon that he blamed on a pending smoking ban.
Luke Matthew Vanderveen, 28, faces an additional four years or more in prison after pleading guilty last week to being a prisoner possessing a weapon. Muskegon County Circuit Judge William C. Marietti committed to cap Vanderveen's minimum sentence at four years, to be served consecutive to his existing sentence for a sex crime. The original charge of arson of a dwelling house was dropped.
Vanderveen and his cellmate were charged with arson after an alleged two-man mini-riot in their cell at Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility. According to a prison incident report, Vanderveen and Juan Carlos McCray barricaded their door, broke a window, flooded their cell and destroyed much of the property in it, including setting fire to sheets and a mattress.
Staff were able to crack the cell door open about 2 inches and sprayed gas inside, leading to the inmates' surrender, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Vanderveen reportedly said he did it an attempt to force corrections officials to back off their plans to remove cigarettes from prisoners.
A statewide ban on tobacco products and matches in Michigan's prisons took effect Feb. 1. Tobacco supplies were steadily ratcheted back for many months before that, with all sales by prison commissaries halted Jan. 1.
Vanderveen is serving a 22-to-50-year sentence for a 2006 conviction of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with personal injury in Allegan County, and a shorter concurrent sentence for the same offense in Kent County, according to corrections department records. The new conviction will push his earliest "out" date to 2032.
McCray still is facing an arson charge in connection with the incident.
Both men were transferred to higher-security prisons after the incident. Vanderveen is lodged at Huron Valley Complex. McCray is at Ionia Maximum Correctional Facility.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
By John S. Hausman
MUSKEGON COUNTY -- A prison inmate has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge stemming from a Dec. 4 bed-burning, cell-flooding rampage in Muskegon that he blamed on a pending smoking ban.
Luke Matthew Vanderveen, 28, faces an additional four years or more in prison after pleading guilty last week to being a prisoner possessing a weapon. Muskegon County Circuit Judge William C. Marietti committed to cap Vanderveen's minimum sentence at four years, to be served consecutive to his existing sentence for a sex crime. The original charge of arson of a dwelling house was dropped.
Vanderveen and his cellmate were charged with arson after an alleged two-man mini-riot in their cell at Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility. According to a prison incident report, Vanderveen and Juan Carlos McCray barricaded their door, broke a window, flooded their cell and destroyed much of the property in it, including setting fire to sheets and a mattress.
Staff were able to crack the cell door open about 2 inches and sprayed gas inside, leading to the inmates' surrender, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Vanderveen reportedly said he did it an attempt to force corrections officials to back off their plans to remove cigarettes from prisoners.
A statewide ban on tobacco products and matches in Michigan's prisons took effect Feb. 1. Tobacco supplies were steadily ratcheted back for many months before that, with all sales by prison commissaries halted Jan. 1.
Vanderveen is serving a 22-to-50-year sentence for a 2006 conviction of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with personal injury in Allegan County, and a shorter concurrent sentence for the same offense in Kent County, according to corrections department records. The new conviction will push his earliest "out" date to 2032.
McCray still is facing an arson charge in connection with the incident.
Both men were transferred to higher-security prisons after the incident. Vanderveen is lodged at Huron Valley Complex. McCray is at Ionia Maximum Correctional Facility.