1998 inmate murder On September 10, 1998, inmate Ellis Joseph Mosher stabbed fellow inmate Stanley Moseley to death in a housing unit. Mosher stabbed Moseley multiple times with a 13-inch improvised blade in full view of correctional officers on duty. Mosher was serving a 20-year sentence for
kidnapping, while Moseley was serving a 15-year sentence for
bank robbery. Mosher's defense claimed that Moseley had attacked him and raped him on previous occasions. Mosher's attorneys stated that he faced an imminent threat being housed with Moseley and had no alternative but to attack him. Mosher was sentenced to life in prison in 2008, he is currently housed at
ADX Florence.
1999 inmate murder On December 16, 1999, inmates Arzell Gulley and David Lee Jackson began arguing with another inmate, Darryl Brown. The argument resulted in Gulley and Jackson chasing Brown into a housing unit with "shanks", until they cornered him in a cell. The duo then stabbed Brown a total of 11 times, killing him. An autopsy found that a single knife strike hit Brown's left lung, resulting in his death. Gulley and Jackson were both indicted for the murder of Brown in 2005. Gulley was sentenced to life in prison and Jackson was sentenced to death. Jackson's death sentence was overturned and he was re-sentenced to life imprisonment after it was determined that the government withheld evidence in his trial. Gulley is currently serving his sentence at
USP Hazelton, while Jackson is at
FCI Yazoo City.
2001 inmate murder On January 5, 2001, inmate Luther Plant was beaten and stomped to death by inmate Shannon Wayne Agofsky in an exercise cage. Plant was serving a 15-year sentence for drug offences while Agofsky was serving a life sentence for armed robbery of a bank, and the subsequent kidnapping and murder of the bank president in
Noel, Missouri. The autopsy revealed that Plant suffered numerous injuries including a crushed neck, abrasions on his head, a broken jaw and nose, hemorrhaging around both eyes, four broken teeth, and internal bleeding in the lungs, trachea, esophagus, and stomach. Agofsky was transferred to
ADX Florence before being convicted and sentenced to death for Plant's murder in 2004. He was on death row at
USP Terre Haute until December 2024, when
President Joe Biden commuted Agofsky's death sentence (and those of 36 other inmates on federal death row) to life in prison. Agofsky subsequently attempted to refuse the commutation as it would likely interfere with his ongoing appeal. In September 2025, Agofsky was transferred back to ADX Florence.
2005 inmate murder On May 7, 2005, inmates Marwin Mosley and Joseph Ebron entered the cell of inmate Keith Barnes where Ebron held Barnes down as Mosley stabbed him 106 times, killing him. Barnes was incarcerated for murder and conspiracy to rob, however, he became a target for Mosley and Ebron due to his testimony against a co-defendant for a reduced sentence. Mosley committed suicide in prison in 2006, and Ebron was charged with first-degree murder in the case and sentenced to death in 2009. Additionally, Michael Bacote, the inmate who acted as the lookout during the homicide was charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison. Ebron was housed on death row at
USP Terre Haute but had his sentenced commuted to life imprisonment by President Joe Biden, while Bacote is serving his sentence at
USP Allenwood. Ebron was transferred to
ADX Florence following his commutation.
2007 inmate murder On November 28, 2007, correction officers were escorting inmates Mark Snarr (11093-081) and Edgar Garcia (28132-177) to their cells at the USP Beaumont. When they arrived, Snarr and Garcia slipped from their restraints, repeatedly stabbed both correction officers with homemade prison knives known as
shanks, and took the officers' cell keys. Snarr and Garcia then unlocked the cell of inmate Gabriel Rhone (09304-007) and stabbed Rhone over 50 times. Additional officers arrived and used chemical agents to stop the attack, which lasted several minutes and was captured on surveillance camera. The wounded corrections officers and Rhone were transported to a local hospital, where Rhone was pronounced dead. The officers were treated and survived. Attorneys for Snarr and Garcia claimed that Rhone had repeatedly threatened to kill their clients and that prison officials had failed to respond to those threats. However, Snarr and Garcia were subsequently convicted of murder and both were sentenced to death on May 24, 2010. They were both held on death row at
USP Terre Haute until their death sentences were commuted by President Joe Biden in December 2024. Snarr and Garcia were then transferred to
ADX Florence.
2008 inmate murder On February 12, 2008, USP Beaumont staff discovered the body of a 29-year-old inmate, Ronald Joseph, in his cell. An autopsy showed that Joseph died from asphyxia due to ligature strangulation or compression of the neck. Further investigation identified James Sweeney (58827-066) and Harry Lee Napper (32403-037), both inmates at USP Beaumont, as suspects in the murder. Sweeney and Napper were indicted and charged with
first-degree murder,
conspiracy to commit murder, and
second-degree murder on May 4, 2011. In 2012, Sweeney pleaded guilty to
racketeering and murder charges for leading the prison gang
Dead Man Incorporated in exchange for the murder charge being dismissed and was sentenced to life in prison. Napper received a decades-long sentence. Sweeney is now at
USP Terre Haute and Napper is at
ADX Florence.
2014 inmate murder On March 3, 2014, inmates Ricky Fackrell and Christopher Cramer stabbed inmate Leo Johns to death. Fackrell, Cramer, and Johns were all members of the
white supremacist prison gang
Soldiers of Aryan Culture (SAC). Fackrell and Cramer decided they needed to punish Johns for gambling and drinking, activities that are prohibited for SAC members. Defense counsel for Fackrell claimed that the men only agreed to assault Johns, however, both men were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to death in 2018. Fackrell and Cramer were initially housed at
ADX Florence, but transferred to
USP Terre Haute after sentencing. Following their commutations by President Joe Biden in 2024, they were transferred back to ADX Florence.
2022 fatal altercation On the morning of Monday, January 31, 2022, multiple
MS-13 members began attacking associates of the
Mexican Mafia and the
Surenos. Although officers responded quickly, four inmates were severely injured and taken to the hospital. Of them, 34-year-old Andrew Pineda and 54-year-old Guillermo Riojas would later be pronounced dead. In the aftermath of the deadly fight, the
United States Bureau of Prisons enacted a lockdown across the entire Federal Prison network. On April 7, 2022, 7 members of MS-13 were charged with racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, and other offences related to the brawl. The indictment named Juan Carlos Rivas-Moreiera, Dimas Alfaro-Granados, Rual Landaverde-Giron, Larry Navarete, Jorge Parada, Hector Ramires, and Sergio Sibrian as defendants. ==Notable inmates==