An essay written after the death of Mr. Clinton Dwayne Smith, July 5, 2016, reflected in December, 2025
A man’s death can have many hands; none so deadly as hatred and ignorance.
It’s 4.30pm. I just got back from a Memorial Service for a Mr. Clinton Smith, an inmate here at USP Tucson. I went because Mr. Smith had a relative (distant) who asked me to come, since he was a “Louisiana Boy”. Since I was born in New Orleans, I felt I should pay my respects.
And while the Memorial Service was well done by staff and inmates, there clearly was a strong undertone of injustice…
Clinton Dewayne Smith… was murdered.
And there’s enough blame to go around. Let me make this crystal clear, this death/murder should have NEVER happened. It was fully preventable. Yet, USP Tucson seems to have washed their hands of this tragic event.
As a Christian, I take comfort in knowing that Clinton was very much a believer of Jesus Christ, and as such, he has eternal life in Christ. I sat in the service, trying to learn who Clinton was because I personally didn’t know him. The memorial program they passed out had his picture. I may have seen him once or twice. I heard during the service that he was heavily involved in the Chapel and was quite the generous man.
He loved the diet RC cola drinks, a funny point we took a moment to appreciate and laugh about.
The service lasted about 45 minutes, which included the opening song of “Amazing Grace”, words by a couple of Chaplains, a scripture read by an inmate (I Thessalonians 4:13-18), a special song by a volunteer off a street ministry, and a song by a guy who used to be Clinton’s cellie a while back. All in all, it was a fine tribute to Mr. Smith. He doesn’t have to suffer anymore – as the Chaplain said during the eulogy. “Death was the last enemy”.
But apparently, it wasn’t his only one, as I heard from other inmates about what likely happened.
And to be honest, I don’t like it at all.
Now, I don’t profess to have ALL the details, and I cannot promise Bull’s Eye accuracy, but I bet you I’m a heck of a lot closer than what the prison is willing to admit. And let’s be clear, USP Tucson MUST take responsibility for his death. Their job is not only to house inmates but maintain their safety… something that was apparently grossly ignored.
This is what I’ve pieced together, based on what I was told and what I heard:
Clinton was in the Challenge Program, a special inmate for “inmates who show particular promise in rehabilitation”. Yet, most inmates see the program as a “Snitch Factory”, where they condition you to expose others’ faults, to help accountability. This means the inmates will get into your charge, and play “judge” over your life.
That’s MY personal opinion, but it’s kinda close.
Clinton was in the program, which of itself is for selected inmates. It’s supposed to be like an Honor Dorm for inmates. Clinton was helpful there, helping buy Christmas packages for inmates, while also involved in Chapel programs like the prayer team. A model inmate, considering nobody’s perfect.
But Clinton made a mistake, one I will not tell you, but nothing so serious that he was dealt ostracism, which led to his death. In his mistake, the Challenge Program, rather than address the issue and his problem, felt it better and easier to simply kick him out the program… as IF a bunch of other inmates were better.
Where do the fallen get off, judging anyone else? That program ought to be about SUPPORT. We all have weaknesses; we all have faults. Why do some people get self-righteous and think that they have the right to push someone away from support?
So, because what Clinton did result in him going to the SHU (Special Housing Unit), and because of his charge, he is now being punished for what he did… ok, if an inmate breaks a rule, I cannot argue so much against that, unless the rule was poorly applied.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that what Clinton did was wrong, and punishable to be put in the SHU, and I’ll lean that way because from what I heard, he was guilty of it, but clearly admitted to it to the Challenge Program. Clinton was that kinda guy who stepped away from the prayer team because he felt he wasn’t giving his best effort. Sure, he made mistakes, as we all do, but he was righteous enough to step up and admit it.
So, Clinton is put in the SHU and from this point, the finger of blame shifts from apathy of the Challenge Program to the officers at USP Tucson.
From what I was told, the officers CLEARLY KNEW Clinton’s charges and were determined to put him in a cell with an AB (Aryan Brotherhood), a white extremist.
I was told that when the officers determined to put Clinton in that cell with the AB, the guy said of Clinton, “If you put him in here, I’ll kill him.”
So, if an officer, a Federal Officer, hears that, what is he supposed to do? He is supposed to take that seriously, as there is a clear threat on a person’s life. But he didn’t. They put Clinton in a cell with a man with clear intentions to kill him and, he did.
Clinton was strangled to death on July 5th, 2016.
So, who’s accountable? The prison will be politically correct, discreet, and say that murderer was Clinton’s cellie. Yet, I contend the murderer had more than two hands. What in the name of the God I believe in, gives an officer the right to knowingly put a man in death’s path? How did he, or they, get a job working for the Federal Government? There are several officers who really lick the bottom of the sum bucket, but to take a person’s life is the lowest.
And let’s call it what it is… accessory to murder.
If I told you to go to my home and get my keys, knowing that my trained dogs will kill anyone but me entering that house, I am, without a doubt, GUILTY of murder. I knowingly took a life.
How then is this any different? Good gosh, aren’t we seeing enough of this on television? Police officers taking the lives of people? When is enough enough? Like society, like prison.
Clinton was by no means a violent man. No, he wasn’t perfect, but the Memorial Service tells me he was indeed a good man. But what good is that if the prison passes judgment and execution for people they don’t like? Who then is safe, as an inmate? If an officer knowingly puts an inmate in harms way, that officer is just as responsible for that victim as the person who assaulted and killed him.
Imagine, if I go to the SHU, and an officer says, “Let’s stick him with Killer Jim. He’s killed three guys and he hates black guys.” If I am found dead the next day, who is to blame? Will the prison act like they didn’t know that “Killer Jim” would kill me? And let’s not forget the Challenge Program, who turned their backs on Clinton. The guy I sat with during the service was in the Challenge Program, and in talking with him, he was very disgusted that most of the Challenge Program, a program Clinton was part of and was generous with, wasn’t even there. Were they too cowardly or ashamed to pay their last respects to Clinton Smith?
If this is the kinda support this “Honor Grade” program is about, I want no part of it. It’s like a group of people walking together, fellowshipping and so forth, and one guy steps into quicksand. The group sees the trouble the man is in, and instead of helping, they keep their distance and slowly walk away.
“Let this be a lesson to you; don’t screw up like HE did,” they say, as they leave him to his fate.
There is a lot of blame to go around here, and sadly no one’s gonna admit to it. I realize that people get killed in prisons; it happens because prison, by nature, can be a violent place. I hate it, but it is what it is. Some murders just weren’t foreseeable or predictable in time to prevent them, but when you KNOW that a situation could happen, and actually facilitate it, that is horribly wrong.
Once is far too much and somehow, it’s got to stop.
Officers need to be made fully accountable for prison abuse, not PROMOTED for it. If they told their communities, schools and churches what they really do to inmates, I highly doubt they would be respected and honored as an officer.
“Hi, my name is Officer Smith. I’m a Correctional Officer at the prison here in Tucson. My job is to beat inmates and impose my will on them, to break their spirit. Just the other day, I lied to an inmate’s mother, saying he can’t come to visit her because his family doesn’t want to see him. Truth was, I just never called him to his visit. Isn’t that funny? Just the other day, I put two guys together in the same cell, knowing they’d try to kill each other. One guy was stabbed 5 times. Serves him right, they’re criminals.”
Is anybody laughing? I’m not.
Inmate lives do matter, and a prison’s job is to rehabilitate, not eradicate. Clinton Dewayne Smith wasn’t perfect, but apparently the Challenge Program and the SHU completely failed to see the good in him. They were completely prejudiced, and it resulted in his death.
At what point will the prison start to value an inmate’s life?
At what point will we see that every life has value?
Clinton’s death should not be shrouded in a cloak of discretion and mystery. He served his God, and Christ, and was generous to many inmates. Despite his faults, his heart was in the right place.
Rest in peace Clinton Dewayne Smith. In Christ, you conquered death and have no more enemies to worry about. (End of Essay)
I reflect on this, in December 2025, as we are in the Christmas season, and I continue to document much of the prison abuse that has happened here at USP Tucson since then. As I reflect on this, there are additional things to add. I was greatly disappointed in the Challenge Program, whom I openly call cowards.
Just the other day, a few of the new members of the Challenge Program were telling me how “wonderful” the program is, where they get special favors and incentives and are seen as the best of the compound. I told him how I felt that the program is nothing but cowards, because when it comes to major issues of the prison, the Challenge Program is furthest away from being proactive.
I said to the guy, “When a person is raped in the SHU, what does the Challenge Program do about it?” The answer is nothing. When an inmate is tortured, what does the Challenge Program do? Nothing. When the prison has had years of mistreating our mail, what does the Challenge Program do? Nothing.
When every person on the compound is unified in a common cause, when USP Tucson abuses their authority, what does Challenge Program do? Hide and do nothing. I expressed my distain in the program, using the situation of Mr. Clinton Smith, a person who was actually a member of the Challenge Program, and the program turned their backs on him.
After I wrote the essay, I sent it out for publication. Almost TWO YEARS later, I received a letter from a law firm in Colorado, dated June 8th, 2018. This was a law firm representing the wife of Mr. Clinton Smith, and said in their letter to me:
“I am a civil rights attorney representing the wife of an inmate who was killed at USP Tucson in 2016. We are investigating the incident and have read your essays online. You write powerfully and we would like to speak with you in the near future, if you are amenable. To that end, my office is attempting to set up a legal call with you in the next few weeks”.
I would later have an attorney call me with the law firm, as they wanted to know if I knew the officers that worked in the SHU when Mr. Clinton Smith was murdered. I did not have that intel, since I was not in the SHU at that time, and I realized that it would be almost impossible to get that information from staff. They were going to “defend the shield” and protect the officers that put a man in harm’s way.
That letter helped me see that we as human beings, and inmates, have a responsibility to tell the outside what happens in prison, to create a balance of what staff do, and what they can get away with. Prisons like USP Tucson will not be transparent when they violate laws, so it is up to inmates to hold them responsible. It is again a tremendous disappointment that the Challenge Program refused to hold staff accountable but hold inmates responsible for the smallest of faults.
An inmate can get “called up” if seen taking milk out of the cafeteria, but if an officer beats an inmate to death, the Challenge Program will do nothing because they don’t want to “step on anyone’s toes”.
I remember reading about how the Challenge Program operates; as one member said, they like to examine each inmate, then take him apart like, as they put it, “Lego blocks”, then examine each piece, then put it back together as they see fit. I read that and thought to myself, “So, they are playing God”. If a bunch of inmates are piecing an inmate as they see them, then no inmate in the Challenge Program is themselves; they are a drone of the program.
I learned very much about that program from that memorial service, and felt the anger of one of the members, one of the very few that was at the service. In talking with that guy at the memorial service, I remember in our conversation, he had to be discreet in what he said to me, as there were “ears” around. I have found that when you are in the Challenge Program, you have to be careful what you say around other Challenge Program members… as if it is a cult.
I reflect on Mr. Clinton Smith, a man I didn’t even know, but respected him enough to go to his memorial. From what I heard, he was very generous with others, certainly the Challenge Program benefitted from his generosity. But when it came down to judging, the program turned their backs on him, leaving him no avenue to repent.
From then to now, many years have passed. Those officers who put people like Mr. Smith in deadly situations are not fired, they become Lieutenants, then Captains. Some are still here, making rank for tormenting and torturing inmates. Many have put inmates in situations where they are raped, and I have documented this.
USP Tucson has MUCH to answer for, with staff and officers who care so little about human life, they willingly put them in the path of torture, rape or death, and then cover up the incident, blaming it on other inmates or “that’s prison”. And sadly, the Challenge Program does along with it, keeping their inmates quiet by treating them with treats, like dogs jumping up for a doggie treat.
Have we lost our humanity as the officers who put people in harm’s way? We must continue to see every life as value, as God does. So, I have to continue to write, even years after Mr. Smith’s death, because sadly…
It still continues. So, I continue to write, now over 700 essays in this journey. Find my essays if you can.
No Comments