You may recall that during Part 4: A Death in Gladiator School, I covered Shannon's trial for the death of inmate Luther Plant. It was a particularly difficult piece for me to write, and I worried about how it would be received -- especially by Shannon himself. It turns out that I needn't have worried; the response from Shannon was overwhelmingly positive. So much so, that he sent me a packet of information that I hadn't had access to before -- over one hundred pages of the full and unedited interview statements of countless inmates, orderlies, and guards. I would love to share them all with you, and perhaps someday I will. But for now, I have gone through and selected those that I find to be the most informational. These excerpts were chosen for both their vivid glimpses of prison life and their detailed descriptions of Shannon's character. I hope you walk away with a deeper understanding of just how corrupt the Bureau of Prisons really is, as well as a deeper appreciation of the man Shannon grew to be despite his many trials and setbacks.

WILLIAM SCHROEDER

I was incarcerated with Shannon Agofsky at Lompoc USP in October of 1997. We were both in the Hole and we were neighbors. When I met Shannon, I was a drug addict. I was doing drugs every day. I spent most of my time by myself, high and doing my own thing. After I met Shannon, I listened to him talk to his friends about religion. Shannon helped start an Odinist group at Lompoc. They taught about generosity and honor and how they were really important. I'd never really thought about that. Shannon and his friends were good influences on me. He opened my eyes about drugs and taught me to become a part of the solution instead of the problem. Shannon was a big part of the reason I stopped doing drugs.

I also knew Tootie [Luther Plant] at USP Atlanta in 1995. I did not know him well until we were cellmates in Lompoc. I was Tootie's cellmate for two months and then we were on the same unit for nine months. Tootie told me once that he was involved in a murder. He was a dangerous guy. Not many inmates liked Tootie so he had to act like a fake tough guy. He made shanks and knives in prison and everyone knew it. He would sell them and whatever he could to get money for drugs. Tootie was always high. He used alcohol and drugs on a daily basis, and he was always high on whatever he was able to get his hands on. When he was high, he was an aggressive and abrasive personality and was always in your face.

Tootie always owed money to other people. He was always in debt for drugs. There was more access to drugs at USP Beaumont compared to Lompoc. After Tootie was transferred to Beaumont I heard from other inmates that he was burning everyone on drugs and that the other inmates all hated him.

Shannon, on the other hand, was always respectful, worked out hard, and did not use drugs or alcohol. Everyone knew Shannon was good with his hands and feet, but nobody was scared of him. There was no need to be since he got along with everyone, even people of other races. None of Shannon's attorneys came to talk to me about Tootie or any of this. I would have told them everything.

BRIAN BERRY

I was an orderly on the Special Housing Unit in USP Beaumont on January 5, 2001. I had been there since 1999, and was transferred out a few weeks afterward.

I was inside the SHU when the incident between Luther Plant and Shannon began. All available COs went running out to the yard, telling me and the other orderlies to get into the larger room of the SHU. We remained there until Plant had been brought out on a "sled" and then Shannon was removed and placed in one of the four-point cells.

When I was permitted to leave the bigger room and some of the excitement had subsided, I went to the four-point room where Shannon was confined and asked him if he was alright. Shannon was not four-pointed [chained to a bed] but he was in his underwear, with a belly chain, handcuffs, a black box over the handcuffs, shackles on his feet, and a chain between the black box and the shackles. Shannon told me that he felt a little nauseated. He asked me, "Brian, please don't let them forget to feed me back here." Shannon was afraid he would be punished by being left back in an isolated corner with nothing to eat and no sanitation for an extended time.

Soon afterward, Shannon was moved to a cell on my range. Shannon was left there naked and still chained in the same manner I saw him chained in the four-point cell -- for two weeks. Chaining him that way meant that Shannon could shuffle around, but his hands were locked in front of him and he couldn't keep himself clean. I never saw Shannon's cell opened during that time. The food cart skipped Shannon's door at least once every couple of days. The food portions were modest and even missing one meal would count. I managed to bend up an aluminum flange at the bottom of Shannon's door to expose a small crack underneath, and I slipped a few candy bars through the crack to Shannon. Shannon was still at Beaumont when my transfer came through to USP Pollock.

Beaumont is an extremely dangerous prison. When I arrived there in 1999, there was an average of one stabbing incident a day, usually one death every month. You would always have to take someone with you when you showered. And you needed to keep your cell door open so you could hear if someone was being assaulted in the hall or in the next cell, so you wouldn't walk in the middle of it inadvertently. Sometimes as I walked from one part of the institution to the other, I would encounter someone simply lying there bleeding to death. It was often dangerous to attempt to assist the person because you never knew what you were getting in the middle of. You usually had to just step over the person and move on.

Knives were common in Beaumont. You had to have a knife. Unlike in other institutions, if the officers at Beaumont caught an inmate with a knife, he would get written up, but he wouldn't be sent to the SHU for detention while the charges were pending. There would have been no room in the SHU then, the whole compound would have to go.

No one from Shannon's defense ever talked to me, but I would have been willing to talk to them and would have testified for Shannon, had I been asked.

GERALD MILLER

I spent a substantial period in the Hole after a racial incident at USP Lompoc and then was transferred directly to Beaumont. Shannon arrived there later than I did. I remember Shannon actively helped prevent interracial trouble at Beaumont. Shannon got a lot of respect because he can talk to different people and solve things without drama.

The BOP system is very segregated. Even in the mess hall whites and blacks sit separately. If they cell you with someone from another race, inmates often feel they have to do something about the situation because otherwise, how are you going to sleep? Also, inmates are territorial and it matters what region an inmate is from. That is one reason it would have made no sense for Shannon to swing first in the fight with Plant--Plant was an old boy from Texas and was on his home court.

I have often known authorities to place inmates together who shouldn't be together. For example, I'm from New York and was placed in a cell with an inmate I knew was under investigation for killing a dude from New York. We managed to work it out without attacking each other, but it was a dangerous situation. Atlanta had a particularly bad reputation for housing blacks and whites together in the Hole, and for fights erupting in consequence.

Shannon had a good reputation in the prison. I know that Shannon was not a race predator, and had respect for inmates of other races. Shannon has clout, he was known for protecting people, and for working out problems among inmates. For example, if an old dude owed money, Shannon might pay his debt, or get the person the dude owed to give him a pass. Plant, on the other hand, had a bad reputation. It was well known that he owed money to many people on the compound because he was a drug user.

No one from Shannon's counsel ever contacted me. Had they done so, I would have spoken with them and told them everything I've said here.

GENE SIDES

I am an inmate at USP Terre Haute in Terre Haute, Indiana. Back in 1992, I was in the Hole with Shannon Agofsky at Springfield Medical Center. Shannon was just a kid when he came in--twenty years old. Shannon was a good kid. He is like the son that I never had.

I reached out to Shannon and we got really close. I schooled Shannon, taught him how to do time. I had done almost twenty years myself when I met him. And I had come into the system when I was young, just like he had. I learned firsthand how violent prison is and how important it is to know the rules. I have been stabbed over twenty times in two separate incidents. I told him first of all, not to talk about his case with other people. Snitches come out of the woodwork in this place. Any detail you accidentally mention about your case can be used against you by a snitch.

I taught Shannon the unwritten rules in prison -- the prisoner's code of conduct. The biggest unwritten rule is that you don't put up with child molesters. If something happened to your kids, you would want the worst for the person who did it. Well, we want the worst for them, too. We inmates have screwed up, but we're still human. We see women and children as the unprotected of the world. We can't be out there to protect them. So, when molesters and rapists come in here, we deal with them. That way we know they won't likely do it again.

Prison is also not a place for rats. When we were at Springfield, there was a prisoner who was testifying against his brother. I tried to instill in Shannon to never do that. You never testify against someone else, you never break that code of honor. You have to be able to look at yourself in the morning.

I taught Shannon the importance of standing up for yourself. In prison, you have to stand up for yourself because no one else will. Inmates who don't stand up for themselves will be preyed upon, especially someone who was Shannon's age.

I did my best to teach him survivor skills in prison. He was young and staring at a life sentence. He had to follow these rules if he was going to survive. Shannon knew this, he wanted to learn the rules and ethics of prison so that he could survive and try to lead some sort of life in here. He wanted to know the right way to do time. I don't take a lot of prisoners under my wing. Shannon is unlike any other prisoner that I have ever met. It hurts my heart to know that he is sitting on death row. He doesn't deserve to be there.

THOMAS FARRUGIA

I was in USP Beaumont from 1997 until 2004, when I was transferred to Terre Haute. I was in the Hole on another tier at Beaumont at the same time Shannon was, but was no longer in the Hole when the Plant incident occurred. I got to know Shannon at Beaumont and we became good friends.

"Tootie" Plant was a junkie and a sleaze bag. Plant was paranoid and never wanted to be out in the yard without a knife. In prison a paranoid person can be the most dangerous type of person because they are likely to do anything and attack first with no warning out of pure fear. He was always ducking around the metal detectors because he always had a knife. Plant was a drug dealer, but he used a lot more than he sold. He was always chasing drugs.

I made efforts to contact Pat Black during the pretrial phase of Shannon's case because I thought I could help counteract the idea that Shannon was a white supremacist. I am Jewish and used to be a leader of the Jewish congregation at Beaumont. The rabbi there will verify this. I consider Shannon to be a close personal friend. I sent Black a letter and tried to explain that Shannon is not in a gang or a group, he is a loner -- and although he is well respected, he is nobody's boy. Shannon just wasn't part of the prison organizations.

Shannon was very protective of me. Unlike many inmates, I have a brokerage account and an income, which could have made me vulnerable to extortion. I could have had trouble. I also could have faced anti-Semitism. I can remember sitting in chow hall and hearing mutterings about "he's a Jew." But Shannon's presence always cooled that. People would watch Shannon work out and knew they had to respect him. I believe that Shannon stopped a lot of things before they happened and any little conspiracies that would come up, Shannon would nip them in the bud. For example, Shannon might be eating at a table where the neo-Nazis also ate, and would call me over to come talk to him--conveying the message that I was with Shannon, and they could not mess with me. At other times Shannon would eat with me or walk with me around the yard.

Shannon was well respected and well liked throughout the prison. I know of other inmates, like myself, who Shannon helped protect. Another inmate used to get his locker ripped off, but Shannon put the word out and it stopped. I told Shannon's investigator that I was willing to testify; I don't know why he didn't call me. I am still willing to testify on Shannon's behalf.

BRUCE SPRING

I was an inmate at USP Beaumont from 1997 to 2005. It was an extremely violent and dangerous prison. I would see on average, from my recollection, around three stabbings a week. People were killed all the time; the staff didn't care. The guards facilitated a lot of the fights. They would intentionally put gang members out on the yard who were not supposed to be out there together.

I knew Luther Plant, aka Tootie, from Beaumont. Tootie was a drug addict. He owed money all over the yard. At one time, Shannon and Tootie were friends. They were around each other daily. Shannon would walk the track with Tootie and Mike McCarthy for exercise. Shannon helped Tootie out many times. He paid off some of Tootie's drug debts so people wouldn't go after him. The only thing Shannon didn't like about Tootie was his drug abuse, but he still looked after him. This was how it was out on the yard. But then Shannon got caught with a knife and was placed in the SHU. While Shannon was in the SHU, there was no one to look out for Tootie on the yard. Tootie was incurring more and more debt and using more drugs. There was definitely hostility brewing towards him. A couple of weeks later, Plant was put in the SHU. Plant owed so much money on the yard at this point, everyone knew Plant couldn't come back to the yard. Tootie knew if he attacked Shannon, he would get transferred to another institution and avoid his debts. Shannon was serving a life sentence and everyone knew that Shannon wouldn't be transferred over a fight. Plant knew he could get out of the SHU immediately and the guards would move him across the street to one of the Federal Correctional Institutions.

Shannon would not have started a fight with Plant. Shannon was well respected and liked by everyone. He was a stand up guy. He spoke to everyone and kept the peace among the gangs. He was honest and kept his word. Shannon was not a gang member but he was influential in preventing things from going down.

RICHARD CHARLES WARD

I was in USP Beaumont during the Luther Plant incident on January 5, 2001. I was in the rec cage where this incident occurred.

I understand that Shannon Agofsky received the death penalty and I am very uncomfortable with this. I feel compelled to tell the truth of my interaction with the prosecutor and the investigator.

I did not see the beginning of the fight and I don't know who started the fight. When I first looked, I saw a blur and though that Shannon had hit Tootie with the palm of his hand. The FBI coached me that he must have hit Tootie with his elbow because Shannon supposedly had an indentation from Tootie's tooth near his elbow area.

At the beginning of the fight, my view was obscured by Shannon's back. When I realized there was an incident I turned away from the fight and began to do calf lifts against the cage. A friend called me from another cage and I answered him. I knew I did not have much time left [on his sentence] and I didn't want anyone to think I could be involved in this incident.

I believe Shannon stomped Tootie three times when he was down, in order to incapacitate him. The FBI told me that Shannon stomped Tootie many times and coached me to say that.

The FBI told me that Shannon was dangerous and I didn't realize what he had done. They said that he had tied a bank president to a chair and threw him into a stream. It was unbelievably cruel, they said. He had been tortured and killed in a senseless manner. They told me Shannon was not my friend.

I was promised a new beginning through a witness protection program. I knew they were coaching me and I became very uncomfortable. They thought I might back off and refuse to help so they offered me this and other things. They said they would release me in Texas and that I wouldn't be subjected to supervised release. They told me they would not put it on paper and that I would have to trust them. They told me it couldn't be disclosed because it would ruin their case.

During meetings with the prosecutor and another investigator, I was told not to lie. I was told that I knew Tootie was viciously stomped on and that I saw the whole fight. The investigator frequently got mad while he was scripting me. They wanted me to minimize any contact that I had with Shannon. When I said I greeted him, they said, "you mean you just nodded." They would interrupt me with the information they wanted. They did not want the jury to think Shannon and I were friends.

Tootie had been in withdraw from heroin at the time of the incident. He had been very bitchy the day before and right before he went out that day [January 5th]. I don't know if Tootie said anything first or if he started the fight. I cannot recall if I had on headphones in the cage that day.

I am giving this statement of my own free will. No one has instructed me on what to say. I have been blocking this incident out for years and I was always uncomfortable with the way they used me to say what they wanted. As long as I've known Shannon, I have never seen him start a fight or anything else that is confrontational.

I spoke with the prosecution for the first time a couple of years after the Plant incident. They promised to give me a release seven days after court. After I testified, I was never able to get in contact with them again.

If you have any questions, comments, or you think you are able to help Shannon's cause, please contact me at theblackswanbooks@outlook.com. I hope you'll join me next week for Part 7.