BY MICHAEL D. CLARK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hakim Williams
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LEBANON - First-time inmate Hakim Williams had fewer than 90 days to go before the end of his one-year prison sentence.
But early on Aug. 30, something pushed the 19-year-old Lebanon Correctional Institute (LCI) inmate over the edge, causing him to end his once-promising life.
Family and friends said Mr. Williams was looking forward to Thanksgiving with them in Evanston. He was planning to pursue a college degree as part of his life's turnaround.
But that night, alone in his prison cell, the former Seven Hills High School student began screaming for prison guards. Mr. Williams wanted to see a prison psychiatrist, according to records kept by corrections officers.
What happened next is now the focus of investigations by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and LCI.
According to prisoners housed in the same cell block, Mr. Williams continued to be agitated as the night went on and repeatedly shouted to see a psychiatrist.
He yelled that he would kill himself if someone didn't come, fellow prisoners said.
They claim guards not only ignored the young man's pleas for psychiatric help, but that they also mocked him, yelling from their guard post that he should go ahead and kill himself.
Some time later, Mr. Williams took a cord from a laundry bag and wrapped it over a heating vent and then around his neck.
As the cord choked off his last breath, it may have also stolen from the world the reason why a "short-timer" inmate would end his life so close to his release.
"The officers just blew him off. One officer said, 'Just go ahead and kill yourself,' " said a still-distraught Alivee Williams, Mr. Williams' mother.
In the days after her son's death, Mrs. Williams received unsolicited letters from more than a half-dozen LCI inmates. The letters were also sent to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Some inmates claim Mr. Williams' body hung in his cell for more than 45 minutes, while guards were lax in making their regular round of half-hour cell checks.
"This is so painful. I can't deal with this," said Mrs. Williams. "I blame the Lebanon Correctional Institution. I blame the corrections officers, and I blame the warden."
Mr. Williams is the second person to die in a Tristate jail cell in recent months.
In late June, a 68-year-old Covington man with diabetes, James Franklin, died while in the Kenton County Jail. Unsolicited letters from fellow inmates accused jail officials of ignoring medical warnings that could have saved the man's life.
LCI officials said Mr. Williams had no history of mental illness or treatment from prison psychiatrists. They said he was being housed in his own cell pending a hearing before the prison's Rules and Infractions Board for relatively minor rules violations involving work duty.
In prison logbooks that track the rounds of cell checks made by prison guards, there is a handwritten entry for 1:45 a.m. Aug. 30 that states Mr. Williams told a guard that he needed to talk to a psychiatrist.
The guard's entry states that Mr. Williams "assured officer . . . twice that he didn't want to kill himself."
"He stated he would like to talk to one (psychiatrist) in the morning," reads the log book entry by a corrections officer.
Julie Bush, spokeswoman for LCI, said the guards on duty and all circumstances surrounding Mr. Williams' death are under investigation. LCI officials declined to comment further about their investigation or when it is expected to be completed.
Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. John Born said his department's investigation would be completed by the end of November. It will review accusations of lack of proper medical care for Mr. Williams and negligence on the part of prison guards.
A Warren County coroner's report released last week told how Mr. Williams died - by hanging - but shed no light on why he decided to end his life so soon before his release.
There were no signs of physical beatings, sexual trauma or drug abuse, according to an autopsy.
Barbara Beaver, a history teacher at Seven Hills High School and friend of Mr. Williams, said the death was "devastating" to her.
"Shortly before that happened, he was talking in a positive way. He was a very bright boy with enormous promise. His life was going to be turning around, and he had very concrete plans," Ms. Beaver said.
Mr. Williams never graduated from the private Seven Hills school but instead transferred to Withrow High School his senior year. He did not graduate from Withrow, but obtained his GED degree in 1997.
He worked as an electrician's apprentice and had plans to attend the University of Cincinnati, his mother said. He got into a fight last year that led to a conviction for aggravated assault.
By pleading guilty to the charge, he expected to receive a suspended sentence and probation, Mrs. Williams said. Instead, he was sent to LCI.
His prison cell death, so close to his release, has her mystified and anguished.
She accuses prison guards and officials of ignoring her son's mental health needs, and she wants some answers: "I just want to know what happened to him and how it happened."
