JEFFERSON COUNTY, AL (WBMA) — A father’s grief over the loss of his son turns to outrage as he learns no criminal charges will be filed in the brutal attack inside an Alabama prison.

The killing of Daniel Williams drew national attention. Williams was 22, serving a one-year sentence on drug charges, dying the day he was due to be released.

“I’m really speechless,” Terry Williams said after learning no indictments were handed down by an Elmore County grand jury in the homicide. “I think about it all the time,” Williams said, wiping away tears. Before his son’s death, he lost his mother.

Williams saw more injuries on his son at the hospital. “It looked like mop handles over the head, bruises all over. It’s something parents shouldn’t see,” Williams said.

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The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences autopsy lists the manner of death as homicide and the cause of death as probable asphyxiation by suffocation. “The injuries to the deceased’s face strongly suggest that his face was pressed into a soft object.”

The report notes “evidence of ligature restraint” on the detainee, meaning he was bound. It also reports “multiple abrasions and contusions in various states of healing.”

A DNA kit revealed three attackers, according to Williams’ family. They believe he was held by other inmates for two to three days.

Daniel was found unconscious in the bed of another inmate who the family believes is responsible for this death. An I-Team investigation found that the inmate had a history of sexual violence however it was housed in an open dormitory area.

Daniel was transferred to Jackson Hospital and placed on life support before dying in hospice care at Kilby Correctional Infirmary on November 8, 2023.

I asked a longtime Alabama Appleseed prison researcher how could an inmate be held by other inmates, tortured and raped for two to three days and no one intervene? Where are the guards?

“Great question. In a high security prison to have someone kidnapped and moved to a dormitory where they shouldn’t be for a period of days is unthinkable. There should have been officers to see that and cameras.” , noted researcher Eddie Burkhalter. He says he’s surprised the Elmore County grand jury, which convened last month, returned no indictments.

“Daniel’s death and the inability to hold anyone accountable is more evidence of how many more eyes need to be on this crisis,” Burkhalter said. His organization tracked 325 deaths in state prisons last year. “They’ve gotten worse across the board,” Burkhalter said.

Terry Williams says corruption opens the door to violence, telling us a similar thing happened to another inmate who didn’t die. He believes the others are simply too afraid to come forward.

I asked if Daniel expressed any fear in prison? His father said no, he was just ready to come home. Terry Williams spoke to his son two nights before he was attacked.

Daniel had been transferred to Staton Prison just weeks before his death. The reason, according to his father, Daniel had been in a fight at a rehabilitation facility with another inmate, so they were both transported to prisons.

Staton is a medium security prison. It is not clear why Daniel, a low-level offender, was sent there. The family blames the prison system for failing to protect their son and now the justice system says it failed them too.

“I go to the grave once a week; it’s getting hard. Change has to happen or there will continue to be death after death after death,” Williams said.

Elmore County District Attorney CJ Robinson says the grand jury considered charges including murder and manslaughter. The case could be filed if more evidence emerges.

Details of the proceedings are confidential, but Robinson explained that the panel reviewed video/audio evidence and reports from the Alabama Department of Forensic Science.

Alabama is facing a Justice Department lawsuit over “unconstitutional” prison conditions due to violence and understaffing.

A new prison is under construction at a cost of a billion dollars, but it will not relieve overcrowding. The state launched incentive programs to hire more corrections officers. As parole rates have dropped dramatically, the prison population continues to grow.