Summary

Stephanie Diane Dowells, 62, was strangled during an overnight visit with her husband, David Brinson, at Mule Creek state prison in California.

Brinson, serving life without parole for four murders, claimed Dowells passed out, but authorities ruled her death a homicide.

This marks the second strangulation death during a family visit at the prison in a year; Tania Thomas was killed in July 2024 while visiting inmate Anthony Curry. Investigations are ongoing.

California is one of four states allowing family visits to maintain positive relationships.

  • Lemmist@lemm.ee
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    4 天前

    The obvious answer: never. Not because of humanism and all that. But because we cannot trust judges and executioners.

    • LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz
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      4 天前

      Yeah, this is the right answer.

      Also, maybe in 30 years we’ll find a better way to reach out to people and help them.

      If you kill that person, you’ll never have a chance.

        • DancingBear@midwest.social
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          2 天前

          How will killing the husband help the dead wife?

          Even among victim families whose perpetrator do receive the death penalty, it doesn’t usually help, and often, it makes it worse for victim families.

          • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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            4 天前

            As written, that’s meaningless. Whose freedom? If you have a point, lay it out clearly.

            • beejboytyson@lemmy.world
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              4 天前

              This is meaningless. You’re disingenuous. If you think everyone in that interaction didn’t make thier own choices you’re an authoritarian coward.

              People jump over tiger cages all the time.

    • lumony@lemmings.world
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      4 天前

      But we can trust them to imprison people for life? 🤔

      The “logic” among you people is really a sight to behold. I can tell you’re just saying what you think will make you look good in front of your peers.

        • lumony@lemmings.world
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          3 天前

          It can’t be reversed after they’re dead.

          You also can’t give them back the time that they lost.

              • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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                3 天前

                Compensate their families or other next of kin.

                I’ll be honest, I believe in prison abolition. I don’t really want to defend the concept of life in prison. We don’t need to lock people up.

                But it’s clearly better than killing people.

                • lumony@lemmings.world
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                  3 天前

                  Do families get compensated after their relatives die in prison? That’s a new one to me.

                  I guess the families could be compensated if their relatives get the death penalty? Then that would make it “ok” by your “logic.”

                  I’ll be honest, I believe in prison abolition. I don’t really want to defend the concept of life in prison. We don’t need to lock people up.

                  Yeah, it’d be nice if people didn’t commit crimes. Unfortunately that’s not the world we live in.

                  You should focus on reality instead of your fantasies more often.

                  • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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                    3 天前

                    Yeah, it’d be nice if people didn’t commit crimes. Unfortunately that’s not the world we live in.

                    You should focus on reality instead of your fantasies more often.

                    This exact same glib argument can be used against your own complaints about life imprisonment, so I’m not even sure what you’re arguing for at this point.

      • Lemmist@lemm.ee
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        4 天前

        I said, “we cannot trust judges and executioners.” We don’t trust them. No, we don’t trust them to “imprison people for life” too.

        But imprisonment is a lesser evil and can be fixed to some extent in the case of fuck up. Execution cannot.

        • lumony@lemmings.world
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          4 天前

          No, we don’t trust them to “imprison people for life” too.

          ??? What the fuck? Where do life sentences come from then? The fairy-godmother?

          This is why I don’t take you people seriously, lmao.

          But imprisonment is a lesser evil and can be fixed to some extent in the case of fuck up.

          So it’s acceptable to imprison innocent people for life but not kill them? Or, maybe, your “we can’t trust them” argument was always stupid and you’re just having trouble reconciling that fact.

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      4 天前

      Did you not read the story? He just killed his own wife, while in prison. It’s not like there’s a chance he was set up by the police. How do you say never?