Prison Deaths Arizona

On the day he died, Nicholaus Contreraz was awakened at 6:30 a.m. He had been sleeping on a mattress positioned halfway in the bathroom of Barracks 31. Staff at the Arizona Boys Ranch had placed the 16-year-old Sacramento youth on Yellow Shirt status for, among other reasons, persistently defecating and urinating on himself. They wanted him to be near the toilet.

Getting big-boxed in Re "Politically correct, he isn't," Sept. 20 Thank you for your article about R. Rex Parris. We shop in Lancaster, and relatives live in Quartz Hill near where the proposed Wal-Mart is supposed to go up. I wrote Parris a letter protesting that decision because there is another such store only a few miles away; I think we have too many big-box stores too close already. From what I've read, Parris also is fond of "legislating morality" at Lancaster city meetings.

A death-row inmate who slashed his leather shackles and tried to escape with the help of his gun-toting wife became unglued when their plan went awry and begged her, "Shoot me. Shoot me," authorities said. Floyd Bennett Thornton Jr. died Wednesday in a hail of gunfire from his wife, Rebecca, who was outside the gate, and guards in watch towers at the state prison in Florence. But it was unclear whose bullet killed him. Rebecca Thornton was shot and killed by guards.

Under a proposed law expected to be enacted within days, California will significantly increase its control and scrutiny of out-of-state juvenile camps where hundreds of the state's troubled youths are sent from their home counties. Prompted by the death of a Sacramento boy who was physically abused at a camp in Arizona, legislation designed to prevent such recurrences has passed the state Senate and Assembly. It awaits the expected signature of Gov.

In what may have been a botched escape attempt, a woman married to a death-row inmate opened fire through a prison fence Wednesday as her husband worked in a vegetable garden. In the hail of gunfire, the inmate was killed and guards fatally shot the woman. It was not immediately known whether Floyd Bennett Thornton Jr., 36, was killed by shots fired by his wife or guards. Officials had initially said Thornton was killed by his wife, Rebecca Lynn Thornton, 38.

Under a proposed law expected to be enacted within days, California will significantly increase its control and scrutiny of out-of-state juvenile camps where hundreds of the state's troubled youths are sent from their home counties. Prompted by the death of a Sacramento boy who was physically abused at a camp in Arizona, legislation designed to prevent such recurrences has passed the state Senate and Assembly. It awaits the expected signature of Gov.

Getting big-boxed in Re "Politically correct, he isn't," Sept. 20 Thank you for your article about R. Rex Parris. We shop in Lancaster, and relatives live in Quartz Hill near where the proposed Wal-Mart is supposed to go up. I wrote Parris a letter protesting that decision because there is another such store only a few miles away; I think we have too many big-box stores too close already. From what I've read, Parris also is fond of "legislating morality" at Lancaster city meetings.

On the day he died, Nicholaus Contreraz was awakened at 6:30 a.m. He had been sleeping on a mattress positioned halfway in the bathroom of Barracks 31. Staff at the Arizona Boys Ranch had placed the 16-year-old Sacramento youth on Yellow Shirt status for, among other reasons, persistently defecating and urinating on himself. They wanted him to be near the toilet.

A death-row inmate who slashed his leather shackles and tried to escape with the help of his gun-toting wife became unglued when their plan went awry and begged her, "Shoot me. Shoot me," authorities said. Floyd Bennett Thornton Jr. died Wednesday in a hail of gunfire from his wife, Rebecca, who was outside the gate, and guards in watch towers at the state prison in Florence. But it was unclear whose bullet killed him. Rebecca Thornton was shot and killed by guards.

In what may have been a botched escape attempt, a woman married to a death-row inmate opened fire through a prison fence Wednesday as her husband worked in a vegetable garden. In the hail of gunfire, the inmate was killed and guards fatally shot the woman. It was not immediately known whether Floyd Bennett Thornton Jr., 36, was killed by shots fired by his wife or guards. Officials had initially said Thornton was killed by his wife, Rebecca Lynn Thornton, 38.