Inmate serving time for a Charlotte murder is killed in prison attack
A man serving 25 years for a Charlotte murder was killed Friday morning during a fight at an eastern North Carolina prison, state officials said.
Andre Young-Johnson, 23, was struck by another inmate wielding a homemade weapon around 8:30 a.m. in a housing unit at Maury Correctional Institution in Greene County, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety.
He was pronounced dead at the prison. The other inmate involved suffered non-life-threatening injuries, a DPS release stated.
Maury Correctional is a maximum-security prison about 30 miles southwest of Greenville. It’s one of the state’s largest prisons, housing about 1,400 inmates. More than 300 of Maury’s inmates are serving time for murder, data show.
Young-Johnson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2017 death of Julian Ray Williams. Williams was found dead in an apartment on Stonewall Street uptown.
During Young-Johnson’s trial, prosecutors said Williams had been bound and strangled.
Young-Johnson’s attorneys said he was defending himself.
In 2018, prison officials cited him for fighting with a weapon, records show.
The Greene County Sheriff’s office is investigating Friday’s fatal fight.
DPS spokesman John Bull said the prison system is also conducting an internal investigation, but will not provide further details until that investigation is completed.
Like many of North Carolina’s prisons, Maury has struggled to provide adequate staffing. In September, 22% of the prison’s 335 officers positions were vacant. But the situation has improved in recent months, according to John Bull, department spokesman.
Bull said 12.5% of Maury’s staffing positions are vacant. Statewide, about 16 percent of officer positions are vacant, he said.
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 2:01 PM.
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