Somali inmate too violent for low-security Louisiana prison, guards allege

A prisoner locked up in the federal Oakdale Correctional Complex is too violent for the low-security facility, correctional officers say, and they're asking Louisiana's two senators and U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Quitman, for help in getting the Somali immigrant transferred to a high-security prison.In a letter to Alexander and U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, correctional officers with the Council of Prison Locals 1007 and 3957 in Oakdale do not give the prisoner's name.
However, The Town Talk has learned, and Alexander's office confirmed, that federal prisoner Isaac Abdi Hashi, 29, is the inmate about whom guards are concerned at Oakdale.
Oakdale Correctional Center is Allen Parish, about 35 mniles south of Alexandria. This week the facility was holding 2,364 prisoners.
Hashi in 2008 threw boiling oil and water into the face of a federal immigration and customs agent in South Carolina and was sentenced to 210 months in prison. Hashi, who before the attack was in trouble for a series of car thefts and a carjacking, is scheduled for release in December 2023.
The guards in Oakdale, who didn't want to be interviewed on the record for this article, claim in the letter that Hashi began serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary in Pollock on Oct. 31, 2008. One of the complexes at Pollock houses high-security male inmates.
The guards claim that while Hashi was in Pollock, "he attempted to murder a staff member ... by stabbing him in the neck with a homemade weapon," and that Hashi was transferred from Pollock to Oakdale on Dec. 30, 2009.
"Our issue is not that we cannot control this inmate," the guards say, "our issue is that our facility is not designed to allow for our staff to control this inmate.
"He has made it known by his words and actions that he has no desire to ever be released from prison," and Hashi "has indicated his intention is to kill any staff member and has showed that he is willing to carry out his intentions by stabbing two officers so far while here at Oakdale," the letter states.The correctional officers are asking Alexander, Landrieu and Vitter for assistance in having Hashi moved to a higher-security prison.
Alexander's office said the congressman is making inquiries about Hashi.
"We're going to continue to monitor this situation," said Adam Terry, chief of staff for Alexander.
Oakdale Correctional Complex public information officer Crystal Zerr said Hashi is being kept in a "special housing unit" where "confinement is more restrictive and his actions are monitored closely."
In an e-mail, Zerr said privacy and other rules prevent her from answering "specific questions about inmate Hashi," such as why he was transferred from the high-security wing at Pollock to the low-security confines of Oakdale.
"The safety of the community (in Oakdale) is not at risk or endangered in any way," she said. "The staff at both complexes (including Pollock) are well trained, highly skilled professionals who are capable of safely managing a variety of different inmates."
Zerr also said Hashi could be transferred from Oakdale.
"Both ... Oakdale and Pollock frequently house inmates in our special housing units that are awaiting transfer to other facilities," Zerr said.

South Carolina

A transcribed hearing of Hashi's 2008 South Carolina sentencing indicates the Somali was scared of being deported to the troubled East African nation of Somalia, that he suffers from mental illness and that he once told federal officials he could provide information on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.
There is no document reviewed for this article that reveals Hashi ever gave federal authorities any information on bin Laden.
But the transcribed accounts back up Oakdale guards' assertion that Hashi is dangerous and willing to harm uniformed officers without notice.
Immigration agent Norman Bradley, whose face Hashi burned in January 2008 with hot oil, baby lotion and water, gave a victim's statement where he said he'd left Hashi alone for just minutes, and during that time alone Hashi heated the ingredients in a microwave oven.
"I believe this man is a very dangerous person "»," Bradley told federal Judge Cameron McGowan Currie. "I think I'm a pretty good judge of character ... and I did not see this coming at all."
Before sentencing Hashi, Judge Currie noted that Hashi had been diagnosed with "mood disorder, antisocial personality disorder and psychosocial distress" that requires medication.
Currie said the disorders, however, "do not cause him to be so ill that he cannot control his situation."
"He is an individual who has trouble controlling his emotions," Currie said.
She also noted that Hashi "has consistently been a problem in his custody "» by flooding cells, swallowing objects, by either attempting suicide or manipulating those into believing that he was attempting suicide."
"He swallowed a pencil, he's jumped off his bunk head first, he has caused numerous problems that have resulted in him being on suicide watch and being in special custody status," Currie said. The Town Talk