Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
DRAPER — A Utah prison inmate is dead, and her mother claims she was abused and then killed by prison guards. The prisoner was found dead in her cell around 6 a.m. on Friday. Her family thinks her death was payback from the guards.
A decade ago, 27-year-old Priscilla Chavez was raped by a prison guard, and that guard was then sentenced to five years behind bars. The family thinks that she was killed or left alone as retaliation for putting that guard in prison.
When Irene Chavez answered her door this morning, she says, she knew her daughter was dead.
"I knew they were going to kill her," Chavez said. "I knew it. I knew it when she went back. I told him, 'She's dead isn't she?' And he said, 'I'm sorry for your loss.' And I said, 'You guys killed her.'"
Chavez reported Thursday night that her daughter was being abused at the prison. She recently received a letter from another inmate who writes that she witnessed guards beat Priscilla Chavez, over-medicate her and deprive her of food.
"She told me how badly abused she was [in the letter,]" Chavez said. "They retaliated against her. That's what happened. Because she was raped."
I knew they were going to kill her. I knew it. I knew it when she went back.
–Irene Chavez, mother
On Sept. 17, 2002, prison guard Louis Poleate took Priscilla Chavez from her cell. He was supposed to take her to the prison infirmary. Instead, he raped her. Poleate was sent to prison and was released in 2008. The Chavez family was awarded more than $1 million, though they never received those funds.
The inmate's family thinks Chavez was under suicide watch in the mental health unit, where she should have been monitored by cameras.
"They watched her take her last breath," Chavez said. "I mean, she was in a mental health medical unit and found dead."
The prison can only say that, "she was under specialized care, because of her needs."
The Unified Police Department, which will handle the investigation as an outside agency, say that Chavez was found with no obvious, or suspicious signs of death. The state medical examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Chavez was in prison for assault on a police officer.
Her family said that Priscilla had a long history of mental illness. And now her mother must bury her, and the family can't afford it.
