White supremacists are accused of beating Matthew Phillips in March 2020 at Thomson prison in Illinois. His death and others are raising questions about the federal facility.In early March 2020, an ambulance delivered Matthew Phillips, a federal inmate in western Illinois, to a hospital in Iowa, where he clung to life battered beyond recognition. A prison chaplain had summoned his parents in Texas to his bedside. “Are you sure this is my son?” Jeff Phillips said he asked the prison guards inside the room. But as he peered closer, he glimpsed the Star of David tattoo inked over his son’s heart. Jeff Phillips said he would later learn from Matthew Phillips’ medical records that he had been stomped repeatedly in the face before blacking out, according to prison staff. He was beaten so viciously that doctors had to perform a craniectomy on the 31-year-old and remove a potato-shaped chunk of his skull to control the bleeding. He died three days later, the result of blunt force trauma. The tumultuous events set off a confounding search for answers that continues to this day for Matthew Phillips’ parents, who were told by authorities that two white supremacist inmates allegedly attacked him because he was Jewish. (…) In early 2019, he had run-ins with members of the Aryan Brotherhood, according to the lawsuit filed by Matthew Phillips’ parents. He was a target, the suit said, because of his Star of David tattoo. The incident left Matthew Phillips fearful and tormented, and according to the suit, he filed a grievance with the Bureau of Prisons accusing prison staff of violating its policies because they placed him in the recreation yard at the same time as the Aryan-affiliated inmates. (…) Then, last December, authorities announced a development: A federal grand jury indicted two inmates on charges of murder and hate crimes in connection with Matthew Phillips’ death. The suspects were identified by the Justice Department as Brandon Simonson, 37, known as “Whitey,” and Kristopher Martin, 39, called “No Luck.” According to an unsealed indictment, the men belonged to a white supremacist group, the Valhalla Bound Skinheads, and revered Adolf Hitler. The indictment says they “continuously struck” Matthew Phillips in the upper body, face and head while he was defenseless and “despite verbal commands by correctional officers to stop.”
via nbcnews: Skinheads allegedly killed his son in prison. Is the government accountable?