The second woman is strangled during a night visit to California prison

The family of a woman who died of a strangulation during a visit to a night with her husband in a California prison wonders why a man found guilty of four people was authorized to make family visits.

Stephanie Diane Dowells, 62, who was also called Stephanie Brinson, was killed in November, making her the second person in one year to die in Mule Creek prison in Ione during a family visit, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The other victim, Tania Thomas, 47, was also strangled during a family visit, said the district of Amador, Todd Riebe on Monday. The man she visited was accused of murder in his murder, said Riebe.

Dowells, a hairdresser, was killed while visiting her husband, David Brinson, 54, who was found guilty in the 1990s for murder four men during a flight, and sentenced to four consecutive perpetuity mandates without the possibility of parole.

After Brinson called on prison officials at 2:04 a.m. on November 13 to tell them that his wife had passed out, the police immediately started safeguard measures and called 911, said a spokesman for California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. But Dowells was declared dead shortly after.

The murder of Dowells remains under investigation by prison officials and the district prosecutor’s office, The spokesman said. Riebe said the charges were awaiting prison and autopsy reports.

The Sheriff’s Bureau of Amador’s County confirmed that it had been strangled and his death was a homicide.

Dowells ‘son Armand Torres, 28, and his wife, Nataly Jimenez, said that in the days following Dowells’ death, the story of Brinson’s events continued to change, including the exact time and the place where he found Dowells unconscious.

“He would say, you know, she passed out on the ground, or she was passed out on the bed,” said Jimenez in an interview.

Dowells lived in Inglewood, California, with Torres, Jimenez and their 3-year-old son, who called Brinson “grandfather”.

Torres, Jimenez, their son and Dowells were all very close, and the couple allowed the boy to accompany Dowells during family visits to Mule Creek prison twice in the past two years.

“If I could trust him with my child, I think it’s a green light,” said Torres about Brinson. “You know, as, everything is fine.”

He said that his mother had told him that his son had known the visits, which was enough for him to trust Brinson around his son.

Torres said he was sometimes worried that his mother was with someone who was incarcerated, but he tried to support. He said he was not aware that Brinson was found guilty of murdered four people.

“We really like our mom, and we just wanted her to be happy, you know, and she generally came back happy,” he said. “They talked on the phone every day, everything seemed good. I am completely for the second chances.

“If she was happy, I was happy,” he said.

Torres sometimes heard his mother and Brundon arguing on the phone, he said, but he didn’t think about it much because couples are sometimes arguing, especially when a partner is imprisoned.

“Stéphanie has always been an indulgent person, and she has always tried to see the best in people,” said Jimenez. “Despite their career or anything, she would always try to see the good in them. That’s what she did with her husband. “

Torres said his mother and Brinson met before his birth in 1996, and that he met Brunson until 2016 around 2016.

Thomas, the other victim, was found unconscious on July 1, 2024, in a family visit unit, where she spent time with her domestic partner, Anthony Curry, said officials.

Curry, 48, is serving a perpetuity imprisonment for attempted second degree murder with an intentionally improvement of a firearm causing large bodily injuries.

He was also sentenced to 13 years in prison for diversion of cars with an improvement in the use of a firearm, said a spokesperson for the ministry of correctional services.

Curry was accused of murder in the death of Thomas, but was not arrested, said Riebe.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation The website indicates that some imprisoned people are eligible for family visits, which occur in private apartment facilities on prisons and last from 30 to 40 hours.

Visits are intended to support positive family connections and successful rehabilitation, indicates the website. Death corridor detainees and people found guilty of sexual offenses are excluded, as is anyone subject to disciplinary restrictions, the website says.

“Family visits are a privilege and imprisoned persons must apply and meet strict eligibility criteria to approve,” said a spokesperson for the department. “Only those who show good behavior sustained and who meet the specific requirements of the program are taken into account.”

A manual of online penitentiary operations indicates that detainees in family visit districts must present themselves for a count at least four times over a period of 24 hours.

Torres said that regardless of the level of supervision, he thinks it should be higher, especially for prisoners with violent history.

“I want them to take some responsibility for this, prison,” said Torres. “Because what prevents the next person from killing their wife or son or someone?”