Former Inmate Sentenced for Murder of Another Inmate

LONDON, KY—A former inmate at U.S. Penitentiary Big Sandy was sentenced to 26 years for the murder of another inmate. U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove imposed the sentence and also ordered the defendant to pay restitution in the amount of approximately $6,000.

Terrell Johnson, 33, of Omaha, Neb. killed an inmate with a prison-made weapon in October of 2006. Johnson stabbed Calvin Speight in the neck with the weapon. This was the first homicide in the history of the Big Sandy Penitentiary which opened in 2003. Johnson pleaded guilty to the charge of second degree murder in August of 2008.

Johnson was serving a sentence at Big Sandy for armed bank robbery in Nebraska. He will serve the remaining four years of his robbery sentence and the ensuing 26 years at another Bureau of Prisons facility (BOP). Johnson’s prison term began at a different BOP facility in 2000.

“I think the sentence imposed by the court today sends a loud message that any type of violence in any of our maximum security facilities will not be tolerated, especially murder,” said Assistant United States Attorney Robert Duncan Jr.

United States Attorney James A. Zerhusen, J. C. Zurcher, Warden, USP Big Sandy, and Timothy D. Cox, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, jointly made the announcement today.

The investigation was conducted by the USP Big Sandy Special Investigative Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The United States was represented in the case by Assistant United States Attorney Robert M. Duncan Jr.