To Free the Truth

“You didn’t see that,” is a common refrain among officers inside McConnell, one boss told me. The free world rarely even tries to look, and that is how the agency prefers it.

                                                  –N. Blakeslee in Shades of Gray

There are multiple reasons why my attorneys called guards in to testify in rebuttal of the inmate witnesses against me but not any inmates on the unit the day of the murder. When I first spoke with investigator Jim Dixon, who the court hired for me, I was still toying with the idea of suicide by state, so I didn’t offer many names of people who might corroborate my story. Even if I had, it wouldn’t have done any good because all but 2 of the inmates Mr. Dixon interviewed refused to sign a statement and testify on my behalf. While many told him things favorable to my defense, they feared getting retaliated against by the TDCJ not to mention having their parole denied. 

I corresponded with a couple of inmates on McConnell unit after I was transferred to Michaels unit. They informed me that over 100 white inmates were placed on 7 building and locked down for over 2 months after Nagle’s death. They were harassed in many ways, including being denied showers, necessities such as clean clothes, hygiene, and cleaning supplies, and visitation. After weeks without a shower, a few guys on 1 row broke their toilets in protest. Horace Groves wrote that all of 1 row was flooded and you see chunks of feces floating around but no one cleaned it up. When they brought johnny sacks around for meals, the guards ordered the inmates to kneel down in that filthy water if they wanted to eat. Most refused choosing to starve instead. The guards told them life would get considerably better if they would sign statements against me. 

Warden Johns ordered video recording of all movements and operations concerning me upon my arrival on Michaels unit–for my own protection. I couldn’t recreate, shower, or eat without the camera rolling. Despite this and other measures, the guards found ways to make my life hell–banging on my window and walls while I slept, trashing my cell when I went to shower, and once a lieutenant spit in my food before he told the camera operator to roll the tape. Of course, I refused the tray which is what he wanted. 

An inmate down the run who wanted to be kind to be offered me a few shots of coffee and some mint sticks. I tied a string together to try to ‘fish’ the goods under the door. As soon as he had the stuff tied on my line and out on the run for me to pull, the gate popped open and several guards stormed the run, confiscating the coffee and mint sticks. They yelled at the inmate and threatened the entire run, “If we catch anyone giving Pruett anything, you won’t eat, plus it’s a disciplinary case. Pruett don’t get shit except a meal.”

Only 2 inmates ever tried to help me. Kevin Vecshi and Damont Jackson, neither of which were on McConnell at the time of Nagle’s slaying. Vecshi testified that Anthony Casey, who testified against me, told him that he knew I didn’t kill Nagle. That he, Casey, just wanted to get pending criminal charges dismissed. Jackson said he overheard Casey say that he knew a “Mexican” did it, but the court refused to let Jackson testify. 

Vecshi and Jackson were transferred to Connally unit with the state’s inmate witnesses prior to my trial. They both told the judge that the staff on Connally unit wouldn’t let them have their personal property including hygiene because they were testifying on my behalf, yet all of the state’s witnesses received their property while waiting their turn to take the stand… Treatment like this and the above mentioned harassment deterred inmates from trying to help me.