Inmate sentenced for knife assault
By R.A. WALKER rwalker@sungazette.comThe aftertaste of inmate violence at the Allenwood federal prison complex on one September day three years ago continues to work its way through U.S. Middle District Court.
Inmate Clifton Hamalowa, 30, was sentenced Thursday to five years and three months additional prison time for aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with what originally was described as the attempted murder of another inmate.
Hamalowa is from Arizona and is a Native American, as are four other inmates who are charged in attacks that occurred at the correction facility on Sept. 28, 2005.
Two inmates, Shawn Coolya and Ritz Williams, face first-degree murder charges for a separate attack that occurred the same day as when Hamalowa and two inmate accomplices attacked an inmate in his cell, stabbing him in the back, neck and abdomen with sharp metal objects. The victim did not die.
Coolya and Williams were indicted last year in connection with the death of inmate Alvin Allery, who also was stabbed with homemade knives, which inmates call shanks.
Hamalowa and inmates Dustin Denny and Calvin Nez also were indicted last year.
The three reportedly already were in custody when the fatal attack occurred, and there was no reference to the Coolya-Williams case during Hamalowa’s sentencing hearing.
The Coolya and Williams case still is working its way through the court, but two of the defendants in the assault case have been sentenced. Denny previously was sentenced to 77 months additional prison time for his role in the attack.
Hamalowa had nothing to say when U.S. District Senior Judge James F. McClure Jr. gave him the opportunity to make a statement at his sentencing, answering the judge’s questions with a “no” and a “yeah.”
According to comments during the hearing, Hamalowa’s co-defendants also have not been talkative during court appearances.
During the proceeding Thursday it was noted that Hamalowa has been incarcerated for all but 21 days since age 17 and is serving a 16-year murder sentence for the killing of a cousin during a drunken argument over prison gangs to which they had belonged. Six years remain on that sentence.
Hamalowa will serve his new sentence after completing the murder sentence.
In addition to the extra jail time, he was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and serve three years court supervision once released from prison.
McClure described Hamalowa as “very fortunate the victim ... did not die” and said he is a man who exhibits a “strong anti-social temperament.”
He also noted that Hamalowa has a history of abusing alcohol and assorted drugs.
“The history is not good,” summed up the judge.
