Inmate Kills Fellow Prisoner with Homemade Razor-Wielding Shovel at Auburn Correctional Facility

A highly violent convict, Donald Nash, serving a 100-year sentence for murdering a Federal witness and three CBS technicians in New York City in 1982, has committed a brutal killing inside an Auburn Correctional Facility in western New York. Nash, 58, attacked fellow inmate Roy Tucker, 46, using a homemade weapon fashioned from a foot-long piece of wood embedded with several razor blades. The attack occurred around 7:30 AM in a partially enclosed room near the main kitchen, with approximately 40 other inmates and guards witnessing the brutal event through a wire-mesh door.

Key Takeaways:

• Donald Nash, serving a 100-year sentence for murdering a Federal witness and three CBS technicians in 1982, killed fellow inmate Roy Tucker at Auburn Correctional Facility using a homemade razor-wielding shovel.
• The attack occurred around 7:30 AM in a partially enclosed room near the main kitchen, with approximately 40 inmates and guards witnessing the event through a wire-mesh door.
• Nash, 58, was able to kill Tucker, 46, who was making meals for prisoners with special diets, in a matter of seconds.
• The motive behind Nash's attack is still unclear, with officials stating that there had been no reported trouble between the two inmates prior to the incident.
• Nash was found to have fashioned the homemade weapon from a foot-long piece of wood, which included several side-by-side razor blades, and a metal pipe was also discovered in the room.
• The attack was the second inmate homicide in the New York prison system this year, following one at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville.
• Auburn Correctional Facility has had one of the highest rates of inmate murders in the state prison system over the last three years, with one murder occurring annually since 1991.
• Prison officials conducting a thorough investigation and securing the facility by locking its 1,700 inmates in their cells for three days to search for any contraband and weapons.

Statistics:

• 100-year sentence served by Donald Nash for murdering a Federal witness and three CBS technicians in 1982.
• 58 years old – the age of Donald Nash at the time of the killing.
• 46 years old – the age of Roy Tucker at the time of his death.
• 25 years to life – the prison sentence served by Roy Tucker for a second-degree murder in Albany County.
• 3 years – the time period over which Auburn Correctional Facility has had one of the highest rates of inmate murders in the state prison system.
• 1,700 inmates – the number of prisoners housed in Auburn Correctional Facility.
• 2 inmate homicides – the number of inmate killings in the New York prison system this year, including the one at Auburn Correctional Facility.
• 4 murders – the number of inmate killings at the Clinton facility in Dannemora since 1991.
• 1991 – the year in which Auburn Correctional Facility began experiencing one inmate murder annually.

Sources:

• A state prison official
• James Flateau, a spokesman for the New York State Department of Correctional Services
• "Clinton facility in Dannemora"
• "Clinton facility in Dannemora has also had four murders since 1991, including two in 1992."