Paul Egan
Detroit Free Press
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan prisoner gave up his freedom but was not prepared to go without his social media.
Now, he’s in even more trouble, along with as many as nine other inmates.
The Michigan Department of Corrections and the Michigan State Police are investigating after a prisoner at Carson City Correctional Facility apparently used a smuggled cell phone to create his own Facebook page, where he posted photos and videos from inside his cell, including ones of him getting a haircut and smoking an unknown substance in a hand-rolled cigarette with at least one other inmate.
Both cell phones and smoking are banned inside a prison. It’s a criminal offense to smuggle into a prison phones, cameras, tobacco, and, of course, drugs.
https://www.facebook.com/freeweezy.lethimgo/posts/116195932938723
The posts also included loud music, references to gangs, drug dealing and “snitches.” A post on May 26 said: “Dont think cause im in prison i cant still arange for yo funeral…,” with the hashtag #TestMyGangsta.
The Facebook page, titled “Freeweezy Lethimgo,” which had not been taken down as of Wednesday morning and had more than 1,200 friends, was active for about a month. A profile photo of a man in prison garb inside what appeared to be a prison cell was posted May 9. The most recent post was dated June 10.
Chris Gautz, a Corrections Deparment spokesman, confirmed that Dajuan Furman, 25, who is serving 18 to 40 years for a series of armed robbery, assault, and weapons offenses from 2009 and has the name “Weezy” tattooed on his left forearm, is considered one of the main offenders.
He and nine other prisoners were placed in segregation after the department learned about the Facebook page, as well as an Instagram account, about a week ago, Gautz said. A series of raids on prisoner cells did not turn up any cell phones, but several smuggled cell phones had been found earlier, in recent weeks, and one of those might have been involved, he said.
Gautz said the department would like to take down the Facebook page, but so far has been unable to do so. It may have been set up by someone using a computer outside the prison, with the prisoner able to post to it, he said.
“This is incredibly dangerous behavior that they’re engaging in and it’s something that we take incredibly seriously,” Gautz said.
“Everybody’s incredibly lucky this didn’t become much worse.”
Gautz said there was a recent case in another state where prisoners used Facebook Live to publish live images of an assault on a corrections officer.
Staff is also being scrutinized over the incident, Gautz said.
Somebody should have noticed the cell’s window being covered over, the loud music, too many prisoners in one cell, and the smell of smoke, he said.
“We’re working on the staff side to try to tighten things up.”
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