‘I am not safe at this prison’: Inmate killed after alleging dangerous conditions

In the summer of 2023, an inmate at Ely State Prison filed a federal lawsuit against prison staffers alleging unsafe conditions inside the walls of the institution.

“Staff continue to place inmates in prime positions to stab each other,” he wrote. “It will lead to someone getting hurt.”

Just two weeks after filing his lawsuit, Weslie Martin, 26, was killed at the prison. He died on Sept. 11, 2023, from multiple stab wounds, according to the Clark County coroner’s office, which ruled his death a homicide.

Leading up to his death, Weslie Martin never mentioned his concerns to his older brother, Denzel Martin, in their frequent phone conversations.

“He would ask me how I am,” said Denzel Martin, 28. “That’s how strong he was. That takes somebody with true strength.”

While serving time as an inmate at both High Desert State Prison and Ely State Prison, Weslie Martin filed several federal lawsuits, including two that are ongoing after his death.

His brother, Denzel Martin, is seeking to take his brother’s place as the plaintiff in these cases. “It’s heavy on my heart,” he said. “I have no problem standing up for him, and even, I dare say, giving my life to the same cause.”

Weslie Martin had been serving a sentence for robbery with an enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon, according to a press release about his death that the Nevada Department of Corrections issued over eight months after his death, on May 22.

The press release, like others of its kind, only said that Weslie Martin had been “pronounced dead.” It did not say that he had been stabbed.

The Nevada Department of Corrections did not respond to requests for comment.

Remembering Weslie Martin

Denzel Martin said that, while he was at least held as a baby by his biological mother and father, his younger brother never was.

“Our family has this tragedy of someone being harmed and losing their life,” he said. While their biological mother is still alive, Denzel Martin said their father was killed a couple of months before his little brother was born. He said he still does not know why.

The two brothers were in foster care for some time, until their father’s sister adopted them, Denzel Martin explained.

“His heart was hardened because he made bad choices many times, but inwardly, he was very soft, very loving,” Denzel Martin said. “He thought he had to be very rough around the edges so no one would hurt him again, because he was protecting that soft spot.”

Weslie Martin grew up loving R&B music, his brother said. Before he went to prison, he began performing as a singer, and crowds loved him, he said.

“He wanted to succeed,” Denzel Martin said. “That’s why he went into the music career.”

Talking about his brother in an interview, Denzel Martin said that he wished he could have given his brother more guidance that would have helped him stay out of prison.

“He was always bright,” Denzel Martin said.

Concerns for inmate safety

Weslie Martin’s handwritten complaints alleged that people working in the Nevada Department of Corrections knowingly placed inmates in dangerous situations and, at times, abused them themselves.

A pending lawsuit by Weslie Martin while he was an inmate at High Desert State Prison in 2020 accused a corrections officer, identified only as “Lona” in court records, of punching Weslie Martin in the face, trying to put him in a headlock and slamming him on his back.

The alleged assault happened after Weslie Martin said Lona searched and trashed his cell. Weslie Martin said he found legal paperwork, including case information and grievance receipts, in his toilet.

In the lawsuit filed in 2023, just weeks before his death, Weslie Martin said that three caseworkers, identified in court records only by the names “Underwood, Mullet and Roman,” alongside Ely State Prison Associate Warden David Drummond, retaliated against him and placed known “enemies” together on tiers and in cells.

This included his old cellmate, Tyrek Settles, who Weslie Martin said was killed in his cell. Weslie Martin alleged that in Dec. 2022, the caseworker identified only as “Mullet” told Settles and Weslie Martin during an argument that he, Mullet, would get them “both killed.”

Settles was stabbed to death on Dec. 9, 2022. “Staff continue to place inmates in prime positions to stab each other,” Weslie Martin wrote. “I am not safe at this prison.”

“Weslie’s death certificate lists his cause of death as ‘multiple stab wounds,’ but only because it’s problematic to articulate ‘intentional, deliberate and systemic disregard for an inmate’s life,” Nathan Lawrence, Weslie Martin’s — and now Denzel Martin’s — attorney said in a statement.

“The wrongs are out of place and out of sync with a civilized society, and we are working with Weslie’s family and others to try to find solutions and some degree of justice,” Lawrence said.

‘I just wish he was here’

Carrying on his brother’s search for justice is something that Denzel Martin said “pushed me to go get a career and make some change in the world.”

Denzel Martin, who previously worked at FedEx, said that because of his brother, he is now going to become a corrections officer. He said he hopes he can make a positive change inside Nevada’s prisons and beyond.

Weslie Martin had a “moment of maturity” in prison before he was killed, his brother said. Denzel Martin recalled him telling him that he was “done with this kind of lifestyle,” and wanted to get married just like his brother and have a family.

His death brought the family that the two brothers do have, namely their half-siblings, closer together, Denzel Martin said.

He and Weslie Martin connected with their biological mother’s children in attempt to break the cycle of not knowing their siblings, he explained.

“Weslie, he wanted to build a family, a foundation that was so firm and unshakeable,” Denzel Martin said.

“I just wish he was here,” Denzel Martin said.

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram.