Prison Guard Fatally Beaten Escorting Inmate to Cell

A corrections officer escorting an inmate to his cell was beaten to death today at a northeast Texas prison. The officer was escorting the inmate from a dayroom at the Telford Unit in New Boston when he was attacked with an object, says a prison spokesman. Officials did not immediately identify the weapon. The officer, Timothy Davison, 47, was taken to a hospital in Texarkana, about 20 miles east of the prison, where he died. Davison, who lived near the prison, had been with the prison agency since December.

The inmate involved was identified as Billy Joel Tracy, 37. Prison records show he has at least seven convictions dating back to 1995 and is serving a life sentence for robbery and aggravated assault from Rockwall County, a suburban county east of Dallas. "We will see that the offender who is responsible for this murder will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said Oliver Bell, chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. (More Texas stories.)