Prisoner beaten to death; investigation under way

POTOSI, Mo. -- An inmate at Missouri's maximum-security prison in Potosi was found beaten to death, and his cellmate is suspected, prison superintendent Don Roper said Monday.

Lamont Daugherty, 29, was discovered face-down in his cell at 10:37 p.m. Sunday as guards were performing a head-count, Roper said. Emergency responders were unable to revive him.

"He was bludgeoned pretty savagely," Roper said. "It certainly appears that he was bludgeoned by his cellmate."

The cellmate's name was not released.

Charges will not be filed until an autopsy confirms the cause of death, Roper said. The autopsy was scheduled for today, but results may not be available for up to four weeks.

Daugherty was imprisoned July 30, 2002, from St. Louis on four counts of armed criminal action and one count of unlawful use of a weapon. He originally was held at the South-Central Correctional Center in Licking, Mo., but transferred to the maximum-security prison in mid-August after assaulting inmates and staff in Licking, Roper said.

The cellmate, originally imprisoned for tampering with a motor vehicle, was moved to Potosi in April from the Northeast Correctional Center in Bowling Green, Mo., after assaulting fellow inmates, Roper said.

"They were both classified as high alpha males, meaning they had assaultive and aggressive behaviors," Roper said.

Most of Potosi's 856 inmates share cells with another inmate who has committed similar crimes, Roper said.