A woman’s family was strangled to death when she visited her husband in a Northern California prison last year, and he called for reforms after a second woman was killed in a similar manner.
Tania Thomas, 47, visited her husband Anthony Curry in July to spend the night at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, according to Thomas’ cousin Jeanine Rojo.
Curry was charged last week with the murder and was scheduled to be arraigned in April, court records show. Thomas was strangled to death.
Tania Thomas, 47, visited her husband Anthony Curry in July to spend the night at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione.
(Jeanine Rojo)
Thomas’s family didn’t say her killing, but decided to stand up after they saw it Stephanie Brinson62, was also killed in November while visiting her husband, 54, at the same prison.
Brinson was not charged with his wife’s death. An investigation is underway.
Rojo called for more safety precautions for visitors during couples’ visits, including check-in meetings and better screening for who should be eligible for one.
“They absolutely need to make urgent changes because people’s lives are threatened here,” she said. “If they haven’t stopped visiting these couples, they certainly have to stop immediately. The program needs to be changed to make it safer.”
Rojo said Thomas met Curry in 1999 and became pregnant. When Curry finds out that Thomas is pregnant, Curry disappears with another woman.
When Thomas was at work, she saw Curry on the news for being accused of shooting another woman, Synada Browning, and abandoning her body the same year. Browning survived but blinded her eyes and was partially paralyzed. Curry, 48, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for attempted second-degree murder.
But Thomas reunited with Curry after the curry rice and secretly married him in 2023 without telling his family, Rojo said. She added that Curry was denied parole last year but had asked Thomas to “wait for him” and then he killed her.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the CDCR, Stephanie Brinson visited her husband, David Brinson, at the same prison on November 13. At about 2 a.m., Brinson told the officer that his wife had fainted. Officer tried to take lifesaving measures, but she was pronounced dead at 2:51 a.m.
Amador County. Atti. Todd Riebe confirmed that Stephanie Brinson was killed during a couple visit. He said he did not receive a report from Muller Creek to make the charges.
In 1994, Brinson was sentenced to parole by four men in a robbery in a Los Angeles apartment, possibly four consecutive sentences. era Report. He is currently incarcerated at a California health care facility in Stockton.
Couple visits aim to promote family connection Correction department. Prisoners who commit sexual offences are not eligible for overnight visits in disciplinary or death row.
The department said access to facilities in apartment-like apartments, private and prisons. They last between 30 and 40 hours; prisoners must count four times within 24 hours.
