By Carol Robinson
Alabama Media Group
ELMORE, Ala. — A state inmate serving time for a Shelby County robbery was stabbed to death Thursday in the prison yard.
Alabama Department of Corrections officials identified the victim as Grant Mickens. He was 35.
The stabbing happened about 9:40 a.m. at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore County. ADOC spokesman Bob Horton said corrections officers found Mickens with multiple stab wounds to his back, chest and arms. Mickens was taken to the prison’s health care unit for treatment, and was pronounced dead about 10 minutes later.
Convicted killer Demetric Horsley, 31, has been detained as a suspect in Mickens’ death, Horton said. A makeshift knife used in the stabbing was recovered and Horsley will be charged with capital murder. He is currently serving a life sentence on a 2005 murder conviction out of Mobile County.
Mickens was serving a 22-year sentence for a 2002 first-degree robbery conviction in Shelby County.
Horton said no other inmates were involved in the incident. Staton is a medium custody level correctional facility designed for 508 inmates with a population of 1,382, or 272% occupancy rate. The facility was placed on lockdown while the ADOC investigates the stabbing.