By Beth Hundsdorfer
Belleville News-Democrat
TAMMS, Ill. - Once reputed to be a leader of one of the most violent Chicago gangs, The Two-Sixers, David Ayala now gathers insects to feed the spiders that spin their webs at the edges of his concrete exercise yard at the Tamms supermax prison.
Ayala is serving a life sentence in solitary confinement at Tamms. He has not been convicted of any crime during his 26 years in prison. He publicly renounced his gang more than nine years ago. His family claims he’s a changed man.
Yet, he remains in the harshest conditions the Illinois Department of Corrections doles out 23 hours a day of solitary confinement inside the Tamms Correctional Center in southern Illinois’ Alexander County.
Read the full story here.