Mother grieves her son’s death in an ADOC facility, says guard did nothing to help

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Tyfeeq Ladon Moore was an incarcerated individual serving a sentence at Frank Lee Youth Center. Tyfeeq was not on death row.  Yet, like so many other incarcerated people in Alabama not sentenced to death, he returned to his family deceased. 

Tyfeeq died at the Frank Lee Youth Center on June 30. Tyfeeq’s release date was supposed to be for July 10 according to his release papers. However, Shafeequah Moore, Tyfeeq’s mother, told APR that he still would not have been released until two weeks after his scheduled release date.

Shafeeq said she initially was informed about her son’s death from incarcerated individuals not the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC). This is similar to a previous report from APR where Melissa Lampkins, mother of the late Gerald “Dee” Cochran Jr., was told of her son’s death from the incarcerated prior to being informed several hours later by ADOC. 

Shafeequah said Frank Lee Youth Center called her at 11:20 on June 30 and told her that Tyfeeq passed away. But she said they did not tell her his cause of death and as of this publication she still does not know the official reason why her son died.

However, Shafeequah said that some of the incarcerated individuals told her Tyfeeq was set up and smoked some marijuana laced with Flocka. Tyfeeq did not know it was laced and after smoking it he began to overdose according to Shafeequah. She said that the incarcerated people tried calling correctional officers to check on Tyfeeq but it took them 45 minutes to check on him. 

“They [incarcerated individuals] were calling the correctional officers telling them to come in to give help to my son,” Shafeequah said. “Nobody didn’t come in at all. My son was leant over on his bunk for 45 minutes before somebody came in to do chest compressions on him. There’s no medical team up there, though. There’s no nurse or anything in that facility whatsoever. I was told that as well. They just, they just left him there.”

The officers present that could have intervened but did not were Sergeant McCord and Officer Parker. It took two additional officers to arrive and then start doing chest compressions Shafeequah said. 

Shafeequah also revealed that since telling her about Tyfeeq’s passing ADOC has not called her and when she has tried to call Frank Lee Youth Center they do not tell her anything. She said she spoke with Captain Pamela Butler at Frank Lee who also did not provide any information as to her son’s death. 

Tyfeeq was also the father of two children whom he had not seen in person in over five years. Shafeequah said the children and their father were excited to finally see each other again but now the children are left without their father forever. 

“And now he can’t even spend time with his daughters and watch them grow up,” Shafeequah said. “They was very young when he went away they was ages one and two, now six and seven and they haven’t seen their father for five years. And now they you know got their hopes up seeing their dad and then can’t even see their dad now because he’s gone.”

Shafeequah remembers her son as a great person and a great father. She also recalled this one picture of him smiling holding diapers that he bought for his children and she said that was one of the, “happiest days.”

She also said Tyfeeq was a silly person, always making jokes and making people laugh. Despite her son’s mistakes she said he didn’t deserve to die.

For Shafeequah she mourns not only for her son but for every family who has lost a loved one while incarcerated in Alabama’s deadly prison system. And she hopes all those affected came to together and take a stand.

“All of these facilities from Frank Lee, Donaldson, Kilby, all of them it kills me,” Shafeequah said. “It hurts me to my core, that we got to read this on these sites. And then the families that got to go through this loss. My heart goes out to each and every family. And if we can all come together as one, then that’s what we need to do. And we need to fight against this shit that’s happening to our children.”