Apr 7, 2006 1:40 pm US/Central
Vang Moved To Iowa Prison For Safety Reasons
Madison, Wis. (AP) ―
A Minnesota man convicted of killing six deer hunters and wounding two others in a shooting spree in northwestern Wisconsin was moved to an Iowa prison because of security concerns.
Corrections officials moved Chai Soua Vang to the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, Iowa, in January, according to state records. He had been imprisoned at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun.
Officials moved him because they had safety concerns for corrections staff, inmates and others, said Dan Westfield, security chief for the Department of Corrections' division of adults institutions.
Westfield compared the case to that of convicted Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who was killed in 1994 by another inmate.
"The reasons we move an inmate, and I'll use the Dahmer situation, is that there is a lot of media attention and it stirs a lot of emotion," Westfield said Friday. "Wisconsin is a state with a lot of deer hunters, and we have a lot of inmates who are deer hunters, and there are some racial concerns."
During his trial, Vang, a Hmong immigrant, testified he shot in self-defense at the white hunters after they hurled profanities and racial slurs and took a shot at him. Two survivors testified no one pointed a gun at Vang.
The shooting occurred on the second day of the 2004 deer hunting season after Vang trespassed in a tree stand on private land in Sawyer County. Vang, 37, of St. Paul, was sentenced Nov. 8 to six consecutive life prison terms with no chance for parole.
Westfield said he has not heard of any incidents in prison involving Vang. He said he didn't know how long Vang will stay in Iowa.
"After an amount of time, it's not fresh in people's minds," Westfield said.
Corrections Department spokesman John Dipko said Wisconsin has agreements with other states to hold inmates in high-profile cases.
"Generally, we cite safety concerns as reasons for the moves," he said.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
