Not long ago, a Georgia Department of Corrections inmate who built bombs inside his cell at a Tattnall County prison and mailed them to a number of government offices in hopes of getting the attention of state prison officials was sentenced by a federal judge.
But why did an inmate want the attention of higher ranking officials?
58-year-old David Cassady has been in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections for the better part of 40 years, but his most recent criminal conviction in federal court ensures that even if he is granted parole at the state level, he will never walk out of prison a free man. The acts he committed, numerous court filings say, were a cry for help following decades of abuse due to his sexuality, grievances against the state prison system, and a domino of events that pose whether the system offered mere retribution or augmented the ferocity of a convicted offender in its custody.
Cassady’s four decades behind bars has resulted in nearly just as much time in the courtroom due to claims of civil rights violations, issues with contraband and a scheme of exploitation, sexual assault at the hands of a corrections officer, a civil suit against that officer, months-long stints in solitary confinement, and ultimately, his mailing of bombs to government buildings.
Criminal Background
According to court records, David Dwayne Cassady’s criminal history began at age 18 when he was convicted of grand theft auto, burglary, and forgery in 1986.
In 1988, he was convicted of Aggravated Sodomy after raping a victim, though he was released in 1991.
In 1992, he was arrested for Kidnapping with bodily injury, False Imprisonment, Aggravated Sodomy, and Impersonating an Officer. In that case, he was sentenced to Life with the Possibility of Parole.
In 2022, Cassady was charged in Tattnall County for gang activity, conspiracy to commit murder, terroristic threats, and making a false statement. Authorities alleged that he planned the murder of a federal inmate and mailed a letter to the GDC Commissioner, stating he and his family would be killed. He was also charged for making threats against a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
Prior to the 2022 conviction, Cassady was considered for parole by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole but was denied. According to records, Cassady has been transferred to at least fifteen different prisons across Georgia.
Long History of Claims of Sexual Assault
Cassady claims in his letters to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and other writings that he pleaded for help for years from GDC and was offered no protection. In each of the allegations, Cassady provided inmate names and details of the assaults made against him.
1996 – Cassady claims he was beaten, stabbed, and brutally raped by another inmate at Georgia State Prison. He had to be transported to the hospital for care due to his injuries.
2010 – Cassady claims he was handcuffed to a stair rail by a corrections officers at Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison in Jackson before he was raped by the same officer. Cassady’s complaint said Hall ordered him to shower before going on with his day and he then bled for at least three days. Cassady attempted to use the Prison Rape Elimination Act hotline phone but could not because it was inside a locked box. Court records indicate the assaults went on for upwards of 20 months.
During that time, Cassady alleged Hall “demanded” he help him in making extra money. “Hall came up with a pornography website idea, where he hand picked young inmates that fit the criteria for the website, had pictures taken of them naked in [Cassady’s] cell and then uploaded to the site. These pictures were taken using a Verizon LG phone, [specific phone number cited] and a Samsung phone. These phones were provided through an arrangement by Hall and a mental health nurse and then delivered to Cassady to take pictures. Hall had Cassady approach these inmates he hand picked, offering tobacco or money furnished by Hall in exchange for taken naked pictures of them. A few of these inmates agreed to the offer, others were threatened with a disciplinary report or being taken to lock down.”
Cassady listed nine inmates by name and GDC number in his complaint, noting the list was not exhaustive.
The C.O., Steven Douglas Hall, was later charged (in 2012) and convicted for contraband-related offenses. Cassady was placed in segregation, what’s considered a punishment, for seven months as a result of his filing of a complaint.
2017 – Cassady claims he was physically assaulted by an inmate at Baldwin State Prison.
2018 – Cassady reports he was sexually assaulted at knife point. He required sutures to his rectum. He claims in a letter to the GBI that GDC determined the assault claims were ‘unfounded’ and ultimately released the same inmate from segregation and returned him to the cell block with Cassady. A physical assault ensued and Cassady’s significant other was stabbed 9 times.
“Each of these and other senseless and brutal assaults were downright tortuous and devastating to my spirit. They left behind nothing but depression, anxiety, fear, shame, thoughts of suicide, and a shattering loss of self-respect accompanied by a perpetual terror I hereafter must endure. Your unduly narrow definition of what actions you where [sic] required to take to protect me from sexual assaults blinds you to the reality of prison life,” Cassady wrote to the GBI.
Successful Lawsuit Against GDC Staffer Cassady Says Assaulted Him
In 2014, Cassady filed a federal lawsuit against Hall for the sexual assaults at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison. A little more than two years later, his suit was successful and a jury awarded him, as a current inmate in the Georgia Department of Corrections, a judgment for damages.
Cassady was ordered to receive $150,000 in compensatory damages and in the amount of $50,000 in punitive damages from Hall.
Misuse of Segregation/Solitary Confinement
In 2019, Cassady wrote that Warden James Deal told him “When are you going to learn Cassady, courts don’t give a shit about transgenders and neither does GDC”
In July 2019, Cassady was placed in solitary confinement and would remain there for months. He wrote numerous letters to then-GDC Commissioner Timothy Ward, GDC Director for Southeast Georgia Robert Toole, and GSP Warden Lorenza Bobbit from August 2019 to January 2020 regarding his desire to be released from solitary confinement. No segregation hearings were ever held for Cassady in accordance with GDC policy which requires the hearings to occur every 30 days.
Cassady wrote that his continued placement in solitary confinement led to manic depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, paranoia thoughts, and PTSD triggers. He wrote extensively about:
- No sunlight filtered in, “obstructed by…dense filth, dirty, grime and a rusted metal grate.”
- Cell walls were covered with “foul feces, blood, and badly decomposed food and encrusted roaches.”
- Black mold appeared because of leaking roof and walls.
- Roaches, rodents, spiders and ants, as well as flies and mosquitos.
- Clogged vents, so no heat or cooling.
- No access to lighting in his cell, so left in near darkness throughout the day. He often ate his meals in total darkness.
- Weeks worth of meal trays left in the housing unit, with rotten and sour food.
In January 2020, attorney McNeill Stokes forwarded a letter to Warden Bobbit, writing that “…[Cassady] has been in solitary confinement for far too long despite the known deleterious effects on the human psyche. It is cruel and unusual punishment to keep him in solitary confinement and he should be released to the mental health ward immediately.” No action was taken.
At the time Cassady mailed the bombs, he had gone eight months without the permitted exercise time, seven months without seeing a sunrise or sunset, and six months without an evaluation by a psychiatrist or psychotherapy sessions he was participating in at the time he was placed in segregation.
Mailing Bombs from Georgia State Prison in Tattnall County
According to court filings, in January 2020, Cassady put two bombs in the mail – one to a federal courthouse in Alaska and another to the Department of Justice building in Washington D.C. When no one reported the existence of the bombs, he attempted to mail two more bombs. Cassady told a correctional officer that two parcels, which he identified as bombs, would not fit in the mail receptacle. The officer notified law enforcement and the packages were safely removed.
Cassady met with agents from the Postal Inspector Service and the FBI to tell them he mailed two other bombs. He told them that he wanted the Department of Corrections to comply with certain demands including being placed in a cell with his partner and a list of commissary items. He also complained about treatment as a GDC inmate.
Agents were able to intercept the bomb mailed to the DOJ building, but a clerk in Alaska began opening the bomb before noticing the wires and hitting the panic button, prompting an evacuation of the courthouse.
Indictment
In 2024, Cassady was indicted on five charges: Making an Unregistered Destructive Device, two counts of Mailing a Destructive Device, and two counts of Attempted Malicious Use of an Explosive.
Plea & Sentence
Prosecutors sought a terrorism enhancement for Cassady because the offense was calculated “to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct.” They argued that Cassady’s reasoning for taking actions did not mitigate or alleviate the seriousness of the case because he put innocent people in harm’s way, ones who had no contribution to any alleged mistreatment in prison.
Cassady requested to be transferred to federal custody to serve out his prison sentence, a request prosecutors said in a filing was not legally permissible without some action by the U.S. Attorney General. Alternatively, GDC could relinquish custody of Cassady to the federal government. To date, GDC has not done so.
Ultimately, Cassady entered a guilty plea on two counts of ‘Attempted malicious use of explosive materials.’ Judge Randal Hall sentenced Cassady to the maximum sentence allowed by law – a term of 480 months for each count for a total of 960 months (80 years) in prison. The sentence was also ordered to be served consecutively to Cassady’s Gwinnett County sentence, for which he is serving a life sentence, and his Tattnall County case. Judge Hall also ordered Cassady to immediately pay a $200 court assessment.
Georgia State Prison closed abruptly in early 2022 amid a federal investigation into the conditions of GDC facilities generally. According to GDC records, Cassady is currently serving his sentence at Phillips State Prison, a medium security facility, in Gwinnett County.
Read his GDC track sheet here.
