Wisconsin Inmate Gets Life for Killing Black, Gay Cellmate
Jackson Vogel strangled 19-year-old Micah Laureano inside Green Bay Correctional Institution in what prosecutors called a hate crime.
Jackson Vogel has been sentenced to life without parole for strangling his cellmate — 19-year-old Micah Laureano, a Black gay man — inside Green Bay Correctional Institution in what prosecutors described as a racially and homophobically motivated killing.
The Wisconsin inmate was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide by a jury last month.
Before sentencing, Vogel — who was already serving a 20-year term for attempting to kill his mother in 2016, when he was just 16 — told Brown County Circuit Judge Donald Zuidmulder he was “sorry” for his actions, although he did not appear to show any signs of regret.
“I may not show remorse, I may not be able to understand emotion, I may not be able to understand remorse itself,” Vogel said. “That doesn’t mean that a person cannot be sorry for what they did at any point in time. Because I am sorry.”
As reported by the Green Bay Press Gazette at the time, Laureano had been placed in the same cell as Vogel, in the prison’s treatment center, for only a few hours before he was killed.
Around 9:30 p.m., during a routine prisoner count, a correctional officer noticed a pink piece of paper covering the window of a cell door. He ordered the occupant to remove it, and Vogel complied.
Looking through the window, the officer saw Laureano unconscious, hanging from the top bunk with his arms and ankles bound in orange cloth. Paramedics later pronounced him dead at the scene.
Correctional officers detained Vogel, who made “numerous unprovoked comments,” admitting he had knocked Laureano unconscious, tied him up, and strangled him with his hands. Inside the cell, officers found strips of orange cloth and a handwritten note containing racist and homophobic slurs, along with the words “kill all humans.”
Vogel allegedly told investigators he killed Laureano because he was “bored,” and that his cellmate “checked all the boxes,” including being Black and gay. He said he frequently thinks about killing people and claimed that strangling someone gave him a feeling of “ecstasy.”
At the time of his death, Laureano had 18 months left on a three-year sentence for robbery-related charges. Shortly before he was killed, he wrote a letter to his mother, Phyllis, expressing fears for his safety at Green Bay Correctional Institution. The letter arrived after his death, according to Green Bay FOX affiliate WLUK.
Phyllis Laureano has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Green Bay Correctional Institution Warden Christopher Stevens and Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy, claiming they were negligent in placing her son in a cell with Vogel. However, because her attorney has not completed required procedures, the judge overseeing the case may dismiss it, according to WLUK.
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