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Inmates charged in fight over spider
©Associated Press
December 20, 2002
PUNTA GORDA -- Two black prisoners are facing felony hate crime charges after they allegedly beat a white prisoner who accused one of them of stealing his pet spider.
James Borland suffered a skull fracture and needed brain surgery after the Dec. 11 incident, officials at the Charlotte Correctional Institution said.
Lemuel Ware, the inmate Borland accused of stealing the pet spider, and Corey Andrews were charged with aggravated battery of a prisoner, elevated to a felony punishable by life imprisonment because they allegedly taunted Borland with racial slurs, officials said.
Ware, a carjacker, was scheduled to be released in 2008. Andrews, jailed for battery, was scheduled to be released in 2005. Borland is scheduled to be released in December 2003 after finishing a sentence for hit-and-run and cocaine charges, according to jail records.
Inmates are not allowed to have any pets, including spiders, said warden Warren Cornell. It's not uncommon, however, for inmates to raise spiders and have them engage in fighting, Cornell said.
"They don't have dogs, cats, fish or birds here," Cornell said. "It happens."
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