Ind. investigates inmate’s apparent Facebook page

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Updated: January 10, 2012 11:59PM

NEW ALBANY (AP) — A woman whose brother was fatally shot in 2007 is asking Indiana prison officials to remove a Facebook profile apparently created by an inmate who was convicted for his role in the slaying.

Lisa Cunningham said she learned Saturday that 20-year-old Quintez Deloney has a Facebook page on which he appears to be posting from prison in violation of state prison rules.

She said she contacted the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility and the office of U.S. Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind., asking for help in removing Deloney’s Facebook profile. Cunningham said she’s speaking out because she does not want family members of other murder victims to have to see pictures of their loved ones’ killers or accomplices on the popular social networking website.

“It feels like five years ago all over again. It’s like everything just happened again,” Cunningham said. “(Deloney) shouldn’t have any freedom. Once you’re in prison, you lose all your rights.”

In January 2007, Cunningham’s brother, 26-year-old Lewis James of Charlestown, was shot seven times at a New Albany apartment where he went to buy drugs. Floyd County prosecutors alleged that Deloney and Lance Douglas, 24, kicked down the door to the apartment and attempted to rob James and that he was shot when he resisted.

Although prosecutors argued Deloney was the shooter, the jury convicted Douglas of murder and found Deloney guilty of only robbery and burglary. He was sentenced in May 2009 to 80 years in prison, but that was reduced after the Indiana Court of Appeals found he should not have been sentenced for both the robbery and burglary charges because of the double jeopardy provision.

Deloney has been serving his time at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle since he was sentenced.

A Facebook profile for “Quintez Q-Ball Deloney” remained active on Tuesday and shows that he has 183 friends and the first update on the page was July 17, 2011. A post on the page includes Deloney’s prison mailing address, and there are several posts about the James slaying case. Most of the posts on the page contain profanity.

On July 20, someone asked how he had Facebook access in prison and he responded, “thats somethang thats kept secret!” according to the News and Tribune.

On Oct. 11, he wrote that he was starting another appeal.

Susan Harrington, a spokeswoman for Wabash Valley, said Cunningham’s complaint has been filed with internal affairs investigators and that Deloney will be disciplined if it is true that he has somehow been posting messages from prison.

Harrington said the prison does not allow inmates to have cellphones and or Internet access. Most of Deloney’s posts indicate they were made using a mobile device.

More than 1,760 contraband cellphones were confiscated from Indiana state prisons in 2010, according to state Department of Correction records.