Scolman will never be released from prison after sentencing for killing fellow prisoner in hate crime

GREEN BAY – A prisoner who killed a Black prisoner at Green Bay Correctional Institution due to the color of his skin in 2022 was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Joshua Scolman, 40, was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide, both as a hate crime, after a four-day jury trial. His attorneys attempted to argue in the second half of the trial that Scolman was not guilty due to mental disease or defect; the jury did not agree.

Scolman fatally stabbed 25-year-old Timothy Nabors, Jr. on Oct. 21, 2022, with a handmade knife crafted from a bedframe. He then chased after a second prisoner, Lamonte Washington, 26, attempting to kill him.

Scolman was already serving a 51-year prison sentence for a 2006 drunken driving crash in Milwaukee that killed three people and seriously injured a fourth person. According to court records, after the crash Scolman pointed a gun at and fired shots toward a motorist bystander.

What were the details of the hate crimes?

Around 6:30 a.m. Oct. 21, 2022, while prisoners were let out of their cells for medication distribution, Scolman attacked Nabors and on the stairwell between the first and second floors of Green Bay Correctional Institution’s South Cell Tower.

Scolman lunged at Nabors, stabbing him in the chest. He then chased Washington down the stairs and around the first floor, before correctional officers were able to subdue the men with pepper spray.

Shortly after, prison staff realized Nabors had collapsed and was bleeding on the second tier. Prison staff gave aid to him until an ambulance arrived to transport him to HSHS St. Vincent Hospital. At trial, witnesses testified that Nabors lost consciousness and a pulse while still at the prison.

Nabors was pronounced brain dead six days later.

Washington received only minor injuries, although investigators said security footage showed Scolman had at one point grabbed Washington's shirt and narrowly missed striking him in the neck.

Two correctional officers who escorted Scolman to the restiricted housing unit after the stabbing testified that Scolman swore and used the N-word. Other prison staff who interacted with him later that day said Scolman was calm and relaxed.

The knife recovered from the scene had multiple carvings, including a swastika.

An investigation by the Brown County Sheriff's Office found that before the homicide, Scolman had been under investigation by Green Bay Correctional Institution for “extremely concerning racist activity” — including "numerous letters" Scolman wrote regarding attempts to become a member of a white supremacist prison gang, for which a condition to be accepted was "to kill a black male," according to the investigation report.

Over a year later, in December 2023, Scolman wrote a letter to another prisoner at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility in Boscobel, where he was moved after the homicide, stating that he did not know Nabors or Washington and had never previously spoken to them, but simply chose to attack the men that morning because they were Black. The letter was filled with racial slurs against Black people and antisemitic language.

What are specifics of the sentence?

While Scolman will never be released from prison, Judge Donald Zuidmolder did give an additional sentence for the attempted homicide count, of 15 years in prison and 10 years extended supervision, served consecutively.

Scolman is not eligible for the Department of Corrections' earned release program or any substance abuse programs.

Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @ArseneauKelli.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Scolman sentenced for killing fellow prisoner in hate crime