White supremacist convicted in Charlottesville car-ramming accused of prison misconduct

James Alex Fields, the Ohio white supremacist  serving a life sentence in prison for the deadly car ramming at the 2017 “Unite the Right” tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia, is now accused of a series of misconduct at the federal prison in Springfield, Missouri.

Fields is accused of making threats against at least one correctional officer and of wielding a “dangerous weapon,” according to prison records and a U.S. Justice Department filing reviewed by CBS News.

Fields pleaded guilty to a series of federal hate crimes charges in the deadly August 2017 car attack against counterdemonstrators in Charlottesville, which killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer and wounded dozens more.  According to the new Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons records, Fields has committed a series of recent misconduct incidents and has been disciplined by the loss of phone and email privileges and through monetary fines. 

The revelations have surfaced as the Justice Department seeks to seize hundreds of dollars in Fields’ prison inmate account, to help pay for nearly $81,000 in unpaid restitution and fine costs from his criminal case. The Justice Department also said  Fields has yet to pay fines for the misconduct in which he allegedly engaged while in prison.

According to a court filing from prosecutors, Fields was fined $250 for possessing a dangerous “homemade” weapon in December 2020, while serving his term.  

Prison records released by the Justice Department show Fields was accused of another incident weeks later.  The records allege he made a “threatening remark” to an officer in January 2021.   Other incidents of misconduct included being “insolent” to prison staff and refusing to appear at a hearing.  

The records also shed light on the disciplinary actions utilized by prison officials in cases like Fields’s.   The records list “punishment for misconduct” included seizing of Fields’s personal property, suspension of phone and email privileges, monetary fines and the removal of his “mattress during daylight hours.”

In court filings earlier this year, prosecutors alerted a federal judge in Charlottesville that Fields has obtained “substantial funds” in his prisoner inmate account.   Though the Justice Department sealed the names of the suspected donors, testimony in a federal civil lawsuit against Fields indicated a known white supremacist had contributed money, while others had sent correspondences in the past five years.  

Prosecutors are seeking to seize the money to use for unpaid fines and restitution ordered by the federal court as part of Fields’s plea agreement.  In a new court filing, the Justice Department said the Bureau of Prisons does not unilaterally seize money from an inmate’s account, even to pay fines incurred for misconduct in the prison.   The court filing said spending limits at the prison commissary are instituted instead. The court filing said, “The inmate is restricted to spending $25 per month at the prison commissary, but certain items are excluded from that limitation such as stamps, over-the-counter medications, and copy cards/paper. Fields has not released money to pay the disciplinary fines to date.”

The chief judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia is handling the matter, but a final order has not yet been posted.

Fields has filed a handwritten motion to limit the seizure of his prison account money.  His prior criminal defense attorney did not respond to a request for comment.