WASHINGTON — White supremacist mass murderer Dylann Roof staged a hunger strike this month while on federal death row, alleging in letters to The Associated Press that he’s been verbally harassed and abused without cause” and “treated disproportionately harsh."
The 25-year-old Roof killed nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina, in June of 2015. He was convicted on federal murder and hate crime charges in December of 2017.
He was then transferred to a federal supermax prison in Indiana.
He told the AP that staff at the prison in Indiana feel justified in their conduct “since I am hated by the general public.” A person familiar with the matter would say only that Roof had been on a hunger strike but is no longer on one.
Roof said in a manifesto and in an hours long recorded confession to the FBI that he targeted church members because of their race. Evidence showed he had plotted the attack months. His stated goal was to trigger a race war.
He was unrepentant after the verdict, saying he was not sorry. Last month, he appealed his federal conviction.