Murder charges filed after second woman killed during conjugal visit in California state prison

The family of a woman who was strangled to death last year during a conjugal visit with her husband at a Northern California prison has called for reforms after a second woman was killed in a similar manner.

Tania Thomas, 47, was killed in July while visiting her husband, Anthony Curry, overnight at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, according to Thomas’ cousin, Jeanine Rojo.

Curry was charged last week with murder in connection with Thomas’ death and is scheduled to be arraigned in April, court records show. Thomas had been strangled to death.

Thomas’ family hadn’t spoken out about her killing but decided to come forward after they saw Stephanie Brinson, 62, also killed in November while visiting husband David Brinson, 54, at the same prison.

Brinson hasn’t been charged in connection with his wife’s death. The investigation is ongoing.

Rojo called for more safety precautions for visitors during conjugal visits, including checking in on the meetings and better screening of who should be eligible to receive one.

“They definitely need to make urgent changes, because people’s lives are at stake here,” she said. “If they haven’t stopped these conjugal visits, they definitely have to stop that right now. Procedures need to change to make it safer.”

Thomas met Curry in 1999 and got pregnant, Rojo said. Curry disappeared with another woman when he found out Thomas was pregnant.

When Thomas was in labor, she saw Curry on the news because he was accused of shooting another woman, Synada Browning, in the head and dumping her body that same year. Browning survived the shooting but was blinded and left partially paralyzed. Curry, 48, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for attempted second-degree murder.

But Thomas reunited with Curry while he was behind bars and secretly married him without telling her family in 2023, Rojo said. She added that Curry was denied parole last year but had asked Thomas to “wait for him” before he killed her.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not respond to a request for comment.

Stephanie Brinson was visiting her husband, David Brinson, at the same prison on Nov. 13, according to the CDCR. Around 2 a.m., Brinson told officers that his wife had passed out. Officers attempted lifesaving measures but she was pronounced dead at 2:51 a.m.

Amador County Dist. Atty. Todd Riebe confirmed that Stephanie Brinson was killed during a conjugal visit. He said he hadn’t received the reports from Mule Creek to make a charging decision.

In 1994, Brinson was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole for killing four men during a robbery at a Los Angeles apartment, The Times reported. He is currently incarcerated at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton.

Conjugal visits are intended to foster family connections, according to the corrections department. Inmates convicted of sex crimes, under disciplinary restrictions or on death row aren’t eligible for overnight visits.

Visits occur in apartment-like facilities in private and on prison grounds, according to the department. They last from 30 to 40 hours; inmates have to present themselves for a count four times in a 24-hour period.