Sentencing, Prison, Letters & Release

Perhaps now is a good time to address the issue of why Boney readily admitted that he committed the armed robberies, the home invasion and the abduction of the women. He also had previously admitted his other crimes. One then should ask why Boney would be so ready to admit to having committed such crimes if that was obviously not beneficial to his own interests. There are two answers that come to mind.

First and foremost, there were witnesses to his crimes and he was caught in the act by the police at his last crime. The fact that five women spent between ten and fifteen minutes each with him while being terrorized by him was inescapable to Boney. Rather than hear from the terrified witnesses who would describe his acts and positively identify him at trial, Boney wanted to have the judge listen to him acknowledge that he was wrong and was contrite. Although Boney was stupid, he learned from this major mistake of leaving live witnesses and in the future he knew that he couldn't afford to do that again.

Another answer will be puzzling to many people: he was proud of what he did.

Does that make sense? It does to a loser. It does to a person who took a great deal of pride in the fact that the police had it wrong and weren't able to catch him without a stroke of luck (and later the persistence of the Camm family and defense team). When reading Boney's responses to the police interrogations he appeared to be eager to tell his story. Indeed, although he said that he was remorseful, it was apparent that he was reciting his achievements rather than acknowledging his wrongdoing.

Boney also enjoyed seeing himself on television, in the newspapers, and during the Camm case bragged to fellow inmates that he was a "celebrity" who was going to write a book about his exploits. Indeed, he was in the process of writing such an autobiography in the months prior to his own trial in January, 2006.

The next question is also obvious. If he was proud of his prior criminal achievements and readily acknowledged them, why didn't he do so when confronted about the Camm murders?

Boney repeatedly answered that question when he admitted that people who "do stuff to kids" fare very poorly in prison. He even said that he was part of an unofficial prison "police" who dealt with rapists, sexual predators, and similar types and then claimed that being part of that "police" force was what made him Backbone.

Talk about conflict. The guy claimed to be a Backbone but was engaged in the same type of conduct that he purportedly despised. As such, there's no way that he could specifically acknowledge what he did to the Camm family, but he did later brag about committing the crimes in a roundabout way; i.e., he had "three (murders) under his belt" which enabled him to take credit for the murders but not to admit that he had killed a mother and her two children.

Nonetheless, after being apprehended with his three kidnapped coeds, Boney knew the justice system as well as anyone and knew that the court wanted to hear his remorseful statement, which he later provided. He told the judge that he was guilty and that he deserved to go to prison.

The judge could have issued consecutive sentences for the five B felony counts of Armed Robbery and Criminal Confinement (Kidnapping) but rather sentenced Boney on March 31, 1993 to 20 years on each count to run concurrent with one another. He had dodged another bullet and was facing with "good time" only 10 years in prison. His expected release date was March 20, 2003.

Boney was initially sent to the Reception and Diagnostic Center (RDC) in Plainfield, Indiana where, after approximately thirty days of testing and evaluation, he was sent to the Indiana Youth Center, a medium security prison located literally next door to the RDC.

Boney later bragged that he was incarcerated at the IYC with Mike Tyson, the former Heavyweight Boxing Champion. There was no word if Tyson cowered in the presence of Backbone.

In early 1995 Boney was transferred to the more secure Indiana State Prison (ISP) after he was involved in a fight, resulting in injuries, at the IYC. He was at the ISP for less than a year prior to being found in possession of a prison shank.

For the most part, Boney kept a low profile but was involved in several fights, spent time in administrative segregation, and through his own admissions, "sold drugs…to survive" although "I never let the people in charge know what I was doing."

While incarcerated in prison, Boney also secured a series of tattoos, including the following:

1. A "BACKBONE" tattoo which depicted a large and muscular male with large biceps who was striking a weightlifter pose and the words, "Bow Down To The Bone".
2. A Crescent with an adjoining five star pentagram with the number five inside and the words, Almighty Back Bone to the right of the Crescent and underneath the pentagram.
3. A skeleton holding a .45 semi-automatic handgun and a bag of loot in the other hand.

Boney explained that the skeleton with the handgun and the bag of loot symbolized the fact that he was an armed robber and that many inmates secured tattoos which portrayed their crimes.

Boney didn't explain the two Backbone tattoos but the fact that he called himself "Almighty" and that people should "Bow Down" to him were certainly indicative of a person who thought very highly of himself. Those two tattoos could also explain his comments that Satan was his higher power, as witnessed by his girlfriends and wife who stated that Boney would also light black candles and conduct chants at midnight, and would routinely blaspheme God with perverse sexual comments.

It was also while he was incarcerated at the ISP that the State of Indiana collected blood from Boney in order to extract his DNA and to place that profile in CODIS. That occurred on July 24, 1997.

In early August, 1999 Boney was transferred to the newly opened Miami Correctional Facility in Peru, Indiana. He would be incarcerated there for less than a year prior to his release but two things happened that bear reporting.

The first occurred in February, 2000 when Boney informed Correctional Officers that his cellmate had hidden a homemade shank in the shell of his television set. The authorities soon discovered, however, that it was Boney who had framed his cellmate and had placed the knife there himself.

Boney wasn't punished that much by the authorities but other inmates didn't take kindly to him framing another inmate and then snitching on him. He was "fined" by some other angry inmates and rather than stand up to their intimidation of him, he sought refuge with other inmates, who didn't care for him and didn't help him.

The second story about Boney in the MCF was related by an older inmate to whom Boney confided on several occasions. According to that inmate, he was sitting in his cell when Boney told him that his goal in life was to kill a cop and his family. It was no secret that Boney hated cops but this was a new revelation.

That inmate later confided to his sister the comments made by Boney and he later was interviewed by Detective Gilbert who asked him if he would take a polygraph about his assertions. The inmate said that he would, but no polygraph was ever afforded him. That appeared to be a continuing pattern by the police. They didn't use the polygraph if the results could possibly hurt their case against Camm.

During the ten years of his incarceration (from 1990-92 and 1992-2000), Boney was a prolific letter writer. He wrote to, among others, his Monroe County Public Defender, Mike Hunt, and also to Judge Elizabeth Mann, who had heard his case and who had sentenced him.

Here is a sampling of some of the comments and pleas made by Boney in his letters:

1. "I am in need of my freedom so that I can help take care of my family."
2. "I have truly learned my lesson."
3. "I do not have it in me to do anything like this again."
4. "I am remorseful for my inequities."
5. "I am different. I want my freedom."
6. "I am ready to exit this "Hell" and turn my life around."
7. "I beg you to help me."
8. "I am not too proud to get down on my knees, for I do this twice daily."

In his last letter, prior to appearing in Bloomington on June 19, 2000 Boney wrote the following letter to Judge Mann:

Boney did appear in front of Judge Mann on June 19, 2000 and his sentence was modified and he was released that day. His mother and grandmother drove him home and the highlight of his day was eating at a McDonald's restaurant.

Charles Boney began work at Anderson Woods in Louisville within a week of his release and within a few weeks had obtained a semi-automatic handgun which he kept in his backpack and also in the trunk of his dark blue Cadillac.

Slightly over three months after his release from prison, the man who got "down on his knees" twice a day, who was "remorseful for his inequities" and who had "truly learned (his) lesson" terrorized and shot and killed Kim, Bradley and Jill Camm in the garage of their home in Georgetown, Indiana. Chief Deputy Prosecutor Owen later asked the rhetorical question if it made sense for Boney to be released from prison, commit such a heinous act, and then to leave evidence at the scene. For most people who know the whole story about Charles Darnell Boney, the answer was a simple, but resounding "Yes!"