Another Visit to "Kevin"

Click on the picture to see all of it.

I visited my friend "Kevin" again on Friday. He had the prison photographer take a few pictures. He gave me this one to take with me, and I scanned it. It's not as nice as the original, but I think it's not that bad.

The more I find out about "Kevin"'s story, the more I'm inclined to believe that he was wrongly convicted. Unfortunately, his case would be nearly impossible to overturn.

For one thing, he has never claimed total innocence. He has always admitted to one improper act committed when he was 13. But he was convicted of many acts that I believe were committed by his brother.

His second conviction happened when he was 18. I now strongly suspect that he was the victim of a false accusation. But even if the alleged victim recanted, it's unlikely his conviction would be thrown out.

Kevin is now 23. His best chance for release is probably to admit to having done thing that he did not do. If he does not, he may spend the rest of his life behind bars. There is likely a conflict between the truth and the record. Unfortunately, truth matters little in a court of law. If "Kevin" doesn't play the game, he will be labeled "in denial" and have no hope of release.

I can provide "Kevin" with no legal help. All I can do is try to be his friend. But he needs more friends.

I have found a couple of people who write to him. But he needs more. Because I have no car, I can only afford to visit him at most once a month. I can't publish "Kevin"'s actual name. But if you think you might be willing to write or visit, email me at bobchatelle@gmail.com and we can talk about it.

-Bob

My Visit to "Kevin"

Dear Friend of Justice,

Yesterday I finally met "Kevin" face to face. I have been corresponding with him for a long time, by letter and by telephone, but I had never visited him. I don't have a car and a visit is quite an expensive process involving commuter rail and taxis. Because my financial situation is so precarious, I've long known that I can't make a commitment to visit him often. But there were so many things I didn't feel comfortable talking about in letters (which can be read) and on the phone (which can be monitored and recorded).

I had been long puzzled about his first "crime" -- allegedly committed when he was about 13. At the time, his older brother was sexually abusing both "Kevin" and their four-year-old niece. When the niece began making accusations, the family made "Kevin" take the fall. I was horrified and curious how such a thing could have happened.

One thing I discovered yesterday is that "Kevin" has a different biological father than his siblings. Kevin's biological father was a man that the mother had been married to before she married the man who fathered the other children. This was no secret within the family. "Kevin's father" and his siblings have a different last name than "Kevin."

For as long as "Kevin" can remember, he was the abused child and the brother was the fair-haired boy. "Kevin" was considered the troublemaker and he did get into a lot of trouble. The brother never got into trouble. And no one knew that the brother was sexually abusing both "Kevin" and the little niece. Until the niece started to talk about it.

"Kevin" admits having done bad things to his niece and thus doesn't claim innocence. But he says that the really nasty things in the police reports and described in court were in fact done by the brother. He mentioned that there were times when the niece gave the wrong name and had to be corrected.

"Kevin" makes no excuses for his second crime, other than his abuse of drugs and alcohol and his denial of his true sexuality. This second crime, committed when he was 18, was far less serious than the first. He was sentenced to a year in jail. After serving his time, he was committed for "one day to life" as a sexually dangerous person."

Without the first "crime," he probably wouldn't have been committed. And without the first "crime," he probably could easily get the commitment lifted.

But there is no realistic way that the first "crime" can be removed from his record. For most intents and purposes, a conviction is forever. And everyone, including his own lawyers, has to proceed on the assumption that he really did the things he was convicted for.

During his "treatment," "Kevin" also has to act as if he did the things he was convicted for. At one point, he sent me the "autobiography" he had written as part of his treatment. None of the things he had told me about his brother were in it, even though I certainly thought they were an important part of his story. But the "official" truth is that he did the things his brother actually did.

Also, it is not to his advantage to let his "therapists" know that he was a victim. Although there is no evidence for it, almost all "therapists" subscribe to the cycle-of-abuse theory: if you were sexually abused, then you will likely become a sexual abuser. If the "therapists" knew he had been sexually abused, they would consider him more, not less, sexually dangerous.

Therapist logic is a lot like legal logic. That's why therapists and prosecutors work so well together.

"Kevin" is 22 years old, soon to turn 23. He was 18 when he was sent to his current facility. A month after that, his mother paid him a short visit. Yesterday, he received his second visit -- from me.

I would like to see "Kevin" given a chance.

He has had a terrible life. He has a lot of anger within him. I think it would be disastrous were he to get out and pick up alcohol or drugs. I have lived free of alcohol and drugs for over 25 years. I would do what I could to help him stay clean and sober.

I also think "Kevin" has come to accept himself for who he is and no longer feels the need to prove -- in inappropriate ways -- that he is someone else.

"Kevin" goes to court in July. His public defender will try to get the commitment lifted. I hope for the best, but I have told him not to be devastated if he doesn't succeed the first time. I have promised to visit him again. My partner Jim has also said that he wants to visit with me at some point.

There are a great many kids like "Kevin" -- kids who had the misfortune of being born into abusive alcoholic families. It's hard for them to find advocates or people willing to help them. So we lock them up for life.

There's got to be a better way.

-Bob

Murphy's Response

On Friday, March 28th, I received my response from Superintendent Murphy. You can read it by clicking on the image of the letter at the left.

Basically, Murphy says he has no idea why the books were contrabanded. He does not, you will notice, concede that any mistakes were made, that anyone might have violated procedures or done anything at all wrong.

And, as I expected, no apology was offered.





"Kevin," however, has talked to the Chief Property Officer, who seems to agree that the books should not have been declared contraband. If the books have not yet been destroyed, he may still receive them. If they have been destroyed, it's possible that his canteen account will be credited. So we are still awaiting final resolution. If necessary, I will reorder the books, one by one.

I am still hoping to find people willing to correspond with "Kevin." If you are interested, let me know and I will give you his name and address.

On another note, believe it or not, I now have my Icelandic herbs. They were held by U.S. customs for a long time and then sent back to Iceland. The Icelandic company contacted me and told me that such a thing had never happened to them before. They had sent them originally by Icelandic post. So they resent them by FedEx and gave me the tracking number. This time they were held in customs for about 12 hours and then released.

-Bob Chatelle

Contrabanded Books Development

I just received a phone call from "Kevin." Superintendent Murphy is investigating what happened with the contrabanded books and "Kevin" is optimistic that there will be a fair resolution.

I will post more when the matter is finally resolved.

-Bob

The Rule of Law

Dear Friend of Justice,

Last Sunday I received a phone call from my friend "Kevin." (See my posts of March 14th and 17th.) He was finally given one of the three books I had sent him -- Painless Reading Comprehension. The two books destroyed by the prison were thus Painless Writing and Painless Poetry. The numeral 2 had been written on the contraband slip. But I hadn't given this too much thought. I hadn't assumed that all employees of the Massachusetts Correctional system could pass a math proficiency test.

As expected, I have heard nothing back from Superintendent Murphy. If I don't hear something by the end of the week, I will write again to the Commissioner, with a cc to Representative Rushing and Senator Jehlen. Rushing is my state rep. And Senator Patricia Jehlen is the one member of the Massachusetts legislature who has shown past concern about Massachusetts injustices.

"Kevin" told me that he had heard that the officer who had destroyed the books had contrabanded property belonging to a total of 115 prisoners during the same week. It was his last week as a property officer before being promoted to IPS (Internal Perimeter Security). I have no way of verifying this information, of course.

I will wait a week or so and try to send him one of the books again. As I mentioned before, the Painless series was designed for use in high schools.

This morning I discovered another way in which I had been the victim of arbitrary government power.

In the fall of 2006, my partner, Jim D'Entremont, took me to Sweden. The main objective of the trip was a visit to the mountain village that my grandmother had left as a little girl late in the 19th century. It was a wonderful trip, and we were treated like visiting royalty by distant cousins I met for the first time.

On the way back, we spend a few days in Iceland where for the first time we experienced wonderful Icelandic lamb soup. After coming home, we went looking for recipes on the internet. We discovered that a key ingredient was an herb mixture containing herbs native to Iceland -- such as Arctic thyme and bog bilberry. You don't find such things on the shelves at Star Market, Whole Foods, or Trader Joes.

After a lot of googling, I found a source within Iceland. Ordering it was expensive, partly because you pay for the postage by the kilo. But I ordered a small jar of the herbs over a year ago with no problem.

Recently we ran out and I decided to order two small jars. I waited and waited for them to arrive. I contacted the company, who supplied me with the tracking number. I discovered that "Your item is being processed by United States Customs." This processing has been going on since March 12th.

U.S. Custom Agents can seize anything they want. They don't have to give reasons. They can hold your property indefinitely. And there is no appeal. They have the same kind of absolute authority given to correctional officers.

The law is what they say it is. It's for national security. And to protect the children.

While I was fuming about all of this, I received a phone call from a friend, telling me that the Boston Globe had published an obituary for John O'Brien. (See posts of March 6th and March 9th.) Here is the link:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/03/25/john_obrien_playwright_with_sharp_wit_and_keen_conscience/?p1=email_to_a_friend


John was a teacher with a terrific love of learning. And he had enormous compassion for prisoners and ex-prisoners. He would have been horrified by what was done to "Kevin." And he would have made a real pest of himself trying to right that wrong. I wish I had his kind of spirit.

John would also have been amused by the idea of U.S. Custom officials trying to get stoned by smoking a mixture of Arctic thyme and bog bilberry.

-Bob

A Letter to Superintendent Murhpy

March 17, 2008

Robert F. Murphy, Jr., Superintendent
Massachusetts Treatment Center
Bridgewater MA 02324

Dear Superintendent Murphy:

From June of 1999 through June of 2006, when Judge Francis Fecteau threw out his conviction, I was a regular visitor of Bernard Baran. During those seven years, his supporters and I often sent him books using Amazon.com.

During that time I also began corresponding with some of Baran’s friends, including XXXXX XXXXXXXX. I still correspond with XXXXX and accept his phone calls. About a month ago, I sent XXXXX three books via Amazon.

One he particularly appreciated was Painless Grammar, by Dr. Rebecca Elliot. (The Painless series was developed for use in high schools.) This book came with a brochure that described some of the other books in the series. I asked XXXXX to let me know which interested him.

On March 2^nd, I ordered three more books from Amazon for XXXXX: Painless Poetry, Painless Reading Comprehension, and Painless Writing.

Last Friday, XXXXX called me to tell me that the Treatment Center had declared these books contraband. XXXXX was given the choice of having the books destroyed or paying 12 to 15 dollars to have then shipped out. Since XXXXX couldn’t afford the postage, the books were destroyed.

I asked XXXXX to send me the contraband slip so that I could try to figure out what had gone wrong. I enclose a copy. It is unsigned and undated. The only explanation given was “Book (2) not authr. DOC.” So I have no idea what rule I might have violated.

Since I have little income besides my social security, I can offer XXXXX no financial help. I am, however, happy to help him improve and educate himself. But I can’t afford to buy books for him that the Treatment Center is going to destroy. The destroyed books cost me $32.86. I don’t expect to be compensated. But I would like to send XXXXX books in the future and not have to worry about their being destroyed.

I certainly don’t want to violate your rules. I just want to know what they are. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Chatelle

CC: Commissioner Harold W. Clarke, Senator Patricia Jehlen, Representative Byron Rushing

Befriend a Sex Offender!

When I begin my criminal-justice work, I had little sympathy for the guilty. Two things changed that.

First of all, I learned how men and women are actually treated in prison. Dehumanizing inmates benefits no one.

Secondly, I eventually got to know some of the guilty. The innocent people I befriended told me about good and decent people they had come to know behind bars, including people who freely admitted their crimes. Eventually, I got to know some of these men myself. They wrote to me. They put me on their phone lists. As I got to know them, I began to hope that they might be given another chance.

There is no class of people in this country more demonized than the sex offender. In the mind of the public, sex offenders are all like the psychotic sadistic creeps portrayed in acclaimed movies such as Mystic River. Elected officials would much rather spend their time and our money dreaming up more and more draconian sex-offender laws than in tackling issues such as education, the housing crisis, or the failing economy.

As a result, anyone convicted of any sex crime can look forward to lifelong incarceration. Those that do get out can’t find jobs. They can’t find housing. They are in constant danger of assault or murder. Given the nearly insurmountable problems they face, it’s amazing that sex-offenders still have about the lowest recidivism rate of any class of criminal. (For more information about sex offenders and their treatment, check out this page at the site of the National Center for Reason and Justice.)

Some of the men in our prisons for sex crimes are like the monsters of popular culture. But most are not. A great many of them are in prison because they did something stupid as a kid. Often their judgment had been impaired by drugs or alcohol. Had they come from influential families, their cases would have quietly been settled out of court. If your dad (or mother) is the District Attorney, a judge, the mayor, or the Chief of Police, you need have little fear of ever ending up behind bars. Many of the people enacting the draconian sex-offender laws did worse things as teenagers than the people they are condemning to a living hell.

I have become especially concerned about a young man I will call “Kevin,” who is 22 years old. Since the age of 14, Kevin has spent almost all of his life behind bars. He has never denied either of his two crimes.

Kevin suffered severe physical and sexual abuse as a child. The physical abuse came from his alcoholic mother and her successive alcoholic boyfriends. The sexual abuse began when he was nine. That was when his older brother began forcing Kevin to masturbate him and to perform oral sex. The brother was also abusing their very young niece. The brother would also have Kevin and the niece do sexual things together.

This went on for years, until the niece finally started to talk about what was happening. Kevin’s mother was terrified that the older boy was going to get locked up. So the family decided to make Kevin the sacrificial lamb. (Although I have been corresponding and talking to Kevin for about a year and a half, he only recently told me about the circumstances of his first crime. To his credit, he takes full responsibility for his behavior towards his niece.)

At the age of 14, Kevin was sent to a youth detention center. Predictably, he was raped and brutalized. He was very messed up when he was released at 18. Because his mother wanted nothing to do with him, he went to live with his alcoholic father. Kevin began abusing drugs and alcohol himself. He reoffended with a young step- niece. The offense was improper touching while she was fully clothed. He has been locked up ever since.

Kevin believes that drugs and alcohol contributed to his second crime and he believes that he needs to live clean and sober. He attends meetings for drug and alcohol abusers while in prison. Kevin and I often discuss these meetings. I am a recovering alcoholic myself. During my drinking years, I too did things that could have ended me up behind bars for a very long time.

Kevin also very recently told me that he is gay. He told me that he has known this since he was a child but could not accept it. (Given his abusive home environment, this certainly isn’t surprising.) Teenagers sometimes do terrible things to try to prove to the world (and themselves) that they are not gay. But Kevin has learned to accept himself as he is.

Will Kevin be given a chance? Given today’s climate of panic, the odds are against it.

Kevin is serving a one-day-to-life sentence as a sexually dangerous person. Only a judge or a jury can free him. This summer, he will go to court with a court-appointed attorney to try to show that he is not sexually dangerous. He likes his lawyer and he believes that she cares about him. But public-defenders are overburdened and underpaid.

Juries do declare convicted sex offenders not sexually dangerous. I’ve seen it happen on a number of occasions. It’s an interesting process to observe. During the course of a trial, the jury comes to realize that they are not dealing with some TV-created monster but an actual human being. They decide to give another chance. And the recidivism rate of such men is very low, even given the horrible problems they will face.

A jury won’t free Kevin, of course, if he has no job and no place to live. These are the two things that few want to offer someone convicted of a sex crime. Many people in prison are fortunate enough to have a supportive family and a network of friends to help them get a second start if they win their freedom. But Kevin’s family is and always has been his worst enemy. They are the people he needs to stay away from. (Far, far away.)

Recently, it dawned upon me that I am now Kevin’s only friend. That is not a comfortable position to be in.

I am hoping to find a few others who might also be willing to be his friend. I’m not looking for people to send him money or offer him a job or a place to live. What I do hope to find are a couple of people who might be willing occasionally to write to him. I do my best, but I’m often busy and I do write to several other prisoners as well.

But if you think you might be willing to write him, email me (bobchatelle@gmail.com) and we can talk about it. I can then give you Kevin’s real name and his address. Behind the walls or out, Kevin will not survive without a support system.

-Bob