Should killer have the right to seek pen pals?
meg...@my-deja.com
States, Victims' Kin Angered by Internet Ads
Feb. 9, 2000
By Robert Anthony Phillips
TUCSON, Ariz. (APBnews.com) -- Stardust Johnson cringed when she saw a
photograph of her husband's killer on the Internet, pleading for female
pen pals to end his death row boredom.
"I looked at the site and felt outrage and pain," said Johnson, whose
husband Roy Johnson, a University of Arizona music professor, was
abducted, robbed and beaten to death after he attended a concert
in Tucson in February 1995. Beau Greene was convicted of the murder and
sentenced to death.
"I felt double the grief because it just picked me up and put me back to
the intensity of what he had done, that he should be alive, advertising
on the Internet while my husband is dead."
The pen pal site, which said it was "pleased" to present Greene, bears a
photo of the condemned killer cuddling a cat. Greene wrote that he was
looking for "fun" and wanted women to write to him.
"I really can't believe Roy is gone," Johnson said. "He was the most
gentle, kind, soft-spoken person. That this filthy scum should be alive
and advertising, saying he's bored and life is dull and holding a fluffy
cat was just nauseating."
Site triggers outrage
Greene's Internet personal ad spurred Johnson to lobby on behalf of a
bill that includes provisions banning inmates from sending or receiving
mail through so-called prisoner pen pal sites in cyberspace.
Arizona corrections officials are more edgy about inmate pen pal
relationships because of a bizarre caper in 1997 when a
woman, who had met her death row husband on the Internet, attempted to
break him out of the state's maximum-security prison. The woman and
inmate were shot to death.
But there are both constitutional and practical questions as to whether
the proposed law, if enacted, could even be enforceable.
Ferreting out Internet mail generated from the Web, separating it from
regular mail and monitoring sites for inmate ads would require a
full-time team of investigators, corrections officials say.
A call for prisoner isolation
Besides that, the state is under a 1973 court order that forbids it from
reading incoming mail to prisoners, while it can read only 10 percent of
inmates outgoing mail.
And prisoner advocates say it is cruel to keep prisoners isolated from
the outside world and cut off any limited human contact they might have.
They say prisoners have a right to receive mail, and people have a right
to send them letters.
Still, family members of murder victims would like to see the bill
passed -- even if the measure is mostly symbolic.
Numerous prisoner Web sites
There are numerous Internet sites -- some run by human rights groups,
ministers and moneymaking entrepreneurs -- that find pen pals for
inmates. One site operated by a Missouri minister even maintains
regular communication with a convicted serial killer that she calls
"Jack." Type in the words "prison pen pals" or "inmate pen pals" in any
search engine and numerous sites will appear. Prison Pen Pals.com.,
Cyberspace Inmates, Penn-Pals-Prison Inmate Service Network,
Transcend the Walls and Cell Pals are but a few.
The sites routinely list personal ads from inmates, including many on
death row around the United States. They plead for letters from the
outside world to help fill their "lonely" hours. Some are looking for
women. Others solicit donations to their defense funds and ask people
to send them stamps. Others say they just want to hear from the
outside world. Some inmates even have set up Web sites devoted to
their cases and to proclaim their innocence.
However, no prisoner has direct access to Internet access or e-mail in
Arizona. The prisoners place their ads on the pen-pals sites, which
collects mail and sends it to the inmate.
Lonely criminals or connivers?
But are these heartfelt ads from imprisoned men and women who crave
contact with the outside world, or conniving attempts to reach out to
someone that might help them? That depends on whom you talk to.
"You can't arbitrarily cut off contact with human beings on the
outside," said Tracy Lamourie of the Canadian Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty, which has a Web site that provides free listings to about
500 death row inmates around the United States. "It doesn't help anybody
to have them isolated 24 hours a day and getting more and more angry."
Numerous Arizona inmates, including many on death row, place pleas
for letters on the site.
Lamourie said she has never received complaints from any of the people
who write to death row inmates from the list provided on her site. She
said that she regularly writes 18 inmates. She also said that by being
able to publish letters on Web sites, inmates provide the public with a
glimpse into prison conditions.
"I think Arizona should spend their time and effort and taxpayers' money
on doing things that actually help the prisoner rehabilitate into a
vital part of society when they are released," said Priscilla Pletcher,
who says her Prison Pen Pals.Com site lists more than 6,000 prisoners
from six countries.
"Prison has grown into such a horrible big business, and one out of 70
Americans is in prison. I find this shocking, especially since we once
were billed as 'the land of the free.'"
Prison suspect scams
But the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) has a more suspicious
view of the inmates -- especially death row prisoners -- in Cyberspace.
"For the most part, it is a scam," said Camilla Strongin, chief
spokeswoman for the ADC. "Inmates want to get something from
someone. Most of our research on death row inmates reveals that they
have a subculture on the outside that support them."
The ADC says it has "documented cases" of individuals getting in pen
pal relationships with inmates and ending up "mortgaging their homes
and maxing out their credit cards." Investigators said that in some
cases, women have sent the inmates sexually explicit audio and
photographs.
Gary Phelps, the chief investigator for the ADC, said he has interviewed
women who have placed thousands of dollars into inmate bank accounts
or defense funds. Many of these women gravitate to Florence, where the
state's 118 death row prisoners are housed.
ADC officials admit that while they would like to see some restrictions,
they aren't sure how to go about writing a workable state law or even
policing if one is passed.
Woman, lover killed in gunbattle
In July 1997, a woman who had met a death row inmate through an
Internet pen pal ad and later married him attempted to break him out of
prison -- a plot that ended in death for her and her death row husband.
Rebecca Thornton tried to break her husband, killer Floyd Thornton, out
of the state's maximum-security prison in Florence as he was tending to
an inmate vegetable garden.
Wielding an AK-47 assault rifle, Rebecca Thornton was killed in a
gunfight with guards. But before she died, she shot and killed her
husband.
But Donna Hamm, who runs a prisoner advocacy group, blamed the
escape attempt on former Gov. Fife Symington, who paraded the
condemned men outside in chains to show how tough he was on crime.
'Subculture' of death row
The brazen escape attempt prompted the ADC to focus on what it has
called the "subculture" created around death row inmates.
The probe detailed how condemned men and their girlfriends keep in
contact with one another and sometimes hatch plots for escapes and to
smuggle contraband inside the prison. They even used secret "codes" in
their letters, investigators said. And the ADC believes women have
deposited money into prison bank accounts.
"We found out that they are all in Florence and getting together to have
coffees and teas," Phelps said.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Ravage
It will be interesting to see what the outcome is.
--
Ravage
"When you have to kill a man,
it costs nothing to be polite."
--
<meg...@my-deja.com> wrote in message news:886fqk$ql4$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
Turlough
This is an interesting topic and I'm adding a similar article I read
today.
Turlough
Sun, Feb 13, 2000
Inmates surf for pen pals during death row wait
Associated Press
SOMERS -- Death-row inmate Daniel Webb is advertising for love on two
Internet sites that match prisoners with pen pals.
In his ads on the Web sites PrisonPals.com and Cyberspace-Inmates.com
Webb claims to be a real estate investor, an author, and a martial arts
expert. He mentions his love for rhythm and blues. He also lists 2000 as
the year of
his release from prison.
Nowhere on either site does Webb mention he's been convicted of rape,
robbery and murder in Connecticut or that he sits on death row and could
become the first person executed in Connecticut since 1960.
In 1989, he kidnapped bank executive Diane Gellenbeck from a Hartford
parking garage, tried to rape her in Keney Park and, when she tried to
escape, shot her to death.
Webb is one of hundreds of inmates who have posted messages on the Net.
"I'm just astounded that is allowed on the Internet," Gellenbeck's
mother,
Dorothy Gellenbeck, said. "I thought if you were on death row, you just
lived in a cell and would be removed from society."
The trend is alarming crime victim advocates, who fear inmates could
contact
children, sucker pen pals into giving them money and line up future
victims.
"They tell you they like to walk on the beach and listen to music, but
they
never mention they're a serial rapist," said Susan Fisher, executive
director of the Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau based in Sacramento,
Calif. "It's hilarious in one sense, but it's also dangerous."
But having outside contact can help the people in cells, said the Rev.
Rene
Mulkey, who founded Cyberspace-Inmates.com at her dairy farm in
Missouri.
Inmates don't have direct access to the Internet.
Rather, they write letters to Mulkey and pay her $10 a month to post
messages and photos on the Web and relay the replies to them.
Mulkey said two inmates have received marriage proposals as a direct
result
of her site.
Webb's messages are directed at women. "I am looking," he wrote, "for a
sincere, very ambitious and outgoing female with a good sense of humor
to correspond with, as well as sharing my thoughts, life and perhaps my
anticipated future good fortunes with."
Webb is allowed to post the personal ads despite being a convicted sex
offender. "His ability to access the public -and particularly to reach
out to women- is very disturbing," said Gail Burns-Smith, executive
director of Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services.
Connecticut does not give inmates direct access to the Internet; they
write
letters that others put on the Web. And, as Mulkey said, "I do believe
there's such a thing as free speech. They have a right to mail."
The Department of Correction monitors Mulkey's site, spokeswoman
Christina M. Polce said. But there's no law or prison system rule
against such messages, she said.
State officials would act if the messages tipped them off to something
illegal, Polce said. "But we cannot deny Webb access to any responses he
may
have received."
Correction Commissioner John J. Armstrong said he is concerned about
inmates' personal ads. "This is something that could place someone in
jeopardy unknowingly," he said. But the state is limited in what it can
do.
"It's important in society to allow people to communicate with each
other,"
Armstrong said. "We need to be thoughtful about how we approach this."
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