It's sure cruel, but we can't figure out why anybody thinks it's unusual; vicious cruelty flourishes in all Pennsylvania's 25 adult and 14 children's prisons. For years the prisoners in State Correctional Institution at Greene (Waynesburg, Pennsylvania) have been beaten and otherwise barbarously abused. Nothing about it was a secret to anyone except you, the public.
Superintendent Ben Varner not only knew all about the beatings, he ran the pest hole. Even the chief villain in the state, Governor Tom Ridge surely knew about the abuses. In the Ridge Reich, harming people is the major business. My advice is to take your business elsewhere.
So, anyway, prisoners in SCI-Greene were/are being tortured. Then, much to the dismay and irritation of the Ridge Reich, a few citizens started to complain. In February 1998 things got so hot thanks to people like Professor Heicklen, Jeanette Erickson and attorney Grisel Ybarra that the Department of Corrections couldn't continue the cover-up. It was forced to make some little gesture.
The newspapers in Pennsylvania are notoriously gutless wonders. They very very seldom depart from the party line. In almost every case, the "press" is really the parrot, dishing out official and police propaganda as if it were truth. Faithful to the authority of the Ridge Reich, they had ignored the prisoners' repeated pleas. Like the good little puppets they are, they ignored the outcries of humanitarian groups and responsible citizens. Only when the stink was so foul that they couldn't ignore it any longer and only after the officials had concocted a line of bull to feed to the public, did the papers pick up the story.
The Harrisburg Patriot News, perhaps the worst paper in the state, is still faithfully publishing the party line. The Uniontown Herald-Standard and to a much lesser extent the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are among the few papers which have dared to publish many facts. SInce you may not have even heard of the scandal, we are putting up what we know, as we get the information.
Once upon a time there was this nice fellow who worked at SCI-Greene. His name was John William Roberts. He was the guard who searched visitors when they entered the prison. From all appearances, he really like what he was doing.
The police say he was doing other stuff, too. They charge that Guard Roberts did dirty stuff to young boys. The cops eventually even arrested him. The prison had no choice, but to can him (no pun intended).
Now, we certainly don't hold anything against faggots. To each his own. And God knows, many prison guards are as queer as Fluffy-the-Tutu dancer. Who else would drool over a shower-room full of brawny convicts lathering up? Also, we have no idea if the many sexual charges against prison guards, including those of wee-wee-worship against Roberts, are true. The teenage boy who swore that the Guard had sex with him may be lying. In fact, all four of the little boys may be lying.
The cops, however, charged Guard Roberts with "involuntary deviate sexual intercourse" (that means forcing a child into an oral and/or anal sexual sport). Guard Roberts was also charged with "indecent assault" (the touching of certain sinful areas of the immature physique), statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors and furnishing alcohol to minors.
We honestly don't know what parts of the boys Guard Roberts may or may not have handled. We do know that he was doing the searches of visitors who would endure almost anything in order to get in to visit their loved ones in SCI-Greene. We have only one rhetorical question: if a guy is going to screw 4 boys who can snitch and be believed, what might he do to 1400 prisoners who have nobody to complain to?
We note also, that guard Roberts wasn't fired by the prison until after the few rogue newspapers began to publish accounts of some of the doing in the prison.
Many prisoners complained about Jon Tustin. He was a lieutenant at SCI-Greene. Some prisoners charged that he was particularly violent and brutal, what one might call a thug. Of course, Ben Varner's prison administration ignored the reports and opinions of the scum-bag prisoners. Didn't they realize that they were just so much inventory who existed solely to give jobs to guards? Who cares if prisoners are battered?
Then a funny thing happened, the cops who have protected and covered up for so many guards, nailed Tustin after an apparently savage assault on a citizen. The cops hated to do it (they are all part of the same corrupt "Brotherhood") and they stalled for 3 months, but eventually they arrested Guard Tustin. The victim said that Guard Tustin came out of a bar, jumped him in the parking lot, slammed him to the ground and repeatedly kicked him.
There are those wags of the opinion that the guard wasn't doing anything unusual. He was just drunk and mistook a civilian for a prisoner.
But Tustin was part of the "brotherhood" so, the office of the Greene County District Attorney, David Pollock, dropped the charges against Guard Tustin in exchange for a slap on the wrist and 6 months probation. This is the same District Attorney David Pollock who is "investigating" the criminal charges against other guards. Who smells a cover-up? Certainly not us! Already the DA has viewed tapes of assaults, but (surprise!) he sides with the guards. Many of the victims were only blacks, anyway.
Superintendent Ben Varner knew about Tustin's drunken assault. Not to worry, he "reprimanded" the guard and sent him back to working in the prison hole where prisoners could be beaten in secret. DOC can't have a lot of viciousness against civilians. They might tell. Prisoners are another matter completely.
Ah, but it wasn't quite over. After the Herald-Standard revealed the story about Tustin's arrest and the favoritism he'd received, the Department of Corrections sacrificed him. Lieutenant John Tustin was fired in May 1998 along with another guard lieutenant, Scott Nickelson. We'll give you more about him soon.
Most guards are thugs and some like to beat up civilians. Jon Tustin doesn't sound much different from many other commissioned officers of the guard. I personally know one called "Shithouse Shorty" about whom I'll write if and when it's safe.
Don't tell me that crime doesn't pay!
Varner was not the only officer who was punished. Remember that if you or I did the stuff these guys are alleged to have done, we'd get a long prison term. Beating men while they are handcuffed is aggravated assault. Aggravated assault is supposed to be a serious felony. Apparently that's true only when the victim is not a prisoner.
Prisoners who know Robert Sparbaine both at SCI-Pittsburgh and at Greene have characterized him as "evil" and that was the nicest of the things that were said. The Department of Corrections liked him so much that they made him a major of the guard. Then came all this stink about the barbarism at SCI-Greene. Sparbaine wasn't prosecuted. He wasn't even fired. He was "demoted" one grade back down to captain. We're sure it's only temporary. DOC likes evil.
Captain Denis Launtz was also "demoted" a grade, back to lieutenant. Nobody wants to say what he did.
Of course, the worst punishment was meted out on the lowest ranks. Several Lieutenants were suspended. They included: Others including, Captain John Kingston and Lieutenant Charles Plavi were only reprimanded.
Two offenders of the lowest rank "correctional officer," were actually fired: Mark Powell and George Reposky. We are trying to contact our reporters in SCI-Greene for information on why the two "co's" were sacrificed. It's very out of character for the DOC. About a dozen other "co's" were slapped on the wrist, but 14 were left off completely.
Prisoners have filed dozens of suits begging the courts for protection from the abuses at SCI-Greene. Of course, the court system is just as corrupt as the prison system. The prisoners' pleas were unceremoniously tossed out. The prisoners simply wanted the abuse to stop and, in great detail, they explained to the courts about the racial focus of many assaults, verbal abuse, beatings, sexual assaults, body cavity searches, humiliation and general barbarism.
Courts don't care about prisoners. Their job is to dignify and legitimize the official abuses. They did their job admirably. But, then came along Antonio Noguerol. He had the magic bullet; a lawyer, Rita Murillo!
His suit at least got a little notice. He said that several guards at SCI-Greene pummeled him with their fists and nightsticks while he was handcuffed. He reports that a guard wrote "KKK" on the floor in his blood. He said that a guard used a nightstick to knock a gold tooth from the prisoners' mouth.
Almost every prisoner who has complained to the courts has mentioned the racial injustice of the prison. The prison population is about 75% non-white!
Grisel Ybarra, a very able and articulate immigration attorney from Florida (2323 Red Road, Suite 201, Miami 33155) was unfortunate enough to have to visit her client at SCI-Greene. She has written at length about the gross legal and personal abuses at the prison. Besides corresponding with the press and Commissioner Horn, she's complained to the Governor (a fat lot of good that will do! The guy likes abuse!)
An arrogant captain at the prison, Michael Muccino, has been a well deserved focus of Ms Ybarra's criticism. In particular she faults him for habitually violating her lawyer-client confidentiality and for inventing "contraband." In one of her complaints to Commissioner Horn, Ms Ybarra encloses a dreadful piece of doggerel which appears on the "Live Poets Society" website and which is attributed to this Captain Muccino.
No one would mistake the 70 words to be poetry or literature. They do, however, offer an insight into Muccino's mentality, as so, into the mentality of most self-important, ranking prison staff. Attorney Ybarra suggests that Commissioner Horn "show it to someone in your psychology department. Ask them if a man who thinks that inmates are 'scourge,' should be in charge of security at a penal institution."
Adolf Eichmann was the Nazi who excused himself for murdering tens of thousands of Jews by saying that he was only following orders. The just-following-orders defense has become a staple for thug-cops and thug-guards ever since.
The Pennsylvania prison guards have a union. They whine a lot whenever they get caught. As the disgrace at SCI-Greene grew into a paradigm for prison mismanagement and brutality, the guards have started to whine a lot! Why, even the civilians in the community are teasing the thugs about their viciousness.
A guard sergeant, William Herbert, seems to be the president of the guards' union and so, one of the chief whiners. He doesn't seem to like it when the public ridicules him for the abuse. Now, remember, we never heard from Guard Herbert or the union when helpless, handcuffed prisoners were being savagely brutalized. Herbert appears to care more about guards being teased than about the prisoners being assaulted.
We love the quote attributed to Guard Herbert in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "If at some point someone would have said there was something wrong, we would have changed it." What does it take to give this guy a clue that something is wrong? Bloody prisoners, assaults, 200 law suits, knocked out teeth, a counselor quitting; you'd think that some of that might have sunk in as "something wrong!"
The guards have adopted the classic Eichmann defense. It seems that they were only doing what they were ordered to do by some shadowy higher-up.
Return to New And Interesting Menu
Return to Public Enemies Menu
Return to HOMEPAGE.
Chapter One:
The Wee-Wee ManChapter Two:
Thug-Man, The Soused Crusader
Ronald Berberick,
Robert Esmond,
Jeffrey Forte,
David Grainey,
William McCombie.
Chapter Four
Teaching Minorities Their PlaceChapter Five:
Poet Laureate of GuardsChapter Six:
The Eichmann Defense