To the Pennsylvania
Parole Board
By: Michael K. Meehan, BE 3945
1111 Altamont Boulevard
Frackville, PA 17931
Dear Members of the Parole Board:
The Board seems to hold law and precedent in contempt. Instead of exercising your judgment for good and rehabilitation, the Board applies excessive punishment. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that "a punishment is 'excessive' and therefore prohibited by the Eighth Amendment, if it's not graded and proportioned to the offense," Weems v United States, 30 sct 544 (1910). A claim of excessive punishment is judged by the "current prevailing standards of decency," Trop v Dulles, 78 sct 590 (1958). The Eighth Amendment to our Constitution succinctly prohibits "excessive sanctions." I've been a productive, taxpaying citizen working in heavy highway construction. I earned the prevailing wage of $15 to $20 per hour. I became drug-dependent. That's a habit, not a crime. I was a victim who managed to graduate from the Keenan House Treatment Program after 6 months. Thereafter, I relapsed. As any smoker knows, overcoming addictions is very difficult. On parole I had technical violations and driving under the influence (DUI) charges. On top of the agony of my addiction, I suffered a stroke shortly before the Parole Board revoked my parole. I was sentenced to 90 days to 23 months with immediate parole. Almost at once, I suffered Barrets esophagus, heart valve disorders and I was scheduled for a heart catheterization. It was paid for my Blue Cross / Blue Shield insurance. In spite of that, between the cost of my imprisonment, medical expenses and exercising my rights to redress of grievance, I've cost the taxpayers approximately $685,000. What good has that expenditure done for the society or for me? Each year I seek parole. I submit a home plan. I submit a job plan. Over the last 12 years I've lost 13 members of my immediate family. That includes my 83 year-old mother and 54 year-old sister. They lived out-of-state so I couldn't even attend their funerals and couldn't find closure. In 2004 my mother became seriously ill. She fell and broke her hip. She suffered from debilitating dementia. At the end, she had to live in a nursing home, then an assisted-living home. Every year I requested compassionate release to care for my mother. The Board would not allow it. She passed away alone in a stark, loveless room. Both my mother and father had been World War II veterans. My mother was a Navy "WAVE" and war hero. She was recognized for her service by the Navy and the Governor of New York. My mother's squad, the majority of whom were captured by the Japanese, were raped and tortured. She was one of fewer than a dozen members of the squad to live through it. While not perfect, my parents were second generation Irish by descent, from County Cork in Ireland. Their parents had sought the American Dream. They worked hard for their whole lives. My father was a New Your City worker for 33 years. My mother Helen, was a telephone operator for over 30 years. Together, they reared a family of 4, sent us all to private schools and set high standards for us. It was my misfortune to have the illness of addiction. Both my brother and sisters are teachers in New York state. My older sister, Kathlene, earned two master's degrees. My sister Colleen, a registered nurse, earned her internship at the New York Foundling Hospital. I, myself, went through community college. Once I'd aspired to be a lawyer. I took Blackstone's paralegal course. I was a member of the National Lawyers Guild in New York City until drugs and alcohol destroyed me. They lead me down the hard path of my life ending in prison. I'm the only prisoner in the large family of 64 first cousins. Both my parents' fathers had been active in the New York Times newspaper. My grandfather, Timothy F. Meehan, was the president of the of the Pressmans and Writers Guild union. My mother's brothers, my uncles Joseph and William Finneran, my two cousins, William Essex and William Essex, Junior, along with my grandfather and uncle Joe, worked for the New York Times for a combined period of over 200 years. Like my grandfathers, my mother had been a Democratic party activist. In her footsteps, I became an advocate on prison issues trying to help my fellow prisoners. My parents owned two homes, one had to be sold when my father became sick. My parents used some of the money to visit Ireland and to travel elsewhere. I deeply regret that I couldn't make it to my father's funeral, either. Now, because of terribly inadequate prison medical care, I'm 100% physically and mentally handicapped. My medications cost are about $2,000 per month. I'll cost the taxpayers about another million dollars in healthcare, surgeries and the burden on them of SSI and Section 8 housing. My mother's house which was valued at $685,000 a year ago has a lien on it from her nursing home for more than it's worth. The taxpayers will bear the burden of paying for the bankruptcy because the Board kept me from being there to help. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, or, more aptly, Department of Corruption, fabricates reasons for punishing prisoners. It beats and commits other atrocities against at least 40% of the mentally handicapped prisoners. I informed the Secretary of Imprisonment, Doctor Jeffrey Beard, of these abuses. In a letter, he acknowledged that the staff would handle the problems. They did so by sweeping it all under the rug. Pennsylvania's prison population is now over 45,000, 175% of designed capacity. The Department's budget will be $1,400,000,000.00! More than 48% of the prison population is beyond the court-ordered 24 month sentence. You on the Board of Parole believe yourselves to be God, All Mighty. You view yourselves as above the courts. You retaliate against those of us who challenge your unbridled authority. The Parole Board is part of the executive branch of government. The Board has illegally usurped the powers of the judiciary branch by imposing an additional sentence added to the court's sentence. I lost 3 years of so-called "street time." The extra time was added to the end of my sentence without the benefit of a court or jury of my peers. In a number of decisions such as Blakley v Washington, the Supreme Court has found such a practice illegal. It violates the separations of powers doctrine. In addition, it's draconian and archaic practices amount to bills of attainder. The Board uses these techniques to impose excessive punishment. My offense was drinking and driving. The Supreme Court has found that a sentence of even 90 days is not in the abstract and may be cruel and unusual. The Court went on to say "it may not be imposed as a penalty for the status of addiction," Robinson v California, 370 US 666 (1962). Such a sentence would be cruel and unusual punishment. With the loss of my family, I have no place to call home. I'm very ill. I spend 9 years in prison for a "crime" of addiction and for exercising my Constitutional rights of challenging the Board's absolute authority. Today I no longer come to the Board asking for compassionate release. I don't think you are capable of compassion. I come to tell you that, with the help of journalists, I've written this letter to every newspaper to ask why I was turned down for parole 12 times despite having approved job and home plans where my "crime" was addiction and while I'm seriously disabled and a huge tax burden. I'll continue as an advocate like my family before me. My forefathers left Ireland to escape the all-powerful English who oppressed them and committed genocide to millions of Irish. In a smaller way, I hope to fight against the injustice of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole and its oppression and injustice. How one family's American Dream was crushed!
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