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It appears that we've struck a nerve! I guess we're doing
something right. The truth seems to hurt.
Guards at the state prison at Frackville where our co-founder, George Feigley is imprisoned have started a sophomoric campaign of retaliation. Like idle highschool boys loafing on a street corner they have taken to hurling insults at him and taunting him. Oddly, the guards have never written to the website to ask for correction of any errors or to even to ask to be heard. These are prison guards, after all, so they resort to bullying which is what they know best. Recently we received a copy of a letter written by our co- founder to the Superintendent of the prison, Robert Shannon. We reproduce it below. Dear Superintendent Shannon: I write to you because formerly on three occasions where there were similar incidents I received no reply from the shift commander. While leaving the messhall at breakfast on Sunday, a guard who identified himself as "Suave" (a name I cannot verify) undertook to taunt, chide, ridicule and harass me. I had not spoken to him before he started his diatribe although I had responded to another guard who was standing nearby after that guard had politely greeted me. To the best of my knowledge, I've never spoken to "Suave" before today. At lunch line, the guard repeated the harassment only much more loudly and insistently, yelling from the doorway. He added threats about what he planned in the future, apparently Friday. Several guards in the area joined in his merriment. As I am sure you are aware, harassment is a criminal offense in Pennsylvania. This guard's conduct was spontaneous and unprovoked. It violated the Code of Professional Conduct and was both unprofessional and provocative. Were I to call him names in the way he did to me, I would be severely sanctioned. Had I responded to his provocation in a defensive or angry way, again, I would have been punished. Such confrontations produce needless and dangerous stress. I've complained about similar incidents in the past. Apparently the administration is unwilling or unable to properly supervise and train the guards. Certainly this guard showed no restraint although there was a commissioned officer in the area. I assume that the guard's goal was to demean and injure me as opposed to attempting to provoke attack from other prisoners in the busy doorway. In any event, the conduct was assaultive, dangerous and illegal. I request that some effort be made to curb such conduct. "It's a newspaper's duty to print
the news You are welcome to use or republish
any of our material.
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