We've gotten alarming letters about the brutal abuses by the guard-Mafia at State Correctional Institution at Greene. We can't publish some of the letters because the writers fear reprisals. It's a scandal that won't go away.
Boss Ridge, the Governor of Pennsylvania, apparently doesn't like the brutality scandal which came out of SCI-Greene in the southwestern corner of the state. There is no reason to suspect that the brutality bothers Ridge in the slightest. He seems to be the sort who likes brutality. It's the scandal which appears to bother the ambitious Governor.
Ridge is running for re-election as the worst governor Pennsylvania has ever endured. He apparently doesn't want the ugly underside of the Ridge Reich to become public. We all know that the man is hungry for power and that he's really running for vice president on a ticket with fellow extremist "Butcher" Bush, Governor of Texas.
Months ago, thanks to the efforts of a former prison counselor (our hero, Robert DeBord) and an attorney from Miami, Florida (our heroine, Grisel Ybarra, Esq.), the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) was forced to "investigate" (as if they didn't know already) the violent brutality against prisoners which had been going on in the Greene prison since the place opened. Eventually the DOC found it expedient to fire a few of the worst guard-offenders, to slap a few others on the wrists and to transfer a few more.
It was all just so much window-dressing. The real goal was, and is, to sweep the scandal under the rug. Nothing can be allowed to mar the triumphant re-election of Tom Ridge. As a faithful party henchman, Martin Horn, Secretary of Revenge for the Ridge Reich, tried to clean up the mess before it became too well publicized and long before the November elections.
The official objective now at the Greene prison is to coverup, keep things quiet and allow the villains get on with business as usual.
The reality is that the guard force at the Greene prison is out of control. It is nothing more than a brutal gang of hoodlums and thugs. They bully and terrorize even their fellow staff members. Just imagine what they do to helpless, naked, handcuffed, prisoners. The prison counselor who quit over the abuses at the prison was and is terrified. He knows the guards. He knows their mind-set. He's afraid that they will burn down his house, or even shoot him down on the courthouse steps if he appears against any of the guard/thugs.
One would think that a decent government would take some meaningful actions to make the guard-Mafia less dangerous to the public safety. Isn't Ridge's political crony, Attorney General Mike Fisher, supposed to prosecute dangerous corrupt organizations like the guard-Mafia? If Fisher is too political to prosecute the guard-mob, shouldn't the local District Attorney do it?
The local District Attorney is a joke! He's a good party member. He gives the appearance of being frightened of the guard-gang. He may even be in the political pocket of the Ridge extremists. Certainly, he hasn't prosecuted even one of the guard-Mafia. All he's ever prosecuted were prisoners.
The well documented cases coming out of the prison are cases of aggravated assault, a serious felony. You or I would be instantly prosecuted for such violent felonies. You or I would surely get 10 to 20 year prison terms. But, you and I aren't part of the guard-Mafia.
We have drawn the Greene County District Attorney's attention to just one of the abuses, the beatings and abuses of Vincent Napper and Tyrone Betrand detailed in Vincent's letter to us. We seriously doubt that the good party member will do anything messy involving Boss Ridge. We have a little more hope in the federal government and we invite citizens to write or send copies of this article to:
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