Please take a look at this GoFundMe and help if you can.
If you know of others who might help, please forward this message to them.
-Bob Chatelle
Archive for the ‘Prisons’ Category
Please Help my Friend Shane Crum
Wednesday, August 6th, 2025Corruption Drove the MacRae Case
Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023
“For the last 29 years, Father Gordon MacRae has been denied justice, relegated to Concord Men’s Prison in New Hampshire. Despite an ex-FBI agent’s 3-year investigation, a Pulitzer prize-winning Wall Street Journalist’s multi-part exposé, even a current investigation into the police officer who framed him, nothing has thus far moved the needle — except perhaps in the court of public opinion.”
Read the full article by Claire Best.
A New Documentary About the Gordon MacRae case
Sunday, June 25th, 2023The National Center for Reason and Justice has been sponsoring the case of Father Gordon MacRae for many years. Gordon recently informed me of this new 43 minute documentary about his case.
25 years after ‘shaken baby’ conviction, Baltimore County man once again tries to prove his innocence
Thursday, April 6th, 2023
photo: Madeleine O’Neill/The Daily Record
“The criminal justice system’s demand for proof beyond a reasonable doubt has led to the development of entire scientific fields – some now facing serious questions about their accuracy — aimed at definitively proving a suspect’s guilt or innocence.
“Bloodstain patterns. Handwriting analysis. Firearm and toolmark examination.
“The urge for irrefutable evidence is particularly strong in cases of alleged child abuse, which often happen with no witnesses and give police little to go off besides the word of the parent who brings a child to the hospital.
“But a vocal minority of experts now say that the certainty doctors once assigned to the idea of shaken baby syndrome was misplaced. The ‘constellation’ of injuries, once considered a virtually certain sign of child abuse, may have other causes – including causes that aren’t criminal.
‘I think the broad problem is that what’s sometimes missing in these medical investigations of suspected abuse is the idea that there are limits to what the science can tell us,’ said Jeffrey Gilleran, the chief attorney of Maryland Office of the Public Defender’s forensics division.
Read the article by Madeleine O’Neil in the Maryland Daily Record.
Parole Board should heed Baker’s call to pardon the Amirault siblings
Monday, December 12th, 2022
photo: Tom Landers/Globe Staff
“Its [The Governor’s Council] approval would remove a stain on the Massachusetts criminal justice system and help restore the Amiraults’ reputation.”
Actually, the stain is indelible. But the pardons would lighten it.
Read the op-ed at the Boston Globe by Harvey Silverglate and John Swomley.
Rest in Peace, Sally Crum
Sunday, December 11th, 2022I received extremely sad news today. Sally Crum died of cancer on December 2nd.
As most of you know, I have long supported the cause of my good friend, Shane Crum. Shane was falsely accused and wrongfully convicted in 1997 of sex crimes against his own daughter. Through his 25 years of wrongful imprisonment, his main support has always been his mother. Now, sadly, that support is gone. Making it more important than ever that others support him.
Most prisoners are allowed to remotely attend family funerals. In Ohio, at least, those convicted of sex offenses are not.
Please send Shane a card or a note of support and encouragement. here is his contact information:
Shane Crum A334-540
M.C.I.
POB 57
Marion OH 43301
Correspond with Shane by email through Jpay.com. Just do an inmate search on state (Ohio) and inmate ID (A334-540).
This fight will continue.
-Bob Chatelle
Please send a holiday card to a prisoner
Sunday, December 4th, 2022Anyone who knows a prisoner knows how important it is to them to receive mail, especially at this time of year. Many prisoners receive no outside support at all.
I don’t care if you send a Christmas card, a holiday card, or whatever. Neither will they.
Here is a list of prisoners who’d be delighted to get a card.
Unfortunately, New Hampshire prisoners are not allowed to receive greeting cards of any sort, picture postcards, or any typewritten or printed material. Only handwritten letters on stock paper are permitted.
Paul Litchfield is not on the list this year, because he has been released. His sister asked me to include his mailing address:
Paul Litchfield
POB 444
Hinsdale MA 01235
My work on behalf of prisoners is made possible by the National Center for Reason and Justice. To enable me to continue my work, please consider a holiday donation to this important organization.
Thank you for your support of justice!
-Bob Chatelle
Governor’s Council to Decide Amirault Pardons
Monday, November 28th, 2022
Getty Images. This April 2000 file photo shows Gerald “Tookie” Amirault while being interviewed by the press at the Bay State Correctional Center.
As most of you know, the NCRJ has been supporting the Amirault family in their quest for justice since our founding. You may have read our recent post about Governor Baker finally seeking pardons. There is one more step in the process.
In colonial times, the Governor of Massachusetts Bay colony was appointed by the English Crown. The colonists resented his power, and a concession was made allowing the colonists to create a Governor’s Council to approve certain of the Governor’s decisions, including appointments and pardons. This archaic institution is still with us.
On December 13th at 1 p.m. they will meet to vote on approving pardons for Gerald and Cheryl Amirault. If you live in Massachusetts, it is vital that you telephone or otherwise contact your Governor’s Councilor to urge their support for the pardons.
If you don’t know how to contact your Councilor:
1. Go to this website and enter your address. When you get the results, scroll all the way down to find your Governor’s Council District.
2. Go to this website to find the contact information for your Councilor.
Please, help us bring this 38-year-old nightmare to an end.
Justice Delayed for Father MacRae
Wednesday, October 12th, 2022
Photo: Jim Cole/ASSOCIATED PRESS
All this happened because “believe the children” became a nationwide mantra. Society has a duty to protect young children—but also to assess accusations rationally and fairly, especially when they’re improbable, spectacular and horrifying. Journalists, too, must maintain a level of skepticism when cases as improbable as these arise. Any reporter who covers the legal system should have recognized the high probability that these accusations were false.
Read the article by NCRJ Advisor Harvey Silverglate in the Wall Street Journal. Rebublished with their permission in Father MacRae’s blog, Beyond These Stone Walls.
Joseph Lascaze: Criminal Justice Reform from the Inside Out
Thursday, October 6th, 2022
photo: aclu of new hampshire
“On September 9, 2022, three years after leaving this prison, Joseph was the recipient of the New Hampshire Rising Stars Changemaker of the Year Award, a civic award bestowed upon a citizen who has played an outstanding role in effecting positive social change.”
Read the post by Father Gordon MacRae about his good prison friend who is not the Smart Justice Campaign manager for the ACLU of New Hampshire.
The NCRJ has long sponsored the case of Gordon MacRae.
