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“I have always said that I spend most of my time either attempting to prove my innocence or preparing myself for when I do finally go home. Among the ways I work to prepare myself is to try to create new programs for the entire inmate population. You see, ODRC does not always have the educational opportunities I would need to ready myself. So, I try to create those programs just so I can take them myself. Unfortunately, there are staff members that throw roadblocks at every turn. Such as the situation I mentioned in my last post.”

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“I was talking with another inmate, who also claims actual innocence, when the subject of a support network came up. I watched as tears welled up in this man’s eyes, as he spoke of the few supporters he had were dying off. Literally, dying. Inmates lose family members while they are incarcerated. It is difficult enough to lose a family member, and not be able to say goodbye as it is. When that family member is the total of your support system, it has a deeper impact on the inmate. When they are lost, hope is lost with them. The possibility of a future is gone.”

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“Detective McLaughlin skipped the logical first steps that such a letter might have set in motion. He did not consult the priest’s personnel file – which revealed nothing about his ever being in Florida. And he did not consult Monsignor John Quinn, the named originator of the story.

“Instead, armed with the explosive Florida murder-molestation letter, McLaughlin set out to interview dozens of parents and their adolescent sons who had prior contacts with MacRae. Within a week, the entire community was in a state of alarm about the murderous lecher-priest in its midst.”

Read the article by Ryan MacDonald.

The NCRJ is a longtime supporter of Gordon MacRae.

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We were deeply saddened last Friday to receive a message from Don’s daughter, informing us that her wonderful father had left us the Monday before.

I first met Don 24 years ago, at a conference about wrongful convictions in Salem, Massachusetts. Our last email exchange, not that long ago, reminisced about that conference. Don also told me that he was finishing his book on the Michael Pardue case and planned to immediately start on his next one. At the age of 94.

My email correspondence with Don began not long after Salem. He was one of the first supporters of Bernard Baran, the NCRJ’s first major case. Although then approaching 80, Don would drive from Connecticut to Worcester, Massachusetts to attend the many hearings that preceded Baran’s release. I well remember the many delightful breakfasts and lunches we shared at that time. Don would also make the longer drive to Bridgewater, Massachusetts to visit Baran in prison.

When the NCRJ was founded in 2002, Don graciously accepted our invitation to serve on our Board of Advisors. Don was devoted to the NCRJ, frequently attending Annual Meetings and teleconferences.

Don was a true gentleman and scholar. He led a fascinating life and was a most entertaining conversationalist. You can learn more about this amazing man by reading this obituary from the New York Times.

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“I see inmate after inmate get caught being high or in possession of drugs, and nothing of any significance happens to them. For that matter, in a few short weeks after being caught, they are likely to get one of the coveted institutional jobs. I get a really minor rules infraction, and I lose my institutional job, educational opportunities, my merit status, and it could take me years to get only a small part of that back.”

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Anyone 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.

-Bob Chatelle

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“Earlier this year, when the outbreak of covid-19 first became a national issue, Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio made international news. I wrote several e-mails to my friend, who turned them into a blog. The administration here was making some bad decisions which led to over 90% of the inmate population getting infected. Among those decisions was the moving of inmates who tested negative into a lock by themselves. This may seem like a great idea, but they could not say which inmates were infected and who still tested negative. The experts on TV were telling everyone who tested positive to “shelter in place”, and here we were moving inmates all around the institution. At one point, it got so crazy, that inmates who had tested negative, were placed in locks and cells with inmates who tested positive. I wish this were the only issue back then. It had all the appearances of an attempt to infect the whole population.”

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Greetings from my heart.

My two convictions from Miami Dade County share certain aspects in common. Let’s examine three of them:

1) The family of some of the children were employed as law enforcement agents, such as police officials and assistant district attorneys for Janet Reno. This fact is key to understanding the fact that these influential and powerful persons relied on their official positions to ask Miami Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno to file false charges against me. Miss Reno desperately wanted their votes and their friendship. When Miss Reno conspired with them to frame me with bogus evidence; and acted outside the legal perimeter of the law, she did it for political reasons as well. She did it for votes to win her reelection bit. This fact was published by Free Lance Investigative Reporter Ms Debbie Nathan, through her book: Satan’s Silence, in connection to my second conviction, i.e., Case #84-19728-A, known nationally as The Country Walk Case. Ms. Nathan’s book is mostly a rejection of the false allegations that were made against me and my young wife Iliana, by Jan Hollingsworth, who was one of our neighbors; and a Janet Reno’s acquaintance. The purpose of Hollingsworth 600 page illusive book Unspeakable Acts, which she created out of her imagination from the omniscient point of view; and the ABC movie that followed that book, was to provide support to Janet Reno’s fabricated charges against my wife and I; and to provide support to the parents’ civil actions. In out of court settlements, those parents in the Country Walk Case collected up to $1,200,000.00 per child (Eleven children in total). Ms. Nathan’s book reveals that Hollingsworth was hired to draft the book by Laurie and Joseph Braga, who played a major role in assisting Janet Reno in the gross job of manipulating the tender minds of the Country Walk children.

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“Through this second blog, I am going to share with you an important part of my world of thoughts, in a good faith effort to start the long process to undress my brain before you. I like to address my spiritual life at this onset, because one’s spiritual life influences every thought of the human brain. I will begin by informing you that I do not subscribe to any organized religion. In fact, in the prison I am currently registered as a humanist. Prior to that, I dedicated many years to evaluate some of the main religions of our planet. I determined that all of them serve the ego’s thought system. Having said that, I know that God is, and that because God is, I Am. Further, I subscribe to the metaphysical spiritual knowledge imparted by “A Course In Miracles” (WWW.acim.org) (Available in all the main languages of this world); and, up to a point, to other similar schools of spiritual thoughts.”

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“In one of my posts, I discussed the issue with the inmate rules of conduct procedures. Well, that is not the only problem with how inmates are treated in these institutions. The inmate grievance procedure is every bit as corrupt and dysfunctional.”

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