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A Snapshot of Serial Killers Behind Bars
by Insideprison.com, April 2006
Son of Sam: in Sullivan Correctional Facility
David
Berkowitz, also known as the Son of Sam killer that confessed to the New York
killings of 6 people in the late 1970s, is currently serving 6 consequetive life
sentences at Sullivan. After a series of fights with fellow inmates, one of
which required 65 stitches to his throat while he was housed at Attica in 1979,
Berkowitz eventually transferred to Sullivan, where he then converted to Christianity
and began writing journal entries that are now available on his "official"
homepage at: http://www.forgivenforlife.com.
When faced with the opportunity of parole in 2002, Berkowitz declined without
hesitation. In a New York Times article he is quoted as saying, "I deserve
to be in prison for the rest of my life. I can accept that." When responding
to comments made by Governor Pataki concerning the governor's fight to keep
Berkowitz from parole, Berkowitz noted in his prison journals, "I agree
with him that I do not deserve parole, neither am I trying to obtain it."
(March 1 prison journals)
Sullivan Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison for males located
in Fallsburg, NY. Click here to see insideprison's profile.
The "Green River Killer" Gary Leon Ridgway: in Walla Walla
Gary
Leon Ridgway, considered America's most profilic serial killer for
confessing to the murders of 48 Seattle-area prostitutes in the
early 1980s, is serving a life sentence in Walla Walla, Washington
State, without chance of parole (9 May 2005 Associated Press
Newswires). The nickname Green River Killer reflected Ridgway's
choice of disposing the bodies in the Green River, a winding waterway
located in southeast Kings County, just east of Tacoma. He strangled
and methodically placed his victims in "clusters" near
landmarks so that he could keep a running tally of them, but because
there were so many, he eventually lost track of them.
Walla Walla, the largest of Washington state's three maximum security facilities,
has 15 armed guard towers, and is the residence of all death row inmates in
the state, where most lifers begin, and end, their sentences. It is home to
2,240 inmates.
At Walla Walla, serious offenders may be housed in one of two units;
either "Unit 5," the "Special Housing Unit"
section of the prison that imprisons inmates on death row, those
with psychiatric problems, and those requiring the services of the
protective custody unit, or the Intensive Management Unit (IMU),
a maximum custody facility located outside the main institution.
Ridgway is serving time here, at the IMU, a unit that houses 87
of the most dangerous and notorious offenders, including those who
pose a threat to themselves, others, or the operation of the prison,
and many of those serving their time on Death Row. The IMU does
not allow its denizens to come in contact with the rest of the institution,
and separates them from the rest of the inmates by 150 yards, two
fences, and razor wire coils. Inmates in the IMU mostly spend their
time in idleness, reading or writing alone. Cells have only a concrete
slab with a thin foam mattress, a steel sink, and a light that cannot
turn off. Inmates here, unlike those elsewhere in the prison, are
required to wear orange prison fatigues.
Concordant with standard "incentive
levels" practice, good behaviour and clean cells may mean
longer visits and more privaleges, including televisions and radios
for purchase. If inmates at the IMU and on death row have proven
good behaviour, they may eventually be relocated to Unit 5, which
is less stringent in its restrictions, and provides allowances like
tobacco products, greater possessions, more family visits, and the
possibility of having a cellmate.
According to the News Tribune's research done on the inside of
the facility, Walla Walla is "hard time," suffering the
most seriously-sentenced inmates to a life of noise, monotony, isolation,
and the constant threat of violence. According to one middle-aged
killer of two serving time at the prison, if the inmate accepts
the fact that he is here indefinitely and that it is the choice
of the inmate how he would like to spend it, it perhaps makes the
few enjoyable elements of prison life, such as "biscuits and
gravy on Saturday mornings," endurable (News Tribune 20 Dec
2003).
For those that wish to make the most of life at "Wally World"
by behaving properly, many opportunities exist, such as jobs in
welding, baking, cleaning, stamping license plates, making lockers
and office furniture out of sheet metal, or simple hobbies, such
as painting models, constructing belts and wallets, or designing
artwork. Inmates at the prison, including the IMU, may recieve up
to 35 cents an hour or up to $55 per month in paid employment. Some
jobs, such as those working in the license plate factory, can earn
up to $1.10 an hour. According to the News Tribune, popular items
purchased with labour earnings include Top Rame and Little Debbie
Cupcakes, cassette players, televisions, Playboy and Hustler. Although
victim awareness and anger management courses are still available
and widely used at the prison, college education is not.
For the Green River Killer, however, many such opportunities are
forbidden. According to some inmates within the prison, Ridgway
would very possibly be a murder target, especially since many inmates
at the prison who have killed far fewer victims than Ridgway received
the death penalty while Ridgway did not. With his plea bargain sentence
that saved him from execution, inmates may believe the state did
not serve the justice required. Indeed, there was an unsuccessful
attempt within the prison to slit Ridgway's throat.
It is believed that Ridgway is spending the first years of his
sentence confined to an 81-square-foot cell, 23 hours a day, eating
alone and exercising alone. He cannot communicate with other inmates
face-to-face, and he is restricted to using a speaker on his cell
door. Allowed visits with immediate family will be similarly restricted
by a wall of plate glass, only one or two hours a week. Besides
family, other visitors might include religious leaders or social
workers. Like most serial killers housed in protective
custody units, Ridgway has to earn his privaleges through good
behaviour, although it is doubtful that many of the opportunities
open to other inmates will apply to him.
BTK Killer Dennis Rader: 10 life terms in El Dorado Correctional
Facility
Dennis
Rader, aka BTK Killer for "bind, torture, and kill," began
serving his 10 consequetive life sentences at the maximum-security
El Dorado Correctional Facility on Friday morning, August 19, 2005.
Chained at the ankles, garbed in an orange prison jumpsuit, and
staring out the window with tears in his eyes, Rader looked upon
the prison that would, if he were assessed as being a security risk,
likely be his home for the remainder of his sentence.
Rader spends his days in an 80 square-foot cell, with a foam-covered
concrete bunk, one sink, a metal shelf, and a plastic trash can.
He spends his one hour of free time a day, in shackles of course,
in a chain-linked, outdoor, 10x10 foot pen. He is allowed three
showers and five hour-long recreation periods a week. The District
Attorney did everything in his power to ensure that Rader lacks
access to any kind of material or medium that might help him relive
his deviant fantasies, including pencils, pens, papers, news reports
covering his own murders, audio or video recordings, or any inanimate
article that could represent a fetish of a human or animal. It was
also recommended that Rader's incoming mail be first fully censored
by prison officials. Each time Rader leaves his cell it will be
double-checked for any of the above-mentioned or simliar items.
There was also a recommendation of classifying Rader as a sex offender,
a risky label to possess inside a prison as dangerous as El Dorado.
Sex offender classification would mean Rader would receive treatment
as a sex offender instead of a violent offender. There are several
purposes for administering treatment to someone serving a life sentence
without parole, including the expanded knowledge of the inmate's
case, the reduction of prison infractions, misconduct, or violations,
and the improvement of placement decisions regarding appropriate
security level and determination of the kind of access to certain
privaleges.
Howerer, after a year following his placement at El Dorado, Rader
is behaving well enough to grant him several privaleges that violate
these earlier recommendations. As of April, he is allowed television
and radio access, and he can read newspapers, magazines, and books.
Even though Rader used to cut out magazine advertisements of women
and children to further his sexual fantasies, he is nevertheless
now permitted to draw upon paper with a pencil or pen. For television,
however, Rader must shell out the money to pay for it: at least
$103 for a 13-inch color, or $80 for a 12-inch black-and-white if
pruchased in prison. In addition, all televisions are protected
with a sheath of plastic molding to prevent any prohibited materials
from being stored inside, and must be listened to through a pair
of headphones. Even though materials depicting sexual or erotic
stimuli are not allowed, victims have argued that he would still
be able to read about himself, with access to popular magazines
such as Time and Newsweek, feeding his narcissistic dreams.
According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, Rader has progresseds
two "incentive" levels, criteria used to measure an inmate's
good behaviour that have become popular in school-wide behaviour
management systems. In some minimum security establishments, incentive
levels, or "earning privaleges," determine the allowed
amount of cash to be spent each week, the number of total personal
possessions, and level of association or socialization time with
other inmates (which clearly would not apply to Rader).
See insideprison's profile of El
Dorado Correctional Facility.
Paul Bernardo: Kingston Penitentiary
coming soon
Juan Corona: California State Prison, Corcoran
Juan Corona, who in the early 1970s slashed and hacked to death
25 farm workers before burying them in a shallow grave in a peach
orchard near Yuba City, has had a transient history of being transferred
across California's state prison system. After originally being
recommended for San Quentin, which at the time had facilities for
those with heart ailiments such as Corona's, Corona was committed
to California Medical Facility in Vacaville in 1973, where he was
later stabbed and blinded by another inmate. Corona was then transported
to Correctional Training Facility in Soledad where he stayed for
five years, including the period when his retrial was conducted.
In 1982 he was then transferred to Corcoran, but in 1999 suffered
another attack in the prison yard. This time, three other inmates
had gained access to the emergency ward that imprisoned Corcoran's
most famous prisoners, including Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan,
minorily injuring Corcoran and smashing Manson's guitar. According
to the Associated Press (16 Mar 1999), Corrections Department officials
said that gaining entrance into the protective housing unit of the
prison is a "badge of honor." Apparently, the three inmates,
who had been primed in wait for the moment the protective custody
unit became insecure, gained entry by taking advantage of a sensor
unit malfunction that signaled a light to authorities that there
was a breach of access. When authorities were alerted, a prison
guard fired a round from a wood block gas gun, similar to a tear-gas
rifle, to quell the disturbance.
In 2002, Corona suffered yet another attack that rendered him unconscious
in his cell. He was taken to a nearby hospital and placed into intensive
care under constant guard supervision. At 69, Corona is reported
as sick with dementia, muttering words to himself as he paces the
prison yard. Juan has been denied parole a total of six times, in
part because he consistently declined to admit to his murders.
Charles Manson: California State Prison, Corcoran
coming soon
Sirhan Sirhan: California State Prison, Corcoran
Previously sentenced to California's Soledad Prison in 1968 for
the assassination of Robert F Kennedy, Sirhan Sirhan was moved to
Corcoran in.... The Arab fanatic murdered Kennedy, the brother of
John F. Kennedy and then-likely candidate for the next presidential
election, in a Los Angeles hotel kitchen, just after Kennedy had
won the California Democratic presidential primary election. Sirhan
Sirhan was an Arab radical who protested against president John
F Kennedy's support of the Israel cause against the Arabs. He was
murdered on the first day of the Six Day War in the Middle East
that ultimately saw Israel deliver a crushing blow to the Arab world.
At the time, the United State had suspended the death penalty,
so Sirhan Sirhan was spared and sentenced to life imprisonment.
However, life imprisonment in California at the time simply meant
a maximum of 13 years. Former Parole Board official James Hoover
set the assassin's parole eligibility date at 1984, drawing widespread
criticism that the US was sending a message throughout the world
that the penalty for political assassination was just 13 years,
a decidedly reasonable argument, if in fact Sirhan was released
in 1984 instead of .
Pictures of Sirhan Sirhan show him in a relaxed state of mood in
prison, glib and seemingly unconcerned.
Arthur Shawcross: Sullivan Correctional Facility
coming soon
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