by Mary W Maxwell, LLB
We Catholics were taught that masturbation is a sin. I recall in 1979, during the first papal visit to the US, some irreverent “radicals” were selling a tee-shirt that said “Stop or you’ll go blind.”
Probably the Church’s position was that sexual pleasure is only allowed in marriage. Two of the Ten Commandments seem to be about sex: “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.” But really they are about protecting marriage, not about avoiding the flow of one’s hormones. Marriage is good for society, and indeed deserves protection.
Whitey Bulger
Whitey Bulger was an FBI informant and then he got jailed for various murders. He was considered a brutal man and was found to be the head of the Irish Mafia in South Boston. The trial was spectacular, and set the pace for the use of helicopters over the Moakley US District Courthouse which subsequently made an appearance during Jahar Tsarnaev’s 2015 trial.
A year ago, I was saddened to hear that Whitey was punished for masturbating in prison. Of course everyone should oppose any punishment for prisoners that is not listed in the legislation. Let’s say the law specifies that a particular crime carries the penalty of a $5,000 fine and 6 months in prison. Good — you break that law and you will be subjected to that. But no further penalty should be added on. I was furious to hear about Bulger’s being severely punished in a federal prison in Florida for touching his genitals.
Many creatures in Nature produce asexually – the offspring bud just falls off. But for species that have two sexes, there has got to be some sort of instinct for reproducing. For mammal species, hormones have the job of encouraging the mating act. Adolescents who do not yet have someone to mate with can “get off,” solo. Since the prison population has no chance mating, it, too, would be expected to use that other means of sexual relief.
Whitey Bulger Says He Didn’t Do It
Whitey, in his late 80s, said he didn’t do it and was just rubbing ointment onto his genitals. Surely the prison’s decision to punish him was pure harassment. I googled for “masturbation in prison” and was appalled to learn that it is punishable all over the place.
I have long been aware that prisoners are given many harassments on top of their ordinary sentence. For instance, it has been standard for jails to extremely overcharge for phone calls that the prisoner makes to his family.
I also learned, from the sister of Troy Davis, that it is common for a family to make a long trip to the prison and be told that the visiting day has been changed, and they just missed it.
When the Bulger masturbation episode was reported I intended to make a fuss about it, but time slipped away and now I’ve read that he died last month. He had just been transferred from Florida to a prison in Virginia and was beaten to death shortly after arrival.
LSD in Prison
I was sorry to find this item today. It’s from Knowledgenuts.com:
In the late 1950s, Bulger was sentenced to a bid in federal prison, where he was approached to take part in experiments with LSD and other drugs in exchange for a reduction of his sentence. This was part of the CIA’s murky MK-ULTRA behavioral engineering program. Bulger was told the experiments were in an effort to find a cure for schizophrenia.
Letters to his brother William (whose life took a bizarre turn from his gangster brother—William Bulger served as both the President of the Massachusetts Senate and the President of the University of Massachusetts) indicate that he was initially pleased with the opportunity to shorten his sentence.
However, things took a horrifying turn. One of Bulger’s notebooks recounts his experiences under the influence, claiming that he had a “morbid fear of LSD,” and that he felt that his head was changing shape and he was hearing voices. Long after his release from prison, Whitey remained haunted, afraid to have children for fear the drugs had somehow altered his chromosomes.
Seriously, Folks. We need to wakie uppie. People are being turned into criminals at the behest of government. Can it get more outrageous than that?
Pepper Spray: Remember Cabbie Matanov?
Gumshoe reported that an Uzbeki taxi-driver friend of the Tsarnaev brothers– Khairullozhon Matanov — had dined with the brothers the night of the Marathon bombing. When he heard a few days later that Tamerlan died and saw the photo of him clean-shaven on Boylston St, he complained that the photo can’t be right as Tamerlan had a beard on April 15, 2013 Marathon Day. (Confirmed by his family who says he never shaved it off after 2012, the Marathon was 2013).
Boy did that upset the applecart, at least potentially.
As soon as the Tsarnaevs were “captured” police rounded up three of his pals and kept them in prison for “obstruction of justice.” Matanov, however, stayed free – if you can call being harassed and threatened every day “free”– for about one year. The he was arrested for lying to the FBI.
Below I quote an article from Bostonmagazinecom from four years ago. It is about Matanov being beaten up in prison. He has now been deported and I can’t sleuth this matter, but if you are interested in the problem of cruelty, please read on.
“Letter from Tsarnaev Friend Claims Abuse at the Hands of Correctional Officers.” By Steve Annear, November 4, 2014.
“A recent letter that appears to have been written by Khairullozhon Matanov, the friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who’s being held in solitary confinement [WHAT!] in a Plymouth facility, contains details that the inmate was severely beaten by correctional officers at the jail last month.
“But according to Edward Hayden, the court-appointed [Oh-Oh] lawyer representing Matanov, the supposed letter made the injuries sound worse than what he actually saw during a recent visit with his client at the facility.
“ ‘I got a phone call on the morning of Thursday, from another inmate to go down to see Matanov, because he said he was in bad shape and had been beaten up,’ Hayden told Boston. ‘He had a black eye, he had scrapes, bruises, and that’s what I saw…some of these letters and Tweets make it seem like he was beaten to an inch of his life, and that’s not true.’ [I think it’s probably true.]
One of the letters says seven officers entered his confinement area and sprayed him with pepper spray. The letter states that the officers then handcuffed him, and when he was “half dead, no moving,” an officer came in and stuck his finger in Matanov’s eye, causing it to swell up and fill with blood.
“The letter states the same officer then called him a ‘Muslim’ and a ‘terrorist,’ and kicked him in the head, giving him a concussion. At that point, the letter states Matanov passed out, but ‘the horror just beginning.’
“The letter goes on to say that he was put in a chair, and left there with the pepper spray in his eyes for more than two hours, and that the officers have also played the National Anthem when coming into his cell. [I hope they play it when they come into my cell.]
“ ‘Ruthless human beings,’ the letter states. …
“Matanov, who entered the U.S. legally in 2010, was arrested in May and charged with destroying, altering, and falsifying records, documents, and tangible objects as part of a federal investigation into the bombings. [Did he give a cousin a SIM card?]
“FBI investigators claim that Matanov ‘took a series of steps to impede the FBI’s investigation’ [what investigation? What was there to investigate? Oh, do you mean the investigation of Craft International? Oh, OK.]
“While Hayden said the injuries did not appear as extensive as what was described in the letter, he also said there have been a series of ‘problems”’ at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility with his client, and he has been unsuccessfully trying since June to transfer Matanov to another jail.
“ ‘This latest thing is sort of the culmination of a series of problems. I have been going down to Plymouth regularly …There have been other problems. Never quite this bad, but stuff that he has been disciplined for various reasons.’ [What the hell can you be disciplined for if you are in Solitary? Oops.]
“Hayden said he’s going to see his client this week, and will ask him more about what took place [and tell him he can sue under 42USC 242, OK?] He said an investigation into the incident is underway at the jail [as there was when McFarlane killed Todashev at home type thing], and the medical department at the Plymouth facility assured him that they were treating Matanov, and were ‘on top of the situation.’ [What situation – the eyeball, or what.]
“A spokesperson from the Plymouth County Correctional Facility referred Boston to the U.S. Marshal’s office for all inquiries about the allegations of prisoner abuse. A spokesman for the U.S. Marshal’s office declined to comment on ‘security-related matters.’ [Pardon me but there is no security-related matter here. None whatsoever.]”
— end of Steve Annear’s article
Here is the complete Matanov letter:
— Mary W Maxwell is working on the Tsarnaev case, which is now in appeal.
Excuse me, I cited 42 USC 242 by mistake. It is 18 USC 242. And here is the text:
“Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties,
“on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both;
“and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.”
Hey wait a minute, wait a minute. Last sentence says “attempt to kill” is punishable maybe by death. What about the guy who attempted to kill Jahar at boatside.
It has to be “on account of such person being an alien — that covers Matanov — “or by reason of his color or race. Is Musliminity a color?
“
Conclusion: putting people in cages is a form of politically actuated torture that has nothing to do with protecting anyone from anything. I mean how much more proof do you need ?
Well, Berry, it protects the big boys from the rest of us, don’t it?
I think we should imprsion the pollies who thought up the privatization of prisons.
Just for the hell of it. Just to make a statement.
If Bulgar had been the alledged criminal he was supposed to be, the outcome of his end would be a Karmic possibility with regard to his death, if he masurbated at 89 that is a deed of a lively energy of some significance, all the same his misfortune of being born in the family, it is not surprising he became a criminal,their would be many who are free today who having never been detected are free, surprising or not, many criminals having got away with it such as CIA agents and organized establishment criminals like agents in MI5/6, that Bulgars crimes would pale into insignificance.
winding up behind bars usually means nothing more than the fact that you haven’t got a clue about how to deal with cops. Here’s a few good pointers:
There are clips where the refuser gets their window smashed and gets assaulted by the ….whatever they are….
I don’t think that there’s any magical assurance against anything but the idea that accommodating oppressive demands will save your skin by is totally skewed. By and large you get a much better long term result from doing the reverse; that’s my experience anyway.
While reading the part about Matanov it reminded me of a conversation I had with someone about how positively different his life is now that he has been deported back to his country.
On his Facebook page he is very well dressed and travelling quite a bit. Where did he get the money? I get the feeling that he, like Whitney, was an informant for the FBI.
Now think about it. It is illegal in the USA to send the amount of money he send abroad to family and friends; it is illegal to sell stolen electronics and out of the country. If you had done those things and you were friends with the Tsarnaev would you have generously volunteer to report to the nearest police station and inform them that you knew the Tsarnaev and particularly the older brother? He certainly knew that he would be investigated by the FBI.
Did he really lied to the FBI or did he lied to us?
Dear Josée, I too, heard that Matanov is living the high life, but I had a different interpretation.
(But of course you may be right.) I figured after his term was up they had to let him go. That’s a problem, he can now talk. So I think the US taxpayer gave him a golden handshake — in exchange, of course, for his silence.
This makes me wonder if “they” figured all the boys whom they arrested would not pose a post-prison problem as America would be under martial law by then.
Oh dear.
Last year I swanned into the Braintree Police Station to discuss his tell-all visit. Was told to return a week later but I have not had the chance. I did read that maybe he and others went in voluntarily to avoid “capture.”
Do you know about Matanov’s being harassed by Feebs on the highway? I think they should be arrested for endangering every other car on the road during a meaningless chase. (They admitted that they weren’t chasing him, just “watching” him.)
Message to Matanov: You have 2 years from the above “black-eye” incident to file a “brutality” lawsuit in federal court under 42 USC 1983. No need to be a citizen. The fact that they already paid you is irrelevant. “They should have thought of that before.”
Also, in my opinion you are not bound by any contract you made, as a fraudulent contract is never enforceable. Which is not to say they might not poison you.
LOL. I was going to include that perhaps he was paid to ‘shut his mouth’ but I left it out as I knew you would raise it or someone else at least. I sure hope that he will sue the Bureau of Prison for the harm he received under their custody.
Perchance he can sue the Boppers on the basis of Cronin v Town of Amesbury although that case is not US Supreme Court. It is Massachusetts.
I believe it teaches that you should sue the brutal guard in his personal capacity not in his offical capacity “on the job” — because his job description says nothing about beating a prisoner up.