Friday,
September 23, 2005
Inmate hangs himself in county jail
Sheriff repeats plea to
ease crowding
WEST BOYLSTON— A 35-year-old inmate
committed suicide early yesterday at the
Worcester County Jail and House of Correction,
jail officials said.
Jason Smith, of Australia, hanged himself in his
maximum security cell just after 6 a.m.,
according to Jeffrey Turco, deputy
superintendent of the jail.
He left a suicide note tucked in a Bible, Mr.
Turco said.
Correction officers used an electronic
defibrillator to try to resuscitate him, but he
was pronounced dead at 7:08 a.m., Mr. Turco
said.
Mr. Smith was arrested in Holden earlier this
month on misdemeanor larceny and check-forging
charges. He was being held on $2,500 bail
pending a scheduled appearance in Leominster
District Court Monday.
When he arrived at the jail Sept. 2, Mr. Smith
was placed on a 24-hour suicide watch after he
refused to agree not to harm himself, Mr. Turco
said. Mr. Smith, whom Mr. Turco said had an
extensive criminal history, had no previous
suicide attempts on record.
The next day, a mental health worker at the jail
took him off the suicide watch after it was
determined he was unlikely to try to kill
himself, Mr. Turco said.
“He had the standard anxiety of anyone coming to
jail,” he said. “He made no threats to hurt
himself. There were no concerns. He didn’t
complain about anything until, ultimately, this
happened.”
Mr. Turco said jail records indicate that
correction officers had patrolled Mr. Smith’s
tier three times an hour before the suicide and
had noticed nothing amiss.
Mr. Smith had originally been placed on a
medium-security tier. He was moved to a
single-inmate maximum security cell in the main
older section of the jail complex after
officials learned Mr. Smith had told Holden
police that he had tried to escape from jail
twice in his native Australia, Mr. Turco said.
Mr. Smith’s death was the third inmate suicide
this year, and Sheriff Guy W. Glodis — who took
office in January — said the death underscored
the need for more space to reduce overcrowding
at the jail complex by expanding it and hiring
more correction officers.
The sheriff is seeking up to $100 million from
the state Legislature for buildings to house 600
to 1,000 inmates. The jail now has more than
1,400 prisoners and pretrial detainees.
Sheriff Glodis said his most immediate need is
for a high-security disciplinary unit to handle
problem prisoners.
One way the sheriff has tried to deal with the
overcrowding is by sending detainees who have
previously served state prison time back to
state prisons.
He said earlier this week that the jail is too
crowded and is not equipped to accommodate
female prisoners, as some prisoners rights
advocates have suggested it do in light of the
apparent fast-tracking at the Statehouse of at
least part of the sheriff’s funding request .
In the wake of the latest suicide, the sheriff
yesterday repeated his call for more space at
the jail.
“This unfortunate incident confirms what this
administration and the Central Massachusetts
legislative delegation has been saying since
January, that there has been a desperate need
for additional resources and increased staff,”
he said. “It is much needed to ease jail
overcrowding, and dumping an additional 100
female inmates into a facility that is already
bursting at the seams is only going to make
matters worse.”
Contact Shaun Sutner by e-mail at
ssutner@telegram.com.
June 1, 2005
Inmate died from ruptured spleen
-
Death certificate cites blunt impact
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
Author: Milton J. Valencia
WORCESTER - Daniel McMullen had mentioned the
boots in his letter home, soon after getting 13
stitches to his upper lip. The black boots were
worn by Dennis Hadley when he allegedly kicked
Mr. McMullen in their jail cell the morning of
Feb. 3.
"Jesus kicked me in the mouth while I was in
my bunk with his steel toe boots on, were not
even suppose to be allowed to have them in
here," Mr. McMullen, 42, formerly of Douglas,
wrote to a friend, after he was taken to St.
Vincent Hospital at Worcester Medical Center for
treatment.
Mr. McMullen, an inmate at the Worcester County
Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston,
returned to the hospital hours later,
complaining of continuing chest pains. He died
20 days later, sparking a murder investigation
that has made the pair of boots a central piece
of evidence.
Officials say the investigation into the
fight continues, but a death certificate
released last month shows Mr. McMullen died of
complications from a ruptured spleen due to
blunt impact. It's the first official document
that states he died from what it described as a
scuffle in the jail. The manner of death is
listed as homicide.
In letters he sent home, Mr. McMullen had
written about the fights in the Worcester County
Jail and House of Correction, where he was
serving a six-month sentence for driving under
the influence of alcohol, second offense. He
told of how inmates would beat him and steal his
things. In one case, an inmate urinated on his
bed.
And on the morning of Feb. 3, Mr. McMullen
wrote once again of getting beat up, this time
by an inmate who called himself Jesus. He said
he was kicked while lying in his bunk.
"Spent the morning at St. Vincents hospital
getting stiches (sic) 13 upper lip split open,"
he wrote. "Anyway still have all my teeth.
Nobody has been able to knock those out yet!"
It is believed to be the last letter he wrote
before returning to the hospital, where he died
after falling into a coma. Mr. McMullen also
suffered from cirrhosis of the liver, which
could have exacerbated his spleen injuries, the
death certificate said. His sister authorized
disconnection of his life support after doctors
told her there was nothing more they could do.
Investigators from the jail confiscated Mr.
Hadley's boots when they filed a charge of
assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a
shod foot, in Clinton District Court. Jail
officials have since said that the boots are not
steel-toed, but have confirmed they are black
construction-like boots. In court records, one
sheriff detailed how Mr. Hadley allegedly kicked
Mr. McMullen in the mouth "while wearing a pair
of black boots." The fight began after Mr.
McMullen accused his cellmate of stealing his
playing cards.
The assault and battery case in Clinton
District Court is pending, but Mr. McMullen's
death opened a new investigation, with the
possibility of more charges. Mr. Hadley, 49,
formerly of Rhode Island, was in jail awaiting
burglary charges, and is still being held on
$200,000 cash bail on the new charge and during
the new investigation.
Sheriff Guy W. Glodis called for a second-degree
murder charge the day after Mr. McMullen died,
saying it would be appropriate for what he
called an unprovoked attack.
District Attorney John J. Conte,
however, has said he will decide what charge, if
any, is appropriate, saying he would conduct an
in-depth probe that would look beyond the fight
and the boots and include how jail and hospital
staff responded. Mr. Conte did not return
a call for comment to his office yesterday, but
has said the investigation is complex and
continuing.
Jeffrey Turco, deputy superintendent of the
jail, said yesterday that his investigators are
working closely with detectives assigned to Mr.
Conte's office. "We look forward to the
appropriate charges being filed when the
district attorney deems the case is ready," he
said.
Still, in the days after the fight, before
Mr. McMullen died, the jail had moved forward
with its own case, accusing Mr. Hadley of
beating his cellmate over playing cards in what
was considered another fight at the jail.
"The above named defendant (Hadley) did kick
McMullen twice in the mouth with black boots on
his feet," one jail deputy sheriff wrote in a
court filing, dated five days after the fight.
"This assault caused McMullen to go to (a
hospital). ... McMullen returned to the hospital
on 2-3-05 with internal bleeding, and is
presently in the ICU."
Sunday, April 24, 2005
No escape from mainline,
even in jail
Yovino found heroin and death behind bars
By Milton J. Valencia TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WEST BOYLSTON—
The heroin and the addiction that killed John Yovino followed him from
Fitchburg, a community known for its struggles with drugs and addicts.
At the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction, Mr. Yovino was far from
Fitchburg’s Cleghorn neighborhood, far from the temptations of street dealers.
But in the jail’s Francis J. Deignan building, a medium-security unit, the
hauntings of his past were only 10 cells away.
In Cell 17, there was a familiar name from his hometown: Victor Vargas, also
known as Victor Sanchez, also known as a Fitchburg heroin dealer. The two men
previously knew of each other by reputation, one of heroin and access to it,
according to sources familiar with the investigation into Mr. Yovino’s death.
But in the Deignan building, their paths finally crossed when Mr. Yovino
allegedly purchased two grams of heroin from Mr. Vargas, according to sources.
Mr. Yovino was dead from an overdose the next day.
District Attorney John J. Conte will say only that the investigation into Mr.
Yovino’s death is continuing. Mr. Vargas has not been charged with any crime
related to the overdose. But he and his son, Soniell Sanchez, are considered
prime suspects in the case, according to sources. Investigators have been told
that Mr. Vargas had seven grams of heroin in the jail, which had been brought
into the jail by visitors.
Both from Fitchburg and both confined in the Deignan building, Mr. Vargas
allegedly was the dealer and Mr. Sanchez the enforcer in their drug
transactions.
“Father and son,” one source said.
Mr. Yovino’s death remains the only one of three at the jail in the last two
months that has not been solved. In two other cases, one inmate was beaten to
death while another hanged himself. But the heroin that killed Mr. Yovino
highlights a larger concern — how drugs make their way into the jail — and the
investigation has been more complex, officials say.
Both suspects have a history of drug offenses, according to court records and
criminal background checks. In 2002, Mr. Sanchez, 25, was sentenced to 90 days
in jail after authorities found heroin in his cell. He had been awaiting trial
for assault and battery on a child in Leominster. He eventually was convicted of
beating his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter and was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in
jail, to serve one year with the balance suspended.
He was released in February 2004 and ordered to undergo drug and alcohol testing
as part of probation. He failed one of those tests, however, when he attempted
to cheat by squeezing water from a napkin into a container. He later tested
positive for drugs.
In August 2004, he was charged with, but not convicted of, conspiracy to violate
drug laws. His probation was revoked, and he now is serving the remainder of the
sentence for assault and battery on a child.
Mr. Sanchez was transferred to another, undisclosed jail in the state after Mr.
Yovino died.
Mr. Sanchez was charged last year with conspiracy to violate drug laws during a
raid at his Summer Street home in Fitchburg. His father had been the primary
target of the raid.
Fitchburg police said at the time that Mr. Vargas, 54, was a known heroin dealer
in Fitchburg. He had a history of drug convictions, and had been released from a
state prison sentence the year before.
During the raid, in August 2004, police seized heroin, an undisclosed amount of
cash and drug paraphernalia scattered throughout the house. Mr. Sanchez, on
probation at the time, was in the bathroom.
Mr. Vargas was charged with distributing heroin, but in January pleaded guilty
to a lesser charge of possession of the drug as part of a plea agreement. He was
sentenced to a year in jail.
Five weeks after he was brought to the Worcester County jail, he was selling
drugs again, according to sources. This time it was in West Boylston, but still
to a Fitchburg customer, Mr. Yovino.
•
The morning of Feb. 27, a correction officer patrolling the Deignan block heard
a noise from Cell 27, in the east wing. The officer inquired, but was told by
one of the inmates that his cellmate was snoring. An hour later, the officer
returned and heard no noise, Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey A. Turco said the day
of the death.
By 3 a.m., the inmate who said his cellmate was snoring started banging on the
cell walls to attract an officer. He said he was lying on the lower bunk when he
felt something wet dripping on him and realized his cellmate was vomiting.
Correction officers and a nurse used defibrillators to try to revive Mr. Yovino,
but to no avail.
Mr. Yovino died at a hospital. It was the second death at the jail in less than
a week. Five days earlier, another inmate died of injuries he suffered in a
fight with his cellmate. The deaths came less than two months into the term of
newly elected Sheriff Guy W. Glodis, whose campaign included a promise to reform
the jail.
The jail was immediately placed in lockdown, and all visits were temporarily
banned. Officers swept the jail for drugs, and inmates in the Deignan facility
were tested. Within two days, 16 of the 120 inmates in the Deignan facility
tested positive.
New policies were immediately implemented, with jail officials saying they were
certain the drugs were brought in through a contact visit, in which inmates are
allowed to touch their visitors. Investigators have been told that Mr. Vargas
hid the drugs in his anus after a contact visit, one source said.
Since the death, contact visits have been eliminated for all but the jail’s
minimum-security inmates. Visitors face new restrictions, too. Anyone convicted
within the last 10 years of possession of a controlled substance is banned from
visiting the jail. Anyone convicted of distributing or trafficking a drug is
banned for life under the new policy, and anyone who has served a criminal
sentence anywhere in the country also is banned from the facility. Moreover,
inmates can only have seven names on a list of those allowed to visit them. The
visitors are subject to background checks.
The new policy stemmed from a campaign pledge Sheriff Glodis made to curtail
drugs in the jail, saying they were prevalent under the previous administration.
After the overdose, before his policies were enacted, the sheriff blamed the
death on the old administration’s policies.
Cecile Yovino, Mr. Yovino’s mother who still lives in Fitchburg’s Cleghorn
neighborhood, would not comment when contacted Friday, saying she still is
extremely upset about her son’s death. She said in a previous interview that he
leaves an 11-year-old son.
Mr. Yovino had been incarcerated on a probation violation on an assault
conviction. It was his 11th time in the jail. Mrs. Yovino said earlier that she
knows her son was no innocent bystander, but she expected that he would be safe
while in the jail. Still, she doesn’t blame the jail, noting that no one forced
her son to do anything and he was old enough to make his own decisions.
“Good or bad, they’re still your children,” she said after her son died. The
investigation into how the heroin ended up in the jail quickly focused on Mr.
Sanchez’s and Mr. Vargas’ past in Fitchburg, particularly 116 Marshall St.,
which the Sanchez family used as a base for their drug operation. The home was
owned by Mr. Sanchez’s mother, Sonia M. Garcia, who is Mr. Vargas’ ex-wife, and
a man named Javier Ruberte.
The mother and son had been arrested at that address before, as had brothers and
girlfriends, and other friends.
In January, the U.S. Attorney’s office, working with Fitchburg police, seized 70
percent of the Marshall Street property as part of a settlement with co-owners
Mrs. Garcia and Mr. Ruberte in U.S. District Court. Family members could not be
reached for comment after calls were placed to several telephone numbers
believed used by friends and members of the family.
Prosecutors filed the federal case to seize the Fitchburg home, arguing that it
was used as a dispatch center for the heroin ring, according to a drug
detective’s affidavit. As part of the settlement, the family will keep 30
percent ownership of the home and will receive that percentage of the proceeds
when it is sold. Fitchburg City Hall records list the home as being owned by the
federal government. It was the first home Fitchburg police seized as part of a
policy to penalize homeowners whose land has been the target of drug raids.
The home had been the target of three police raids since 1996, all of which
resulted in the confiscation of heroin and drug paraphernalia. In those raids,
Mr. Sanchez was arrested; his mother was arrested; a brother, Victor, was
arrested; and a family friend, Jacqueline Rodriguez, was arrested, all on
heroin-related charges. In another police sting, called “Operation Dope Slap”
and conducted in 2002, Soneill and another brother, Isaac, were charged with
distribution of heroin. Both listed their addresses as 116 Marshall St.
Isaac Sanchez, Ms. Rodriguez, his girlfriend, their young child, and Sonia
Garcia had visited Mr. Vargas in the jail before, according to sources. They now
are banned, however, from the Worcester County jail under the new policy enacted
after Mr. Yovino’s death.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Sister: Jail should
have seen signs
Inmate who killed self tried suicide last fall
By Milton J.
Valencia TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER— An inmate who killed
himself at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction last weekend tried
to kill himself six months earlier, when he was first brought to the facility, a
jail official and the man’s sister confirmed yesterday.
“He had issues. He had a drug problem. He needed help,” Rachel Binette said,
questioning why her brother was not on suicide watch.
Her brother, Ronald G. Binette, 33, who gave authorities addresses in Worcester,
was found Sunday morning hanged from a doorway in a second-floor bathroom in one
of the jail’s modular buildings. The body was discovered shortly after Mr.
Binette was reported missing during a routine count of prisoners.
Jail officials have said Mr. Binette did not exhibit any behavior that would
lead them to believe he would kill himself. They said he sought medical help for
chest pains Sunday morning, showing officials he cared about his health.
“All the indications from his interactions with staff that morning … were he was
not someone who was going to kill himself,” jail Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey
Turco said yesterday.
But Mr. Binette had tried to kill himself at least twice before, most recently
in October, when he was first taken to the jail.
Mr. Binette was arrested for disturbing the peace in October, and was sentenced
to the jail in November. Worcester Central District Court records show he was
listed as a suicide risk when he was arrested.
Soon after being taken to the jail, he slit his wrists in an attempt to kill
himself, his sister said.
“I think he tried to get help from the jail, but they didn’t help,” Ms. Binette
said.
She said she feared for her brother, who was homeless and had a drug addiction.
Worcester police records show Mr. Binette attempted to hang himself while he was
being booked for an arrest in 1991, when he was 19 years old.
At one point last year, Ms. Binette said, she became worried about her brother
after a chance encounter with him. She sought a court order to have police take
him into custody because she feared he would try to kill himself. However,
police couldn’t help her because she had no address for him and couldn’t tell
them where to find him.
Ms. Binette said she was notified by jail officials after the attempted suicide
in October, and said her brother sought help. The jail has several mental health
counselors through a private contractor, Advocates Inc. Jail correction officers
are also trained in suicide prevention and to recognize warning signs.
Mr. Binette was released from the jail March 5 on probation. He was arrested
again April 10 on a warrant for an alleged probation violation. The warrant had
been issued March 11, and a hearing had been scheduled for May 4.
Two days after his arrest, Mr. Binette killed himself. “He was only in there for
48 hours,” his sister said.
Mr. Turco, the superintendent, stressed Mr. Binette did not show any signs he
would kill himself, leaving jail officials to believe he was OK.
At 8:30 Sunday morning, inmates in the medium-security section of the jail were
given a two-hour “yard time” to roam the grounds, but Mr. Binette instead went
to the infirmary, complaining of chest pains.
He was examined quickly by a nurse, who told him he seemed OK but she would
check on him soon for a full examination. A half-hour later, she did, and gave
him a complete review in the infirmary. Mr. Binette seemed healthy and declined
an offer to stay there for monitoring, Mr. Turco said. Two hours later, after a
count showed he was missing, Mr. Binette was found, hanged with a sheet.
Mr. Turco said jail officials were aware of Mr. Binette’s past and said a
majority of the inmates in the facility have a history of mental illness. He
said the jail has no resources to put every such inmate on suicide watch, saying
doing so would put hundreds of the jail’s 1,300-plus inmates on suicide watch
each day. He said the jail makes sure to monitor an inmate’s health, and that
Mr. Binette seemed OK.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Inmate found dead
3rd Worcester ’05 jail death
By Martin
Luttrell TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
mluttrell@telegram.com
WEST BOYLSTON— An inmate at the
Worcester County Jail died of an apparent suicide yesterday after complaining of
chest pains, then declining an offer to remain in the jail’s infirmary for
monitoring, according to Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey Turco.
The 33-year-old Worcester resident was found hanging by a bedsheet in a
second-floor bathroom doorway at 11:10 a.m., about 5 minutes after he was noted
missing during a routine head count, Deputy Superintendent Turco said. The
inmate was pronounced dead at UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus,
Worcester.
The death was the third this year at the facility, which houses the Worcester
County Jail and House of Correction.
“At 9 a.m. he went to the infirmary complaining of chest pains,” Deputy
Superintendent Turco said. “A nurse took his vital signs and did not detect any
problems. He was asked if he wanted to be on medical watch, and he said no and
left the infirmary. He was not acting in an unusual or threatening manner.”
Sheriff’s Department officers were trying to determine where the inmate went
after that. The inmate, housed in the L building in the modular complex of the
jail, had so-called “open yard” from 9 to 11 a.m. to walk about the yard, go to
the infirmary or to religious services, held in the modular programs building,
across the yard from the infirmary, the deputy superintendent said.
At 11:05 the inmate was reported missing, and that part of the facility was
placed in lockdown while perimeter security and West Boylston police checked the
area around the perimeter fence for someone trying to escape, Deputy
Superintendent Turco said. Meanwhile, other officers went about checking every
room in every building, he said.
“At 11:10 the inmate was found in a second-floor bathroom doorway, hanging from
a door jamb. It appeared to be with a sheet or some similar type of cloth
material,” the deputy said, adding that the sheet was tied to the arm of a
device that automatically pulls the door closed.
“By statute, in Massachusetts, any time a death occurs inside the walls of a
prison or county facility, the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the
district attorney’s office will do an investigation,” he said. “It appears to be
a tragic case of someone with issues that led to a suicide. The whole modular is
in lockdown and will continue to be so until tomorrow morning.”
The state medical examiner’s office transported the body to Boston yesterday for
an autopsy, he said.
Deputy Superintendent Turco said the inmate had been incarcerated at the House
of Correction last fall, after being sentenced on convictions of larceny of more
than $250 and possession of marijuana. He was subsequently released and was on
probation, but was picked up Friday evening on a probation violation by a task
force comprised of the sheriff’s department, the U.S. marshal’s office and state
police.
He was being held as a pretrial inmate pending a probation surrender hearing,
Deputy Superintendent Turco said. Since arriving at the jail on Friday, the
inmate made no calls and had no complaints documented, he said.
•On Feb. 23 inmate Daniel McMullen, 42, formerly of Douglas, was beaten by
another inmate and died 20 days later after slipping into a coma. The inmate who
allegedly inflicted the fatal beating, Dennis Hadley, 49, formerly of Rhode
Island, has since been transferred to Bridgewater State Hospital for psychiatric
review.
•On Feb. 27 John Yovino, 38, formerly of Fitchburg, died at the jail of a drug
overdose. He had been incarcerated for two months on an assault charge and
parole violations.
Martin Luttrell can be reached via e-mail at
mluttrell@telegram.com.
County jail bans 500 from visits -
Two inmate deaths led to new rules
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
March 30, 2005
Author: Milton J. Valencia
More than 500 people have been banned from visiting the Worcester County Jail
and House of Correction in West Boylston since a new policy and other reforms
were enacted following two recent inmate deaths. Jail officials said the
reforms help increase security in light of concerns about drug smuggling.
One potential visitor had been convicted of armed robbery. He was banned.
Others banned had been convicted of selling drugs; one had been found guilty
of distributing cocaine.
"Anytime someone convicted visits the jail, it is a security risk," said
Jeffrey Turco, deputy superintendent of the jail. "Nobody gets in without a
background check."
The policy was announced shortly after the deaths of two inmates this year.
One was beaten by a cellmate, and died 20 days later of his injuries. Another
died of a heroin overdose, showing inmates have had access to drugs inside the
facility.
Immediately, Sheriff Guy W. Glodis canceled all visits to the jail, the
facility was placed in lockdown and investigators worked to trace the source
of the heroin. The investigation continues, but progress has been made, Mr.
Turco has said.
As part of a predetermined plan, the jail had already planned to eliminate
by April 1 contact visits, during which inmates were allowed to touch their
visitors. The ban was enacted earlier because the administration believed the
drugs were passed through contact visits.
In addition, the Glodis administration created a new policy putting more
restrictions on those who can visit, as part of its plan to curtail drug
smuggling into the facility.
Anyone convicted of distributing or trafficking a drug, and anyone who has
served a criminal sentence anywhere in the country is banned.
Among the restrictions, anyone convicted of possession of a controlled
substance is barred from the jail for 10 years after his or her conviction.
Inmates now have a limit of seven people they can put on a visitors' list,
and those visitors are subject to background checks.
There were 1,358 inmates at the facility by the end of last week, and not
all had finished filling out their visitors' request forms. Jail officials
continue to review requests for visitors.
So far, 1,601 visitors have been authorized to enter the jail, and 516 have
been banned. Of those banned, at least one had been convicted of attempted
murder, and others were convicted of rape. Some had been incarcerated in other
facilities before, so were banned by the new policy.
Under the previous administration, background checks were at random. Those
barred mainly included people who had been incarcerated at the West Boylston
facility less than six months before their requested visit.
Mr. Turco said the new policy puts more restrictions on visitors and has
become a tool to screen them and curtail drug problems. The Glodis
administration has long complained that drugs were prevalent in the jail, and
the sheriff made the problem a campaign issue when he ran last year. Sheriff
Glodis' administration took office in January.
Mr. Turco said the number of visits at the jail has dropped dramatically.
First of all, he said, there are fewer visitors qualified to enter the
facility. And, he said, reforms such as the elimination of contact could have
deterred people who have attempted before to smuggle drugs to inmates.
In a recent meeting to discuss jail reforms, the Worcester chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union had voiced concern about screening all
visitors, arguing that an inmate could put someone on a list who really
doesn't want to be on a list. That person would be subject to background
screenings, a violation of privacy rights, the ACLU argued.
Mr. Turco said that some people told they weren't allowed to enter the
facility said they had no intention to visit.
Nevertheless, he said the jail has been following the ACLU's
recommendations. A letter is posted on visiting-room walls telling people they
could be subject to background checks. The jail has been studying policies in
other county facilities to see how they handle visitors.
Among other reforms, the sheriff has instituted a zero-tolerance policy,
promising to bring charges against anyone committing a crime.
Dennis Hadley, 49, who beat his cellmate, Daniel McMullen, 42, in a fight
that led to Mr. McMullen's death, already has been charged with assault and
battery with a dangerous weapon. District Attorney John J. Conte has initiated
his own investigation and is considering murder charges.
Mr. Turco said the policy has made its way through the jail, and the
inmates "know this administration is not messing around."
Recently, correction officers found an inmate with four home-made shanks in
his cell. The inmate admitted they were his, but questioned what jail
officials could do, saying he was to be released on an assault conviction in
less than 10 days. "Before, they would just look at you and laugh," Mr. Turco
said.
The inmate was supposed to be released March 27. However, he's being held
on $15,000 cash bail on a new charge of possession of a dangerous weapon, and
a charge of assault and battery on a correction officer.
Questions, grief still linger -
Officials investigating two deaths in jail
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
March 6, 2005
Author: Milton J. Valencia
In Fitchburg, a mother continues to mourn and wants justice. In Uxbridge, a
sister has done her grieving and wants closure. And across the country in
Arizona, another sister still has questions.
More than 1,300 inmates are in lockdown in the Worcester County Jail and
House of Correction as detectives continue their investigation and Sheriff Guy
W. Glodis and top aides are still recovering from the deaths of two inmates in
five days. Talk of murder or manslaughter charges against a third and a heroin
terror are running throughout the facility.
"You would think that's where they're safe," said Cecile Yovino, whose son,
John Yovino, 38, died last week of a suspected heroin overdose.
However, she doesn't blame the jail. No one twisted her son's arms and he was
old enough to make his decisions, she said.
Still, "Good or bad, they're still your children," Mrs. Yovino said. "All I
hope is they find out what happened and that another mother doesn't go through
what I'm going through again."
Mary McMullen knows what happened to Daniel McMullen and wants murder charges
filed. Sitting in a hospital and watching her brother connected to machines to
stay alive as she read letters he sent to a friend brought heartache, then
prompted questions and anger.
Mr. McMullen had been incarcerated on a driving under the influence of
alcohol as a second offense conviction and for parole violations. He also had
been convicted for domestic assault and battery, but wasn't serving jail time
for the offense. There was an additional conviction 20 years ago for assault
charges.
But his letters told of his dreams of starting anew in a house he would build
in a wooded lot, and undertaking a career as a mechanic. Suffering from
sclerosis of the liver, he also talked about quitting drinking.
Mr. McMullen wanted to be released, but would first have to survive the
harassment and abuse by other inmates, he wrote in those letters.
"He shouldn't have to serve the death penalty for driving drunk," his sister
said.
The letters told of a life in jail where inmates steal one another's personal
belongings in what officials have called a move for power in the jail's
subculture. It isn't "Oz," the HBO series depicting a violent lifestyle in jail,
but it isn't a country club either, they said.
"Welcome to jail," one officer told him, according to his letters.
Mr. McMullen, 42, had been moved to more secure areas twice. He had
complained to administrators that inmates urinated on his bed and threw
odor-filled objects in his cell.
He was eventually moved to the J block, the jail's disciplinary facility that
also is used as a protective custody section.
There, he had different cellmates before meeting Dennis Hadley, 39, a man who
told Mr. McMullen his name was "Jesus" and also wrote his own letters to family
members about the struggles of existing in jail.
On Feb. 3, they fought over playing cards after Mr. McMullen accused his
cellmate of 13 days of stealing his deck.
Mr. McMullen went to the hospital for stitches. He returned seven hours later
after complaining of continuing pain and eventually fell into a coma. He was
bleeding internally and his spleen had ruptured. Doctors told his sister there
was nothing more they could do.
Inside the J block, cells built for one inmate house two individuals who are
locked down together for 23 hours a day. They have an hour to shower and roam
the area as one cell is opened at a time. Correction officers stand guard,
watching as the inmates move around with their hands and feet shackled.
Here, inmates are either on disciplinary status, on suicide watch or in
protective custody. It's the maximum-security section of a medium-security area.
Mr. McMullen and Mr. Hadley were both in protective custody. It's against
state regulations to house a sentenced inmate and a pretrial detainee - Mr.
Hadley was awaiting trial on burglary and larceny charges. District Attorney
John J. Conte has said that violation is part of the investigation into Mr.
McMullen's death.
But jail officials say the crowded jail - where more than 1,300 inmates live
in a facility built for 822 - forces them to make arrangements to house inmates,
particularly for those requesting protective custody.
"Is it better to mix a jail and a house together, or two people who can't get
along?" said Deputy Sheriff Michael Drumstas.
He said Mr. McMullen and Mr. Hadley had the same classification, a
measurement the jail uses to gauge an inmate's level of threat or need for
security.
Correction officers see inmates at their worst and weakest in this facility,
which was built for 60 but houses 100.
Locked in their tiny cells, which contain two beds and a urinal, inmates
frequently scream whatever comes to mind, forcing officers to listen to the
rants each shift.
"Hey Deputy, come here I want to talk to you," many yelled to Deputy Drumstas
as he accompanied a reporter on a recent visit to the jail.
Officers check each cell every 15 minutes. The night of the fight, an officer
conducting shower checks interrupted the two inmates after he heard the dispute.
Previously, there was no known problem between Mr. McMullen and his new
cellmate, jail officials said.
In Arizona, Mr. Hadley's sister, Dorothy, received news of what had happened
in bits and pieces from a lawyer representing her brother on burglary and
larceny charges. Mr. Hadley had been arrested on Thanksgiving, one day after
returning to the area from Arizona. He was caught in a stolen car filled with
items taken in a house burglary.
The lawyer read Dorothy a newspaper article about the fight over the phone
and she thought of the letters her brother sent to her from jail, telling of his
own struggles. At one point, he wrote, people would call him a "derelict" with
no family. He asked for pictures to show he did have loved ones.
"I'm tired of getting into ... fights, I'm getting too old for this," he
wrote in words quite similar to those used by Mr. McMullen in his
correspondence. Mr. Hadley's sister wonders what could have triggered the fight
between the two cellmates.
Mr. Hadley has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon,
and investigators are considering murder or manslaughter charges. He has been
transferred to Bridgewater State Hospital for psychiatric review.
A relative of Mr. Hadley's who answered the telephone at her Woonsocket,
R.I., home last week said he was known to call himself Jesus, although his
sister said she knew of no history of mental illness.
He was simply a drifter, the woman said, who returned to family in Rhode
Island to come back to his native area. He had lived in California for a while
and worked as a furniture mover before spending time with his sister in Arizona.
He also has a 28-year-old son.
Uxbridge police, who arrested Mr. Hadley, said he had no address and was
homeless.
Soon after he left her for New England, his sister started receiving his
letters from the jail. She sent him money to buy envelopes, paper and stamps.
"He didn't think he (killed him)," Dorothy said. "He thought (correction
officers) were just messing with him, trying to scare him."
In the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction, inmates are either
awaiting trial or have been sentenced for a maximum of 2-1/2 years.
There's a main jail, built in 1973, and modular units built in 1990 that
house medium-security inmates. There's a maximum-security unit, and prerelease
and work release blocks.
Inmates are classified according to their threat level and need for
protective custody. There's one unit - the K block - that is used for those in
most need of security, typically child molesters, whose crime is detested even
in the criminal world. Those who need additional security are brought to the J
block, but doing so comes with a lockdown.
In other facilities, most inmates have recreation time that can be used
playing basketball and lifting weights, watching TV or playing cards. Visits
from friends and family are also allowed in those facilities. There are job
training and education courses, as well as mental health counseling and social
worker sessions.
It costs an average of $30,000 a year to house an inmate.
Sheriff Glodis, who took office on Jan. 6, arrived with an agenda to overhaul
the system. Inmates who made progress would have more access to recreation time
and to canteen items, a sort of bonus for good behavior.
In a crackdown, the sheriff planned to eliminate contact visits, face-to-face
meetings, for most inmates, to be effective April 1. He said such visits are the
way friends smuggle drugs and heroin into the facility. In his campaign speeches
last year, the sheriff said combating a drug problem at the jail was one of his
top priorities.
He also complained the jail was crowded and understaffed, creating an
atmosphere in which tensions rise, inmates abuse and harass one another in power
struggles and drugs are available.
In one week, six weeks after the new administration took office, the deaths
of Mr. Yovino and Mr. McMullen cast a cloud over the sheriff's agenda as he
sought to reload his efforts to secure the facility.
The deaths proved the sheriff's earlier concerns about the jail were well
founded, Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey Turco said, adding that the suddenness
with which they came proved a blow to a new administration trying to settle in.
Immediately, all inmates were placed in lockdown as investigators searched
for the source of the drugs that killed Mr. Yovino. Inmates in the block that
Mr. Yovino was housed in underwent drug tests and 18 tested positive.
All visits have been suspended and when they resume there will be new
regulations.
There will be no more contact visits, and visitors will be screened before
they enter the facility. Anyone convicted of a drug offence within the last 10
years would be banned. Anyone convicted of a drug distribution offense will be
restricted for life.
There's also a new zero-tolerance policy. Any inmate caught in any crime,
from vandalism to fighting and drug possession, will be charged.
Mary McMullen heard her brother was in the hospital when she returned home
from rehabilitation for knee surgery. She got the news from her brother's
friend, more than a week after Daniel had been taken to the hospital.
By the time Mary saw her brother, he had lapsed into a coma. All she knew
about his life in jail was spelled out in his letters. She told doctors to
disconnect him from life support, after days of watching him connected to
machines, his skin yellow, his eyes rolled back.
In Arizona, Mr. Hadley's sister, Dorothy, has her own letters - the ones her
brother sent complaining of abuse he said he had received at the jail. He had
been in jail awaiting trial for burglary charges and now could be charged with
murder. She is making arrangements to see him in Bridgewater State Hospital.
In Fitchburg, Cecile Yovino said she received a visit from investigators with
the sheriff's office telling her that her son died in his sleep. The next day,
she read in a newspaper that his death was because of a heroin overdose.
She knew her son was no angel, she said. He had been committed for two months
on an assault charge and for parole violations. It was his eighth time in jail.
In all his incarcerations, she figured he at least was safe from the drugs that
plagued his life. He leaves an 11-year-old son.
D.A. probes inmate death; sheriff
eyes overcrowding
February 25, 2005
WORCESTER, Mass. --Prosecutors have expanded their investigation into the
death of an inmate at the Worcester County Jail, and the county sheriff said
overcrowding may have been a contributing factor.
Daniel McMullen died at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester on Wednesday, when
his sister consented to removing him from life support. He fell into a coma days
after he allegedly was beaten by his cellmate, Dennis Hadley, 49, during a fight
over a deck of playing cards.
District Attorney John J. Conte told the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester that
he is expanding the investigation into what happened. The probe will determine
"whether or not ... (jail personnel) fulfilled what they should have fulfilled,
according to their duties."
McMullen, jailed since November for a second drunk driving conviction, and
Hadley, who was being held in lieu of bail on burglary charges, shouldn't have
been held in the same cell, Conte said, because it's against the law to house a
detainee and a jail inmate in the same cell.
The fight occurred on Feb. 3. McMullen received 13 stitches for a cut on his
face. He was released but returned to the hospital seven hours later,
complaining of continuing pain in his stomach and chest. He was diagnosed with
internal bleeding and admitted to the hospital, where his condition
deteriorated.
Hadley, who already faced assault and battery charges and was being held in
isolation, is now likely to face more serious charges, Conte said.
Sheriff Guy W. Glodis sent a letter to Conte, calling for a second-degree
murder charge against Hadley. Conte said a grand jury would determine the
charges, if any.
Jeffrey Turco, deputy superintendent of the jail, said McMullen was
transferred twice: soon after he first arrived at the jail and after his
complaint about inmates urinating on his bed.
One problem is the jail is overcrowded, Turco said. There are 1,314 inmates,
but the West Boylston facility has an intended capacity of only 822. On an
average night shift -- the shift in which the alleged beating occurred -- there
are only three correction officers guarding 120 inmates, he said.
McMullen was serving a six-month sentence.
The Telegram & Gazette reported that McMullen, who was gay, wrote letters to
a friend complaining that other inmates were stealing his belongings. The
letters gave no indication that he was harassed because he was gay, the
newspaper reported. 
Cops:
Man in stolen car had robbed a home
Woonsocket call.com
JOSEPH
B. NADEAU, Staff Writer 11/26/04
UXBRIDGE
-- A man believed connected to a housebreak in Mendon, an accident in Blackstone
and a possible car theft in Woonsocket ended his Thanksgiving Day under arrest
by local police.
Police said Dennis Hadley, 49, no address known, was taken into custody at 4:50
p.m. after reportedly having trouble with the stolen vehicle, a 1999 Mercury.
Uxbridge
Police Sgt. Timothy Burke said Hadley apparently went to a local resident’s home
looking for help after having trouble with the allegedly stolen vehicle, and was
subsequently arrested by local police responding to the location.
The car was found to contain a number of collectible coins and other items
believed taken from a home in Mendon, Burke said.
Police were still inventorying all the items late Thursday night and working
with police in Mendon, Blackstone and Woonsocket on the case, he said.
Hadley was charged with possession of burglary tools and two counts of receiving
stolen property as of Thursday night. He was set to be arraigned by Uxbridge
police this morning in Uxbridge District Court and also faces arraignment on
charges to be brought by Mendon in Mendon District Court, Burke said.
Other items found in the vehicle included collectible figures and statues,
state-emblem quarter sets, collectible NASCAR models, some cash and other items,
he said.
The vehicle driven by the suspect was confirmed by Woonsocket to have been
reported stolen out that community, Burke said.
Blackstone police received a description of the car when it was reported to have
collided Thursday morning with a vehicle on Main Street, according to police.
Uxbridge police later identified the car as the vehicle driven by Hadley prior
to his arrest.
The suspect was reported to have recently been in Oklahoma, Burke said, and
arrived in the local area possibly Wednesday.
Police were still investigating Thursday night if he had any ties to the local
area. Burke said police believe Hadley acted alone in the alleged break, but
noted the case remains under investigation.
