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But the show must go on!
Lewan promptly played an upbeat rendition of "Lady of Pain."
Posted on 04/24/2004 10:04:27 AM PDT by Born Conservative
An attack on Jan Lewan while he slept in a prison cell has an attorney for the former polka entertainer criticizing Delaware officials responsible for his safety. An inmate cut Lewan, 61, across the neck and on the back with a razor at the Delaware Correctional Center in Smyrna, said attorney David Glassberg of Hazleton.
Glassberg identified Lewan's assailant as Keith Garner. According to The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., Garner is serving a life sentence for rape.
Glassberg questioned the decision by prison officials to assign Garner to a cell with Lewan, who is serving a sentence for securities fraud.
"It doesn't appear that he was safeguarded as he should have been," said Glassberg, who represented Lewan in civil cases. "It certainly wasn't a very good match."
Lewan "did lose a lot of blood and his condition for a period of time was unstable," Glassberg said.
Lewan is recuperating in the prison, Glassberg said.
Carl Danberg, assistant to the commissioner for the Delaware Department of Corrections, would not identify the inmates involved, citing privacy guidelines. "We did have an inmate on inmate assault Sunday The incident is still under investigation. Charges have not been filed. We do anticipate that we will be filing criminal charges."
Glassberg said he has not spoken to Lewan, but has spoken to others who learned of the attack.
Lewan's wife, Rhonda, was able to visit her husband but had a hard time getting permission from prison officials, Glassberg said.
~"The family is considering what alternatives there are" to the internal prison investigation under way, said the attorney.
"We're not sure why he was placed in a maximum security prison," said Glassberg, noting Lewan is a nonviolent person serving a sentence for a white-collar crime.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marty Carlson said his office in Harrisburg inquired about the attack after a newspaper reporter called seeking comment on Thursday.
"We were able to confirm that he has in fact suffered an injury," Carlson said. Lewan was "allegedly cut by another inmate."
As to whether the injury to Lewan will delay the federal sentencing, Carlson said it is possible, adding "I don't think that has happened yet."
In January, Lewan began serving a five-year sentence in Delaware for his guilty plea to racketeering and other charges related to a securities fraud scheme involving investors in his entertainment and business ventures.
Last month in New Jersey, he was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to make restitution of $697,551 to investors for his guilty plea to money laundering and securities fraud. The sentence is concurrent with his Delaware sentence.
Still pending is a sentencing in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Scranton, on June 4 for related charges. It is not known whether the attack will delay that sentence.
Less than ten years in the general prison population for 600K for a 60 year old criminal seems about right. This article should be sent to every fund manager and financial advisor out there.
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| No amateurs, please. Send FReepmail if you want on/off ISHP list |
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But the show must go on!
Lewan promptly played an upbeat rendition of "Lady of Pain."
FMCDH
Is it more acceptable to put two violent ones together? I agree that all prisoners deserve personal safety, but I sensed from Lewan's attorney the message "he's not such a bad guy, they shouldn't have put him in such a bad place and with such a bad roommate", implying someone more violent should have been in his place (and probably stabbed instead).
Your point is well-taken, though. I just have trouble with the expectation that white-collar criminals deserve nicer surroundings than others.
Time is time. Mutilation is mutilation. I can't imagine why you don't see the difference.
I'll admit I'm not much of a Polka fan myself, but this seems a bit extreme. Then again, maybe not.
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