Posted on 07/17/2002 2:01:24 AM PDT by weegee
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The Federal Bureau of Prisons will be able to protect John Walker Lindh from any inmates seeking to avenge his service with Taliban forces in Afghanistan, a bureau spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Traci Billingsley, speaking for the agency that administers the nation's 102 federal prisons, said bureau personnel would decide what steps were needed to protect the 21-year-old Californian from inmates.
"We consider both types of security when designating the institution that would be best suited for a particular inmate," Billingsley said. "We take all the necessary security precautions to ensure that all our inmates remain safe while they are confined with us."
James Brosnahan, Lindh's defense attorney, had expressed concern over the prison safety of the former Taliban infantryman, who pleaded guilty Monday to two federal charges and agreed to serve a sentence of up to 20 years in a plea bargain with Justice Department prosecutors.
"There are security issues in this case," Brosnahan said.
Lindh's legal team had received threatening messages during the course of its defense of the unpopular defendant, suggesting that Lindh might be at risk in prison, Brosnahan said.
Keith Wetmore, chairman of Brosnahan's San Francisco-based law firm, Morrison & Foerster LLP, had asked Brosnahan at the outset of the case to drop references to the firm and operate independently during the Lindh case in an effort to allay the security concerns of some of the firm's 2,000 employees.
Parts of the 15-page plea agreement between Lindh and prosecutors deal with security arrangements for Lindh and his prison privileges. Brosnahan said the willingness of Justice Department prosecutors to address Lindh's concerns contributed to his decision to plead guilty to charges of illegally providing services to the Taliban and illegally carrying a firearm and two grenades while providing that assistance.
U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III has scheduled Lindh's sentencing for Oct. 4. Lindh will remain in the Alexandria Detention Center until sentencing and then will be taken by U.S. marshals to a prison yet to be designated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Two institutions in California may qualify -- the 784-inmate prison on the former grounds of Castle Air Force Base at Atwater, Calif., about three hours drive from San Francisco, or the 1,131-inmate prison at Lompoc, Calif.
For a while maybe Jeffery Dahlmer thought he wasnt paid attention too either.
Why bother? Go ahead and let his fellow inmates do what they will with him.
Clintoon had called a special session of the Senate for a vote on the Uruguay round of the GATT treaty.
Just a few weeks after the 1994 Republician "revolution," to shove GATT in before the newly elected congress could be seated.
Dahmer upstaged it.
Yakboy said it well in his post # 7.
They're gonna give him a box of Trojans?
2. Nelson Mandela was a terrorist. Look what he and HIS ilk did to South Africa.
Best of all, it saved us from a public spectacle on Court TV, something we can all be thankful for. And we don't have to go through a lengthy trial, we already have him judged guilty. Done deal, probably spared the country a load of grief.
Not to mention, he is now obligated to sing like a canary, which is more valuable to us right now than putting his boiled and tarred head on a pike, no matter how much many of us would like that. (Hey, don't knock it, it's part of my Anglo-Saxon heritage!)
And as others have pointed out, the only possible early release coming to this misguided fool may be in the form of "jailhouse justice".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.