Posted on 01/30/2002 9:16:30 PM PST by Coleus
Trantino beginning transition to normal life Sunday, January 28, 2001
By RANDY DIAMOND Trenton Bureau
There are no bars on the windows of the four-story house in a residential section near Newark's downtown. The front door isn't locked.
But the wiring on the windows, which is connected to an alarm system, is a reminder to the 90 men who live in this building and several adjoining brownstones that they are not yet entirely free.
They are state prisoners living in a halfway house. And before they can shed the role of inmate, they must complete an intense, rule-oriented, therapeutic six- to 12-month program designed to serve as a bridge between prison and life on the outside.
It is in this kind of environment that cop killer Thomas Trantino will have to live before he can become free.
Ten days ago the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered Trantino, the state's longest-serving prisoner now in custody, released after 37 years of incarceration. But the court set a condition for the man who murdered two Lodi policemen in 1963 -- a successful one-year stay in a halfway house.
State officials, who have until mid-February to transfer the 62-year-old Trantino from his cell in South Woods Prison in Bridgeton, will not say to which halfway house Trantino is headed, although the Supreme Court had said it must be in the Camden area.
But whatever halfway house he goes to, there will be many similarities to Newark's PORT program, short for Prison Offenders Receiving Treatment.
The PORT program, which is owned and operated by a non-profit substance-abuse treatment organization called Integrity House, allowed The Record to visit Friday.
Like other halfway houses, the PORT program, under contract with the state, serves as a bridge between the tightly regulated world of prison life and freedom. But there are some special aspects to its role. For instance, the program is tailored for inmates with a history of substance abuse, a common problem among the prison population.
"We help the prisoner with the transition," said David Kerr, Integrity House's director and president. The program is varied from teaching life skills -- opening a checking account or meeting new friends -- to teaching offenders how to deal with anger or sadness.
Everything is done in a highly structured environment. Indeed, aspects of life inside PORT are just like prison.
Daily self-help and therapy groups are mandated, and offenders are expected to discuss the issues that landed them in prison and learn coping skills to help them deal better with life.
"You learn to deal with your feelings and take responsibility for yourself," said an inmate who has been at PORT for several months. The 33-year-old, who asked not to be identified, said he believes the program is helping him put his life on track after serving two years in prison for selling heroin near a public school.
PORT's clinical director, Ed Lyons, said the intensive group therapy phase goes on for 90 days. It's only then that offenders are allowed to get out into the community, either working at a job or beginning a job-training program.
The program aims to put offenders in jobs with a future -- computer services, for example, rather than flipping hamburgers.
"You can't feel good about yourself without a good job," Lyons said.
The PORT program stresses accountability, Lyons said. Prisoners must be on time for and attend scheduled groups. When a prisoner goes to work, he must return to the halfway house by a certain time. Offenders who are more than two hours late returning from work under state corrections rules must be sent back to prison, Lyons said.
It's an environment in which many inmates can't perform adequately. Kerr says only 30 percent of prisoners complete the PORT program, and the others are sent back to prison.
It's the reason the alarms are on the windows of the small, bunk-filled bedrooms of the PORT program. An occasional inmate has escaped that way, said PORT social worker Joseph Sweeney. Some inmates will try to elude staff attention and escape without notice to get a head start on the police, Sweeney said.
"We can't keep inmates here if they want to leave," he said. But Sweeney said the authorities are always called and the inmates are sent back to prison when they are found.
Walkaways and other disciplinary problems are not unique to the PORT program. Each year 2,500 to 3,000 state prisoners are sent to about two dozen privately run halfway houses throughout New Jersey, state corrections officials say.
But 26 percent of all state prisoners sent to halfway houses are cited for infractions of halfway house rules, and a high majority of them end up back in prison, said Diana Zompa, director of the office of community and drug programs for the state Department of Corrections.
Zompa said some infractions -- being a few minutes late coming back from work, for instance -- can be handled internally by halfway house staff. But more serious infractions -- including all walkaways -- result in an automatic return to prison.
Zompa said offenders who committed violent crimes are monitored more closely than those with non-violent histories. They are allowed to leave the house unsupervised only for work, family visits, or religious services. She said they are not allowed overnight family visits.
Most inmates do not end up in halfway houses. Zompa said Corrections officials try to send the best candidates to halfway houses. Only those prisoners in minimum-custody units are eligible. Inmates who have completed their full sentences can simply walk out the prison door, even if there have been discipline problems.
State law enforcement officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they were uncertain what would happen if Trantino broke the halfway house rules. There is no precedent for the situation, because the Supreme Court, not the Parole Board, ordered his release.
The potential problem is further complicated because Trantino has served his maximum sentence. On the other hand, they say, the court has made it clear that Trantino's release is dependent on his successfully completing a year in a halfway house.
"We might have to ask court guidance," conceded a senior state law enforcement official when asked about remedies available to authorities should Trantino not abide by the rules. "We're not sure what we would do."
Zompa declined to talk specifically about the Trantino case.
But Trantino's lawyer, Roger Lowenstein, says he is confident that his client will do well in a halfway house, citing the inmate's infraction-free record through his last three decades in prison.
Supreme Court officials cited that record in ordering Trantino's release, saying state officials had buckled to public pressure to keep him behind bars, even though they could not show a substantial likelihood that he would commit a crime. Formerly on death row, Trantino had concluded the punishment phase of his prison term in 1979.
The state Parole Board had denied Trantino parole nine times, each time after angry protests by relatives of the two police officers, law-enforcement officials, and politicians.
Trantino's original death sentence was set aside when the state's former capital-punishment law was overturned by the courts in 1972. Trantino's sentence was further reduced under a state law that allowed prisoners with life terms to be released in as few as 15 years.
During his 37 years behind bars, Trantino has had several community furloughs. He was also allowed to leave prison for a brief time in 1998 when he was sent to a North Jersey center that serves as an evaluation point for halfway-house candidates who need further assessment.
That center, Talbot Hall, is similar to a halfway house and offers various self-help and therapy groups. But the center is a locked institution. Trantino's stay there was brief, and he was moved back to prison after protests by Governor Whitman that he never should have been let out.
Law enforcement officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said one problem might be finding a halfway house that would be willing to take Trantino.Given the high publicity about his case, some houses might be reluctant, they said.
Halfway houses, which are paid about $57 a day for each state prisoner they accept, are privately run and have limited rights to deny admission to certain prisoners.
Trantino's adjustment to life in a halfway house might not be a complete shock. An acknowledged drug abuser, he has been participating in a drug-treatment program called Nu Way at South Woods State Prison. There inmates attend self-help and therapy groups that are similar to halfway house programs.
The 33-year-old inmate at the PORT Program, who had also been at South Woods, said Trantino is the volunteer president of Nu Way's reentry program at the South Jersey prison.
The inmate said Trantino helped lead groups that teach prisoners how to deal with the stresses of life outside the wall.
"He tells people to take it one day at a time," the inmate said. "He's very positive. He's always encouraging people."
http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/courts/appellate/a6486-98.opn.html
http://www.nationalcops.org/parolehearings.htm
http://www.greatlinks.com/jersey/ledger/d54991.html
It's an absolute outrage that he hasn't been executed years ago!
If this person, who is now in the sunset period of their life continues to work to help others to his best capacity, he earns the last years of life to be free.
If he dumps the work he does to help others reenter the community, I would have to concur that he should have remained behind bars.
But if he continues to reflect having learned from having society being more compassionate towards him then I see nothing wrong with him earning his keep as a member of the community at large.
I know you disagree, and I understand my opposition to the death penalty because it is inconsistently applied, and the quality of some lawyers and courts have produced a flawed product is something you do not recognize as a legitimate view to hold.
Therefore you are welcome not to lash out at me. I won't change your opinion, and you won't change mine. And I would also gladly trade the lives of the murdered cops for this person. Further, my opinion is not one of a ‘bleeding heart liberal;’ as there are many conservatives around the world that have the same sort of opinion on this sort of case that I do.
Simularly, I find it impossible not to have complete peace of mind in speaking my mind on this topic.
In case you are curious as to where I am coming from at the deepest level on my views on capital punishment.
Why don't we just pull up ALL of the released FELONS articles, who have gone on to kll and rape, after their release ? Hmmmmmmmmmmm ? At least that wouldn't be apples and oranges; like your attempt is.
You sound like this guy's lawyer:
But Trantino's lawyer, Roger Lowenstein, says he is confident that his client will do well in a halfway house, citing the inmate's infraction-free record through his last three decades in prison.....Trantino's adjustment to life in a halfway house might not be a complete shock. An acknowledged drug abuser, he has been participating in a drug-treatment program called Nu Way at South Woods State Prison. There inmates attend self-help and therapy groups that are similar to halfway house programs.
And how does "infraction-free" time in prison square with "acknowledged drug abuser"?
Thomas Trantino
In 1963 Thomas Trantino brutally tortured and slaughtered Lodi Police Officers Peter Voto and Gary Tedesco. One of the officers was 20 years old and was on the job only one day. This case appears before the Supreme Court on September 25, 2000. You can write a letter to the parole board letting them know your feelings of the release of a cop killer. Send letters to:
Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz
c/o Justice Stephen Townsend, Superior Court Clerk
Hughes Justice Complex
25 West Market Street
P.O. Box 970
Trenton, NJ 08625-0970
http://www.nationalcops.org/parolehearings.htm
So if they are threat to other prisoners and guards, you would accept capital punishment.
"On August 26, 1963 Sgt. Peter Voto and P.O. Gary Tedesco responded to the Angel Lounge on Route 46 in Lodi to a report of a disturbance. Upon their arrival to the location, Sgt Voto entered the establishment and PO Tedesco remained in the patrol car since he was a probationary officer and had not been carrying a gun at the time. Thomas Trantino and Frank Falco ambushed Sgt Voto upon entering the bar. When Sgt Voto did not return outside, PO Tedesco went inside to check on his partner and was also ambushed by the subjects. Both of these murderers were inside the tavern celebrating their recent heist throughout the area. They tortured and eventually shot both officers execution style inside the bar and left them for dead. Frank Falco was later shot and killed by New York Police Officers in Manhattan after resisting arrest. Thomas Trantino later turned himself in to authorities and was sentenced to the death penalty. New Jersey later repealed the death penalty and his sentence was commuted to life in prison. Numerous times this murderer made attempts to get parole, which were met by stiff opposition from law enforcement, family and politicians. Ultimately this heinous criminal was paroled and released in 1999 after serving 30+ years behind bars against stiff opposition of the law enforcement community."
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.