Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Prison Guards Describe Pedophile Priest's Death
Reuters via Yahoo ^ | todayy | svea hebst-bayliss

Posted on 08/25/2003 9:01:10 AM PDT by Rodney King

Prison Guards Describe Pedophile Priest's Death

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) - Prison officers on Monday described how defrocked priest and convicted child molester John Geoghan was bound, strangled and beaten to death while the door of his cell was jammed shut and guards were distracted.

Officials said Joseph Druce, 37, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi said to hate homosexuals, strangled Geoghan with a bed sheet and beat him in one of Massachusetts' most secure prisons on Saturday.

Geoghan was a central character in a sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church. Last year, the church paid $10 million to settle cases with 86 of his victims.

His prosecution uncovered a string of pedophile cases among the clergy that ultimately forced Cardinal Bernard Law, the head of Boston's archdiocese to resign last year.

Worcester County District Attorney John Conte said Druce will face murder charges in Geoghan's death. An autopsy is planned to determine the exact cause of death.

The Boston Herald and The Boston Globe reported prison guards said Druce trailed Geoghan into his cell after lunch, jammed the electronically operated door shut and tied the 68-year-old former priest's hands behind his back.

Druce used a shoe to tighten the sheet around Geoghan's neck and then repeatedly jumped onto him from the bed, according to the guards' account.

"An officer heard a noise, went over to the cell, and he saw Geoghan on the floor, gagged and tied," Robert Brouillette, an executive of the 5,000-member correctional officers' union, told the Globe after speaking with the guards.

The Boston Herald reported that Geoghan, a high-profile prisoner segregated from the main prison population in a protective custody unit at the time of his death, told Leslie Walker, executive director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, he "was terrified the whole time he was in prison."

"In the prison population, men who have killed or abused children are at the bottom of the totem poll," said Dr Jay Feierman, a psychiatry professor at the University of New Mexico's medical school, who served as psychiatric medical director for the state's prisons.

"The sociopaths somehow have this hierarchy about who is beneath them and child molesters are at great risk."

Geoghan was one year into serving a sentence for fondling a young boy while they were swimming. At least 130 people accused him of abusing them while he served in various Boston area parishes.

Prison spokeswoman Kelly Nantel confirmed Geoghan was being held in protective custody and said the district attorney's office is conducting an investigation.

Some of Geoghan's victims expressed sadness and frustration that their tormentor had been killed, bringing a premature end to their search for justice.

"I had a moment of thinking 'He got what he deserved'," said Michael Linscott, 45, who was molested by Geoghan when he was an altar boy 37 years ago.

"As victims we will live in our own prison forever, but Geoghan got off easy. He is never going to hurt anyone again, but he still had a lot of penance to do on earth," Linscott said on Sunday.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: childmoleter; geoghan; goodriddance; jailhousejustice
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-126 next last
To: Frapster
They are not beyond the forgiveness and grace of Christ IF they repent. In order to repent, you need admit that what you're doing is SIN. There seems to be no repentance, from the Pope on down.
41 posted on 08/25/2003 9:46:05 AM PDT by gracex7 (The LORD is not slack concerning His promise....but is longsuffering to us-ward. 2 Peter 3:9)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Rodney King
Judge not, lest ye be judged.
42 posted on 08/25/2003 9:46:26 AM PDT by Lulu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: gracex7
With all due respect, Christian brother, BULLSHIT.
43 posted on 08/25/2003 9:47:53 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (We should have prioritized **NORTH KOREA**, not IRAQ. Can you spell 'mission creep'?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Lulu
Molest not, lest you are beaten to death by the molested.
44 posted on 08/25/2003 9:49:29 AM PDT by Bluntpoint
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Rodney King
Does anybody think Geoghan's death sounds eerily similar to the hundreds of prison deaths that took place on the much missed prison drama Oz? I mean the fact that there was only one guard on duty, how cliche is that? I wonder if he was killed in desolate hallway dimly lit by one light bulb.

Did the righteous wheelchair bound former drug addict opine on the priest's death? Will the Muslims take revenge for the killing of a man of faith by the Arayans? I need to know these things.

45 posted on 08/25/2003 9:49:34 AM PDT by bigeasy_70118
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lulu
.
46 posted on 08/25/2003 9:49:50 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo ("Some folks around here need to be served a steaming bowl of 'S.T.F.U." -- AIT Chap 7, Verses 4-5)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: blackdog
No Taliban here, that's nonsense.

I guess you don't know the poster to whom I made that comment? If you think he's not a taliban type who dreams about a radical, violent theocracy you need to read a few more of his posts.

What you have here is the product of decades of a class of people who operated outside the law by molesting children. You then had an organized effort from within this class of people which precluded them being held to the same justice system we the people are held to.

I agree but of course it has nothing whatsoever to do with the comment that I responded to, namely that murder by one criminal of another is a good thing. A lot of anger is yet to come.

47 posted on 08/25/2003 9:49:51 AM PDT by Protagoras (Putting government in charge of morality is like putting pedophiles in charge of children.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: AmericanInTokyo
With all due respect, Christian brother, BULLSHIT.

Really? So Christ cannot show grace to whomever he wants? What bible have you been reading?

48 posted on 08/25/2003 9:51:33 AM PDT by Protagoras (Putting government in charge of morality is like putting pedophiles in charge of children.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Protagoras
I think that WE should just chain you to the neo-nazi homo murderer so you can comiserate with him as a soulmate.

What are you, the Taliban?

49 posted on 08/25/2003 9:51:38 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If You're Not A Part Of The Solution, There's Good Money To Be Made In Prolonging The Problem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: thegreatbeast
Oh my goodness.......You are wanting to claim financial settlements for dead pedeophiles from the catholic church because of state neglegence?!?!

Oh the irony!

Sometimes you need to just let a sleeping dog lay.

Someone just got the brilliant idea to turn over all molester priests for prosecution, incarceration, murder, then financial settlement to the church so they can pay out all those damages to victims of said abuse.

That's brilliant! Simple!

A financial cash cow and a final solution!(That is unless you are a taxpayer)

50 posted on 08/25/2003 9:51:47 AM PDT by blackdog (Gerbils belong in cages.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Bluntpoint
.
51 posted on 08/25/2003 9:52:39 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Saddam had no Taepodong missiles capable of hitting the World's First and Second Largest Economies)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: AppyPappy
What are you, the Taliban?

Nope, but KC is. Maybe you are part of the "WE" he used in his post?

52 posted on 08/25/2003 9:53:43 AM PDT by Protagoras (Putting government in charge of morality is like putting pedophiles in charge of children.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: george wythe
Let him go a prison where the majority of people are not white and hate neo-Nazis

lol...that shouldn't be too hard...that describes about 90% of all prisons except Fed minimum camps. And you can leave out the Neo-Nazi stuff, they'll hate him well enough for simply being White.

53 posted on 08/25/2003 9:54:45 AM PDT by wardaddy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Protagoras
Dont try to be smart. My comments were not to you. Read the poster's final sentence.
54 posted on 08/25/2003 9:55:22 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Saddam had no Taepodong missiles capable of hitting the World's First and Second Largest Economies)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Protagoras
You sound awfully judgemental. Physican, heal thyself.
55 posted on 08/25/2003 9:55:40 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If You're Not A Part Of The Solution, There's Good Money To Be Made In Prolonging The Problem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: bigeasy_70118
OZ was fantasy...much like Shawshank.
56 posted on 08/25/2003 9:55:48 AM PDT by wardaddy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: george wythe
He'll last as long as snowball in hell

Well, that could be okay too.

57 posted on 08/25/2003 9:55:53 AM PDT by b4its2late (Hoping this gets me on the Taglinus FreeRepublicus (21th Edition) list!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: AmericanInTokyo
???
58 posted on 08/25/2003 9:56:10 AM PDT by gracex7 (The LORD is not slack concerning His promise....but is longsuffering to us-ward. 2 Peter 3:9)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: thegreatbeast
He was a tiny man sixty eight years of age, and he was tortured by a much younger and, presumably, bigger man while trapped in a very small space.

Save your tears of anguish for Geoghan's victims - boys who were 11 and 12 years old from broken and troubled homes, who needed spiritual guidance. Geogan was much older and larger, wearing a cloak of authority and holiness, coming to them with the trust and respect of his office, into their homes, their schools and the small confined spaces of the confessional.

59 posted on 08/25/2003 9:58:01 AM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine (Of course I'm really concerned. I make my face look like this and the concerned words come out.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Protagoras
Good point. I do not know the poster. But what we here say and do really is not central to the issue. Our comments are the periphral chatter. Fringe elements are inevetable and welcomed by me. I've learned not to be so angry over a person's chosen words. They are not the gospel, the truth, the way things are, or the way things will be.

FR has matured me a bit(arguably a very little bit)

60 posted on 08/25/2003 9:58:30 AM PDT by blackdog (Gerbils belong in cages.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-126 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson