GARDNER – On Friday December 18th, 2020, all prisoners in the Thompson 3 housing unit at NCCI-Gardner were tested for the coronavirus after 2 prisoners earlier in the week felt sick and tested positive for Covid-19. The results of that testing surprised even the most cynical Department of Corrections staff. Out of the 130 prisoners ...
“Don’t worry baby. I won’t miss the start of the party,” Brian said as he was driving to his Grandfather’s house. His girlfriend on the other end of the line responded, “You better not miss the start,” with a chuckle. “Is your grandfather really that grouchy?” “Yes!” Brian responded. “There’s a reason I haven’t seen ...
There is something special to be said about a Barbershop. I’ve always found it a very comforting and safe place. It’s comparable to a confessional at church, but without the guilt. Every barbershop I’ve been in there all as clean as a hospital. That relaxing feeling I get when I walk in the door and ...
A Butterfly flies A tear falls from our eyes As their soul drifts into the sky never did we realize the one we had and the one we lost all cause of drugs. Their life was tossed into a box deep in the ground no more laughter not a sound. To wake in the morning ...
The setting is Massachusetts. It’s early in the 1990s, and a circle of lawmakers and politicians are working together to politically capitalize on a brand new public sensation: fear-mongering around so-called “super-predators”, or young sadistic teenagers with the capacity to commit unthinkably heinous crimes. Struck with sensationalized images and stories of city gang violence, people ...
When the public becomes fixated on something, we all know how quickly facts get left behind for popular rumors, prominent special-interest agendas and ideologies. Sometimes, public opinion is just plain wrong. That’s just what happened to Eddie O’Brien according to Margo Nash, former bar counsel of the 1995 case of a 15-year-old boy that was ...
Prison should be a place where people who engage in unlawful behavior that hurts or infringes on the rights of other people go to rehabilitate. But if that person has committed a crime due to mental illness, they should be properly cared for by mental health care specialists, not by sitting in prison. Unfortunately, in ...
