Prison officials, media belittle prisoners' charges 
that guards beat Richard Sharpe

Richard Sharpe has accused guards at the Middleton 
House of Correction of assaulting him on the night 
of 6 November 2001. He said that the injuries have 
made him unable to concentrate on the tasks he 
needs to as the defendant in a murder trial. 

Pigs often treat anyone under their control as if they 
were violent and dangerous. According to one of 
his lawyers, Joseph Balliro, Sharpe was threatened 
with being locked up in an administrative 
segregation unit. He asked to talk to his lawyer 
and the guards responded with "a litany of 
derogatory language", said Balliro. Sharpe 
described to his lawyer how, while he was in 
handcuffs, the guards slammed him up against the 
wall and then locked him in an isolation cell. 

The following day the trial judge ordered a physical 
examination for Sharpe. He was taken to a local 
hospital where a doctor reported a 2- to 3-
millimeter contusion on the back of Sharpe's head. 
He also found some tenderness in Sharpe's right 
wrist. 

In typical fashion, officials at Middleton 
jail denied having abused Sharpe. They claim that 
he pushed a guard and had to be restrained. A 
spokespersyn for the Sheriff's department said "I 
think inmate Sharpe is just performing for the 
cameras and the press." This was at least the 
fourth time they had put him in segregation since 
he arrived in the summer of 2000. A spokespersyn 
for the jail described administrative segregation 
as being for people who behave badly. It is 
actually supposed to be reserved for people who 
are dangerous in the general population. 

The bourgeois media like to focus on the sensational 
aspects of this case. A Boston Globe article on 
the assault led off by describing Sharpe as a 
"wealthy cross-dressing dermatologist". It went on 
to describe his marriage and divorce and 
allegations by his ex-wife that he wore women's 
clothes and took her birth control pills in an 
attempt to grow breasts.(1) 

While some of these 
anecdotes may be tangentially pertinent to the 
trial, they are totally irrelevant to the issue of 
guard brutality. In fact their mere mention can 
increase the likelihood of violence due to 
bigotry. Guards naturally have enough of a 
tendency toward violence without another excuse. 

Jail employees need to be monitored closely and 
punished if they abuse prisoners. Under socialism 
they will actually be responsible for helping 
prisoners. Those not up to this task will be 
sacked and given a different job.(2) Those found 
guilty of beating prisoners will themselves face 
harsh penalties -- unlike now, where they are 
protected by their friends in the courts, police 
departments, and wealthy guard unions.

Note: 
1. Boston Globe, 8 Nov 2001. 
2. For a 
discussion of prisons and re-education camps under 
socialism, see: "Platform on so-called free speech 
under the dictatorship of the proletariat," 
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/wim/cong/freespeech.html.