Bullying

by Marc E. Brown

I’ve addressed some major issues, not always to the liking of the D.O.C. Administration or inmate population at MCI-Norfolk.  I have no problem with pointing out incompetence.  But if there is one issue that gets under my sin, it’s bullying – by administration, correctional officers, or inmates.  My time was my punishment; I still have protected rights.

The MCI-Norfolk administration as well as the D.O.C. Commissioner and his lackeys think they can do what they want, when they want, without being called on what they do.  Not on my watch; not my rights.

I was set up.  Someone put a shank under or in my mattress.  It was found and I was taken to the Hole, where I sat for 118 days.  Two of those months were over the summer, before I was shipped off.

I’ve done some pretty stupid things in my life because I believed I could do what I wanted, when I wanted.  That the laws of the land didn’t apply to me.  I am where I am because of my lack of respect of the laws of those same lands.  I am serving a 20-year sentence for the crime of home invasion.  I was arrested, tried, and found guilty by a jury of my peers.  I accepted the consequences of my actions and from day one in the D.O.C., I did everything in my power to better the person I was by any means realistically possible.

One thing I did was working towards a college education.  I was nowhere near being an A or B student, but I never missed a class and tried my best in everything I could.  I was enrolled in the Boston University program at MCI-Norfolk and lost the privileges because of the actions of the MCI-Norfolk Administration.

I was in my cell waiting for the next shower.  An officer came to my cell and told me he’s going to do a random search.  There were five other “random” searches in the same cell over a 10-day period.  I went to the Dining Hall and five minutes later was called back to my cell and shown an old bent-up piece of clothing hanger with silver duct tape.  I was charged with being in possession of a manufactured weapon.

In my five-man cell, not one of the other inmates were even questioned.  I was told that if I plead guilty, I would loose my phone for 60 days and would be returned to the Pop the next day.  I told the officer that I would not plead guilty to something I did not do.

Before the hearing, they would not let me call any of the other four inmates in the cell because I didn’t know their names.  I was in the cell less than a month.

They would not take any finger prints from the manufactured weapon.  When I had my hearing, I questioned the officer that did the “random” search.  He came up with a note saying that there was a knife in my bunk.  My first and last name was spelled wrong.  The Hearing Officer laughed in the face of the other officer for doing something so stupid.

I requested a new trial but was denied.  I filled out a form with defenses to the evidence against me, but was still found guilty.  The Hearing Officer’s reasoning was: “Officer found weapon, so inmate guilty.”

The U.S. Government was built on the premise that if you have been wronged, there is a system that will protect your rights – no matter who you are or where you are.  I say, to every incarcerated person in any state or county Correctional Facility, fight for your rights.  In the end, it’s the only thing you have left worth doing anything for.

Marc Brown is an inmate in Nemansket Correctional Center, Bridgewater.