Pa. prison officials dismissed complaints about abuse
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Corrections officer Harry Nicoletti, center, is escorted from the Dormont Municipal Building, where he was charged with abusing prisoners.
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The parents of a prisoner who tried to blow the whistle on abuse at the State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh, even enlisting a state legislator, are concerned that their efforts may be the reason their son is still in prison.
Starting in June 2010, the Department of Corrections got a series of warnings of abuse by guards against an inmate known in court filings as John Doe, whose September 2011 lawsuit first detailed allegations of sexual abuse at SCI Pittsburgh. Efforts by state Rep. Dan Deasy to have the inmate's safety secured were dismissed by the department.
"I have no reason to think there was an assault upon [this inmate] based on his family's allegations," then-Acting Secretary of Corrections Shirley Moore Smeal wrote to Mr. Deasy on Nov. 9, 2010. "Everything to this point and everything that has resulted in his current circumstances is his doing."
Just 11 days after that letter was sent, guards at SCI Pittsburgh accused the inmate of starting a trash can fire -- an accusation he denied, but which appears to be partly responsible for his continued incarceration.
"He can't take no more," said the inmate's father, a Pittsburgh area resident, in an interview last week. "He can't even focus. ... He's, like, hopeless."
Seven SCI Pittsburgh guards have been charged with abusing prisoners, or helping to enable abuse, following a grand jury investigation led by Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. The federal Department of Justice last week announced a civil rights probe.
The allegations will get aired in a preliminary hearing today for former Correctional Officer Harry Nicoletti, 59. He faces 92 charges that place him at the center of a crew of guards accused of abusing inmates, sometimes sexually, including the inmate Mr. Deasy tried to protect.
Mr. Nicoletti's attorney, Stephen D. Colafella, said his client had a spotless record prior to these accusations. "He denies that any of these things occurred," Mr. Colafella said. "I'd be interested to see what corroborative evidence they have, if any, to support the inmates' allegations."
The Post-Gazette does not identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse.
John Doe was convicted in 2006 of robbery, receiving stolen property and fleeing an officer. He was later released, but returned to prison in March 2009 on a parole violation after he was caught with a few stamp bags of heroin.
Mr. Nicoletti and the inmate clashed three months later, according to prison documents, when the inmate refused the correctional officer's order to move to another cell. Mr. Nicoletti filed a misconduct report.
Mr. Nicoletti and other guards are accused, in the inmate's lawsuit, of filing misconducts and using solitary confinement as means of bending inmates to their will.
The inmate's father visited his son regularly in prison, and began noticing signs of injury in April 2010, including marks on his son's neck.
"This kid's so messed up," he said of his son's appearance then. "His head's down. He's crying. And this kid never cries."
Slowly, his son began to open up about an April 22, 2010, beating, and about guards' threats that they'd file charges and keep him in jail indefinitely. The son filed a grievance, but withdrew it, his father said, because of guard intimidation.
According to the inmate's lawsuit against the Department of Corrections, 2010 was a period of escalating abuse.
In January, the complaint said, Mr. Nicoletti gave the inmate a choice of sexual acts, threatening him with abuse or a misconduct if he didn't perform one. The inmate opted to touch Mr. Nicoletti's genitals, the complaint said.
In March, it said, Mr. Nicoletti forced the inmate to let another inmate touch him, and later that month the correctional officer choked and punched him. Similar encounters happened in April and July of last year.
On June 17, 2010, the inmate's father sought help from Mr. Deasy, a Westwood Democrat. Starting that day, and continuing through October, Mr. Deasy's office made calls to the Department of Corrections on behalf of the inmate's family.
"We want to make sure that those folks from our area who are in prison are protected," said Mr. Deasy. "Initially, there was indifference on [the department's] part. ... One of the remarks was, 'We don't tell the Legislature how to do their business, so don't tell us' " how to run prisons.
In an Oct. 28, 2010, letter to Ms. Smeal, Mr. Deasy wrote of the alleged April 22 beating, and warned that Mr. Doe's treatment creates "legitimate reason for concern for his safety."
Ms. Smeal's Nov. 9 reply said that if the inmate "is being abused or mistreated that he knows how to direct those concerns."
That response is an issue in the inmate's lawsuit, which said that Ms. Smeal "was dismissive of any perceived allegations."
On Nov. 20, 2010, a garbage can caught fire "right below [the inmate's] cell," according to prison paperwork. Two unnamed inmates accused the inmate of tossing a homemade wick into a garbage can from his cell one floor above. Prisoners often roll toilet paper into wicks that are shared to light cigarettes.
One of the accusers said he saw the incident, while another said that Mr. Doe confessed to him. He vehemently denied the charge, writing in his appeal that the accusers "are lying or just made something up to save themselves from something."
A hearing examiner, though, found him guilty, and the inmate's appeals were rejected. He was not criminally charged.
"The way the timeline falls does bring to mind many questions," said attorney Steve Barth, who represents the inmate. "That's where hopefully the [Department of Justice] and the civil lawsuits will allow us to have an answer, one way or the other."
The department declined comment Tuesday, and on Monday refused the Post-Gazette's request under the state right-to-know law for documents describing allegations of misconduct by, and against, the inmate. The department's denial said that if documents on an inmate's conduct are released, other inmates may use the information to "jeopardize the security of an institution."
In January, Mr. Nicoletti was suspended, and the inmate was transferred to SCI Greensburg. Seven other SCI Pittsburgh guards were later suspended, and in May the prison's leadership team was dismissed.
Though the inmate's allegations have gotten some validation, his incarceration continues. His father believes his complaints spurred the arson accusation, which contributed to a decision by the state Parole Board not to release him.
The board's letter of May 3 said the inmate was not ready for release in part because of "institutional behavior, including reported misconducts," and noted that he can be held into 2014.
"He's still there because he wouldn't fess up to the misconduct," said the inmate's father.
SCI Greensburg has treated the inmate well, according to his father, and he is trying to secure release in coming months to a halfway house, or on parole.
Mr. Deasy said he doesn't know if his office's efforts to intervene spurred accusations against the inmate, which then extended his imprisonment. "It's sad," he said, "if that's the case."
First Published December 7, 2011 12:00 am
