The Firing

The attorney/inmate – officer saga took another strange twist this week.  The officer’s life has been dramatically altered.  The compound is reeling with rumors.  Ironically, I feel quite sad for the officer involved.

First, to refresh everyone’s memory, the facility housed a mid-forties disbarred criminal attorney from Richmond.  I knew him in my former life and thought he was a bs’er of the top order.  My year at the Henrico Jail with him and then running into him here only reinforced that opinion.  Last week, I reported that the illustrious inmate had spent another week in the hole, under investigation for being paid to handle legal work for men in here.

It is a series 200 charge to accept compensation for legal work.  DOC cannot prevent an inmate from providing guidance to another regarding the law, but they can hem you up for being paid.  I walked a fine line for over a year here helping guys with their cases.  I never charged, and I never said no.  I’d read anyone’s file that asked and I looked for any avenue legally possible to get these men a new shake.  I never lost a moment’s sleep over it.  I experienced firsthand the problems with the criminal justice system.   In simple terms, little justice occurs.  The prosecutors and police resort to questionable – clearly unethical and at times illegal – conduct to win a case.  The prisons do nothing but house and make better criminals.  Few people – in both shades of blue – believe this system is worth even a modicum of support.

So yes, I tackled this system every chance I got.  And guys appreciated it and I’d find a six pack of ginger ale on my bunk, or a bag of nacho chips.  My goal was simple:  every guy I helped who got his sentence altered or won a grievance was my way of giving this broken, corrupt system the finger.  But, the system still goes forward.  I was called to the investigator’s office and told “we’re watching you”.  So I pulled back and regrouped.  I’ll answer questions all day, but I won’t work the file.

Not so with the other barrister here.  He was operating a “for profit” enterprise.  In a good month, he would have the families of these men sending checks and money orders to a street address that helped him clear $3000.  That’s not shabby “cheddar”, as the guys in here say.

But, as I discussed last week, he let it get out of control.  You can’t promise a guy you’ll get him out.  And, you can’t run game on a CO.  He did both.

I know there are a lot of “black and white” readers out there.  “You broke the law.  You suffer the consequences.”  The “right is right and wrong is wrong” crowd.  I know.  I was that person.  I’ve come to learn through this experience the world isn’t black and white, yes and no.  Its many hues of grey.  We all screw up.  We all make stupid decisions, say hurtful things, and yes – almost everyone has broken “the law” at one time.  Yet, we tend to live with this moralistic, self righteous attitude that somehow we know what the right thing to do is in every situation.  We judge our neighbor’s behavior.

Three days ago, the shift change occurred and the “under investigation” CO showed up to work.  She made it inside the fence then was immediately escorted to the watch command office and advised she was terminated and under investigation by the Virginia State Police.  I felt terrible for her and that night I included she and her husband and children in my prayers.

I remember what my arrest was like.  I remember the earthquake like shock waves felt by family and friends each time my name and circumstances appeared in the area papers.  It is not a pleasant feeling.  I wouldn’t wish that on my enemy and quite frankly, this woman wasn’t my enemy.  She was a younger, married mom who had some problems in her life.  She also happened to be an officer who was part of the system that keeps me confined.   But she always treated me with respect and I felt for her.  I don’t know what was happening with her marriage, with herself, that led her to this decision-making.  I only know I made a great deal of stupid decisions myself that with the benefit of hindsight I wish I could change.

The day after the officer was fired, a state police investigator showed up in the law library with one of the institution investigators.  They ran hard drive checks on the research computer and tore the file cabinet apart looking for additional evidence against the lawyer in the hole.  A second officer has now been suspended pending investigation.

As I strolled down the boulevard the past two days (has a nice summer ring to it) a few inmate clients of the lawyer stopped me.  Their cases, their paperwork, locked up in personal property until their “attorney” is released from the hole.  And, their families have paid.  “My mom sent him $300”, one young kid – Joey, age 22 told me.  “They’ve already spent $40,000 trying to get my ten year cocaine distribution sentence reviewed.”  Forty grand to lawyers who told his folks and him “you’ll probably get two years”. 

The system keeps slogging forward.  It grinds anyone in its path.  This week it got one of its own.  She never saw it coming.  She never had a chance.  One of these days, real justice will be meted out.  And it will be based on principles of kindness, forgiveness, compassion and mercy.  Until that day, we are all just one bad decision away from what that officer experienced.