LIFE AND TIMES Chapter 21

LIFE AND TIMES OF A CORRECTIONAL OFFICER
By R. Mark Shepard

Now that the worst days were over for Sgt. Tom and myself, our lives go on just as normally as anyone else's....

Except for the Inmate's Mother, who thought that all parties involved were not properly punished. As any grieving family member would do, she filed a Civil Law Suit and wanted compensation for her son's alleged torture and Death. And according to her and her attorney, everyone was going to pay, and I don't mean with prison time. The Civil Suit demanded that everyone, guilty or innocent, was going to pay her a Tidy Sum of Money.

To give you a little background of this loving mother. First let me tell you that when her son was arrested for his Heinous crime, she never went to court to support him. When he was found guilty, she moved out of the state, because of the embarrassment I guess that he put on the family name, and she wanted nothing to do with him again, disowning him and his existence.

But when someone contacted her and told her that her son had passed away in prison, and that there might be signs of physical abuse allegedly caused by the prison staff, she became very concerned about her poor son.

She was also interviewed over the local Television Station expressing her concerns (with a smile on her face) about him, and she could not believe the allegations and the rumors she had heard about the officers torturing or even beating her beloved son to death that she cared so much for..

OK, that's enough, NOW for the truth. When the Prison Chaplain notified the mother the morning of her son's death, the Chaplain made sure in advance that there was someone there at her house for her emotional needs. He didn't want to just blurt it out and be responsible for her fainting or having some type of breakdown. But what he heard, was something that even he couldn't believe.

When the Chaplain told her that he was sorry about her son who had passed away, she responded by saying, "I don't have a son, and I don't care."

The Chaplain was kind of shocked and asked her what she wanted to do with the remains, and she said, "I don't care what you do with him, I don't have anything to do with him," and she hung up.

But as I said earlier, when someone told her what the allegations were, she became this wonderful loving mother with all the concerns in the world for her poor son.

It didn't take long for one of the attorneys for the accused to get ahold of that conversation, and before you know it, the Civil Suit was mysteriously settled, and the Poor Mother was happy with her little six figure sum that the state offered her and everything just disappeared. Imagine that!

How do I know this? Well let's just say that one attorney that I had the utmost respect for was also one who cross examined me at the trial. He called me and told me that he had done all of the bargaining between the state and the mother's attorney, and that everyone would be happy.

When I received the Notification that it was definitely final, I called that particular attorney and told him, "You are THE MAN!"

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