The Massachusetts state investigation into the death of laicized priest John Geoghan will be released soon. There has been a four-month investigation into the murder of Geoghan in his cell in a state maximum-security prison where he was serving a sentence for molesting kids. While the killer, another convict, confessed to the crime, the culpability of corrections officials, including allegedly abusive guards and dismissive prison officers, was the focus of the investigation. Legal aid advocates say that hundreds of complaints have been filed about abusive guards who act like God. Geoghan was reportedly transferred to the maximum-security prison for failing to show respect to his guards at his previous location, someplace more suitable for an old man accused of molesting children.
John Geoghan deserved prison time, but he didn’t deserve death, especially death at the hands of a convicted murderer, but perhaps his death will act as a bit of atonement, helping to correct a system that is out of control and instead allow it to dispense that which it is designed to dispense: justice.
