Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston Globe
March 25, 2004, Thursday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: METRO/REGION; Pg. B2
HEADLINE: GEOGHAN REPORT NAMES PRISON OFFICERS
BYLINE: By Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff
A newly released version of the investigative report into the slaying of John
J. Geoghan names Sergeant Harold Wilkes as the corrections official who failed
to substantiate a complaint that the defrocked priest had been assaulted by a
guard.
The 125-page report also identifies five current and former prison officers
who either allegedly assaulted Geoghan or witnessed the abuse.
Former officer Jason Harris allegedly punched Geoghan, officer Cosmo
Bisazza allegedly defecated in Geoghan's cell, and officers Brian Chin, Brian
Archambault, and Edward Silva told investigators they had never witnessed an
assault on Geoghan.
Wilkes, according to the report, wrongly accepted Harris's assertion that he
was not working on the day of the alleged assault.
When interviewed by a special panel investigating the Geoghan case, Wilkes on
Jan. 16 "expressed remorse in failing to thoroughly investigate the matter," the
report indicates.
Wilkes's name and those of the other correction officials had been withheld
by the state Executive Office of Public Safety in the report released on Feb.
3. But Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders ordered the names of the
correction officers released following an appeal by the Globe.
The state Executive Office of Public Safety, which had earlier asserted
privacy rights of the officers in withholding the names, yesterday released the
report with the names and said there would be no appeal of Sanders's ruling.
One of the central findings of the report, which was compiled by a special
three-member panel, was that Harris "struck inmate Geoghan in the face in the
strip-search area of the visiting room" at Concord state prison. That finding
was referred for possible criminal prosecution, but state Attorney General
Thomas F. Reilly said on Feb. 13 that the office had decided against pursuing a
case against Harris after reviewing the evidence.
The report makes no conclusions as to why Wilkes's investigation was, as the
report says, "incomplete at best."
Wilkes and Chin declined to comment last night, citing the state Department
of Correction's policy prohibiting employees from speaking to the news media
without authorization.
Telephone numbers for Harris, Bisazza, Archambault, and Silva could not be
obtained.
The union representing the correction officers declined to provide contact
numbers to the Globe, but at the newspaper's request, asked the Department of
Correction to make an exception in policy and allow the officers to speak about
accusations in the report. In a statement, Steve Kenneway, union president,
said, "We have requested that Commissioner [Kathleen M.] Dennehy allow these
officers to speak to the media, but the Commissioner has denied our request. We
are contacting the [American Civil Liberties Union] to help investigate
potential violations of these officers' First Amendment rights by Commissioner
Dennehy and the DOC. We demand that the Commissioner give these officers equal
time and an opportunity to give their side of the story if they so desire."
Kenneway also acknowledged in the statement that "investigations into this
matter were seriously flawed."
A spokesman for the Department of Correction declined to say whether any
officers had been disciplined, citing agency policy against discussing personnel
matters.
The panel that investigated the Geoghan case blamed "major administrative
breakdowns" for the events that led prison officials to transfer the frail
Geoghan, 68, from Concord to Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley,
where he ended up in the same unit as Joseph L. Druce, a convicted murderer.
Druce is charged with killing Geoghan on Aug. 23.
Although he was serving nine to 10 years for molesting a 10-year-old boy,
Geoghan had been accused of abusing 150 children, most of them boys, and was a
key figure in the clergy sexual abuse crisis that roiled the Catholic Church.