Olympic bomber's mom complains about prison conditions
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The mother of Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber and an anti-abortion extremist who bombed clinics, claims her son is enduring inhumane treatment in a federal maximum security prison in Colorado.
Patricia Rudolph said her son is denied books and family visits, and his mail is delayed for weeks.
"They're (the Federal Bureau of Prisons) a law unto themselves," Patricia Rudolph told the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Tuesday. "They should be the ones behind bars."
Patricia Rudolph, who lives in Florida, said she has sent letters raising issues about the treatment of her son to Bureau of Prisons Director Harley Lappin and to Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Florida, and Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Florida.
She provided a copy of her letter to the newspaper, saying that censoring her son's books and letters is a violation of his rights.
"Is this the way a civilized country should treat even the worst of its members?" Rudolph wrote.
She also complained that the inmate next to Rudolph's cell was unsanitary and that the exercise pen for inmates is too small or closed when the prison is short-staffed.
Mike Truman, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said officials would not comment on the complaints. The warden was not available for comment. Representatives for the Florida congressmen did not immediately return calls.
Emily Lyons, a nurse scarred and burned by Rudolph's bombing in Alabama, said she has no sympathy for complaints about the conditions where he is being held.
"Whatever they can take away doesn't bother me a bit," Lyons said. "He should have had the death penalty."
Bureau of Prisons regulations give wardens the right to reject correspondence by an inmate for "the protection of the public, or if it might facilitate criminal activity." That includes material "which may lead to the use of physical violence."
As recently as May, Rudolph mocked a victim of one of his bombings with letters posted online by a supporter.
Lyons' husband, Jeff, said in May he was concerned that the essays posted online could incite further violence against abortion providers.
In 2005, Lyons wrote a book with her husband titled "Life's Been a Blast." Jeff Lyons wrote his wife has endured more than 20 surgeries and was permanently and profoundly injured in the bombing.
"This is what he inflicted on us," Jeff Lyons said. "And his conditions are what he inflicted on himself."
Rudolph pleaded guilty in 2005 to four bombings, including one at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and one in 1998 at a women's clinic in Birmingham, Ala., that killed a police officer and injured Lyons.
He was arrested in May 2003 in Murphy, N.C., after a five-year manhunt. Rudolph is serving at the federal prison commonly called "Supermax" in Florence, Colo.
The facility is 100 miles south of Denver and houses terrorists and high-profile inmates, including Wadih El Hage, Osama bin Laden's former private secretary; Ramzi Yousef, the leader of the first World Trade Center attack in 1993; and "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski.
thats why they call it prison and not" happy fun town". its not supposed to be nice. its punitive. you shouldnt want to go back. if it was up to me prisons would be built underground. frankly, his mother should be locked up too for raising such a maniac........
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3 comments:
I chalk this up to unconditional parental love.
hey this has nothing to do with prisons....but shoes...I liked cluster map....how very cool...if not spooky to think someone late at night in Singapore is reading your blog....LOL>>>
gk
This sort of parental concern is exactly how he wound up as a killer.
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