What is Prison Really Like?
October 06, 2003
What is prison really like?
If you have never been to prison before, you can be in for a real shock. Since prison beds have increased 10 fold from 1980 to 1999, your chances of being an inmate have become at least ten times greater.
What is Prison Really Like? Part 3, preparing for possible incarceration
The prison system is a business of building prisons and housing inmates at over $73/day/inmate an approximately half billion dollar taxpayer paid boon for just Connecticut alone, never mind the other states. The national figure must be staggering.
Click on the link below and I will tell you my story starting from being taken away in leg irons and chains wrapped around me.
...
I had kept out of trouble my entire life, and thought because I had worked so many hours on my contracting business, and in fixing up 4 Connecticut houses from a dilapidated state, the 3 and 4 family were boarded up shells, that I would not go to prison for defending myself with pepper spray when attacked from behind on my own property.
I was wrong, I was sentenced to a year in prison, 3 years probation. My attacker was not badly injured as he allegedly attacked 2 bar patrons from behind at Lark�s Cafe in Stafford Springs, CT, just days after assaulting me, according to Melissa Comstock a bartender at Lark�s and my former tenant.
I did not know it wasn�t a good idea to wear dress shoes to court if you are going to jail, sneakers are the right choice as you won�t stand out. It is also a good idea to wear several pairs of underwear and socks over each other as you can go weeks in the same underwear and socks in prison.
I wasn�t thinking of such things, I was thinking of using my 100,000 points on my Amex accumulated fixing up the houses I owned from a very bad condition to finally take a vacation, bringing my daughter to Paris.
My daughter had finally gotten permission to live with me full time. I was looking forward to going to my 20th high school reunion, the holidays, the annual family ski trip to Vermont, and doing the contracts and work I had lined up to financially recover for my mistake of investing in Connecticut.
Judge Jonathan Kaplan sentenced me at the end of October �02, I was brought downstairs put in leg irons, and was put in a holding cells. Others were screaming, jumping up and down in their cages. Hours went by, and I wondered why countless criminals don�t even get the attention of law enforcement and why they do they get all sorts of breaks in courts, as there is pity, but I was of 2 of the considered slimiest professions, contractor and landlord and got the harshest possible treatment and sentence.
I was wrapped in chains around a sweatshirt, the leg irons cut into my ankles as I stepped up onto the �ice cream� truck, the prison transport. The air was stifling and we were packed in on a steel bench with very little air to breath in the cramped quarters. The heat was on extremely hot and as sweat poured down my face and I soaked sweat through my cloths I thought I might die of heat stroke. I was so tightly wrapped in chains I could not even itch my nose and my feet were throbbing from the tight leg irons. The inmate beside me showed me his extremely long thumb nails, he told me they were for gouging eyes out.
I was transported to Hartford Correctional Center, HCC. I was photographed and put into a holding cell that was so cramped that inmates were sitting on a soiled toilet and other inmates were lying under steel benches others were standing on. The stench of sweat, feces, body order, and vomit were overpowering. Alcoholics and drug addicts were detoxing right in the holding cell and were not able to control their bodily functions in or out. Others were angry and wanted to start an altercation with anyone pressed up against them.
After hours and hours we were finally brought to get the prison uniforms, no consideration of your size is taken, you can get pants and a shirt too small to wear or too big to stay on, and the correction guards will only laugh at you if you ask to exchange. Everyone is subject to delousing, I would have thrown up but had nothing in my stomach in 12 hours. I was given injections and blood was taken with nothing being explained to me. It was done in a rough, unpleasant way. There are many inmates with HIV and other diseases.
There were no bunks available, so I was sent to the overflow in one of the cafeterias. I had to sleep on the floor packed in like sardines. Inmates were coming off drugs and alcohol so were soiling themselves and throwing up all hours, guards came in the main entrance just behind us everyday, every five minutes or so holding their noses, calling us pigs. I thought I was in hell sleeping and wearing the same underwear and socks for days and days, sharing 2 soiled toilets without seats with 100�s of others, deprived of sleep, and given food that I would not have fed my dog in Styrofoam �to go� containers that often contained soap suds and hair.
I saw someone I knew, Rodney Spittle. He was the brother of Robin Pelc. Rodney was not my tenant but he would often pass out in my former backyard, would build campfires without my permission and drink beer and do drugs until he passed out, while I was off at work all day. He was one of the runners that would service the drive-by customers on Church St, Stafford Springs, Connecticut, looking for marijuana, crack, and heroine.
Which was being sold out of Ken and Robin Pelcs�s apartment. I could not get police to do anything about the customers coming to the Pelcs� apartment all hours, for the assaults going on inside and outside their apartment over drug deals gone bad, infidelity, noise disturbing other tenants etc that was going on as if it was a Jerry Springer set.
It wasn�t until the Pelcs were faced with a DSS drug test for leaving their children without food and supervision, did they leave without a trace to avoid punishment. They left my home with all the doors smashed, most of the windows, urinated on trash with their crack pipe underneath, and wires ripped out of the walls. The arriving police officer told me that he nor the courts served landlords, not wanting to take my felony property damage complaint against the Pelcs.
Rodney Spittle came to me, saying a gang member demanded money from him or he would be dead. Rodney was scared and asked my help, which I declined. He called his �girl� Melody, to get the gang member�s brother the money for the 13 to 14 bags of heroine that Rodney owed the gang member for.
There were constant assaults, inmates on inmates, pools of blood could be seen on the floor daily. The only activity I would risk being in large groups was to wait for the phone. A 15 minute collect phone call would cost whomever I called around $20, which was split by MCI Worldcom and the State of Connecticut. Inmate calls are a billion dollar a year business nationally and are a boon to states and phone companies. Inmate families, most of them struggling, are bilked out of desperately needed cash just to keep in contact with an imprisoned family member.
I was labeled as a �snitch� by other inmates and by guards. I had not belonged to the criminal or drug culture and was lost amongst the inmates that were. I feared for my life. I was told I would spend my time in hell, HCC.
But, shortly after a federal prison inspectors allegedly came to investigate HCC for unsanitary, unsafe conditions, October 29 (give or take) 2002, and about 4 to 4:30AM we were taken out of the cafeteria after hiding our mattresses in a storeroom we were locked in the shower area, elbow to elbow, away from the inspectors.
I was called to Captain Murphy�s office. He mocked me about being a political prisoner, about my problems with police, and about my writing letters to the editor. I was asked whether I was going to report conditions at HCC. Murphy yelled at me and told me, I was, �Outta here!�
I was put in a cell by myself and feared that at any time, a group of Connecticut State police were going to come and beat me. I had tried to complain about 2 Connecticut police officers that committed perjury at my trial, and feared all that I had written in newspapers critical of police was going to be taken out on me in a beating in that holding cell.
I was sent to Bergin Correctional Institute, Storrs, Connecticut. I was strip searched after visits with my family, and various guards mocked me bring up my feud with State Police. It told me they talked to each other. I stayed on my bunk as much as possible to avoid any concocted events or problems that could have kept me for years in prison.
I was called separately to get my inmate legal mail. Lt Desso, also a Stafford Connecticut police officer, left me out in the cold winter winds to suffer. Desso would mock me as he illegally read my privileged legal mail. Desso would point me out to other corrections officers. Desso told me I was not allowed back in Stafford, even to visit, as he released me, and other guards mocked and laughed at me.
For some reason, I was given a TS date to leave, and it was not honored. Mine came and went and I noticed other inmates getting out on their dates. I was held in prison beyond my TS date, why? I tried to take classes while in prison, they were court ordered, and it would have been more convenient to take them for free while incarcerated. But again, I got separate and unequal treatment.
I was prevented from taking the classes, given the runaround, probably to cause me further inconvenience by having to pay for classes and having appointments every week around seeing my parole officer.
Parole officer, Eric Ellison, screamed at me and threatened me upon release. He claimed he had talked to his friend, Desso, about me. Ellison demanded to know if I was complaining about any police officers and told me I would be going back to prison if I contacted the media. I talked to others that had Ellison was in charge of. They said he was friendly and some had Ellison before after other bids in prison.
After my parole was up I went to Manchester Connecticut Adult probation. I was kept waiting for about 3 hours, and noticed others that came, were in and out, except me. Probation officer, Angela K., told me she was sick of getting phone calls regarding me, and if I did not find a way to get transferred out of Connecticut, she would be inclined just to �violate� me.
So I faced up to another 3 or 4 years in Connecticut prison. I came up with an address in Massachusetts, and was told to leave Connecticut within an hour or face prison. I packed my stuff up and left the State. Massachusetts authorities did not even bother contacting me for a number of weeks, my Massachusetts probation officer could not understand why I got prison time for a first offense, for 2 relatively minor misdemeanor offenses and a RIDICULOUS 3 years probation.
I have been treated with respect and decency by Massachusetts authorities, unlike the nightmare I endured in Connecticut. I had seen countless criminals, frauds, parasites, and drug dealers go unpunished for years in Connecticut. I had invested in the American Dream buying and fixing up investment properties in Connecticut.
That and testing free speech in Connecticut newspapers, being critical of the courts and police, is what landed me in prison not, in my opinion, for using pepper spray ending the beating I was taken in my dark driveway.
I no longer consider Connecticut an American State and this was my prison experience.
Steven G. Erickson
P.S. my story of how I ended up in prison is posted here Oct. 4, 2003.
_________________________________
Updates, January 25, 2004, 1:37 PM EST:
Click for January 25, 2004, post discussing prison and prisoners.
David Mark Tracey
�Bud�
Inmate blood drained for blood product companies, who got rich, and was the public endangered?
Anatomy of a downtown America criminal breeding ground.
Picture of me, Steven G. Erickson, and my now former wife. This is the before picture, before I invested in real estate in Connecticut, found out police did not usually protect and serve downtown property and business owners, and before I wrote letters to the editor, emails, and letters critical of police and the judiciary, causing me to be railroaded to prison on a �concocted� excuse for pissing off police officer, the prosecutor who prosecuted me, and the judge who sentenced me. Exercising free speech can lead directly to a prison sentence.
Arthur L. Spada, head of the Connecticut State Police
The Story of Never Ending Sleaze
The most compact list of links to the Steven G. Erickson story: (link)
If you would like to donate to the fight against injustice, an overgrown prison system, and my continuing to write against injustice, please let me know with your pictures and stories, and if possible, donations.
Donations, pictures, and stories accepted at:
Steven G. Erickson
PO Box 730
Enfield, CT 06083-0730 (checks payable to Steven G. Erickson)
I haven't commented much on these posts, Steve, but I have been reading them. You're correct that reading your mail without a search warrant is an arrestable offense. If it happened in Stafford, CT, this is the proper authority to whom to report it:
POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICEYou might also contact the US Attorney's office in Boston. They're in charge of handling complaints of civil rights violations by state authorities, and have a duty to act upon complaints they receive. Posted by: Grim at October 6, 2003 09:56 AM
495 SUMMER ST STE 600
BOSTON MA 02210-2114Phone : 617-556-4400
Fax : 617-556-0400
Thanks Grim. I'll follow it up.
I could be put in prison a 2nd time for testing free speech ...
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson at October 6, 2003 10:03 AMWhat happens when your attorney does little or nothing in your defense, does not call witnesses, does not appeal your case or file a reason why, and comes to see you as your ‘friend’ when you end up in prison saying the visit is not going to be charged to you, and then sends a bill for $300? Well, nothing happens to the attorney at least in my case. Agranoff told me I owed him
another $12,000, was the reason for his visit.
A stamp would have been sufficient, not a $300,
charge for a visit I did not want from him anyway.
I tried to complain to the Connecticut Statewide Grievance Committee, a panel of lawyers, that was unwilling to schedule a hearing for Attorney Michael Agranoff, http://www.agranoff.com/ who charged over $17,000 to defend me against 2 misdemeanor charges when I had no record.
The fee seems excessive compared with other attorneys, and few if any ever go to prison with the very same charges, even if they have a previous record or are on probation! I had no record and the individual that brought the party to me was not even arrested.
Had I not been attacked there probably some other concocted event or charges as I was a considered a complete pain in the ass BEFORE the incident as I had been writing some very disturbing letters to the editor as police had commented on what I wrote blasting them.
If police had not consistently denied me protection and service, and harassed me when I called, maybe they could have prevented what happened, as my assailant was disturbing my neighbors often after midnight, banging on my door, for weeks before he finally caught me out in the open. There would have been no ‘event’ had I not been jumped as the party came to me, I was not looking for trouble when I came home exhausted after a double shift of work.
Brian Caldwell was going back and forth from the bar and Gauthier’s apartment 10 and � hours looking to attack me. Caldwell left a voicemail saying he was going to ‘hurt’ me at 1:00 PM and he attacked me just before midnight. But that is okay with the police, prosecutor, and Judge Jonathan Kaplan.
Having a ‘Big Mouth’ is not okay.
Does it pass the ‘smell test’ that I was sentenced to a year in prison, 3 years probation, when I was called the ‘victim’ in a follow up police report, police were unwilling to do until a month of me pressuring high ranking law enforcement personnel, the Chief State’s Attorney, and countless politicians.
It seems that Agranoff cooperated with the prosecutor, judge, and police and completely did not act in my best interest for a $17,000 plus fee.
If I were to have defended myself, at least I would have called the countless witnesses aware of my assailant harassing, stalking me and threatening me weeks before he attacked me, to the attack itself, the death threats, and the continuing harassment seemingly with police approval all the way up to trial.
The only witness against me was tenant Cheryl Gauthier, a tenant I had started eviction on her BEFORE the incident.
My assailant had been going in and out of her apartment waiting me out. Agranoff did not dispute Gauthier’s testimony when she would have had to been able to see through a house for her to have seen Caldwell beating me during the robbery attempt.
Cheryl Gauthier tried to have her NEW landlord arrested soon after he served her with eviction, when the new landlord took over.
I stood behind the officer that had his cuffs ready to arrest the new landlord, and told the officer, “So you only arrest landlords around here, not the criminals.”
This is a good example of how the 'Revenue Collection System' um, ah I mean how the American Justice System works in Connecticut.
FYI
I just sent a copy of this piece to:
public.information@cnn.com,oreilly@foxnews.com,newsdesk3@wfsb.com,news@journalinquirer.com, xxxx@courant.com, xxxx@courant.com, Governor.Rowland@po.state.ct.us,gjepsen@ctdems.org
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson at October 6, 2003 12:08 PMThe idea of prison for non-violent offenders blows my mind. It's simply ridiculous.
And, to put a punk rock spin on it, my friends band, which prides itself on democratic, working class rights, has a song about Lori Berenson, a political prisoner help capitive in Peru for allegedly leading a insurgent organization. Lori Berenson was a writer, working on articles for progressive political magazines.
Steve, you'd probably be interested in this because it violates, terribly, her freedom of speech/expression, for which she, like you, was jailed, but also gets into the whole living and working in another country deal.
I'll give you the link, and you really should listen to the song too. If you have some means of DLing it, its called Free Lori Now by the Hudson Falcons. I can email it to you if you cant find it. But, anyhow, this is an infuriatingly interesting situation:
http://www.freelori.org/index.html
Posted by: mel at October 6, 2003 02:12 PMThanks, Mel.
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson at October 6, 2003 02:41 PMWhat happens to someone that has been incarcerated?
For me all that I built up over a lifetime, I found out can disappear in half a second.
Why save or plan for retirement? I worked extra hours, nights and weekends, all for nothing. It can be taken away if you upset someone in power or if you have something worth taking and someone more powerful wants it.
All relationships whether it be a marriage, child/parent bond, friendships, business relationships, credit, home and vehicle ownership can be undone permanently with even a small stint in jail.
I have to worry about going back in prison for the slightest violation of probation.
Which was in, Connecticut, a probation officer that did not like receiving calls regarding me. It was more convenient for her to violate me on probation sending me back to prison for years or sending me out of state, not to get a few phone calls. So all I do for the next three years can be undone in half a second and I am back in prison just on someone’s whim or chance mishap.
If all that I had can be taken in half a second, including my so called American rights, I never had them to begin with and rights aren’t guaranteed even in America.
Imagine what that must be like for me every second of every day.
What bugs me more than anything, is that I was harassed, terrorized and stalked for weeks doing all I could do to avoid my tormentor. He is preferred, encouraged, and was never punished.
Being too tired to work any longer installing wall coverings in offices for a second shift, coming home near midnight was all it took for me to be caught in my dark driveway unaware.
I knew from what I had written in the newspaper, the comments I was getting, and how police officers were harassing me, that I was going to be done on the slightest excuse.
Representative Mordasky’s aid warned me after I had suggested ‘Civilian Oversight’ of police that I had gone too far and should leave Connecticut as soon as was possible.
I couldn’t leave the 100’s of thousand of dollars I had spent fixing up my 3 houses containing 9 apartments. I felt I can’t run from 4 years of hard work and leave just when I was going to see a profit and see that I was going to have a retirement in is as little as 12 years.
It would have been better if I had just abandoned my life and escaped out of Connecticut before I was assaulted or something worse happened to me.
Living downtown or having a business downtown you are dependent on police acting as advertised, if they don’t your life or quality of life and financial well being, hang in the balance.
I demanded help with the crime, fraud, property damage and nuisance crime just so I could survive. I was wrong for that.
I did not know it would be my undoing. They probably should not teach American children what might now be untrue, as saps like me, believed in the American ideals like free speech, free enterprise, and other crap I was taught up through college.
From all I have seen the last five years, maybe the US Constitution belongs in a museum or even the fairy story section for children, because maybe it no longer applies or never did.
Right, comrades?
I can see you've had a rough time of it--all of us can. It's clear that you're angry--rightfully, under the circumstances. And I agree, as far as it goes, that nonviolent offenders shouldn't be locked up, when a fine or community service would do. (I'm not really in favor of locking up the violent ones either, now that you mention it. We've got plenty of rope.)
Nevertheless, before you condemn America to the dustbin of history, avail yourself of some of the legal remedies at your disposal. Put your case together, and get with the US Attorney's office. Contact the Inspectors General of the Postal Service. See what comes of it.
Things do break down sometimes, but there are more defenses available to you than your pitiful lawyer advised. There may be no guarantee that the government won't wrongfully tred upon you rights, but that doesn't mean the rights aren't real, or that the government isn't obliged to uphold them. You may yet find satisfaction through the law: not only redress, but satisfaction.
Posted by: Grim at October 6, 2003 08:28 PMThank you, Grim,
I contacted the US Dept of Justice, the US Atty of CT, the Atty General, the Chief State's Atty, and the Governor's office with no luck.
I tried to lodge complaints against police officers, the prosecutor, and the judge, before I was even in trouble.
Maybe things are different in other states, but I have not found a venue in which to lodge complaints or get any type of satisfaction. If officials can act on their personal whim or in collusion with others, it is not American.
There was such a sloppy job done of my trial it was almost comical. Attorney Michael Agranoff let a worker for the police on the jury to become the jury foreman against my wishes. If he had any want to win my case he would not have done that. The lawyer grievance committee won't even schedule a hearing against my complaints against Agranoff, who won't even release my legal file to me, if one even exists.
To try and dismiss our only witness when I wasn't paying attention and then catch Agranoff, only to have him not ask the case winning question and Agranoff verbally attacked our witness as if he were the prosecutor.
My lawyer clearly acted with the prosecution, police, and judge. Collusion is illegal. I watched Connecticut State Troopers Ameral and Langlais boldly lie on the stand, committing perjury to get my conviction. Ameral turned red and it seemed obvious he was lying on the stand.
I would doubt anyone in the history of Connecticut went to prison with no previous record for pepper spraying someone who beat them and tried to rob them on their own property, where the assailant and attempted robber is not even arrested.
I guess I did break the biggest law as revealed
by Jack Nicholson when he was being questioned by the paparazzi, "Don't embarrass a cop in his presences." I did and paid the price. I wrote critical pieces om law enforcement and the judiciary in newspapers. Free Speech is not free in regards to speaking out about police.
I'm sorry that things have worked out so badly for you. For what it is worth, things are different in other states. As I think I mentioned elsewhere, I wrote a hard piece on police corruption in Savannah, GA, once, and had the state GBI respond to my request for an investigation by referring it to the local police, with my name and address attached. The corruption continues--but no one ever harrassed me over it.
I once got out of a speeding ticket in Bryan County, Georgia, by pointing out that the police officer had not offered to check the radar. Why did he fail? Well, because he'd not noticed that I was carrying a .44 Remington Magnum revolver until I pointed it out by handing him my firearms license. After that, all his procedures went to hell. The trooper tried to pretend none of this had happened on the witness stand, perjuring himself. Even though I called him on it on before the court (and, in fairness, even though I was red-handed guilty of driving 88 in a 55), in front of everyone, the judge followed the law and threw out the ticket.
Maybe you're right, and you've been reaping the whirlwind because you've tried so hard to be kind and play by the rules. I always advocate that a free man ought to be ready to defy the world and "appeal to arms, and the God of Hosts". Maybe a free man has to be just dangerous enough that the law will fear to tred on his rights.
I would hate to think that was true, and prefer to think that things will yet work out for you. Greater injustices even than this have come around in my days--I have seen the Ku Klux Klan banished from the public square, where they used to march openly on the fourth of July. I have seen a lot of things, and most of it gives me hope.
But in truth, it was not the law that banished the Klan, but the strong arms and voices of men who would tolerate them no longer. It may be, at last, that rights extend only so far as we are willing to defend them, at peril and even onto death: Non enim propter gloriam, diuicias aut honores pugnamus set propter libertatem solummodo quam Nemo bonus nisi simul cum vita amittit.
It sounds like you're a better man than I am, as I have frequently treated the law with less honor than she deserves. I wish you the best of her--and I still hope you will get it. It doesn't sound like you're the sort who won't fight in the face of injustice. Good luck.
Posted by: Grim at October 6, 2003 10:25 PMIt not legal to defend yourself in Connecticut. If I were in any other state I probably would have been ok. Connecticut, in my opinion, is the least friendly to small business and property investors than other states I am aware of.
An Ellington, CT, convenience store owner told me how she had coffee at the gas station when it was just a gas station. There was a donation cup near the coffee. A Connecticut revenue agent contacted her coffee supplier, found out she did not charge tax on the sometimes 'free' coffee but figured out she had to pay back taxes, fines, and fees something between $5000 and $15,000.
I was arbitrarily sent a bill for $146,000 by the Connecticut revenue department. It said it had to be paid in 30 days or my property would be confiscated. I called them telling I owed them nothing, and the agent agreed. It seemed odd, as I had about that much equity in my 3 pieces of property.
There seems to be a cop on every street corner in Connecticut. It should be the safest state there is. Except the police are out after honest citizens for traffic fines, fees, and even property confiscation. There is always some type of sting going on to nail some type of small business.
If Connecticut authorites targetted criminals the way they go after revenue, there would not be the frauds, prostitutes, drug users, alcoholics, and career criminal parasites in the Connecticut downtowns in such numbers. There seems to be an over abundance of these characters in downtown Connecticut as compared to other states lowering the quality of life, hurting small business and property investors.
When I first started fixing up the boarded up properties in Stafford, Connecticut, I was freshly divorced. I was actually married to a lingerie model I had met in a country above Poland, so I wasn't looking too hard especially in Stafford as I like women with teeth and that aren't tattooed head to toe as many of the downtown women are.
A buxom blond started hitting on me. I eventually started dating her. She broke down told me that she worked as an informant for the police and was offered $10,000 to compromise me, find out if there was any drug dealing, or other not so kosher things going on so that my property could be confiscated. I also found out that Barbara S. was married.
She told me should wanted to leave her husband for me. I dumped her.
Barbara told me she could make or break me and I could get a DUI or whatever if I did not see her. I didn't drink and drive any way and never did drugs so I was careful of being out and about.
Barbara would show up if I was out or on a date and follow me, for over a year. A woman I had a first date with was stopped and searched near my house after leaving, and then followed to near her home 45 minutes away in upper crust Farmington/Canton and stopped and searched again. The woman I had a first date said she had never been hassled like that by the police and did not want a second date.
I did get police protection and assistance while I dated Barbara, when I was no longer her 'mark'. Barbara said she was instrumental in taking one bar over drug dealing and was working on the another in Stafford. If they prosecuted the drug patrons as caught, businesses would have customers not involved in drugs, and those caught would not be facing serious charges but would be 'corrected' earlier in the process.
I never knew how things really work, and how sleazy those in power, namely the State Police in Connecticut, operate. It seems more like a mafia operation than law enforcement.
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson at October 7, 2003 06:17 AMI'll call shenanigans on this. You were sentenced to a year in prison for using pepper spray? What grade spray was it? If it was illegal where you were, why did you have it? Why were you, for no apparent reason, classified as a political prisoner? According to your story, you were just minding your own business when cops in prison started harassing you for no reason at all. Why did you basically let it all happen to you? Why didn't you get a different lawyer? What about public defender? Why not appeal to the ACLU? If you were sentenced at the "end of October �02", how were you posting on September 21?
Why does a quick search of Jonathan Kaplan return no hits on Connecticut's Judge lookup page? In fact, a google search for his name and connecticut judges returns nothing on any judges of any level.
Sorry, but your story doesn't jive. No idea why you'd make something up like this, but there are too many holes to believe it.
Posted by: Court at October 12, 2003 02:03 AMNM, there is a judge Kaplan, but that still doesn't explain the rest of it.
Posted by: Court at October 12, 2003 02:27 AMThe court's phone number is 860-870-3200, Rockville (Vernon), 20 Park St, Connecticut.
Within the transcripts of the trial, the dialogue where my assailant admits threatening to kill me after demanding money, must be within that text, which is to the best of my knowlege.
I had tried to have Judge Jonathan Kaplan removed for bias against the self-employed, namely landlords, for about 2 years before the incident. I tried to have him removed through State Sen Anthony Guglielmo, former Rep Mordasky, and speaking out at the Enfield Property Owner's Associtation meeting and the lobbying group in Hartford.
Rep Mordasky's aid told me that I should leave Connecticut before it was too late, as she feared for my safety after I had tried to suggest 'Civil overight' of police laws and because I had been outspoken about the bias of police and the courts in newspapers.
I would suppose it is not in the public's best interest to put a 'victim' of an assault and attempted robbery, that has no previous record, in prison for such misdemeanor charges given the circumstances, while being ok with the attempted robber/assailant receiving no punishment.
If you are not getting Judge Jonathan Kaplan of Connecticut information, you are using the wrong search engine.
It makes no sense to ignore drug and other crimes in downtown Stafford Connecticut, to only put someone that complains about crime and disrespects the police and the courts in newspapers by exposing the truth, in prison.
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson at October 13, 2003 09:06 AMThe grade of the pepper spray was twice the power of what cops in CT carry but is legal. I had accidently sprayed myself while struggling with my assailant. He did get the worst of the spray and I had gotten the worst of the beating as he jumped me from behing and landed several good punches before I turned around.
My assailant puked on the side of my face, down my back and on my front.
When I came out of my apartment, after changing my shirt, and running water in my eyes, I encountered CT Troopers, Langlais and Ameral, and told them I wished to make a complaint against my assailant for trying to rob and then attacking me. They refused to listen to the taped threats that were on my voicemail and even on tenant's answering maching, saying he (Brian Caldwell) would be 'hurting' me when I got home.
Brian Caldwell allegedly was telling everyone he would see for about 2 weeks before he attacked me that he would 'kill' me or attack me before he did. I tried to avoid him and got as quickly from my vehicle into my apartment, but was too tired from working a double shift when he finally did catch me out in the open on my property.
The Connecticut State Police would only hassle and ridicule me if I called. I was hoping one of my tenants would call when he would be banging on my door after midnight, saying he wanted to cut my 'dick' off screaming at the top of his lungs disturbing single family homeowners and tenants at 4 separate houses.
The police, prosecutor, and Judge Kaplan must prefer someone that stalks, threatens, assaults, pisses on public buildings, passes out on sidewalks, is an alcoholic drug user (admitted in court) that robs people to a property investor that fixes up and rents out boarded up houses, but is outspoken, complaining about police and the court system in newspapers. BIG MOUTHS go to prison, not necessarily serious criminals in Connecticut.
Putting someone in prison, completely wrecking their financial and family life, for speaking out
and proposing laws, is CENSORSHIP, and is a major violation of my 1st Amendment rights.
for more on my story, click on my name
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson at October 17, 2003 07:03 AMDear Connecticut Attorney General, October 17, 2003
Subject: Docket # CR01-0074672, Rockville Court, Connecticut, 20 Park St.
With all due respect, I am trying to convey my story without a tone of anger, which is impossible. I mean no disrespect to you in any of my words below. I admit a lack of tact and can be guilty of not having basic common sense, but I have worked hard my entire life, spoke my mind too often, and have tried to improve my life and for those around me as long as I have been old enough to be aware. I feel a grave injustice has occurred and wish to make you aware for possibly investigating my claims.
Should the Justice System, including law enforcement, in a State, act in anyway similar to a KKK infested state, as was the case in some States at the height of the Klan?
Judge Jonathan Kaplan was aware of me being stalked, harassed, threatened, including my life, while my assailant and I struggled as I defended myself, ending the assault in my dark driveway with pepper spray. In court late October 2002, my assailant admitted to the judge that he, Brian Caldwell, had threatened my life while demanding money. Isn’t that attempted robbery?
Is it strange that police refused to arrest Caldwell, the prosecutor refused to sign Caldwell’s arrest application, and a judge is fine with a landlord being beaten, threatened, stalked before and after the incident, attempted robbery, but is not ok with a landlord ‘overreacting’ defending him/herself?
I was called the victim, when I finally got the police to take my statement almost a month later. But, prosecutor John Panone, refused to sign the arrest application for my assailant, refused to drop the charges against me when I was declared the ‘victim’, and even refused to offer me the AR program that I was eligible for that would have ended up in my charges being erased.
I was sentenced to one year in prison and 3 years probation, had no former record, and was defending myself on my own property during a robbery attempt.
Troopers Ameral and Langlais, refused to take my statement/complaint the night I was attacked on my property, refused to interview witnesses, refused to look at my injuries, but paraded me around the 3 and 4 family houses in Stafford Springs, CT, in front of my neighbors and tenants, then leaving me propped up against a police car with the blue lights flashing for as many as 15 minutes to be displayed, lit, and prominent, for all passing traffic on the major Rt. of 190.
I had spent 4 years and 100’s of thousands and dollars, blood and sweat, fixing up those formerly boarded up properties.
The criminals and drug dealers still operate in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. Yet, after police officers had bragged that ‘Big Mouth’ was going to be run out of town, and taught a lesson, and had bragged I was going to prison before I even went to trial, justice has not been served.
Troopers Ameral and Langlais committed perjury in order that I be convicted. The State Police Internal Affairs refuses to deny nor to take my complaint against officers.
I feel my First Amendment rights have been violated, as I had complained about police and the local court system in newspapers, and had proposed legislation inflammatory to police and those in the judiciary BEFORE I was railroaded to prison.
Your attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated,
Steven G. Erickson
PO Box 730
Enfield, CT 06083
I have cut and pasted 2 police reports Connecticut State Police Internal Affairs refuses to take nor deny.
-Steven G. Erickson
RE: Landlord Rights (by Steven G. Erickson[CT])
Posted on: Oct 2, 2003 7:14 PM
Message:
Connecticut State Police Internal Affairs refused to take nor deny these complaints:
Steven G. Erickson February 14, 2003
PO Box 730 Enfield, CT 06083-0730
860-749-xxxx
To whom it may concern at Connecticut State Police Internal Affairs: (fax to 203-238-6447, tel 238-6390)
I belief Troopers Ameral and Langlais of Connecticut State Police, Troop C, Tolland Connecticut, committed perjury in my criminal trial at Rockville GA#19, 20 Park St, Connecticut on 10-22-02, to get me convicted on 2 misdemeanor charges.
I would like to formerly lodge a complaint against Trooper Ameral and Langlais as I believe they perjured themselves. Trooper Ameral seemed to turn red and choke over his words as he testified that when asked whether or not I had asked to make a statement and identified myself 10-11-01, after I was nearly robbed, beaten, and threatened on my own property at night after arriving home with Clayton Varno in my van.
Troopers Ameral and Langlais refused to listen to the taped threats on Sue xxxx answering machine against me, 10-11-01, before I was assaulted, to take Sue xxxx statement, Apt x, 5 Church St., Stafford Springs, CT 06076 (860-684-xxxx). The pair also refused to take my statement, refused to listen to the threats against me from my assailant made from 1:00 PM that day against me.
I had identified myself as a crime victim, my name, and that I wished to make a complained. Both officers denied me this. Trooper Ameral refused to take my statement during processing 10-12-01, and refused to listen to my voicemail with the threats against me.
My assailant was not arrested. I asked Trooper Ameral more than once to make a complaint and wanted my statement taken. I called out while being held, and asked to make a complaint against my assailant for attempted robbery, assault, and the threatening of me, Sgt Sticca refused to take my statement, 10-12-01.
I called Troop C, when I arrived home in the morning after being held at Troop C, Trooper Decker listened to my entire account of the previous events from the late evening before. I believe he interviewed tenants that had heard my assailant threaten my life and were aware of my assailant going back and forth from the local bar all day looking for me, each time saying he was going to hurt or kill me when I got home.
Trooper Decker politely refused my 2 or more requests to take my written statement regarding the events from the previous day.
My assailant continued to harass and threaten me and attempted to beat me again, Oct 18, 2001. I called the State Police and I believe it was Trooper Colleen Anuszewski, who responded to the call maybe sometime between 8PM and 9PM.
She listened to the threats on my voicemail and listened to my account of the threats made against me and that I had just nearly escaped a 2nd beating by locking myself in my office in my other multi family house, 3 Church St, Stafford Springs, CT.
My assailant came after me 7 times in the time before my trial. 4 of the times I reported the incidents to police.
There was a follow up investigation that calls me the victim of the assault in which I have included. This tells me that if my statement was taken before I was arrested that I would never have been arrested, and at the time of the 2nd report, I think my charges should have been dropped.
Sgt Izzarelli took my statement and interviewed Sue xxxx, possibly Clayton Varno, and others. Sgt Izzarelli came calling on me and in the presence of Sue xxxx, seemed surprised that my assailant was not arrested and with my case in general, in my opinion.
I believe I had previous arguments with Trooper Langlais, over teens drinking, fighting, and selling drugs off my front lawn, and my displeasure over losing sleep and with the lack of anything being done. Langlais may have been one of the officers on a previous occasion to Oct 11, 2001, that were chanting, "Oh Stevie, Oh
Stevie, Oh Stevie!" outside my office door waking me up maybe 2AM or 3AM in the morning maybe an hour or so after I had called in and complained about intoxicated teenagers, banging into my house, and being so loud they were keeping me awake. The contents of this letter are to my best belief and knowlege. Thank you, Steven G. Erickson --65.204.211.10
RE: Landlord Rights (by Steven G. Erickson[CT])
Posted on: Oct 2, 2003 7:16 PM
Message:
Steven G. Erickson April 16, 2003
xxx xxxx (an address)
To Whom It May Concern at the Connecticut State Police Internal Affairs Unit (fax to 203-238-6447, tel 238-6390.
Subject: Trooper Mulcahey’s possible violation of my (Steven G. Erickson) 1st and 14th Amendment rights, civil rights violations, and improper conduct unbecoming of a State Law Official
I believe Trooper Mulcahey acted improperly in telling me I would be arrested if I pursued any charges or allegations against anyone and did not leave the State of Connecticut.
I had brought a tape that Trooper Mulcahey took possession of threats against my daughter, her life, by a man who was sexually obsessed with my then 14 year old daughter and her friend Leann.
The tape also had threats against me, possibly 15 to 20 involving Peter Coukos. Please look into my allegations and take my complaint.
From statements made by Peter Coukos, before I was harassed by him telling me that the Stafford Resident Trooper and Stafford Police Officers did not like him (Peter Coukos) getting along with me and encouraged him to harass me and get rid of me.
After making this statement, Peter Coukos, told me that if I did not write him a check for $30,000 he would make up a false police report, report me to the building inspector for possible code violations, and would try and say I had committed fraud in some way or another fabricating a complaint.
I was also told I was evicted from the property by Peter Coukos, when I believe only a court order could bar me from 3 and 5 Church St.
Stafford Springs, CT, and that it was entirely illegal that I could be told I was barred from Stafford Springs and/or Connecticut, by someone saying they are speaking on behalf of the police.
I asked Trooper Mulcahey to take my complaint against Peter Coukos more than once and over time from as early as February 2002 into the Summer of 2002, regarding Peter Coukos threatening me, assaulting me, locking me of my apartment, blocking my vehicles in the driveway, breaking into my apartment, stealing my van seats and pick up truck cap, etc.
I believe it was an admission to these crimes by Peter Coukos when he signed an agreement not to harass me and to settle my Small Claims suit I brought against him regarding the stolen property.
I do not think it honorable and legal for a State Trooper to threaten me with arrest for being the victim of crimes, not the perpetrator, if I pursued matters taken in police reports, and if I did not leave Stafford Springs and/or Connecticut as soon as was possible.
I find it disturbing that Peter Coukos, claimed to me that the Resident State Trooper had told him, “Big Mouth is going to be shut up,” “Big Mouth is going to be run out of town,” and “Big Mouth is going to be taught a lesson,” before the harassment began, telling me it was encouraged and condoned possibly violating federal and Connecticut laws by police officers and Peter Coukos.
What is contained in this letter is to my best belief and knowledge. Please look into my allegations and take my complaint. Thank you, Steven G. Erickson P.S. the address of some of the violation is 3 and 5 Church St., Stafford Springs, CT 06076 --65.204.211.10
RE: Landlord Rights (by Steven G. Erickson[CT])
Posted on: Oct 2, 2003 7:19 PM
Message:
October 2, 2003 Heard from a former tenant today and was informed that Peter Coukos called police in Stafford Connecticut today to 5 Church St, Stafford Springs, CT, and they met with him at the address to discuss his allegations that I broke into his basement, kicking in the door, leaving my picture, and a note saying “F*ck the Police.” Peter later was overheard saying he had a gun permit, could carry a gun if I were to come around the property. I hope Peter Coukos does not have a gun permit as he allegedly ran a woman off the road hitting her car repeatedly getting a DUI, takes large amounts of pain killers, is known to smoke marijuana daily, and allegedly attended NA after James Hogancamp and Vicky Tamaro supplied and smoked crack with him, getting him addicted. Peter Coukos is also known to drink large amounts of alcohol daily. --65.204.211.10
Brian Caldwell, the alleged alcoholic drug user that attacked me, has allegedly been harassing elderly residents at Avery Park in Stafford, Connecticut, when there are all night drug and alcohol parties at Frank Armstrongs apartment.
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson at November 2, 2003 07:31 AMpost on mrlandlord.com:
Quote for the Day (by Nancy[MI])
Posted on: Nov 1, 2003 3:24 AM
Message: "If you want to know how rich you really are, find out what would be left of you tomorrow if you should lose every dollar you own tonight". William J. H. Boetcker, Clergyman 1873-1962 --68.40.248.88
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RE: Quote for the Day (by SAM[OR])
Posted on: Nov 1, 2003 9:53 AM
Message: Its kinda like retiring... --207.109.250.205
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RE: Quote for the Day (by Steven G. Erickson[CT])
Posted on: Nov 2, 2003 9:17 AM
Message: good quote. Thank you. --209.113.249.72
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RE: Quote for the Day (by Anon[us])
Posted on: Nov 2, 2003 11:21 AM
Message: Steven you kind of found that out, however you survived and passed with flying colors, the second time around will be a piece of cake with your kind of tenacity...GO GET EM..you're millionaire material, you got staying power. and Mr. thats all you need. --205.188.209.16
I think that the circumstances under which you were sent to prison are totally rediculous. But I do not think that the conditions of prisons are terribly unreasonable (even in Connecticut). Exactly what kind of treatment do you think criminals deserve?
Posted by: Fairy at November 18, 2003 06:37 PMan open 'letter' to Governor Rowland of Connecticut. Click 'letter'
Posted by: letter at November 24, 2003 09:58 PMI fell onto this site by accident and just read this story. It was the most interetsing, and while I know it was horrible for you, story I have read in a while. I give you credit for being able to be strong in there like that. I myself would have prob had a mental breakdown. Thanks for sharing that with everyone.
-Shawn
there is no such thing as free speech. Governments created this to give a sence to the public that they are living in a free style world.
Its not true. Get over it. Thats why terrorists are born.
Posted by: enigmatixz at January 17, 2004 12:02 PMA 20 year old sent to prison for $100 worth of drugs, for 30 months ...
The story:
David Mark Tracy, Dead, Victim of Bad Policies in Connecticut
Posted by: at January 21, 2004 10:15 AM
posted by The_SRV at 3:23 AM
