Tennessee State Rep’s Office Conveys Department of Corrections’ Denial of Fitzpatrick’s Attempted Assault Claim

“NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE ALLEGATION”

by Sharon Rondeau

(Jul. 13, 2015) — On July 6, The Post & Email reported that a Tennessee resident contacted State Rep. John Forgety‘s office regarding the allegations made in several successive letters by TDOC prisoner #54003, Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III, who alleged that an instructor at the Northwest Correctional Complex (NWCX) threatened him with a beating should he continue to refuse to participate in the Pro-Social Life Skills (PSLS) course.

Forgety represents McMinn County, where Fitzpatrick lived prior to his present incarceration.  In June of last year, he was convicted of aggravated perjury and extortion after attempting to gain an audience with the county grand jury with what he believed was irrefutable evidence of government corruption.

As expressed in several recent letters, Fitzpatrick stated that the PSLS course required him to incriminate himself and therefore nullify the appeal his attorney, Van Irion, argued on his behalf on May 19 for convictions of aggravated perjury and extortion last summer.

The Tennessee citizen forwarded a response received from Forgety’s assistant shortly before 2:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, which reads:

—–Original Message—–
From: John Forgety <rep.john.forgety@capitol.tn.gov>
To: (Redacted)
Sent: Mon, Jul 13, 2015 1:54 pm
Subject: Walter Fitzpatrick

XXXXXXXXXXX:

Please find the Dept. of Corrections response to the allegations you brought forward.

Friday, July 10, 2015 1:08 PM
To: John Forgety
Tonya Levan
Subject: RE: please forward

Representative Forgety,

The Warden has investigated the allegation that Mr. Fitzpatrick was threatened by a staff member. He has reported to the Assistant Commissioner of Prisons that there is no evidence to support the allegation. Regarding the issues raised involving the judicial process, the prosecution, conviction, and appeal process of criminal cases are beyond the scope of the department’s authority.

On July 6, The Post & Email sent a message to Forgety and TDOC Assistant to the Commissioner Jim Thrasher reporting Fitzpatrick’s observations that inmates at NWCX are forced to take classes in which they have already participated or for which they are not suitable candidates as well as the threats made by Hopper against him personally.  We received no response to our request for an interview from either public servant.

In response to the latest report from Forgety’s assistant to the Tennessee citizen, The Post & Email sent the following on Monday evening:

Sharon Rondeau (editor@thepostemail.com)
Sent: Mon 7/13/15 9:43 PM
To: John Forgety (rep.john.forgety@capitol.tn.gov)
Cc: jim.thrasher@tn.gov (jim.thrasher@tn.gov); Neysa Taylor (neysa.taylor@tn.gov); Sen. Mike Bell (sen.mike.bell@capitol.tn.gov)

Regarding the message below which was forwarded to me, did Warden Parris interview the witness, Candice Prince, who reportedly looked on as Hopper physically menaced Fitzpatrick by backing him into a corner?  I have reproduced below the article in which the assault was reported and ask that you please forward it to officials at the TDOC.  I challenge them to credibly contest its allegations to me directly through an interview or with written, sworn eyewitness accounts.

I find it interesting that after the reported incident, Fitzpatrick was removed from the Pro-Social Life Skills class and relocated to another part of the prison.  But why is a man with a Master’s Degree attending Adult Basic Education?  Is someone profiting from that also?

Fitzpatrick reports that he was strip-searched twice before his relocation and his belongings raided three times, apparently for copies of my articles which might have contained their names.  They reportedly found nothing, nor have I received any contest to anything I have reported.

Today I received an eyewitness account from the same prison of the dangerous conditions which the inmates and staff face every day to be published on Tuesday to shed further light on the TDOC’s practices.

The role of the media is to be a watchdog on government, not an acquiescent partner.

Sharon Rondeau, Editor
The Post & Email
www.thepostemail.com
P.O. Box 195
Stafford Springs, CT  06076
203-987-7948

– The Post & Email – http://www.thepostemail.com –

Breaking: Walter Fitzpatrick Reports He Was Threatened with Beatings by Prison Instructor

 Posted By Sharon Rondeau On Friday, June 26, 2015 @ 3:53 PM In National | 1 Comment

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“NAME, RANK, SERIAL NUMBERS…”

by Sharon Rondeau

(Jun. 26, 2015) — The Post & Email has just received a mailing from CDR Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III (Ret.), who is imprisoned at the Northwest Correctional Institution (NWCX) in Tiptonville, TN, stating that on June 19, he was “backed into a corner” by a prison instructor, verbally assaulted, and threatened with “I’m going to beat you into the middle of next week” for refusing to participate in the Pro-Social Life Skills course.

In recent weeks, Fitzpatrick has sent approximately 11 mailings in which he described his enrollment in the course as forced.  Fitzpatrick holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and is a 1975 graduate of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, ranking third in his class.  The PSLS curriculum is geared to repeat criminal offenders deemed in need of “re-education” and behavior modification, often after abusing drugs and/or alcohol.

Fitzpatrick has also been enrolled in Adult Basic Education (ABE) for an unknown reason.

The Post & Email received no response from Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) Communications Director Neysa Taylor when we asked her why a person with a high degree of education deemed unsuitable for either course would be forced to participate.  Fitzpatrick told The Post & Email in several of his writings that during his assessment early in his imprisonment, he was told he did not qualify for any educational programs offered by the TDOC.  However, in December, he was sent to NWCX, whose focus is on education, not community service or production.

Taylor did not respond to our question of who pays for the courses and whether or not there is “monetary compensation to the facility for each person” enrolled.

The first two paragraphs of this article have been sent to Taylor via email as well as two other parties.

Fitzpatrick was convicted of “aggravated perjury” and “extortion” by a McMinn County, TN trial jury last June without an accuser.  During the sentencing hearing, former grand jury foreman Jeffrey Cunningham was identified by a parole officer as the victim in the case.

Fitzpatrick’s attorney, Van Irion of Knoxville, presented oral argument to an appellate court on May 19, but a decision has not yet been reported.

The instructor of the Pro-Social Life Skills class, Mr. Terry Hopper, is said in Fitzpatrick’s letter received on Friday to have “verbally assaulted” Fitzpatrick in the presence of PSLS Counselor Candice Prince.  In addition, Fitzpatrick wrote of Hopper in a letter dated 19 June 2015, 8:13 PM CDT, “his vehement tirade was peppered with three (3) threats of physical attack in the event I refused to sign two documents (single sheets of paper) Hopper waved in my face spewing his invective.”

“Hopper backed me into a corner of Prince’s office taking three (3) steps in my direction, one step lunging at me to accentuate each of his three (3) demands to sign his paperwork,” Fitzpatrick continued.

Fitzpatrick has filed a formal criminal complaint within NWCX Internal Affairs against five employees, to include Hopper and Prince.

Over the last six years, Fitzpatrick has blown the whistle on corruption within the Tennessee judiciary, particularly in the Tenth Judicial District, where he resided prior to his arrest and current incarceration.  Fitzpatrick was the first person in the country to file a formal complaint of treason against Barack Hussein Obama, an accusation many others have since made.

At the time, Fitzpatrick was vilified, harassed, intimidated, and stalked for the positions he took.

On April 1, 2010, Fitzpatrick conducted a peaceful citizen’s arrest on Gary Pettway, then-Monroe County grand jury foreman, who had been serving for 28 consecutive years, a practice regularly carried out throughout Tennessee.  The Fifth Amendment guarantees a person accused of an “infamous crime” the review of a panel of peers comprising the grand jury to decide if enough evidence exists to prosecute.  However, Tennessee “grand juries” consist of 12 individuals allegedly randomly-selected and a judicially-appointed foreman who does the judge’s bidding.

Reports of corruption throughout the Tennessee jury system and judiciary are widespread.  Similar corruption is reportedly found in the states of North Carolina and Georgia.

Fitzpatrick has called the systemic corruption within Tennessee courts a “dictatorship of the judiciary” of which most Tennesseans seem unaware.

In his letter below, Fitzpatrick describes a “gang of five” which was reportedly aware of the threats and took no action to stop Hopper’s confrontation.

© 2015, The Post & Email. All rights reserved.

Article printed from The Post & Email: http://www.thepostemail.com
URL to article: http://www.thepostemail.com/2015/06/26/breaking-walter-fitzpatrick-reports-he-was-threatened-with-beatings-by-prison-instructor/

———————

The Post & Email will report if any response is received.  A letter sent to Parris last month received no response.

Fitzpatrick filed a criminal complaint, a copy of which he sent to The Post & Email, in a response to Hopper’s alleged threats of physical harm.

When we heard from Fitzpatrick in a subsequent letter on Thursday dated July 5, it appeared that the Disciplinary Board hearing which was first said to be canceled, then rescheduled, then not held had not occurred as of that writing.  Fitzpatrick related at that time that Correctional Officer Lori Avery was doing an outstanding job in attempting to obtain Fitzpatrick’s high school records in order to exempt him from the Adult Basic Education (ABE) class in which he is currently enrolled despite holding a Master’s degree in Business Administration.

Update, 10:46 p.m. EDT:

Approximately an hour after sending the email, TDOC Communications Director Neysa Taylor responded: