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

“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 Price.  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.