Inquiry panel faults prison administration for inmate Geoghan's death

Published: 2004-02-04

BOSTON (CNS) -- An investigative report on the murder of John Geoghan in his prison cell last August blamed "major administrative breakdowns" for an unwarranted transfer that placed the defrocked priest among some of the state's most dangerous inmates. The report was released Feb. 3. It says that Geoghan, 68, who was serving a 10-year sentence for fondling a child, should not have been moved from the MCI-Concord prison, where he was originally assigned, to the protective custody unit at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, where he was killed by another inmate Aug. 23. Joseph L. Druce, a self-proclaimed homophobe serving a life sentence for killing a gay man, allegedly beat and strangled Geoghan to death in his cell after jamming the cell door shut to prevent guards from getting in to stop him. Edward A. Flynn, the state public safety secretary who appointed the three-member panel of inquiry into Geoghan's death, said the ex-priest would not have been killed if Department of Correction officials had followed written policies.

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