Cons: Guard dogged priest: Geoghan tormented
by Franci Richardson
Thursday, September 4, 2003
More than a half dozen inmates have fingered one guard at MCI-Concord as John J. Geoghan's tormentor, who drove the former priest to a maximum security prison, where he was eventually murdered, a lawyer said.
Cosmo A. Bisazza, of Marlboro, along with at least one other guard in Concord, according to a source, made life ``horrific'' for the 68-year-old pedophile after he was sentenced to serve nine to 10 years in jail for fondling a 10-year-old boy.
``I know of at least seven prisoners who told us that Geoghan was abused by guards and I think at least six of those have mentioned Bisazza,'' said James R. Pingeon, an attorney for the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services. ``They reported this mostly before he died.''
The union representing Bisazza, a martial arts master, refused comment.
``I'm not going to respond to the baseless allegations made by attorneys of nameless inmates,'' said Stephen Crawford, spokesman for the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union.
Bisazza, whose employment records the state Department of Corrections has refused to release, would not comment when contacted Saturday and ordered a reporter off his property.
The DOC has sent letters to union officers threatening to fire them if they speak publicly about the Aug. 23 murder of Geoghan at the hands of convicted killer Joseph L. Druce at the Souza-Baranowski Correction Center in Shirley.
Geoghan repeatedly complained that Bisazza verbally abused him, a source told the Herald.
Geoghan also complained that from the time he arrived at Concord, Bisazza had posted newspaper clippings of his trial on the guards' bulletin board.
``He pointed that out to Geoghan and said he was going to make his life miserable from the beginning,'' the source had heard.
The Herald reported Saturday that guards at Concord called Geoghan ``Lucifer'' and ``Satan,'' accused him of having sex with his elderly sister, and had at least one guard defecate in his cell.
Sources say Geoghan complained about the abuse he suffered from two guards, but frequently mentioned Bisazza.
The other guard didn't respond to a request yesterday for an interview.
A fellow inmate of Geoghan, who wasn't identified, complained before Geoghan's murder that he had witnessed Bisazza badger ``Geoghan, who was next to me in Room 29, almost every day in this unit,'' said Pingeon.
Bisazza is one of nine prison employees named in a federal case filed May 9 at the U.S. District Court in Boston by Lewis S. Lent Jr., a cellblock neighbor of Geoghan while he was at Concord. Lent is serving two life sentences for the murders of a 12-year-old Pittsfield boy and a 12-year-old girl from New York, both of whom were riding their bicycles when they went missing in the early 1990s.
According to the lawsuit, Lent said he ``received disciplinary sanctions that caused him to suffer needlessly.''
U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock issued a June 23 order requiring Lent to specifically identify the guards' alleged actions, or have his lawsuit dismissed.
``It's just too horrible,'' said Lent's mother, Lois Wood, 73, of Seagrove, N.C., who visited her son last week. ``He's zeroed in on my son.''
Wood said that Lent told her one of the guards urinated in his cell and threatened him after Geoghan's death, saying he would end up the same way.
``Lewis told us he threatened him,'' Wood said, referring to one guard. ``He said that Lewis shouldn't worry, he was going to get him next. He's going to see he's transferred to that Shirley place.''
Another inmate, who wasn't identified, also complained to the legal advocates that Bisazza would mentally abuse him by accusing him of having sex with other people and kicking his door to wake him up, Pingeon said.
``Geoghan wasn't the only person who had complaints about (Bisazza), but he singled out Geoghan as some kids in school take on other kids,'' said a source. ``Geoghan was the weak one and Bisazza was the bully.''
Bisazza's name was given to the DOC by an inmate advocate on behalf of complaining prisoners. Within the last several weeks, inmates reported a change for the better in his demeanor, Pingeon said.
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Lewis Lent the f*cking child serial killer?????? My heart bleeds. His mom is right. It is JUST TOO HORRIBLE.
