Inmate, Slated to Remain in Solitary Until 2046, Describes Life of ‘Hell’

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Inmate, Slated to Remain in Solitary Until 2046, Describes Life of ‘Hell’

Posted Sep 23, 2008, 08:01 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Willie Bosket has gone 14 years without a disciplinary violation, but he has been in solitary confinement in New York prisons for 20 years and is slated to remain there until 2046.

Bosket’s rap sheet includes two subway murders committed as a juvenile, an assault on a 72-year-old man, and the knifing of a prison guard, the New York Times reports. Now he spends 23 hours a day in a 9-by-6-foot cell and the other hour, alone, in the recreation area. Nearly 250 disciplinary violations in prison put Bosket in solitary, and it will take a positive evaluation to get him out.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Linda Foglia told the Times that few if any inmates have been in solitary longer than Bosket.

In solitary confinement, Bosket “seems to have gone from defiant menace to subdued and empty inmate,” the story says. Since age 9, he has spent all but two years of his life in some kind of lockup.

Bosket told the Times his existence is “just blank.”

“Everything is the same every day,” he said. “This is hell. Always has been.”

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Posted by Ed Weber - 2 months, 1 week, 3 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes ago

Another example of jails making matters worse and breeding anti-social behavior so if and when people are released they will re-offend. There has to be a stop to shame and humiliation in punishment and a return to rehabilation. If there is a psycharist out there who says it can’t be done I would like to hear from them. If we are not going to keep them locked up for life we have to seek rehab. Yes I know, I’m a naive liberal
Posted by Alice - 2 months, 1 week, 3 days, 12 hours, 28 minutes ago

I’m a liberal, but I do not believe that everybody can be rehabilitated. If they have a treatable mental condition (controlled by medication) then perhaps they could be put in a less restrictive area, but too many criminals are released because of “good behavior” and then go out and commit heinous crimes again. I am not a psychiatrist but I would bet that many of them would agree with my view on this. I use a medication that stabilizes my brain chemicals so that I do not go into panic mode, so I DO know that the right medications and therapy can help immensely.
Posted by Take out the human trash - 2 months, 1 week, 3 days, 11 hours, 48 minutes ago

How much do a couple of 9mm rounds cost? A whole lot less than 58 years of 3 hots and a cot.
Posted by Nikita - 2 months, 1 week, 3 days, 11 hours, 3 minutes ago

Bad business #3 comment. We should Nikita his butt, at least use things and throw them into Hot spots around the world.
What a waste. USA is a country of waste.
Cruel and Usual punishment.
Posted by associate - 2 months, 1 week, 3 days, 7 hours, 36 minutes ago

Life is a series of choices.

I count at least 254 bad choices in this story. Deal with it. It’s a shame the death penalty has been gutted of its significance.
Posted by Boo hoo - 2 months, 1 week, 3 days, 6 hours, 33 minutes ago

There are lots of people in the world worth feeling sorry for. This guy isn’t doing it for me.
Posted by J.D. - 2 months, 1 week, 2 days, 12 hours, 31 minutes ago

It is a waste to put him in solitary for so long. It’s not going to teach him a lesson, it’s not going to rehabilitate him.

But this is the result of anti-death penalty advocates.

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