Marty Gottesfeld risks retaliation by revealing more inside a secretive federal prison.
His status inside the CMU may be unchanged, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have some things to say.
Marty Gottesfeld is back with another correspondence inside the Communications Management Unit (CMU).
Marty is in the middle of a sentence which will keep him in a federal prison until approximately 2024.
Gottesfeld was convicted of attacking the website of Boston Children’s Hospital during BCH fundraising.
Gottesfeld did it when BCH was involved in the medical kidnapping of Justina Pelletier.
His motives notwithstanding, he received a sentence of ten years.
As I have previously documented, Marty and I have had a longstanding correspondence, but I’m not the only journalist who has received communication from him.
In 2020, he communicated with a Forbes journalist.
Recently, I opened a letter Gottesfeld sent to me and inside was a copy, front and back, of a bag of Bold Party Blend Savory Chex Mix ... and nothing else. While there was supposed to be a letter to me from Gottesfeld, all that was received at this end was the Chex Mix copy. I learned that the reason for the copy was to show that during July’s lethal injections in Terre Haute, Gottesfeld believed that Warden Brian Lammer served prisoners 1- bag each of a 1.75-ounce bag of Bold Party Blend Savory Chex Mix (”Party” being the optimal word), to recognize the BOP’s resuming executions, something that had not happened since 2003.
According to information that I received from Gottesfeld, on August 25, Warden Lammer asked Gottesfeld to provide correspondence written to me (Pavlo) which included a signed coversheet granting permission in perpetuity to publish his correspondence, a 3-page letter for publication and a one-page list of food-tray items that Lammer served during July’s lethal injections. So what happened to Gottesfeld as a result? He was written up for an incident report for “a violation of Program Statement 5265.14, an attempt to circumvent established mail monitoring procedures and incite violence in the community.” The communication seemed harmless to me.
Gottesfeld’s detention in the CMU is controversial, since its locked down nature is supposed to be reserved for terrorists and other dangerous individuals. The CMU is referred to as “Little Guantanamo” by many of its inmates.
The Forbes article also made note of this.
Some inmates at the CMU have pushed back. A federal lawsuit brought by three inmates contend that their designation to CMU violated their due process rights. One appellant also alleges his continued CMU placement was in retaliation for protected speech in violation of the First Amendment. The BOP has not been as transparent about how such designations are even determined. In fact, CMUs were opened before the BOP established any written designation criteria.
An inmate can be designated to a CMU for several reasons, including having a conviction offense related to international or domestic terrorism. Why Gottesfeld was designated there still remains a mystery to most everyone who knows him ... you can also include Gottesfeld himself in that group. Others accused of hacking-related crimes have spent time at federal prison camps or lows. Romanian hacker, Tiberiu Danet, was sentenced earlier this year to 10 years in prison but was not sent to a CMU ... instead Danet was sent to a low security facility in Philipsburg, PA known for housing non-US citizen inmates.
Marty has previously revealed incidents of sexual abuse by guards, a lack of COVID protocols, and more malfeasance.
Every time he speaks out, he risks the ire of the Bureau of Prisons (USBOP), but that has not stopped him from speaking out.
Here is his latest communication.
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