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| Threatening Letters Extending Inmate's Stay |
| By Indianapolis Star |
| Published: 01/22/2002 |
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An Indiana Department of Correction inmate has the system over a barrel, says Boone County Deputy Prosecutor Pam Buchanan. 'He's figured out a way to amuse himself from prison at the expense of taxpayers,' Buchanan said. Taxpayers have picked up the tab to prosecute and defend John Otis Philbeck for robbery and stabbing a man. They paid to house him in prisons. They also paid for the envelopes, stationery and postage that Philbeck used to send threatening letters to prosecutors, judges and probation officers. Philbeck, 31, formerly of Frankfort, has racked up four felony convictions for intimidation for sending threats from prison, adding 21 years to his original 14-year sentence for armed robbery and battery. He's under federal investigation for allegedly perpetrating an anthrax hoax at the Boone County courthouse. DOC officials said recently they screen every piece of mail from Philbeck in the segregated housing unit at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle. 'Apparently, this one didn't get screened,' Boone Superior Court Judge Ora A. Kincaid III said recently after receiving a letter with Philbeck's name and return address. 'I put it in a baggie and called the Fire Department, and before I knew it, the FBI was out here getting it.' Buchanan and her husband, Prosecutor John Buchanan, say they, too, have been targets of Philbeck's threatening letters, decorated with crude drawings and bodily fluids. State Police lab tests have confirmed stains on letters addressed to Pam Buchanan are Philbeck's blood and semen. The Buchanans said they have spent two years trying to get the DOC to put a stop to it. 'It's absurd,' said Pam Buchanan. 'No one has explained to me why his mail can't be screened.' She will meet next month with Wabash Valley Superintendent Craig Hanks. DOC policy follows state law. Generally, inmates can send and receive an unlimited amount of correspondence to and from anyone with few restrictions. Officials can't read or censor prisoner mail without reasonable grounds to believe it poses an immediate danger to safety or security or contains contraband, said DOC spokeswoman Pam Pattison. 'All of his mail is going to our internal affairs office, and they look at it before it goes out,' Hanks said. 'This guy is obviously abusing the system.' The department can open and inspect mail if the prisoner has been convicted of a crime involving the use of correspondence. Punishment apparently doesn't faze Philbeck. He would have finished his robbery sentence by now if he had not taken up the pen. He is doing 'straight time' instead of getting good time credit. And, he spends about 23 hours of each day alone in his cell. |
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