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| Warden charged with having inmates do work at his home |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/05/2004 |
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The former warden, deputy warden and two officers at the Lackawanna County (Pa.) prison were charged last Tuesday with using inmate labor to remodel their homes, repair their cars, and perform personal chores. Warden Thomas P. Gilhooley, 53, was fired in July after he acknowledged in a newspaper interview that he let inmates out of jail to transport items to and from his house. A state grand jury charged Gilhooley and Deputy Warden Robert A. Hilborn, 54, with felony theft of services and ethics law violations for allegedly taking advantage of a prison program that rewarded inmates for good behavior by giving them special duties, including maintenance work and patrolling the prison halls. Gilhooley was also charged with bribery. Investigators said that in exchange for their work, Gilhooley offered inmates extra furlough hours that allowed them to roam beyond the prison's walls during the day. The four defendants, including former officers Lt. Leonard Bogdanski, 62, and Sgt. Anthony Veno, 63, surrendered last Tuesday morning and were arraigned at the Lackawanna County Courthouse in Scranton. They were released from custody pending trial without being required to post bail. Attorney General Jerry Pappert, whose office investigated the case, accused the men of letting down taxpayers, who he said "had every reason to believe that the inmates in their prison were being incarcerated and punished for crimes they committed and not being used as a free labor force for a select group of prison officials." "Prisoners should pay their debts to society not to the prison warden," Pappert said. Investigators said that during his 13-year tenure, Gilhooley had inmates perform tasks that included painting the walls of his house, fixing toilets, mowing his lawn, maintaining his pool, decorating his house for holidays and assembling Christmas toys for his children. Inmates also performed thousands of dollars worth of work on vehicles belonging to Gilhooley's family, investigators said, from washing, waxing and regular maintenance, to major body work when his van was involved in an accident. Hilborn's lawyer, Harry McGrath, said last Tuesday that the charges were "vague" and dependent on statements by prisoners with questionable credibility. Attorneys for Veno and Gilhooley did not immediately return telephone calls last Tuesday. Attempts to reach Bogdanski's attorney were not immediately successful. |
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