Raymond Buxton- once again criminalizing the insane

   An alert reader of your CRIME story on January 31 (  " Long denied parole, rapist freed on ' good time'  " ) will note that Raymond Buxton " was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder " , that he had delusions and hallucinations - " such as believing in radio transmissions from one of his teeth and that the ACI was withholding Oscar and Grammy awards that he'd won ".  What is the rational basis for criminal punishment for such a deranged mind ? How can  " free will " and " knowing right from wrong "  be applicable here ?  How are people with broken minds more wicked than people with a cancerous liver ? 

      

        The president of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers, Richard Ferruccio, says " We do hope.... inmates are being rehabilitated here, with classes and programs ". ACI  classes and programs  for the  severely mentally ill like Raymond Buxton ?  A professional psychiatrist supervises these programs ?  Along with a resident exorcist and an astrologer to assure his future " good time "  ? 

          The idea that ANY inmates - most certainly not the clearly and diagnosed insane - are being rehabilitated in the American Gulog is  absolutely false.  Why does not the Providence Journal  consider  planting an investigative reporter at the ACI ?. Perhaps an honest report will get the attention of the United Nations or the World Court. Shine some light on this infernal darkness ?

            Gathering dust in our public libraries are whole collections of scholarly books on the nightmare of the U.S. prison system. The daily abuse of helpless, voiceless prisoners is just plain  unacceptable injustice.  But fear not citizens of Rhode Island this guy  Raymond Buxton -and many other  ACI inmates just like him: " The Department of Corrections has an excellent probation department " , says Peg Langhammer.