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WSJ Reports Bernie Madoff Was Beaten in Prison

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 11:58:13 AM EST
Tags: Bernie Madoff (all tags)
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A follow-up investigation by the Wall St. Journal on the discredited reports that Bernie Madoff was beaten in prison last fall, disputes the denial by the Bureau of Prisons and, based on accounts by former and current inmates at the prison, reports he was attacked by another inmate over money, and sustained a broken nose and fractured ribs.

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    WSJ Reports Bernie Madoff Was Beaten in Prison | 32 comments (32 topical)

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    Better title: WSJ reports Madoff beaten (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by oculus on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 12:13:24 PM EST
    by another inmate.

    Man guess he shouldn't (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Socraticsilence on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 12:26:43 PM EST
    have started that Pruno futures market.

    "Beaten" n/t (none / 0) (#1)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 12:02:22 PM EST


    Shhhhh (none / 0) (#3)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 12:06:14 PM EST
    I like knowing other people are serial typo misspellers.

    Parent
    Sorry... (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 12:08:16 PM EST
    ...I'm in a bit of an editing mode today.  Occupational hazard.

    Parent
    Now it has gone viral... (none / 0) (#19)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:48:38 PM EST
    ...up on the Sidebar!  

    I think our hostess is out playing in the snow...

    Parent

    Thanks, fixed now (none / 0) (#21)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 02:12:18 PM EST
    Not playing in the snow, I just missed it. It seems to happen when I use a laptop with the smaller screen over the desktop. Thanks for the correction.

    Parent
    I remember they said... (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 12:04:17 PM EST
    that he fell out of bed, but I don't think that fooled anyone.

    Madoff apparently denied (none / 0) (#7)
    by MKS on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 12:23:04 PM EST
    that he was beaten--he knows better than to be a snitch....

    Such is our system.  Here, again, is an article on Finland's criminal justice system--so totally different than ours.

    Parent

    No one deserves to be beaten (none / 0) (#5)
    by jbindc on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 12:11:37 PM EST
    Well, ok, actually, yes, some people do deserve it, but not Madoff.

    I didn't know that drug dealers with judo blackbelts had portfolios that invested with Madoff, though.

    A slightly different take, of course:

    The latest scuttlebutt is that Madoff may have been beaten in December 2009. According to The Wall Street Journal (NWS), the alleged assailant -- hereinafter referred to as "the head sister" -- claimed that Madoff owed him money. A body builder with a black belt in judo, the head sister (may have) lived in a different section of the prison, which (could have) made it impossible for him to beat Madoff. Still, the famed Ponzi schemer was (supposedly) treated for broken ribs, a fractured nose, and cuts to his face.

    The bulk of the WSJ's story -- which ran for almost 1,000 words, by the way -- is based on hearsay sourced from various inmates. Madoff may have been beaten by a man who may be a bodybuilder. He may have been treated for broken bones and contusions, or he may have been treated for exhaustion and hypertension, as the prison reported in December. According to prison officials, when authorities investigated the case, Madoff stated that he hadn't been in a fight. Then again, as any fan of The Shawshank Redemption or Prison Break could attest, nobody tells the authorities the truth -- at least not in the movies.
    Has anyone ever successfully sued a prison (none / 0) (#10)
    by ruffian on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:17:35 PM EST
    for unsafe conditions? Is there a legal prohibition against suing prisons?

    I'm not a coddler, but I think an elderly man should not have to worry about getting beat up.

    Parent

    "Coddler" (5.00 / 0) (#15)
    by jondee on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:40:45 PM EST
    if that isnt a tough-on-crime demagogue code word, I dont know what is.

    There are a few "coddling" nations - known to refuse extradition to the U.S due to our prison conditions - that have miniscule rates of violent crime compared to ours. Maybe we should start emulating what they're doing a little more and start moving from the 19th to the 21st century.

    Parent

    You're right (5.00 / 0) (#27)
    by ruffian on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 02:31:08 PM EST
    I was alluding to the righties that call us that when we are for fair treatment of people. I should have used it in quotes. I only meant that I don't consider it "coddling" to keep people safe while incarcerated.

    Parent
    Ruff (none / 0) (#29)
    by jondee on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 03:05:36 PM EST
    I didnt mean to sound like I was coming down hard on you, Im just really fed up with the way the right has been able to hijack the language and frame the terms of debate for everybody to the point at which we end up supporting their world view without even meaning to.

    Parent
    Me too! I should not even have (none / 0) (#30)
    by ruffian on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 03:15:01 PM EST
    accidently implied I accept that world view.

    No harm, no foul! ;-)

    Parent

    In the federal pen... (none / 0) (#11)
    by kdog on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:22:16 PM EST
    getting beaten up isn't even the top worry...getting raped and beaten is.

    Oddballs like most of TL aside, I think this is how people like it...it gives them the warm and fuzzies to think that all the evil men, women, and children in our cages are getting beaten or worse...."serves them right" and all that garbage, with the illusion of their hands being blood-free.

    Parent

    True--unfortunately (none / 0) (#13)
    by MKS on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:29:53 PM EST
    Most people think that people in prison or jail are "bad" people.  Yet, most are in jail for crimes other than murder or rape.....

    In some circumstances, I would have no problem trusting an ex-con over the police.....

    Parent

    Knowing nothing else about them... (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by kdog on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:43:32 PM EST
    I'd take the ex-con too, no brainer...after all the greatest man I've ever known carried the ex-con label, my dear departed dad.  The cops I know personally couldn't have carried his jock.

    Parent
    Every encounter (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by MKS on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:48:34 PM EST
    I have had with beat cops has been negative....All about power....Different story with detectives and Captains....but the smart ones get promoted off of patrol pretty quickly....

    LAPD is getting better....seems like they are trying to be a little bit more social worker than commando....defusing situations rather than escalating them....

    Ex-cons generally can be very protective of kids and women.....

    Parent

    I wonder (none / 0) (#26)
    by Jen M on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 02:27:46 PM EST
    how much of a difference is circumstance.

    I have had both positive and negative interactions with police officers. By far the encounters have been positive -- even when they are pulling me over.

    The one negative experience was just a cop being less than joyfully polite. Could have just been a bad day.

    Parent

    Yes, we know (none / 0) (#14)
    by jbindc on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:32:44 PM EST
    They are just misunderstood people who've been framed by The Man.

    Parent
    No, but much more like (none / 0) (#16)
    by MKS on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:42:58 PM EST
    ordinary people than you may care to admit....

    I don't condone crime but there are many ways of dealing with it.  Prison is not the only answer.....

    The article on Finland's system is shocking in how different it is from ours.  And Europe generally deals with crime much differently.  As does Latin America.....We, here in the U.S., put people in jail on a par with dictatorships and very unsavory governments--and I assume you would be aware of that...

    Parent

    Since we're talking about federal prison here (none / 0) (#20)
    by jbindc on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 02:01:31 PM EST
    No one in there is a poor kid who busted with a joint in his pocket.  

    Judges all over this country - both at the state and federal levels - show mercy to lots of defendants all the time (not that you would know it by reading the comments here).  Is there more work to be done?  Absolutely.  Is it rational to say that everyone in prison belongs there?  No - and I don't say that.  But it's just as totally irrational to assume that every time a legal case comes up, the cops are bad, the prosecutors are bad, the judges are bad, and a defendant got a raw deal. And yes, there are mostly bad people in person - Case in point - Bernie Madoff is a bad person.

    Parent

    we are actually talking about Madoff (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 02:15:05 PM EST
    not Finland or your views of exaggerated misconduct claims. As for whether Madoff is a "bad person," that is your judgment. Good people also do bad things, and it is the bad things they did that send them to prison.

    Parent
    We disagree then (none / 0) (#28)
    by jbindc on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 02:37:32 PM EST
    Bernie Madoff just didn't filter a few thousand dollars off the top of some account because his kid needed surgery - that would be a good person doing a bad thing.  He deliberately and maliciously stole billions for his own greed.  In my book, that makes him a very bad person.

    Parent
    There are many in federal prison (5.00 / 1) (#25)
    by MKS on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 02:17:21 PM EST
    on drug charges....you know that...and not too many of them are drug kingpins.

    It is the balance, the degree.....No, not every cop, and I admitted as such by complimenting the LAPD....

    But there are too many cops on power trips who do lie and plant evidence......

    How the cops treat people in my town is horrid.  Most recent event involves a homless crazy lady who yells nutball obscenities at everyone; well, actually, usually at no one in particular.  I have seen her around.  Saw her in the local drug store and the employees there called her by name and seemed a little annoyed but not threatened....I saw a sandwich shop manager give her a free lunch.....Well, our local cops slammed her to the ground, and when she squawked, they said she was resisting arrest....

    I could go on....

    And, I have known my share of ex-cons.  All of them very protective of kids and women....

    So, there is little black-and-white out there....The problem with cops is that they are untouchable....very little check and balance there...

    Parent

    Another take: (none / 0) (#12)
    by jondee on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:24:27 PM EST
    Prison authorities may have lied out their as*es about Madoff being assaulted, knowing full well that they already have a ready-made audience of some-people-deserve-to-be-beaten types who couldnt care less in most instances whether inmates are beaten or not.

    Parent
    Prison is a dangerous place (none / 0) (#9)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 01:10:56 PM EST
    But Bernie should be glad he hasn't been turned over to the people he stole their life savings from.

    I'm guessing they would really put some hurt on him.

    most of his victims (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 02:16:24 PM EST
    were wealthy and I doubt many of them would know how to order a hit inside a prison.

    Parent
    Russian mafia (none / 0) (#23)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 02:16:15 PM EST
    He had the bad judgment to cheat a bunch of Russian mafia people.  That's apparently why he was happy to go to a federal prison for the rest of his life.

    Parent
    I am surprised. I guess I (none / 0) (#32)
    by hairspray on Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 12:27:01 AM EST
    thought he was serving time in a white collar crime type of prison as others like him have often done. We have what are called men's colony prisons (at least 2 that I know of) which are prisons for the "upper class of criminals" and getting beaten is not normal.

    white collar class prison? (none / 0) (#33)
    by womanwarrior on Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 03:11:41 PM EST
    I wish we could figure out how to kill that phony idea that there are prisons that are for the "upper class."  I suggest that you go visit what you think is a cushy federal prison.  Please disclose the names?  You would not want to be there.  The federal prisons range is from bad to worse.  They are all overcrowded and frankly unsafe for those who do not understand how to get along in them.  Yes, they may be better than some state prisons, but don't fool yourself.  The federal bureau of prisons wants a bigger empire and more money to build more prisons.  They refuse to cooperate when Congress tries give incentives to inmates to behave well and rehabilitate themselves.  It is much too hard for inmates to get into the RDAP (residential drug abuse program) which can earn some time off, and then they find that the time off is less than Congress suggested.  The BOP has interpreted the good time statute in the narrowest way to keep people in longer.  It makes no sense, unless you are empire building.  

    WSJ Reports Bernie Madoff Was Beaten in Prison | 32 comments (32 topical)

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