2-10-2010 Massachusetts:Man Was Serving Sentence For Child Rape
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Authorities say a man convicted of child rape serving his sentence in the Bridgewater Treatment Center has died following an altercation with another inmate.
The Plymouth district attorney's office said in a statement that 47-year-old Joseph Harlow was found unresponsive early Tuesday afternoon following the altercation. He was taken to Morton Hospital in Taunton where he was pronounced dead at about 1:45 p.m.
A prisons spokeswoman said Harlow was convicted in 1996 of rape of child under 16 and assault and battery with a deadly weapon. He had been at the treatment center for sex offenders since 2000 and was scheduled for release in April 2011.
The name of the other inmate was not made public. An autopsy is planned and the incident remains under investigation. ..Source.. by WCVB TV5.com
Bridgewater inmate dead after altercation
Police, DA launch an investigation
An inmate at the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater died Tuesday after an altercation with a fellow inmate, and the incident is under investigation by State Police and the office of Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Correction identified the deceased inmate yesterday as Joseph Harlow, 47, who has been in state prison since 1996 following convictions for rape of a child under 16 and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
According to Correction Department spokeswoman Diane Wiffin, Harlow was in the day room at the medium security facility when he collapsed around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. He was rushed to Morton Hospital in Taunton, where he was pronounced dead at 1:35 p.m.
Wiffin declined to provide details of what transpired and referred questions to Cruz.
In a telephone interview, Cruz said that the investigation has just started and that it is not yet known how Harlow died because the state medical examiner has not completed the autopsy.
“There was an altercation between one inmate and another inmate,’’ Cruz said. “Following the altercation, the inmate was found unresponsive.’’
The treatment center houses men who are civilly committed as sexually dangerous persons and who stay behind bars after their sentences are served.
However, Harlow was not a sexually dangerous person but was a state prison inmate who was serving his sentence at the facility, which provides treatment programs for sex offenders.
Details of the crime that sent Harlow to prison were not immediately available yesterday.
Leslie Walker - executive director of the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, which provides legal aid to prison inmates - said the Treatment Center is one of the more peaceful medium security facilities in the Correction Department system.
Walker said convicted sex offenders often seek transfers to the Bridgewater facility to complete treatment programs. ..Source.. by John R. Ellement
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