Brian McDonald

in all, i received over 200 pages of letters written by joshua komisarjevsky while he was being held in Macdougall-walker, c.i., the same prison in which steven hayes tried to commit suicide.

most of the letters came in business letter envelopes, addressed to me, and with a return address of 1153 East Street, South Suffield, Ct. But the last correspondence I received from Joshua, some 40 odd pages, came in a manila envelope, the pages within supported by two pieces of cardboard.

according to the new haven register, the prison photocopied the last package from joshua, then sent it on to me. I don't know (i suppose i could find out) whether or not the other letters had been copied.

I also interviewed joshua several times at macdougall-walker. the interviews were conducted in the prison visiting room. joshua sat behind a plexi-glass partition, and I talked to him over a telephone receiver. supposedly, those conversations were taped.

in the mid-90s, the connecticut civil liberties union, and the yale law school, brought suit against prison policy of taping visitor's conversations and reading prisoner mail, calling it unconstitutional.

a superior court judge ruled against the cclu and yale, saying that though aspects of the prison's policy might be unconstitutional, the basic practice was legal.

the judge was Jon C. Blue.

if my conversations with joshua were taped, and the all the letters copied, i guess someday, when the gag order is lifted, they will be made public.

but if you have a real interest in that information you don't have to wait that long. i used most of it in writing In the Middle of the Night