Olympic Bomber: Supermax Drives Me Insane

Eric Rudolph Tells Colo. Newspaper Maximum-Security Prison Is Designed To Inflict 'Misery And Pain'

(AP)  Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph laments in a series of letters to a newspaper that the maximum-security federal prison where he is spending the rest of his life is designed to drive him insane.

"It is a closed-off world designed to isolate inmates from social and environmental stimuli, with the ultimate purpose of causing mental illness and chronic physical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis," he wrote in one letter to The Gazette of Colorado Springs.

Rudolph, who was captured in 2003 while scavenging for food behind a grocery store in Murphy, N.C., wrote that he spends 23 hours a day in his 7-by-12-foot cell, his only exercise confined to an enclosed area he described as a "large empty swimming pool" divided into "dog-kennel style cages."

"Using solitary confinement, Supermax is designed to inflict as much misery and pain as is constitutionally permissible," he wrote in a letter.

One of Rudolph's victims had no sympathy for him.

"It gives me a great deal of pride to think he's never coming out of there," said Diane Derzis, who runs a Birmingham, Ala., women's clinic Rudolph bombed in 1998. "He should never see daylight again."

The newspaper reported in its Sunday editions that it has corresponded by mail with Rudolph for more than a year, and prison officials have refused the paper's request to interview Rudolph.

The Gazette refused Rudolph's request that it publish his writings in their entirety. The newspaper said if it published articles, it would print portions of the letters as long as they were not hate literature or libelous.

Rudolph, an anti-government extremist, pleaded guilty in April 2005 to setting the bomb that killed one person and wounded more than 100 at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and three other bombings, including a fatal explosion at a Birmingham clinic.

[hermit22]

Eric Rudolph killed 1 and wounded 100+.

Diane Derzis runs an abortion clinic that has killed 100? 1000? 2000? 10,000?

Remember how the loose cannons in the media ganged together like coyotes and went after Richard Jewel?

[bellal-2009]

Maybe he would appreciate execution if the prison doesn't suit his tastes.

[mitdgreenb]

xfred -- So, first, I believe you may have some pronoun trouble. I never stated an opinion of cruel and unusual punishment. You did. So, what is the antecendent of "...an idiot like YOU [emphasis added] can comment... ?"

For your information, I am not retired. To give you an idea of reality: One of my high school classmates -- someone I was on a varsity team with -- just got back from Iraq. He was a Major in Samara. I, and many others, prayed for him and praised him for his service when he returned. He was lucky.

And please note that nothing I've posted, including the above, expresses an opinion on the war other than that we should respect and support those who answered the call to serve. I do not label Iraqi's as terrorists, just as I don't call you names. I do label people as terrorists if they plant bombs in plazas crowded with civilians.

[gaye5]

xfredmenzies, I agree with you that there will be many returned citizens who loose it, but they are different from those who deliberately plan to do a crime. My father who was a Lieutenant or Major suffered much stress but he still never lost it, and he had many times to get angry, plus he was a very big man (they called him Jeep)....
you said, do you really think they ought to: "BE BANISHED from interacting with the members of that society FOREVER!"
and it is a hard one, and something has to be done as if they did it once we have no guarantee that they wont do it again, and the people have to be protected. This is sad as these men went to war to save our people, they are not deliberate criminals who plan to destroy, so something different has to be done for them, they need a lot of love and understanding... and unlike criminals they will feel the remorse of what they have done...

[gaye5]

I am sorry Agnim, I should have read the whole of your article instead of running off at the mouth, (computer)... ehehehhe it was not you who had said about the guards...

[gaye5]

xfredmenzies I doubt that he would be a prison guard, a prison guard would want him put out of his misery, they see and hear so much that it makes them sick, and they know that regardless of a long sentence the lawyer will worked to get him/her only a few months in jail and the crim is out again to do their dirty deeds. And of course who will the crim go to next time he is caught and the process starts all over again, giving more money to the lawyer, which of course is paid for by the tax man, (it is here in OZ).....

and jamiebonner, long term proof is something that can be fudged, the proof is in Singapore a once bad society, and it was so filthy that you could smell it way out to sea, now it is one of the cleanest, safest cities in the world. You can leave a purse around in a hotel and it wont be touched, and you can walk down the streets at night without fear, why??? their long, hard punishment system obviously works, no one wants to be put to death or spend many long years in a stinken jail. The pubic now consider those who try to do something against the law as just straight out fools and stupid, and the media doesnt play them up as heroes to anyone... they are stupid.. we have the same thing happening now in Australia, where once people thought you were so funny and fantastic if you got drunk, then drive home, now you are considered a fool,I wonder if it has anything to with the hard punishment for drinking and driving..

[emhawks]

I agree with Diane Derzis.

[xfredmenzies]

Agnim I am glad you didn't write the constitution.

We have thousands of physically and emotionally damaged soldiers returning from the war in Iraq, who have killed "terrorists" which you probably think is okay. But eventually some of those brave soldiers will lose control and start killing American citizens, either because they got too angry or because they are desperate.

And when they do, do you really think they ought to: "BE BANISHED from interacting with the members of that society FOREVER!"

[bobgee_1999]

And there are plenty more whackjobs where he came from. To visit the people that think he and others like him are heroes, go to armyofgod-dot-com.

[agnim]

"I'll bet you a some sort of retired prison guard trying to justify his career at the expense of human dignity.

Posted by xfredmenzies at 06:19 PM : Dec 11, 2006"

You can't be freaking serious? LOL

If you kill a member of the society, it only shows that you have no appreciation for the members of that society.

And you SHOULD BE BANISHED from interacting with the members of that society FOREVER!

I'm just happy that the govment didn't sink to his beastly level and kill him in response to his dastardly deed; but isolating and confining a murderer FOREVER, WE MUST!

[jamiebonner]

Mr Rudolph does have a right to complain and make known his opinion of his living condition, and it is a well known fact that many people in prison (especially solitary) go crazy and cost more money to maintain (still cheaper than the death penalty, but we won't discuss that now). However, he is in a supermax for a reason, his own safety. If he was in a general prison population, he wouldn't live to write his tirades, and is therefore probably better off where he is than the alternative.

His tortured state should not amuse nor give anyone comfort. He is a person, no matter how wretched, and he is still protected by the constitution.

A life sentence is not meant to reform or correct his behavior, it is meant to minimize his potential threat to all of us for the rest of his natural life.

Use your brain and not your emotions and you may come up with a different point of view. I was very much in favor of punishment and death until I got my degree in criminology and learned a little about the system and what the punishments are intended to do and what they actually accomplish, based upon long term research.

[xfredmenzies]

mitdgreenb, this is a Democracy, where even an idiot like yourself can state their opinions on when something violates the law against cruel and unusual punishment. Even though judges are the official members of the judicial branch, they are still normal people who interpret the law, and anyone who wants to can try to be a judge.

I'll bet you a some sort of retired prison guard trying to justify his career at the expense of human dignity.

[samgarza]

Let this information be made public. Let others see the results of these kinds of actions. Spread the word!

[gaye5]

and I am not wanting any debate on abortion by saying that I dont agree with it, this is not my intention, and this is NOT the place for it.. abortion is a personal thing, which is wrought with emotion..

[mitdgreenb]

xfred -- Who appointed you to the Supreme Court? Last time I looked, judgment of constitutionality rested with them.

Siddin -- You too. If this is torture, then it is for the Supreme Court to say. The UN charter specifically forbids its interference in the internal affairs... the internal justice system... of member countries. So, it can declare all it wants, but it has no standing in this case. (By the way, Kofi Anan recently declared that the carnage in Darfur is their fault.)

[gaye5]

Siddin you wrote, "I really wonder how many people here have actually heard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. First of all, reading the comments, it seems to me that most, if not all of you, condone torture".

Human rights are for humans... not animals...he took away his rights when he destroyed and maimed many people. I don't agree with abortion and I don't agree with the taking of any innocent human lives..but he took himself out of the human race when he killed...
Your attitude seems to be that we should be so nice to this little man and when he has served a bit of time we should let him out. By doing what you say, we are up against that not only is he obviously mad but he wont have learnt his lesson because he has had such a fantastic time in prison, and could do the same again. He is getting a better life in there to what he had out, so what he calls torture is not necessarily so, and I do not want to spend my hard earned money in giving him hotel conditions as is happening to so many crims, who consequently come out and do it again When life is better for them in jail than out in real life we have a problem as is seen by the continual reoccurrence of crims, in countries where life in jail is horrific, most crims make sure that they don't re-offend..

[gaye5]

Tough....

well it is a darned sight better than scavenging for food behind a grocery store.

and again I say.... tough...

He is a darned sight better off than the person he killed and those he injured..
This guy had to already be insane to start bombing places these places in the first place..put the poor man out of his misery...

[xfredmenzies]

Thank you CBS News for your endless pursuit of distorted news. You know very well that no one is going to sympathize with the Olympic Bomber when he complains about SuperMax prisons, BUT WHAT AOBUT THE THOUSANDS OF OTHER PEOPLE HELD IN SUPERMAX PRISONS who are likewise forced to endure the kind of UNCONSTITUTIONAL PUNISHMENT that is documented in this article?

Thank you CBS News for polarizing the discussion.

[agnim]

"Olympic Bomber: Supermax Drives Me Insane"

You poor baibi.

Why don't you just commit suicide and end your misery. LOL

You not only drove insane the people you terrorized; you drove people to an 'early' grave! Tsk-tsk

[observantx]

Eric Rudolph sentenced people to death for being in a public space. He set off a bomb in the midst of people who had no quarrel with him and had done him no injury. Some of those people possibly agreed with his view of abortion. But that did not matter. He wanted to make a statement. He did it with the broken and bleeding bodies of innocent people.

Here is my statement to Mr. Rudolph: Shut your pie hole. You are paying for your crime. You deserve no better.