‘Whitey’ Bulger placed in solitary confinement for sexual activity
By Shelley Murphy Globe Staff February 25, 2016
Locked away in a prison cell in the predawn hours last June, notorious South Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger still managed to get into trouble — of a variety not easily discussed.
A male corrections officer making 3 a.m. rounds at the US Penitentiary Coleman II in Sumterville, Fla., reported that Bulger, while alone, with the lights on, was violating a regulation that prohibits any sexual activity by inmates. Prison authorities soon put him in solitary confinement for 30 days, revoked his commissary and e-mail privileges for 120 days, and confiscated his personal property for 30 days.
AP/File
James “Whitey” Bulger in 2011.
An indignant Bulger insisted he had done nothing wrong. According to a prison disciplinary report, Bulger said he was only administering medicated powder to his genitals for an irritation he found too embarrassing to report to the prison medical department, not — and there’s no polite way to phrase this — sexually gratifying himself.
“I’ve never had any charges like that in my whole life,” Bulger, who is serving a life sentence for participating in 11 murders, told a disciplinary hearing officer in June. “I’m 85 years old. My sex life is over.”
Bulger said he had been “set up” by the corrections officer.
“I volunteer to take a polygraph test to prove my answer to this charge,” Bulger wrote after being informed of his punishment.
A hearing officer rejected Bulger’s explanation and wrote, “The action/behavior on the part of any inmate to engage in a sexual act interferes with the orderly running of the institution.”
Bulger appealed the sanction, and if he prevails it would be removed from his record. However, he has already served the punishment. He was sent to the special housing unit, where he was locked up for 23 hours a day and let out for an hour of recreation each day.
Bulger’s attorney, Hank Brennan, declined to comment on the incident at the Florida prison last year or the punishment meted out by authorities.
The corrections officer reported that he stepped by Bulger’s cell while conducting the 3 a.m. check on June 1 and saw him touching his exposed genitals with his left hand.
The officer said he ordered Bulger to cease and notified a supervisor. Bulger said he believed he had developed a yeast infection from perspiring while wearing prison-issued pants that don’t provide ample ventilation in the hot weather.
“I ended up with a condition and I’m embarrassed to go to medical because they have female nurses over there,” Bulger said.
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