Death Sentence for Fatherhood
Brian Armstrong was a father who lost his job and allegedly fell behind on child support. One week later he was dead, apparently the victim of a beating by correctional officers.
By Stephen Baskerville
A 41-year-old welder from Milford, N.H., recently received what some are calling a death sentence for losing his job. That is not how the charges against him read of course, nor could they, because he was never charged with or tried for any crime.
Brian Armstrong was a father who lost his job and allegedly fell behind on child support. Though actively looking for work, he was jailed Jan. 11. One week later he was dead, apparently the victim of a beating by correctional officers. No one alleges Armstrong did anything to provoke the beating. Another inmate saw him taken to a room with a restraining chair and then heard screaming for 15 minutes before seeing Armstrong dragged away. Medical workers told his mother that his body was covered with bruises and that he died of a massive head injury, though more than two months later she is unable to get a death certificate with an official cause of death. I feel there is something very remiss, Armstrongs mother told me.
How typical was Armstrongs punishment? We do not know. Some fathers groups have alleged police beatings in the past but have been unable to document their claims. Other allegations of prisoner mistreatment have been directed at the Hillsborough County, N.H., facility, where Armstrong was being held, and it is under investigation. But the victim of the worst brutality appears to be Armstrong a father convicted of nothing. Was he beaten up because he was a deadbeat dad, a member of a class of officially designated villains? No other group can have their constitutional rights simply set aside. No other group can be demonized in the mass media by their own government and their highest leaders with no right to reply in their own defense.
Fatal beatings of fathers are probably not widespread in U.S. jails, but the Armstrong case illustrates that something is seriously wrong with the punitive measures taken against parents who have fallen victim to the divorce machinery.
Another fatality that recently has come to light exemplifies a much more common form of death sentence routinely meted out to fathers. In March, Darrin White of Prince George, British Columbia, was denied all contact with three of his children, evicted from his home and ordered to pay $2,071 a month out of his $2,200 monthly salary for child and spousal support. White also was required to pay double court costs for a divorce that, according to his family, he never sought or agreed to. In fact, the judgment was even more severe, since White paid an additional $439 to support a fourth child from a previous marriage. According to sources close to Whites family, the stress of losing his children rendered him medically unfit for his job as a locomotive engineer, leaving him $950 a month in disability pay. In March, White hanged himself from a tree near his home. No evidence of any wrongdoing was ever presented against him.
By Stephen Baskerville
A 41-year-old welder from Milford, N.H., recently received what some are calling a death sentence for losing his job. That is not how the charges against him read of course, nor could they, because he was never charged with or tried for any crime.
Brian Armstrong was a father who lost his job and allegedly fell behind on child support. Though actively looking for work, he was jailed Jan. 11. One week later he was dead, apparently the victim of a beating by correctional officers. No one alleges Armstrong did anything to provoke the beating. Another inmate saw him taken to a room with a restraining chair and then heard screaming for 15 minutes before seeing Armstrong dragged away. Medical workers told his mother that his body was covered with bruises and that he died of a massive head injury, though more than two months later she is unable to get a death certificate with an official cause of death. I feel there is something very remiss, Armstrongs mother told me.
How typical was Armstrongs punishment? We do not know. Some fathers groups have alleged police beatings in the past but have been unable to document their claims. Other allegations of prisoner mistreatment have been directed at the Hillsborough County, N.H., facility, where Armstrong was being held, and it is under investigation. But the victim of the worst brutality appears to be Armstrong a father convicted of nothing. Was he beaten up because he was a deadbeat dad, a member of a class of officially designated villains? No other group can have their constitutional rights simply set aside. No other group can be demonized in the mass media by their own government and their highest leaders with no right to reply in their own defense.
Fatal beatings of fathers are probably not widespread in U.S. jails, but the Armstrong case illustrates that something is seriously wrong with the punitive measures taken against parents who have fallen victim to the divorce machinery.
Another fatality that recently has come to light exemplifies a much more common form of death sentence routinely meted out to fathers. In March, Darrin White of Prince George, British Columbia, was denied all contact with three of his children, evicted from his home and ordered to pay $2,071 a month out of his $2,200 monthly salary for child and spousal support. White also was required to pay double court costs for a divorce that, according to his family, he never sought or agreed to. In fact, the judgment was even more severe, since White paid an additional $439 to support a fourth child from a previous marriage. According to sources close to Whites family, the stress of losing his children rendered him medically unfit for his job as a locomotive engineer, leaving him $950 a month in disability pay. In March, White hanged himself from a tree near his home. No evidence of any wrongdoing was ever presented against him.
posted by Dj One 1X TyMe at 2:15 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home