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Whitey Bulger was ready to die.
That's what the former Florida jail guard says, where the 89-year-old crime chief was housed before being transferred to a West Virginia jail – where the Boston gangster was found hit with bludgeons less than 12 hours later, NBC News reported on Monday.
"Frankly, I think he wanted to die," said Charles Lockett, the former institutional director of Coleman II, a high security penitentiary located in Sumterville. "I think whatever his problems, he managed to make peace with them."
Lockett said Bulger was suffering from severe chest pain before the transfer, prompting a prison nurse to determine that he needed to see an outside doctor after a series of tests. But this did not please the infamous gangster, who, in turn, rejected this suggestion and then threatened the nurse, prompting him to be transferred to Hazelton federal prison in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. .
"It's a tragedy, but I do not think anyone is failing," Lockett said in his first comments.
The prison records obtained by NBC News indicate that Bulger was placed in his cell at 21:53. after arriving at the facilities in West Virginia on 30 October 2018. Less than 12 hours later, at 0821, he was found beaten to death by the prison staff. According to his death certificate, he was pronounced dead at 9:04 am "blunt head injuries".
Bulger was fatally beaten with a padlock wrapped in a sock.
His homicide has been described as homicide, but no one has been charged. The murder of the former mafia leader – sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted in 2011 of 11 murders, extortion and other crimes – took place while detainees in his home were heading to the hall to eat for breakfast, said prison staff at NBC News.
Lockett said the four-year-old gangster at Coleman was largely innocuous, though it was not accused of masturbating in front of a staff member in 2015. But three years later Bulger's heart problems led to a confrontation with a nurse supervisor who eventually led to his transfer. Lockett said.
"She urged him to go see the doctor, and he got fed up," Lockett said. "He told her bluntly," I know people. I still have relationships at home.
Inmates can not be forced to undergo medical treatment, Lockett said. The staff members therefore closely monitored Bulger, whose chest pains improved thereafter. But the threat persisted and had to be fought. Bulger was therefore placed in isolation, according to the former director.
"If you know Whitey Bulger, he has links," Lockett said. "We feared for his safety."
Bulger, for one, had disputed this story, claiming in prison records obtained by the New York Times that the nurse had "given [him] a heart attack because of shouting "at him.
"Everything has been exaggerated," Bulger said after the incident. "I did not threaten it."
Two months later, officials at Coleman II attempted to transfer Bulger to a prison hospital, but the request was rejected, NBC News reported, citing a prison history. Bulger's medical care was later modified to indicate that his condition had improved, despite problems with aortic stenosis, hypertension and prostate bladder problems, according to documents.
Current and former prison staff knowledgeable about the medical classification system said that Bulger's level of care should not have been changed, which facilitated his transfer to West Virginia.
But Lockett insisted that this decision was made simply because Bulger had refused to consult a specialist for his problems.
"They could not decide if he was sick or not," Lockett told NBC News. "He absolutely did not want medical care, which is sad. If he had agreed to go see a specialist, he would probably have gone to another medical facility. But the fact that he refused to see a medical specialist is what created these problems. "
A spokesman for the inspector general's office declined to comment when asked if an investigation had been opened on the transfer of Bulger. Federal authorities investigating the murder of Bulger also declined to comment, reported NBC News.
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