Do you know what is really happening behind NH prison bars? To find out what goes on there, you would need to talk to someone who was on the inside. Frank Staples could help you with that. He was there and is willing to share his story with us.
We want to thank Megan Davis for this Op-Ed – Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
Frank Staples is a freedom fighter who stands up for the oppressed and is not afraid to ruffle a few feathers. While sitting silently, he was one of the nine people arrested for disorderly conduct on October 13, 2021, at an Executive Council meeting.
Frank’s story started in foster care. Then because he got into some trouble, he was forced to live in the Sununu Center. After that, he was apprehended for selling drugs, and he was put in the county jail while he waited to go to trial.
In jail, the guards came up with many reasons to give Frank a lot of punitive segregation time, which landed him in solitary. He spent a year and nine months there.
Frank kept asking why he was there, and eventually, they told him that he asked to go to the hole.
After he told me that, Frank found a probable reason for his solitary. He was using the jail’s kiosk to report and document abuse. Then, he was banned from using the kiosk.
Next, Frank refused to go to court, so while handcuffed and shackled, Frank was beaten, dumped in his cell on his face, and left there for five days before he was sent to medical.
After that incident, Frank started to fight back more inside the jail, destroying sprinklers and irritating the staff.
Although there weren’t any legal grounds to send Frank to the state prison, one day, he found himself being sent to prison. To warrant prison before a trial, the guards said that he had been assaultive towards staff.
At the state prison, he spent five years in solitary.
I asked Frank how he got through those years, and he said that books were important to that. But, for a time, the guards weren’t allowing any of them to have any books. Frank fought that because it was in the prison policy that they could have books. He ended up being tasered and kicked in the face.
Frank said that the warden probably didn’t know about what was going on. He let the guards do whatever they wanted unless it caused him trouble.
