Word: lopresti
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...November 10, 1947, an inmate at Framingham hung herself with a knotted bedsheet from a sprinkler pipe in her bedroom. Senator LoPresti and a lawyer who represented the girl's parents demanded an investigation. When the district attorney confirmed the original verdict of suicide last May, LoPresti went to the Department of Correction. he also went to the Boston American, which obligingly slapped his allegations on page...
...first LoPresti story was headlined GIRL SLAIN, with a subhead "Senator Charges," LoPresti accused Dr. Van Waters of attempting to hush up the "murder," and produced a pathetic statement from the girl's parents to the effect that the "victim" wanted desperately to live, and could not have committed suicide. LoPresti himself stated that he had seen signed statements about beatings the girl was alleged to have received, "and about what happened in Dr. Van Waters' little iron curtain empire on the day of the murder." But in spite of certain dubious evidence that LoPresti produced in the American, even...
...LoPresti also made plain his views on penology. "Everybody seems to agree that the institution there (Framingham) is in an awful mess. But, they all add,what can you do about it?" he complained. He had opposed Dr. Van Waters' methods "in legislative hearings and from the floor of the Senate," but "no previous Commissioner has dared to differ with Dr. Van Waters. Even members of the legislature kowtow to her." LePresti's interest in Framingham was hardly limited to an investigation of the suicide. He felt that the Reformatory was a sinkhole of immorality and favoritism...
...Senator said that McDowell, who had taken office three months previously, was not going to be another cringing Commissioner. McDowell had responded to LoPresti's pressure by sending Deputy Commissioner Dwyer out right away to "probe all phases of this crime," as LoPresti put it. McDowell also opposed Dr. Van Waters' methodology, LoPresti claimed, and the new Commissioner's LoPresti claimed, and the new Commissioner's record indicated that he had been trained in more traditional ways of running reformatories...
...LoPresti was apparently unwilling to leave investigations up to the Department of Correction. By June 15, he had persuaded the Legislature to set up a commission to look into Framingham. This commission subsequently gave him considerable trouble. He claimed that the three non-legislative members appointed by the Governor were pro-Van Waters, and intent on whitewashing her administration. The commission met a couple of times and visited Framingham, but refused to give LoPresti's accusations any support. In November, the commission decided that the new Legislature would have to finish the job. Over LoPresti's violent protests...