Prison Guard

Inmates call it "The Terrordome. " The city considers it so run-down, outdated, and hard to manage by modern prison methods that it intends to close the place when a new prison now under construction opens later in the year. Movie people, though, love Holmesburg Prison. It has that prison look. "The wall is very interesting," Bob Vazquez, technical adviser for the movie Up Close and Personal, explained last week as he made preparations for filming scenes inside and outside the 97-year-old prison in Northeast Philadelphia.

City Correctional Officer Rudolph Delvecchia went from the pot to the frying pan last Nov. 11. And he ended up in the cooler. Delvecchia was charged with keeping a small amount of marijuana he had seized from a prisoner at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center. Delvecchia, 58, a veteran of 13 years as a prison guard, was charged with drug possession after he took the weed to police for processing, and some fell out of his pocket. Yesterday, after defense lawyer Patrick Artur asked for justice for his client, Municipal Judge J. Earl Simmons acquitted Delvecchia.

A county prison guard who says he was fired for refusing to work a fourth eight-hour shift in a 40-hour period has taken his case to the county commissioners. The guard, Richard J. Viggiano of Bristol Township, told the commissioners at their meeting Wednesday that just as he was finishing an eight-hour shift at 2 p.m. Saturday, he was asked to work another eight-hour shift. He had worked from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. the previous day. When he told prison supervisors that he was too exhausted to work another double shift, Viggiano said, he was given the choice of working the hours or turning in his badge and giving up his job. After he asked that someone else work overtime to make up for short staffing, Viggiano said, he was told that Warden Arthur M. Wallenstein had been contacted and had approved firing him if he did not continue working.

A Graterford Prison guard lieutenant testified yesterday he was "disgusted" when he saw the injuries fellow guards inflicted on three inmates who had just arrived at the maximum security prison, especially one inmate who died eight months after the November 1989 beating. "He was just all beat up," testified Douglas Evans, referring to the appearance of Richard Mayo, an inmate who had AIDS and diabetes and was lying in his cell. "His eyes were completely closed. I've never seen a face swollen like that.

Bernard J. "Nard" Vann Jr., prison guard, charmer with children and a gifted musician who played at area churches, died Monday of a respiratory ailment. He was 29 and lived in South Philadelphia. Nard, or "Peanut" to many family members, was a guard at Graterford Prison for the past year. But thousands of Philadelphians knew him as a talent on the piano and organ. He had performed with gospel groups on programs at the Shubert and Walnut Street theaters and the Academy of Music.

Sharlelle N. Butler, 27, of Mount Airy, a state prison guard and former Army military police officer in Iraq, died of pancreatic cancer last Thursday in Chestnut Hill Hospital. A 1999 graduate of Bodine High School for International Affairs, Miss Butler entered Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Kappa sorority. She received a bachelor's degree there in 2006. Miss Butler joined the Army Reserve in 2000 while in college, said her mother, Lynnell, a Philadelphia police officer in the 17th District.

A former Bucks County corrections officer was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to beating his fiancee, also a prison guard, after an employee Christmas party. Anthony S. Portella, 23, pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated and simple assault, intimidation of a witness and false imprisonment for two attacks on Linda Smith, 22, in a condominium they shared in Quakertown. Common Pleas Court President Judge Isaac S. Garb, who handed down the sentence, asked Portella why he had beaten Smith.

A correctional officer at Holmesburg Prison yesterday was ordered to stand trial in the shooting of a 17-year-old Delaware County boy during a dispute with teen-agers in Fairmount Park last month. Robin Miller, 27, a correctional officer for the last three years, allegedly shot Steven Pauly, of Drexel Hill, in the left shoulder at 11 p.m. May 16. Following a preliminary hearing, Common Pleas Judge Joseph P. McCabe ordered Miller, of Ditman Street near Rhawn, held for court on charges that include aggravated and simple assault, recklessly endangering others and a weapons offense.

A 17-year-old Malvern Preparatory School student was shot and wounded early today during a dispute in Fairmount Park with an off-duty Holmesburg Prison corrections officer. Steven Pauly, of Drexel Hill, Delaware County, was admitted to Osteopathic Hospital with a gunshot wound to the left shoulder. The prison officer, Robin Miller, 27, of Ditman Street near Rhawn, was charged with aggravated and simple assault, reckless endangerment, making terroristic threats, conspiracy, impersonating a public servant and weapons violations.

Contract talks between Delaware officials and the state's prison guards broke off yesterday, and prison officials began preparing for a possible strike Monday. State Correction Commissioner Robert J. Watson said yesterday that city and state police and the Delaware National Guard had been trained and were ready to run the prisons should the 550 guards walk out. No new talks had been scheduled for this weekend, and union members are expected to take a strike vote Monday night.

Is a new arbitration award for city prison guards good news for Mayor Nutter as he tries to get municipal workers to agree to contract changes? Nutter on Wednesday applauded the award, which includes significant changes to pension benefits, saying he'd like to see similar terms for municipal workers, who have been without contracts since July 2009. "These kinds of changes are critically important," Nutter said. "The arbitrators clearly understand the dire fiscal circumstances the city has been facing for some time.

HARRISBURG - Gov. Corbett's proposal for the biggest reduction in the prison population in Pennsylvania history is getting a cool reception from state prison guards. Corrections officials say reducing the population by more than 2,500 inmates could be accomplished through increased efficiency in the parole process. Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel said it can take up to 100 days for paroled inmates to be released. But Roy Pinto, president of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, said the projected reductions weren't going to happen.

THREE TEENS awaiting trial on charges that they attacked a cabbie and his passenger in Center City last month were denied release from the Youth Study Center by a judge yesterday. The trio, charged with aggravated assault and related offenses, allegedly attacked the victims at 15th and Chestnut streets about 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 28. The prosecutor was granted a continuance for more time to interview witnesses and review video surveillance and police-radio tapes. Defense attorneys for the three youths asked that their clients be released from the Youth Study Center, noting that they had no prior contact with the law and had family members present in court.

PHILLIES GAMES will broadcast on 94WIP as well as on 1210 AM this season, WIP co-hosts Glen Macnow and Anthony Gargano announced yesterday, while broadcasting live from Citizens Bank Park. The Daily News reported Nov. 23 that this would be happening. At the time, neither the Phillies nor CBS Radio would discuss the plans. Both stations are owned by CBS Radio, so the simulcast certainly makes sense. The deal starts this month with live coverage of the team's spring-training camp from Clearwater, Fla. While 1210-AM boasts a strong signal already, the FM signal on 94.1 may be a clearer way to hear Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen 's broadcasts.

The former warden of the Federal Detention Center in Center City pleaded guilty this morning to witness tampering, obstruction of justice and related offenses in connection with an incident in which a guard accidentally brought a gun into the center. Troy Levi, 49, of Williamstown, N.J., is to be sentenced on May 7. According to a plea agreement with the government, Levi is to be sentenced to five years probation (with the first four months served in home confinement), 400 hours of community service and a $15,000 fine.

Some criminal charges against suspended Pittsburgh prison guards Bruce S. Lowther, Jerome J. Lynch, and Sean R. Storey were held for trial Friday, while those against Brian T. Olinger were dismissed. That was the result of the final day of preliminary hearings on charges brought against seven correctional officers from the Pittsburgh state prison, who are accused of playing roles in a group effort to target for abuse inmates convicted of sex crimes. Of the seven, five face trial, while two are free to seek a return to their jobs.

Panetta says U.S. to keep 11 carriers ABOARD THE USS ENTERPRISE - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told sailors aboard the country's oldest aircraft carrier that the United States is committed to maintaining a fleet of 11 of the formidable warships despite budget pressures, in part to project sea power against Iran. Panetta also told the crowd of 1,700 gathered Saturday in the hangar bay of the USS Enterprise that the ship is heading to the Persian Gulf region and will steam through the Strait of Hormuz in a direct message to Tehran.

A South Jersey corrections officer accused of arranging an attack on an inmate has been charged with conspiracy and official misconduct, authorities said Wednesday. Thomas C. Hahn, 32, works at the Gloucester County jail. According to a criminal complaint, Hahn moved a 20-year-old inmate on Sept. 14 to a pod within the jail "with the purpose to injure" him. Once there, a second inmate attacked, delivering a beating that later required hospital treatment. Hahn allegedly refused to stop the assault, said a spokesman for the county prosecutor Sean Dalton.

HARRISBURG - A man convicted of murdering 13 people in northeastern Pennsylvania nearly three decades ago is mentally incompetent to be executed, Pennsylvania's highest court ruled Wednesday. George Banks has been on death row since he turned a semi-automatic rifle on his victims, who included 11 members of his own family - five were his children - in Wilkes-Barre and Jenkins Township in September 1982. "It appears that Banks is in a different place mentally than he was nearly 30 years ago when he committed his crimes and when he was tried.

RUMORS ARE FLYING that Plaxico Burress, who last played for the Giants, wants to join Andy Reid's squad. As a public service, we offer this warning to all Eagles players: If you end up with Burress as a teammate, do everything you can to avoid getting the locker next to his. Why? According to a report on TMZ.com, Burress is a hall of fame slob. Yesterday, he was released from Oneida State Prison in Rome, N.Y., where he spent nearly 2 years on a weapons charge.