Santa, baby: Peterson and other inmates' holiday plans
By Lisa Sweetingham
Court TV
(Court TV) -- As end-of-the-year festivities gear up across the country, some prison inmates are also getting ready to celebrate the holidays. Here's a list of prisoners from the most notorious cases of the year and their possible holiday plans.
Scott Peterson, 32
Maguire Correctional Facility
Redwood City, California
If Peterson is sentenced to death for the murder of his pregnant wife Laci and his unborn son Conner, he'll be transferred to San Quentin State Prison. But for now, he's at the Maguire Correctional Facility, where Christmas Day focuses quite a bit of attention on inmates' children.
Maguire officials referred us to the Service League of San Mateo, a nonprofit faith-based organization that focuses on San Mateo County jail inmates and their families. At Christmastime, says executive director Elizabeth Gheleta, the agency throws a party. They'll have a bilingual Santa and distribute toys to prisoners' kids (the incarcerated parent is not invited).
Maguire inmates get a dose of holiday cheer, too. A Christmas tree, decorated with nonbreakables such as garland and foam balls, is brought into each jail pod; inmates receive three donated Christmas cards and stamped envelopes apiece; and religious services are offered in a variety of faiths.
Inmates also receive a special December 25 visit from the chaplain, who, from 7:30 a.m. to noon, dresses in a Santa suit and walks to each cell -- escorted by sheriff's staff members -- to distribute small white gift bags. Each bag, decorated with cheerful messages and drawings by schoolchildren, contains an apple, candy and a half-dozen cookies home-baked by Service League volunteers.
"I've been with the agency for over 30 years, and we used to bring donated packs of cigarettes," Gheleta says with a laugh. "Now it's the healthy apple."
All of the above traditions are strictly voluntary, and, as Gheleta notes, "some inmates don't want to participate, because, you know, it hurts too much."
Jack Kevorkian, 76
Thumb Correctional Facility
Lapeer, Michigan
Kevorkian is serving 10 to 25 years at Thumb for second-degree murder and the delivery of a controlled substance in the "assisted suicide" of a Michigan man with Lou Gehrig's disease.
While Santa has no chance of scaling Thumb's triple 12-foot fences topped with razor-ribbon wire, officials at the medium-security facility still find ways to give during the holidays.
A small gift is packaged and delivered to each inmate at Christmas, thanks to a Prisoner's Benefit Fund that earmarks money annually for the $5-$7 gifts. Popular gifts from past years, according to a Thumb spokeswoman, include gloves, chocolate bars and heavy wool socks.
Gift-giving between prisoners is forbidden, but they may receive up to 10 donated Christmas cards, distributed every year by the chaplain, to send to friends and family on the outside. There's also a two-week window of time in December when each inmate may spend more money in the canteen -- say $65 instead of the usual $50 -- which is stocked with seasonal items like cheese and sausage.
The Thumb prisoners are givers, too. Each housing unit has a vending machine, and money collected from the 10-cent deposit on every soda bottle is often donated to a needy family, shelter or local charity during the holidays.
At noon on Christmas Day, prisoners have a holiday meal of larger-than-usual portions and menus that might include ham or chicken. They might attend a holiday concert of carols and holiday songs performed by an outside group, and they can also participate in each housing unit's decorations contest, judged by prison staffers.
"They're quite restricted in what they can do, because of fire codes," said a Thumb official. "So, not too much paper, and electric lights are at a minimum."
Julia Lynn Turner, 36
Forsyth County Adult Detention Center
Cumming, Georgia
Turner was sentenced to life in prison in 2004 for murdering her police-officer husband by secretly feeding him antifreeze. She now faces a second trial and potential death sentence for allegedly killing her firefighter boyfriend the same way.
This will be Turner's first Christmas away from her two children, who were fathered by the boyfriend she is accused of poisoning to death.
The Forsyth County jail will have regular visiting hours on Christmas Day, but prisoners will enjoy a special holiday meal of turkey with dressing and stuffing. According to a prison official, religious services will be offered by local churches. Volunteers also bring small gift bags containing items like cookies, candy and cards.
Prisoners may receive holiday cards from their loved ones, but as with all prison mail, they will be opened, inspected and approved beforehand.
"Obviously most people don't want to be here at any given time," says jail commander Captain Tom Wilson. "But it's a little worse, a little more noticeable at Christmas."
Mark Hacking, 28
Salt Lake County Metro Jail
Salt Lake City, Utah
There won't be any holiday cheer this year to distract Hacking from his thoughts as he awaits trial for allegedly murdering his pregnant wife Lori and dumping her body in a trash bin.
Religious services and visiting hours will be "business as usual" at SLC Metro, according to Correctional Officer Rebecca Green.
Prisoners in Hacking's housing pod get visits on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so unless it's his attorney or a member of the clergy -- whose visits are deemed "privileged" -- he's out of luck when it comes to Christmas Day visits.
The jail won't have special meals, either -- although the jail's private food contractor already offers such fare as pasta with meatballs and beef stroganoff, along with vegetables and dessert.
Metro jail employees, however, can participate in several volunteer programs that deliver gifts, food and clothing to underprivileged children, including those who have a parent in jail.
"We realize this is a really emotional time of the year for everyone," Green says, "and we really bump up our supervision."
Rick Tabish, 39
High Desert State Prison
Indian Springs, Nevada
Tabish and his former girlfriend Sandy Murphy were recently acquitted in the murder of Las Vegas casino tycoon Ted Binion. But Tabish is still doing time at High Desert for charges related to a separate case, including extortion, false imprisonment and use of a deadly weapon.
Christmas dinner, according to one official, is the best meal of the year: Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and rolls will be on the menu. The chapel will also hold special religious services.
Inmates may receive cards, and they may also send them, thanks to the blank Christmas cards donated to the chapel by staff and volunteers and distributed to inmates by the clergy.
The "Holiday Gift Coupon" is also a boost for inmates who are paying off debts to the state. Typically for such prisoners, any money received from the outside is garnished. But during the holiday season, 100 percent is deposited into the prisoner's account, letting their dollars go a lot further for such canteen purchases as the holiday candies stocked in December.
Richard Allen Davis and David Westerfield
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, California
San Quentin provides California's only gas chamber and death row for all condemned male inmates. It's where Davis, who murdered Polly Klaas, and Westerfield, who killed Danielle van Dam, now sit on death row. And it's where Peterson will be if he is sentenced to death on February 25 for killing his wife and unborn son.
At Christmas, all inmates at San Quentin may attend religious services and enjoy a holiday meal of turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce.
Visiting hours are not extended, and prisoners may not receive gifts. "That would be a security risk," says Lt. Vernell Crittendon, public information officer for San Quentin. But for the past 14 years, San Quentin has collected toys for the children of inmates, and a select group of medium-security prisoners dress up as Santa Claus and hand the presents out to the children during visits with their incarcerated parent. Other inmates sport elf costumes and hand out candy canes.
Crittendon says there are mixed emotions during the holiday season: While inmates who have families supporting them are mostly "upbeat," those on death row are prone to depression. "It's another holiday season," Crittendon says, "and they're still embroiled in that battle for their lives.
