habilitating buildings, plastering and painting- working with instructor Archie Sotir. 4. Housing for the Elderly in Canton MA 5. Medfield State Hospital, painting, laying sheet-rock & plaster. 6. Metropolitan State Hospital, Waltham, MA painting, putting up drywall, wall papering and plastering ceilings. 7. The Armory in Worcester MA to move equipment to Springfield, MA. 8. The Walter E. Fernald school, painting, Waltham, MA 9. Taunton State Hospital, rehabilitation work 10. Saltonstall Office Building, Boston, MA- cleaning, painting, moving filing cabinets. 11. Mass Firearm, Tobacco & Alcohol bureau at Tremont St. Boston. The following individuals were in charge of all the inmates working on the renovation work-crew: Peter latropolis( Head of Industries for the DOC). Hutch Aghjayan( Director ' of Industries DOC); John Cilrila( Correctional Instructor for DOC); Jack Cherry( instructor for DOC); Archy Sotir( instructor DOC, directly responsible for. the renovation workcrew); Jack McNamee( Correctional Instructor for DOC directly responsible for workcrew and job sites). By 1984 my institutional adjustment had continued to show less and less security restrictions, with more and more rehabilitative program involvement and a psychological evaluation clearly demonstrating that my release back into society would be little risk to the welfare or safety of the public( see psychological evaluation report by Dr. Westly Profit dated May 25, 1982 which is in my institutional folder). I had petitioned the Commutation Board to commute my 1 st degree life sentence on the basis of my excellent institutional record and the accumulated good behavior and trust gained through furloughs over the years. On May 14, 1984 I was given an 8 ½ hour furlough to attend my own commutation hearing which had many witnesses supporting my commutation. I had a favorable vote of 4-2 to forward a commutation recommendation onto Governor Michael Dukakis. When I did go before the Commutation Board in 1984, I had a large number of letters of support from Correctional Officers and other DOC personnel as listed below. These are all people who had sustained exposure of me on a daily basis who were quite qualified to give their opinion to the Board about me:
� Dennis W. Brown, Deputy Superintendent
� Neil B. Granden, Sr. Correctional Counselor at S. Middlesex Pre-release
� Bill Boyajion, Deputy Superintendent of MCI Walpole.
� John J. Metevier, Head Psychiatric Social Worker, MCI Walpole
� Barbara L. Young, Superintendent-of S, Middlesex Prerelease
� Dorothy Reilly, Parole Program, Department of Mental Health
� Jason B Stengal, Staff Psychologist at MCI Walpole
� Mr. Gary F Egan, Executive Director of the Mass Criminal Justice Training Counsel,
� Ms. Sheila Saunders, Psychiatric Social Worker clinical Director at MCI Walpole,
� Mr. Alfred Nesti, Correctional,
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Social Worker, MCI Walpole
� Joseph A. Catalano, Counseling Service, MCI Walpole
� Larry Schuarty, Director Inside Out Inc. Drug Program
� Mr. R S. Belcher, Admin. Assistant, MCI Walpole
� Suzanne Hunt, Social Worker Supervisor, S. Middlesex
� Brian Faherty. Parole Social
�
Worker, MCI Walpole Margaret Gatto, Social Worker Supervisor at S. Middlesex On August 30, 1984, Governor Michael S. Dukakis denied that commutation petition, saying that he might be willing to commute my sentence at some point in the future. The press reported this and the politics behind it: " Dukakis sidestepped at a news conference, explaining his decision. By rejecting Johnson’ s request for freedom, Dukakis avoided a major fallout with law enforcement whom he courted during his second term; they hailed the decision.“ Duke denies commutation but leaves a door open for future Johnson pleas.” Yet, ten years earlier Governor Dukakis spoke of the credibility of a Commutation Board stating, a " Petitioner may be more successful in persuading a Board in the first instance, composed of parole board members or persons appointed because of their experience in parole or correction work... would be competent to evaluate a petition. Just as importantly, it would tend to see itself as being more professional and would be more resistant to external political’ pressure, either from particular individuals or from public opinion.”
EDITOR’ S NOTE: Read Part 3: Redemption – Or What? Next Month