One inmate sent to solitary confinement after the murder of Boston’s mafia boss, James “Whitey” Bulger, said he had nothing to do with the crime and wanted to leave the restricted housing unit.
Speaking for the first time, Sean McKinnon told NBC News that he did not get a clear answer as to why he is still in solitary confinement more than two years after the infamous gangster was beaten to death inside Hazelton federal prison in West Virginia.
“I told the feds, ‘If I had something to say to them, I would tell them,'” McKinnon, 35, said in a prison phone interview. “I don’t know anything. I’m an innocent man.”
Bulger was found dead in his cell at around 8:30 am on October 30, 2018. The 89-year-old man was beaten with a gun that consisted of a padlock tucked into a sock, police said.
Bulger, Boston’s Irish mafia leader and a secret FBI informant, was killed less than 12 hours after arriving in West Virginia prison on a transfer from a Florida institution.
At least four prisoners were removed from the general population after the murder. Almost two and a half years later, no charges were filed in the case.
McKinnon, who is serving an eight-year sentence for stealing weapons from a firearms store in Vermont, was sharing a cell with a notorious mafia killer, Fotios “Freddy” Geas. Police officers described Geas and a second inmate, a Boston area gangster named Paul DeCologero, as suspects in Bulger’s murder. The fourth man taken to the solitary, Felix Wilson, had spent the previous night in the same cell as Bulger.
In the interview with NBC News, McKinnon said he was shocked and confused when the prison guards broke into his cell and told him and Geas that they were going to the solitary.
“I was sitting watching the news that morning,” said McKinnon. “I went to have coffee, I came back. Suddenly, they ran into our room and said, ‘Handcuff yourself.’ “
McKinnon said he asked the guards why he was going to “the hole,” slang for a loner, but got no response.
“Since then, it has been the same thing,” he said.
The use of solitary confinement has been under increasing scrutiny in recent years. A 2017 report by the Justice Department’s Inspector General found that federal prisoners, including those living with mental illness, are being held in what the government calls “restrictive housing” for long periods of time, in violation of federal policy.
David Fathi, director of the National Prison Project for the American Civil Liberties Union, said McKinnon’s experience underscores what he described as the uncontrolled use of solitary in United States prisons.
“According to international human rights law, solitary confinement lasting more than 15 days is categorically prohibited, so 2 and a half years is really incomprehensible,” said Fathi. “The Supreme Court compared the solitaire to the shelf and the thumbscrew as a means of coercing confessions, and it seems likely that this is what is happening here. They plan to keep him in solitary confinement until he breaks, confesses or shares information. “
McKinnon, who is not familiar with the mafia, filed an official complaint with the principal in early January, asking prison officials to hold a hearing and provide evidence “why I am being punished”.
“I had my basic privileges of comfort denied and forced to endure the cruel and inhuman living conditions in SHU, without just cause,” said the letter, using an acronym for a special housing unit.
The director, Rich Hudgins, denied the request, citing “an ongoing investigation that cannot be released at this time”.
A year after Bulger’s murder, prison officials told NBC News that they were surprised that no charges had been made. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the residential area had cameras that would have captured the attackers entering and leaving Bulger’s cell.
Bulger’s murder, in fact, is not the only one in Hazelton prison that has not been resolved. Two prisoners were killed in early 2018 and no charges have been filed in these cases.
Cameron Lindsay, who served as a director in three federal prisons, said homicides among inmates tend to be a low priority for prosecutors because perpetrators are already under arrest.
“My guess is that federal prosecutors are like, ‘What’s the hurry? These guys aren’t going anywhere anyway, ‘”said Lindsay. “This is the only thing I can assume. Other than that, it doesn’t make sense. “
Spokesmen for the FBI and the District Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia declined to comment.
The Bureau of Prisons also declined to comment on Bulger’s investigation, as well as McKinnon’s case, citing “privacy and protection issues”.
Former FBI agent Bryanna Fox said that two years seems a long time for this type of murder investigation to drag on, but she said the Covid-19 pandemic may have stalled the investigation. Fox also noted that one of the standard investigative techniques – offering a court settlement as a means of getting a suspect to report others – has its limitations in prison.
“This strategy is more effective for people who are not yet in prison because they obviously have a lot more to lose and would be more willing to take the bait,” said Fox, who is now a professor of criminology at the University of South Florida.
McKinnon said he was interviewed by FBI agents days after the murder. They returned months later to take a DNA sample, he said, but have not been contacted by any investigators since.
He spent most of the first year alone in a cell, but is now sharing one with DeCologero.
Although McKinnon has a cellmate, he is separated from the general population and has had several privileges in an environment still considered to be solitary confinement. He said he is allowed to make one call a month.
Geas, said McKinnon, is being held in solitary confinement in a different special housing unit. The fourth man moved to solitary after Bulger’s murder, Felix Wilson, was released from the facility six months later, when his sentence came to an end.
McKinnon said he and DeCologero were “best friends” and DeCologero and Geas are also “innocent men”. McKinnon’s mother previously told NBC News that he is aware that the calls to the prison are recorded and reluctant to discuss sensitive issues.
Geas, 54, is serving a life sentence for murder. DeCologero, 46, who is serving a 25-year sentence on charges of extortion and tampering with witnesses, is expected to be released in June 2026.
McKinnon, for his part, is scheduled to leave federal custody next July. But with Bulger’s investigation hovering over him, he is not convinced that he will be allowed to leave anytime soon.
“They are treating me like a guilty man,” he said.