During his 30 years as a Catholic priest, John Geoghan abused at least 130 children. Six different parishes in the Boston area hired him before the church finally fired him in 1998, seven years after the abuse claims became public. John didn’t molest kids behind their parents’ backs, and he didn’t seem ashamed of what he was doing when other church leaders and some of the kids’ parents found out. Instead, he told them he had been treated and was now healthy again. Then he told them to be quiet to keep the church’s good name. They did what was asked of them. When Geoghan was finally caught in 2002, he was given a very light sentence of 10 years in pr*ison at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, MA.
If you abused children, going to pri*son is dangerous. People with bad morals are still people. If you hurt a child, you are breaking the law, and when they catch you, they will probably beat you up or do something worse. If a hardened criminal has also been abused as a child, things usually get worse for a chomo, even if they are in protective custody, which is the safest part of the pri*son.
Geoghan was put in protective custody when he went to pr*ison. To the pri*son code, he did the worst possible crime, and it was a very public case.
Meet Joseph Druce
When Geoghan got there, Joseph Druce was one of 23 people who were locked up in PC at Souza. Druce had a life sentence because he k*illed a man in 1988 that he said made a se*xual move on him. Druce had ties to white supremacist groups in the past, which got him put in protective custody.
Druce also lived through child abuse.
People in PC learned quickly Geoghan was found guilty of molesting a child and given a light 10-year sentence. It made Druce sick to learn that he shared a room with such a mean, cruel man who took advantage of his power and God to hurt the weakest people.
Druce Attacked Geoghan
Early in the afternoon on August 23, 2003, Druce broke into Geoghan’s cell and locked the door. He then bound and gagged Geoghan and strangled him to de*ath with a bed sheet. He got off the bed and landed on Geoghan’s body. He then hit the child molester with his hands.
Several police officers had to force the door open to stop Druce from attacking Geoghan. As soon as the police entered Geoghan’s cell, they knew he was de*ad.
An autopsy determined the 68-year-old died from ligature strangulation and blunt force trauma.
Druce Admits to Murd*er; Sentenced to Pr*ison
Druce said he kil*led the priest by beating and strangling him at his trial. He said he wanted to get rid of the memories of being raped and didn’t like how cocky Geoghan was when he asked him questions. He said that Geoghan had answered him in a “arrogant” way both times when he asked about the charges against him.
“I was just, like, ‘That’s it, that’s it, I’ve got to stop this,’ he said. “I couldn’t get it out of my head.”
Druce pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, saying that he was unable to understand what was going on because he had been abused as a child. The court did not agree with his plea and found him guilty of mur*der. He was given a second sentence of life in pri*son.
Aftermath
After the event, a video of police struggling to get into Geoghan’s cell got out online. The video also shows police officers pulling Druce out of his cell and pinning him to the ground. No one is known to have turned the video public. Pr*isoners are not allowed to see security footage from inside the pri*son. Because of this, some people think that p*rison guards or other staff members planned Geoghan’s mur*der.
