February 13th, 2017
David Harlow
Acting Director US Marshalls Service
500 Indiana Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20001
United States
Candace Lapidus Sloane, M.D.
Chair of the Massachusetts Board of Registration and Medicine
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine
200 Harvard Mill Square, Suite 330
Wakefield, MA 01880
Charlie Baker
Governor of Massachusetts
Massachusetts State House
Office of the Governor
Room 280
Boston, MA 02133
Maura Healy
Attorney General of Massachusetts
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108-1518
Dear Mr. Harlow, Ms. Lapidus Sloane, Mr. Baker, and Ms. Healy:
When I was first arrested and remanded to the U.S. Marshals a year ago, I expected quite
a journey through the federal justice system. Still nothing could have prepared me for the actual
odyssey ahead.
After starting out by spending a couple weeks at FDC Miami, followed by a week at the
Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, my second flight on “ConAir,” landed me at MDC
Brooklyn. There, packed into a tiny holding cell, two members of violent street gangs quickly
discovered each other among the rest of us dozen or so human sardines and a brutal fist fight
broke out in a tightly enclosed space. Then, after being moved to a housing unit, I found myself
sleeping right next to a cell that seems perpetually corded off by crime scene tape. What exactly
happened in there and how long ago those events transpired are sources of speculation,
controversy, and gossip among federal inmates across the Northeast; the prison equivalent of
camp fire stories. I didn’t tell my wife about the altercation, nor the mystery cell at the time, as I
didn’t want to worry her.
Though much of the facility was in an obvious state of disrepair, I wasn’t at MDC
Brooklyn long enough to run into the grave issues recently uncovered there by journalists. Nor

 did I know that late last year a judge would refuse to order a defendant held there pending trial,
but rather would summon the local US Attorney to answer for its squalid conditions. Instead, I
boarded a bus, shackled and chained as we always are, bound for the private Donald W. Wyatt
Detention Facility in Rhode Island.
I would spend the next 9 months at “Wyatt,” where I would begin my 100-day hunger
strike on behalf of abused children and victims of political prosecutions, like the late Aaron
Swartz. Before I arrived, I was already aware of the ACLU’s detailing of the tragic abuse and
preventable death of fellow technologist and whistleblower Hiu Lui “Jason” Ng at the facility. I
also knew that underpaid and overworked officers had sued Wyatt over unfair Employment
Practices. Like Ng, I had to fight much too hard to go to the hospital, and worse yet, my
attorneys were told I had not requested such care when in fact I had done so repeatedly, even on
video.
All of that being said, I am compelled to note that while there certainly were bad apples,
the vast majority of officers and nurses at Wyatt were the most conscientious and kind that I've
encountered on my journey thus far. I view the problems at Wyatt as predominantly the result of
poor management as well as a callus, substandard, medical director by the doctor by the name of
Dr. Blanchett, who seems to think that he can touch patients on video without their consent and
then laugh at and mock their objection to unwanted behavior.
I left Wyatt 6 weeks into my Hunger Strike without knowing then an inmate with a
history of being “lugged” to solitary for trivial offenses would soon effect the successful escape
and elude authorities for days. While the marshals dealt with that embarrassment and worked to
clean up that mess, I was at the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) MCC New York facility in
Manhattan. There, in a blatant attempt to break my hunger strike, I was placed directly into
solitary confinement upon arrival. Contrary to policy, as well as in violation of my civil rights I
was never given an administrative detention hearing, periodic review, nor even administrative
detention order.
Still compared to many others, I was fortunate. For example, during my 80 plus days in
“the hole” I encountered a mentally ill man who I was told had spent approximately the last two
years in near total isolation, suffering silently.
I reported on the inexcusable conditions at MCC New York, like frigid cells, insect as
well as rodent infestations, contaminated food, and sadistic staff multiple times. (1,2,3). I had no
idea Amnesty International had already condemned the place, and I believe if judges were to see
what I have there, the US Attorney would once more be summoned to answer for inexcusable
conditions.
I was moved again just as my reporting was making a difference and right as I was right
about to expose how favorite FBOP employees, like current MCC New York Warden Eskar
Tatum are transferred there prior to retirement for just long enough to allow the exorbitant
Manhattan salaries to artificially boost their already generous government pensions at taxpayer
expense.

 So, on Saturday February 4th, I found myself at Plymouth County Correctional Facility,
lying on the floor, on a thin, lumpy mattress, unable to sleep, having been placed on a completely
unjustified suicide watch. I asked for writing paper or a book to pass the time, but was told I
wasn't allowed to have “anything.” I said the mattress was hurting me due to my many past
injuries, but was told nothing could be done. When I was “cleared” 48 hours later, I looked like
a sleep-deprived racoon and had never seen a doctor, as one should expect prior to determination
of a legitimate, non-punitive suicide watch. I was told the reason for this treatment was that I
was “coming off the hunger strike,” but, as announced by the Associated Press, I had begun
eating solid food more than three weeks before, on January 11th.
Now, a later a week later, I still haven’t been seen by a doctor and this entire time I’ve
been without the supplemental nutrition I was medically prescribed, and which was helping me
regain weight and lean body mass.
Still, I would soon learn that I was fortunate compared to others here who had actually
requested mental health help only to be thrown into the Plymouth County Sheriff's Departments’
“Q5.” Described to me as a small 40-degree room with a bare tile floor, inmates are locked in
“Q5” alone, naked or nearly naked, and without a mattress. As an additional indignity, there is no
toilet in “Q5,” instead inmates must defecate in a hole in the floor. Human beings endure these
deplorable conditions for days, never receiving therapy, before they are asked if they still need
help. Anyone who answers that they do is held there longer.
As for the intended purpose of “Q5,” I believe one prisoner hit the nail on the head when
he told me “it doesn't make me want to ask for help.” He said even if he was thinking of hurting
himself, he wouldn't tell a soul for fear of “Q5.” I don't blame him. I wouldn't either, and that
appears to be exactly the point; to discourage inmates from seeking mental health treatment.
Another gentleman told me there were dead flies on the floor when he was in “Q5,” and
that, like the cliché tongue on a frozen flagpole, the frigid temperatures had actually adhered his
exposed skin to the floor. He said it was torture. From what I've heard, according to
International Convention, he is right.
You see, there are four requirements for something like “Q5” to rise to the level of torture
by accepted standards. First, it must cause severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental.
Second, it must be done intentionally. Third, it must be carried out for a specific purpose like
coercion, intimidation, discrimination, or punishment. Finally, there must be involvement, and
only by acquiescence, of a government official like a prison employee.
It is self-evident that the descriptions of “Q5” above meet all four of these criteria, and
so as has happened previously along my journey, I am left to ask questions of the utmost
urgency. Do the US Marshals have not have one sufficient detention facility in all of the
Northeast? Remembering that we are innocent unless proven guilty, do the Marshalls care about
our health and wellbeing once they've handed us off to the lowest bidder(s)? Does the
Massachusetts Board of Registration and Medicine take its duties seriously enough to intervene
cases of institutionalized abuse, like what happened to Justina Pelletier in 2014 and what is
happening now at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility? Will the current iteration of the

 Executive Branch of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts turn a blind eye, as its predecessors
have done?
I'll leave it to you to answer these questions, not by mere words, but by your much louder
actions, and/or inactions.
Very Sincerely,
Martin “MartyG” Gottesfeld
ID #71225
PCCF
26 Long Pond Road
Plymouth, MA, 02360
CC: Massachusetts Bar Association