Thursday, October 09, 2008

Infamous Murderers - Pamela Smart

PAMELA SMART:
Pamela Smart, aged 40, is incarcerated in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for
Women, Bedford Hills, New York, a maximum security prison.

Convicted for accomplice to the first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder
and witness tampering for the murder of her husband Gregg Smart. Pamela Smart
was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Smart had manipulated four
teen aged male students, one of them her lover, to murder Gregg Smart.

1991: Smart began serving her sentence at the Goffstown Prison for Women in
Goffstown, New Hampshire. She racked up 22 disciplinary reports, 20 for minor
and 2 for major infractions.

1993: Smart was transferred to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. By her own
words she is "not a model prisoner" and still gets written up. Smart also claims
her transfer to Bedford was to make it difficult for her and her lawyers to work
together on her appeals and for her family to visit. Smart resides in the mental
ward of the correctional facility where she is assigned to assist inmates with
severe mental illness.

1996: Smart was beaten by two other inmates. As a result of the altercation
Smart required plastic surgery due to a fracture of her eye socket and her
nose being broken. Due to the fracture she now has a plate in her head and
reportedly no feeling on the left side of her face. Smart also had surgery to
repair a cyst on the back of her knee from being kicked.

A friend and fellow inmate was present at the fight but did not interfere to
aid or assist Smart because one of the other inmates was also a friend of hers.

2002: Smart filed an appeal which was denied. U.S. District Court judge rejected
her arguments stating the appeal mirrored Smart's previous attempt to win a new
trial "except for a few minor stylistic changes. Smart's case did not meet the
requirements for intervention by a federal court.

2004: Petition for "Certificate of Appealability" denied. The court stated some of
her claims were forfeited by not bringing them up before, and that others did not
merit an appeal.

2004: Smart and Carolyn Warmus filed lawsuits against the prison Bedford Hills.
Smart claimed to have been forced to pose for photos by a corrections officer and
that he'd tried to rape her. The photos were subsequently published in the National
Enquirer.

2005: Smart appeals asking for a pardon. Unanimously denied.

2006: A portion of the 2004 lawsuit against Bedford Hills was dismissed.

2008: Bedford Hills was not negligent in Smart's 1996 beating. The Court ruled that
the only ones responsible were the inmates who attacked her.

2008 (October) New York's Attorney General is considering a payout to settle Smart's
Smart's 2006 suit accusing prison officials of treating her unfairly after half nude photos
of her appeared in a supermarket tabloid. After the photos showed up in the National
Enquirer, Smart was on lockdown for more than two months and lost wages from her
job and could no longer perform as a prison teacher's aide.

PAMELA SMART'S VIEW ABOUT THE CRIME & PUNISHMENT:
I have spent 10 years in prison for a crime I had no involvement in. I have been
horribly punished for having an affair. The sentence I received is, in effect, a
sentence of death in that I will never be eligible for parole.

Of course, I regret ever being involved with Bill Flynn. That was a horrible mistake
that I am paying a terrible price for, as I am innocent of any involvement in the plot
to murder Gregg. Yes, I made the mistake of having an affair with Bill Flynn, but I
wish the public would stop defining me by that one mistake. There is more to me
than my worst error in judgement.

ABOUT PRISON LIFE:
Smart: stressful, sad, painful and tragic.

People were told to hate me before I even got here. You don't know what I go
through because of who I am.

It's a very explosive atmosphere in here, very explosive.

Bedtime is the worst part of the day. That's when I think and pray most about
all the wasted lives in my past and present. My spirit gets the most strength
from being busy.

ABOUT HER JOB IN THE MENTAL WARD OF PRISON:
"I love my job. They love me for me, or they hate me for me, they don't know
who Pam Smart is, and I love that.

ABOUT HER MARRIAGE:
What was your relationship was like with him?
Smart: That's one thing I would like left private.

ABOUT THE MEDIA:
I am very different from the media's portrayal of me. I am not a cold, uncaring
individual.

PAMELA SMART'S APPEALS ARE EXHAUSTED. She will serve out her
sentence of LIFE IMPRISONMENT.

For more photos and information explore the CMM Forum.