Inside the cells of murder suspects

MANCHESTER – Steven Spader, William Marks, and Christopher Gribble have been at the Hillsborough County Department of Corrections in Manchester for 34 days and counting.

Except for a fraction of that time, they’ve spent their days in nearly identical 11-foot-4-inch by 6-foot-4-inch cells, “sight and sound separated” from one another, per Judge Martha Crocker’s orders.

Brookline residents Spader, 17 and Gribble, 20, along with Amherst resident Marks, 18, are three of the four people charged in connection with the Oct. 4 murder of Kimberly Cates and the attack on her daughter, 11-year-old Jaimie Cates.

Spader and Gribble are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly using a machete and a knife, respectively, to kill Kimberly Cates in her bed around 4 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 4. They also are accused of attempted murder in the attack on Jaimie Cates.

Spader and Gribble are two of the 10 inmates at the jail accused of some form of murder, according to Hillsborough County Department of Corrections Superintendent James O’Mara Jr.

Marks and a fourth man, 17-year-old Quinn Glover, also of Amherst, are charged with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary and robbery in connection to the attack.

Glover is being held at a separate facility to uphold Crocker’s orders, O’Mara said.

All three men at the Manchester jail on Valley Street are “considered maximum security” because of the nature of the allegations against them, O’Mara said.

All three men also began their stay on “safety watches,” meaning corrections officers checked on their cells every 15 minutes and documented everything they saw. One man – O’Mara would not say who – is now off safety watch but still has more supervision than most inmates.

O’Mara said all three have had a difficult “institutional adjustment.” Everyone has to adjust to the rules and routines of the jail and accept that their lives, are dictated by a series of strict procedures and expectations on the part of their jailors. That adjustment chafes more for some than others, O’Mara said.

“Their adjustment has been very slow,” he said.

Corrections officers try to make that adjustment as easily as possible, O’Mara said. When they were booked, Spader, Marks and Gribble, as all prisoners are, were given an inmate handbook that covers everything from the jail’s rules and behavior expectations to what rights prisoners have and what resources are available to them.

They also watched an orientation video, which is available in English and Spanish, that goes over the same material in the inmate handbook, O’Mara said.

The jail also gave them every stitch of clothing they are allowed to wear, including two pairs of pants, two pairs of briefs, two pairs of socks, two shirts, one pair of shoes. They were also given two towels, the inmate handbook and a mesh laundry bag. Women also receive two bras and a nightshirt.

The men’s laundry is done three times a week and linens are done twice weekly, O’Mara said.

The day begins with breakfast, which is served from 6-7 a.m. and for these three, they eat it in their cells. Other, lower security inmates are allowed to eat in common rooms, O’Mara said.

Breakfast, just like the afternoon and evening meals, are strictly based on a dietician-designed menu.

The menu lasts a month and then begins repeating. A typical breakfast is oatmeal, french toast, an orange and milk. Lunch may be sloppy joes, a roll, chips, carrot sticks and a drink. Dinner could be American chop suey, a roll, a vegetable, an orange and milk. Six jail employees direct inmates who prepare the meals using color-coded ladles to control portions.

The meals are the same whether the prisoner is a 210 pound man or a 105 pound woman, O’Mara said.

“It’s kind of one size fits all,” he said.

The man that is no longer on safety watch spends 22 hours a day in his cell. The other two are confined to their cells for 23 hours a day, O’Mara said.

Their out-of-cell time falls at different times of day because maximum security inmates only get free time alone, O’Mara said.

The first thing they have to do is clean their cells, which are sparse by any measure. The cells are small to start with and are made smaller still by the bunks, a small shelf, a stainless steel combined sink and toilet unit, and a shallow desk with an attached swivel stool. There are also wide, narrow windows near the ceiling along with a light with a day mode and dim mode controlled by corrections officers.

Once the cells are cleaned, with everything neatly placed on shelves or stored in cardboard boxes under the bunks, the men can access the large common room that the cells open into.

In the common room there are televisions and a universal gym with no moving parts. The showers are also there, separated from the rest of the room by a chest-high cinder block wall and two sets of curtains for privacy. The tables, with attached stools, have a chess/checkers board painted onto them.

This out-of-cell time is also when the men can use the pay phones scattered around the jail to place collect calls to family and friends. The calls can be monitored and recorded, a fact which is noted on signs on the phones and by the jail’s automated system in two languages.

The men are also allowed one, half-hour visiting session each week. Just like on television, those visits are conducted in a long narrow room with banks of telephones separated by glass. Those conversations too can be monitored and recorded.

Other than that hour or two, the men are in their cells where they can write letters and, if they are allowed in their cells, books. Mail that prisoners receive is opened and searched for contraband. Legal mail, from a lawyer or court, is opened in front of the prisoner and searched, O’Mara said.

All three men charged in the Mont Vernon murder have been communicating with the outside world, which helps their “institutional adjustment,” he said.

“They all have had visits. They have all been on the phone, and they all have been writing,” O’Mara said.

The men can also talk to guards and ask questions. They are also within earshot of inmates in other cells. Talking between cells is allowed so long as it doesn’t get too loud. Some prisoners have taken to laying on the floor and talking through the gap between the door and floor.

“It’s not uncommon for people to converse with each other,” O’Mara said.

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com.