Apparently musically inclined inmates deserve TV coverage. Wonder why the article dosn't mention the irony of that?

[url]http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/all-b1_5vh1-4oct17,0,3081504.story[/url]

HARRISBURG — -- To avoid a repeat of a recent controversy over a rockin' 'n' rollin' murderer, Pennsylvania will begin warning crime victims before an inmate appears on television.

''We need to ensure that crime victims are never again caught off-guard by turning on their televisions and unexpectedly seeing the inmate who has caused them so much pain,'' Gov. Mark Schweiker said Wednesday.

   
 
 
 
   
 
Schweiker was referring to Mary Orlando of Bethlehem, who while channel-surfing last week discovered a promo for VH1's upcoming episode of ''Music Behind Bars.''

The first episode airs Friday night and features Dark Mischief, a heavy metal band composed of felons at Graterford State Prison. Christopher Bissey, who killed Orlando's daughter and a friend at Lehigh University's Lookout in 1995, is a back-up singer.

Under the new policy, the state's Office of the Victim Advocate will notify the family members of victims whenever a state inmate is interviewed as a member of a prison program. The rule was implemented Tuesday at all 26 state prisons.

''The voices of the victims are too important to this entire process,'' Schweiker said, ''and we must do everything we can to make sure that they are heard.''

The victim advocate office is a liaison between victim and prison system. It notifies victims when an offender is eligible for release and helps victims craft statements to parole boards.

State Rep. T.J. Rooney, D-Northampton, who has called on VH1 to give to the state office its advertising proceeds from the show, applauded the governor's decision: ''It makes imminently good sense.''

The controversy has become national news. On Tuesday, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News interviewed Rooney and Orlando, and the two are scheduled to appear on NBC's ''Today Show'' this morning. The segment will air sometime between 7 and 8 a.m., Rooney said.

On June 25, 1995, Bissey, who was 18 at the time, shot and killed Mary Orlando, 15, and Jennifer Grider, 17, as the two sat in a car on the university's south Bethlehem campus. He was convicted of the murders, and is serving consecutive life sentences.

Like Rooney, Orlando called the policy a good start. ''At the very least,'' she said, ''people should know what is going on.''

But she remains upset that Bissey and other violent offenders are allowed to participate in a heavy metal band while behind bars. ''Why are they trying to rehabilitate him?'' Orlando asked. ''He has two life sentences; he's not getting out.''

State prison officials said Wednesday that as a result of the VH1 controversy, they are considering other policy changes. One idea is to exclude inmates with life terms from participating in programs such as musical bands, said Susan McNaughton, department press secretary.

State Corrections Secretary Jeffrey A. Beard said that it was never the department's intention to ''cause pain to any victims, and we will do everything in our power to see that it doesn't happen again.''
Copyright © 2002, The Morning Call

Heavy metal "music" cant rehab anyone
that crap is torture...listening to it is cruel and unusual punishment..
imo this cacophony has made more criminals than it will ever rehab
They should force these little pricks to take a course in music appreciation and listen to the classics..Schubert or Mozart even the big band era...
That dung turns brains into mucous globs not that there was much to start with...
[:)]