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CONCORD, NH – The mother of a young man who is locked up at the State Prison for Men’s Secure Psychiatric Unit – even though he hasn’t committed a crime – says she has been banned from visiting him and threatened with arrest because she brought a cellphone to take his photo on his birthday, during her last visit.
Shelly Peterson Raza said prison corrections officers confiscated her phone on Jan. 30, 2015, and told her she was under investigation for bringing the phone, which is considered contraband, into the prison.
Raza was visiting her son, Corey Peterson, to celebrate his 24th birthday. Corey has been housed at the prison for about 18 months because he was deemed unmanageable at New Hampshire Hospital, the state’s facility for the mentally ill.
Raza brought balloons that day. It was a no-contact visit by phone from behind a glass partition. Raza blew up the balloons and had Corey pretend to hold them from the other side of the glass so she could take his photo with them.
“I wanted to take his picture because I thought it might be the last time I see him alive,” Raza said.
Corey has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but his mother believes he suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. She said he hits and kicks people without any intention to harm them.
But if he touches a corrections officer, he gets handcuffed and taken down to the floor, sometimes hard, which leaves him with scrapes and bruises, Raza said.
Raza knew cellphones were prohibited but didn’t think she could face a felony charge if she broke the rule. Raza believes she is being singled out because she has complained about Corey’s treatment in SPU.
Jeff Lyons, spokesman for the Department of Corrections, confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation into the incident.
“I can confirm that Ms. Raza was observed by staff in the Secure Psychiatric Unit during a no-contact visit with Mr. Peterson in possession of a cellphone,” Lyons said.
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The staff informed Raza that cellphones are prohibited inside SPU and any of the buildings on the grounds of the state prison, he said. “They confiscated the phone to conduct an investigation into whether she will be charged with bringing in contraband, which is a Class B felony punishable by up to 3 ½ to 7 years in prison,” Lyons said.
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About InDepthNH: Nancy West founded the nonprofit New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism in April. West is the executive editor of the center’s investigative news website, InDepthNH.org. West has won many awards for investigative reporting during her 30 years at the New Hampshire Union Leader. She has taught investigative journalism at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting’s summer program for pre-college students at Boston University. West is passionate about government transparency. The New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, formerly called Investigative News Network, which is also InDepthNH.org’s fiscal sponsor. Click here to read about INN to learn more about the mission of nonprofit news.