Extremist taunts his victims from prison
By JAY REEVES, Associated Press Writer
May 14, 2007
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Victims of Eric Rudolph, the anti-abortion extremist who pulled off a series of bombings across the South, say he is taunting them from deep within the nation's most secure federal prison, and authorities say there is little they can do to stop him.
Rudolph, who was captured after a five-year manhunt and pleaded guilty in deadly bombings at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and a Birmingham abortion clinic, is serving life in prison at the "Supermax" penitentiary in Florence, Colo.
Housed in the most secure part of the prison, he has no computer and little contact with the outside world aside from writing letters.
But Rudolph's long essays have been posted on the Internet by a supporter who maintains an Army of God Web site. The Army of God is the same loose-knit group that Rudolph claimed to represent in letters sent after the blasts.
In one piece, Rudolph seeks to justify violence against abortion clinics by arguing that Jesus would condone "militant action in defense of the innocent."
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"An inmate does not lose his freedom of speech," she said.
Spitz said he corresponds regularly with Rudolph and posts some of his essays because of their shared desire to end abortion. As for those who might be offended, he said, "They don't have to look at it on the Web site."
John Hawthorne, whose wife, Alice, was killed in the Olympic bombing, said he isn't bothered by Rudolph's essays.
"As far as I'm concerned he's out of sight, out of mind," Hawthorne said. "I don't mind him saying whatever he's going to say as long as they keep him locked up."
Supermax has a capacity of 490 and holds some of the nation's most infamous inmates, including Unabomber Theodore Kaczyinski and Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.
A Justice Department report last fall criticized the prison for not properly screening inmate mail. It determined that three men convicted in the World Trade Center bombing were able to send dozens of letters overseas to suspected terrorists.
