Saturday, January 18, 2014

Aaron Hernandez can’t watch AFC title game says sheriff: Report

While every New Englander and their grandmother will be watching Tom Brady duke it out with Peyton Manning in Sunday's AFC Championship game, inmate Aaron Hernandez can only hope to get game updates from an over-enthusiastic guard or maybe a fellow jailbird's kite.

“He’s not allowed to watch any TV,” Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson told The Associated Press on Friday. “As far as finding it out, if they hear an officer talking about it they might find out that way. He could probably hear about it if some other inmate were to call home and he were to yell out.”



The former tight end was once part of the New England Patriots lineup, but he now sits in solitary confinement after missing the entire 2013 season — charged in June with murder in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player.

The Patriots released Hernandez on the day he was arrested. He has pleaded not guilty.


Hernandez is being held without bail at the Bristol County House of Correction in North Dartmouth, Mass., under “special management,” a classification that allows him only three hours outside his cell. He isn’t allowed out at the same time as another inmate and he isn’t allowed any TV privileges, Hodgson said.

There are currently four inmates in the eight-cell unit, and they can talk through their cell doors, according to Hodgson.  Hernandez is also allowed telephone privileges, but not necessarily around game time.

Other inmates in the prison get two hours of television per night, and they usually choose to watch sports, Hodgson said. “Even they won’t be able to watch the two games,” he said.

Because Sunday’s game starts at 3 p.m., they will probably catch the end of the AFC title game during their regular window of 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

If the Patriots beat the Broncos on Sunday and reach the Super Bowl, the general population inmates would be able to catch the first 90 minutes or so of the big game, which is scheduled to kick off at around 6:30 p.m. EST.

Hernandez will probably be doing push-ups in his six-by-eight.

No comments:

Post a Comment