Inmate Wants To Stay In Prison Despite Already Serving Sentence

New Portsmouth man says prison "feels like home"


BURGTON, NWP--An inmate at the New Portsmouth state prison facility in Bakisming says he wants to stay in prison--even though he's already served his entire sentence.

Joel Grubly, age 49, was convicted in 1992 of 1st degree child molestation and sentenced to seventeen years at Plain View prison, a maximum-security facility in central New Portsmouth. On May 25th, his time in prison will be up--he will have served a full seventeen years without incident. The only problem: he doesn't want to leave.

"It really feels like home here, it's really the only home I've ever had," Grubly told the Boroughton Dispatch newspaper. "I can't imagine returning to the free world where I don't know anyone and I'm not accepted. I'd much rather stay here where I have friends and a place with a roof over my head."

Prison officials say they understand Mr. Grubly's concerns about returning to society; however, housing inmates is very expensive, and in a time when the state has little money to spare, they just can't afford to keep Mr. Grubly in his cell longer than necessary.

"A lot of inmates have concerns about leaving prison and adjusting to regular life," Sgt. Joe Warhoff, deputy director of the Hillsdale Prison Facility in Bakisming told the Dispatch. "But we just don't have the money to keep people around longer than necessary, nor do we have the room."

Mr. Grubly also claims he has received death threats from people in the community.

After learning that he will not be allowed to stay, Grubly has hired an attorney and filed a lawsuit, claiming that he should be allowed to stay in prison because he fears his life will be in danger if released, and because he believes he cannot sufficiently provide for himself if released.

"How can a felon get a job and make money to pay rent? Who's going to hire someone like me?" Grubly told the Dispatch.

Mr. Grubly's lawyer, Pete Doven, also explained his client's unusual situation.

"What you have here is a person who is afraid to return to society because he is afraid for his life, and he is afraid that he won't be able to make a living to support himself," Doven said. "If he's just going to end up homeless living under some bridge somewhere when he gets released from prison, then there's no point in even releasing him."

Despite the state's objections, some New Portsmouthians think Grubly should be allowed to stay.

"If he wants to stay in prison, let him stay there," said Pete Graham, a farmer who lives in Bakisming. "We don't want these people returning to the streets anyway."

New Portsmouth's Attorney General, Welma Sidley, has yet to speak her opinion on the matter. Mr. Grubly's lawsuit has been filed in the Superior Court in Boroughton.