Bulger prison switch called a ‘death sentence’

Boston — Sending Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger to a troubled federal penitentiary that housed other New England mobsters was like giving him a “death sentence,” a prison workers’ union official said Friday.

Bulger, who ran the largely Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and ’80s and ratted on the New England Mafia, was killed Tuesday just hours after his arrival at USP Hazelton, the third killing in six months at the remote prison in West Virginia, where workers and advocates have long been warning about dangerous conditions.

The 89-year-old should never have been transferred to Hazelton, said Jose Rojas, who represents workers at the Florida prison where Bulger was previously held.

“You can’t send someone like Whitey Bulger there. Number one, because he’s high profile, and number two because he’s a snitch,” Rojas said.

“Somebody dropped the ball when they designated him to Hazelton ... It’s a death sentence,” he said.

A federal law enforcement official has told The Associated Press that disciplinary issues prompted Bulger’s transfer from the Coleman prison in Florida, where he was serving a life sentence for participating in 11 killings. The official insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to release details.

In February, Bulger threatened an assistant supervisor at Coleman, telling her “your day of reckoning is coming,” said Rojas. Bulger received 30 days in detention, he said.

Bureau of Prisons officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. They previously declined to comment on why Bulger was moved.