MALI BEHIND BARS TO GET INSIDE STORY
H INTERLAND star Mali Harries has described the scenes inside a US mega jail – where Welsh paedophile Gareth Hall is a prisoner for raping a 10-year-old.
Hall, from Talysarn near Caernarfon, was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport in May 2015.
He admitted four counts of first degree rape, two of first degree sodomy, and one of first degree online sexual corruption of a child at a hearing at the Lane County Circuit Court in Eugene, Oregon.
He’s serving his 50-year sentence at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution (EOCI) in the town of Pendleton.
Harries visited the prison as she filmed the new series of Y Ditectif for S4C – looking at how the US police tracked down Hall.
He is one of 1,700 criminals in the EOCI, sharing a cell with another inmate.
Harries said: “It is a huge prison. While Pendleton is medium security, the security is enormous. I did not feel in danger but the prisoners around me were there because they had committed really cruel crimes – indecent.
“I couldn’t help but think about what they’ve done– who’s raped, who’s shot, but the staff do not think like that at all and don’t treat them differently.”
The prison has seen several violent incidents. In 2014, according to one news report in the USA, one prisoner was shot dead by an officer after attacking another prisoner, and then a few weeks before Hall arrived, a lock-down happened after a fight broke out.
Nearly 50 of the prisoners had to go in “the hole”, a special discipline unit.
Harries said: “There was a large fence with more than a hundred prisoners inside, they opened the gates and we went in. The prisoners were loose around us. I remember thinking that they were very respectful but I did get the feeling that they were being watched very carefully.”
There are 400 staff in the jail. It offers education courses and training facilities for prisoners. Within the prison there are several factories, including one factory which produces denim – the Prison Blues brand which is sold worldwide.
Harries explained: “In the USA, unlike Britain, each prisoner must have a job. We had a chance to see the prisoners at work baking, cooking, doing laundry, carpentry and electrical work.
“Thirty-three prisoners look after dogs and train them to help people who are suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). We also saw jobs that were considered ‘the best’ – working in a call centre and making jeans. The prisoners here will work here for five or 15 years and the idea is that they will leave prison with a skill and not reoffend.”
Y Ditectif has exclusive interviews with detectives in Oregon who caught the man from near Caernarfon and put him in jail.
Harries said: “Hall received a sentence of 50 years without parole and there’s bound to be some people who think that it is very long.
“But, personally, anyone who abuses children deserves the maximum sentence, and if that happened to any of my kids I would put them in the hole and lock it forever.
“I have no problem, and no ‘poor thing’ – he knew exactly what he was doing. It was ‘premeditated’ so I agree with the sentence. I wish the system in Britain was tougher on sex offenders, in particular those relating to children.”
Y Ditectif is broadcast on Tuesday at 9.30pm on S4C.