Prison Where Aaron Hernandez Committed Suicide On Lockdown

The Massachusetts prison where Aaron Hernandez was serving his sentence has been placed under [...]

By Hunter Miller

The Massachusetts prison where Aaron Hernandez was serving his sentence has been placed under lockdown. State officials say that the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center has been dealing with "issues" in the aftermath of the late NFL player's suicide.

"It's in lockdown and one of the reasons is because of issues with Mr. Hernandez. And things that have happened with Mr. Hernandez," Daniel Bennett, the state's top public safety officer, said.

Before the New England Patriot's star hung himself in his cell last week, he left behind three suicide notes. The letters have become a problematic matter as Hernandez's grieving family wanted the notes, while others spoke out against giving them to the family.

Daniel Bennett was one of the people advocating against giving the suicide letters to the Hernandez family.

According to the Boston Globe, Bennett said during a recorded sidebar that handing over the letters could cause interference into the investigation into the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center where Hernandez was serving his life sentence without parole.

"There was a lot of other issues that could have gone on at Souza," Bennett said.

There were no further details as to what other "issues" that the officials were having with the prison, and also what all is being investigated at the Shirley, Massachusetts facility.

Daniel Bennett also mentioned that he had not seen Aaron Hernandez's suicide letters at this time. However, he said that the late athlete wrote, "essentially don't cry for him, he's going to be happy in the afterlife."

While Bennett and other investigators may be of the opinion that Aaron's suicide letters shouldn't be handed over at this time, the Hernandez family filed documents earlier on Monday claiming that they had the right to see the 27-year-old's final words, according to New York Daily News.

George Leontire, the attorney representing Aaron's fiancé Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez, filed the motion in court.

"They desperately (need) the closure the suicide notes would provide," Leontire wrote.

One of the primary issues that the family is looking to learn more about is whether Aaron Hernandez had a gay lover in prison. Of the three suicide letters that he left behind, one was written to his fiancé, another to his daughter, and the final one was addressed to a fellow prison inmate named Kyle Kennedy. Learn more about Kyle Kennedy here.

"This family doesn't know if he had a gay lover in the prison. Or didn't have a gay lover in the prison," Leontire said. "Allegedly one of the notes is to a gay lover. They have a right to know that."

The judge eventually ordered that the family should be given Aaron Hernandez's suicide notes.

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[H/T Boston Globe, New York Daily News]

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