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FROM PLUSH HOME TO A 6FT BY 8FT PRISON CELL
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12:00 - 28 February 2006
The Evening Post has been granted exclusive access to the American jail where Neil Entwistle is being held awaiting trial. JAMES SMITH describes the moment he became the first reporter to see the cell holding the man accused of a double murder that has shocked communities on both sides of the Atlantic

Motionless he lies, arms resting across his chest.

Next to his name, number and mugshot is a red marker, which normally symbolises a detainee on suicide watch

Wearing regulation issue grey jailhouse uniform, he stares without emotion at the wall to his right.

A guard stands on duty outside, while images of the detainee's incarceration are relayed to staff in the medical room next door.

When he left England to start life anew in the United States, Neil Entwistle could never have foreseen this.

But after being led from Framingham District Court in shackles, this has become his home, at least until his next court appearance on March 15.

Little more than a month ago, he was unpacking and arranging 6,000 worth of new furniture inside his upmarket rented family house in a picturesque spot outside the peaceful country town of Hopkinton.

Today, the 2,700-a-month house has been replaced by an 8ft by 6ft prison cell.

Behind the bars that mark the outer limit of his personal space, there is a narrow bed, a sink, a toilet and a small bookshelf, currently holding a solitary book.

It is on the 20th floor of the ugly, intimidating concrete building that houses many of Middlesex County's courts - and the 345 detainees currently awaiting trial there.

Of those, more than 30 are charged with first degree murder.

He is one of few to have his own cell. The jail has a capacity of just 185, meaning many have to sleep on bunks in corridors or designated living areas.

When it gets really busy, some bed down on the floor of the gym.

The reason Entwistle is alone is not, however, due to favour.

His tiny cell is one of three in the medical unit of the jail, where he can be watched constantly. The other two are empty.

Next to his name, number and mugshot on the 20th floor's control room board is a red marker, which normally symbolises a detainee on suicide watch.

Jail authorities assure me this is not the case - the marker is applied to anyone staying in those three cells.

Entwistle, originally from Worksop, is accused of shooting his 27-year-old wife Rachel and nine-month-old baby Lillian on January 20.

He denies the charges, claiming he left their Massachusetts home to run errands and then returned to find them dead.

He flew to England after their deaths where he stayed with his parents in Worksop until an arrest warrant was issued and he voluntarily flew to America to face the accusations.

A lengthy legal battle lies ahead to ascertain the truth, but anyone accused of such horrific crimes is at risk of a far quicker jailhouse justice.

The Middlesex Sheriff"s Office staff accompanying me through the four-storey jail at the top of the building cannot comment on individual detainees - just as Entwistle's lawyer Elliot Weinstein has said his client cannot give interviews.

But they offer an indication of why people are put in cells away from the general population.

"Outside on the streets, MS-13 [a gang with origins in El Salvador] are the worst gang right now, but every time they come here they ask for protective custody," says Deputy Sheriff Danny Burke. "It's in their handbook.

"They're not regular bank robbers - they do violent crimes just for the sake of it, like recently when they raped and beat up a deaf girl and a girl in a wheelchair.

"Every inmate in this institution wants them. Other gang rivalries get forgotten and it can be a badge of honour to kill a member of MS-13."

Middlesex County has held its fair share of notorious men, such as Michael "Mucko" McDermott who killed seven of his co-workers at an internet firm on December 26, 2000, after he was laid off.

Before him there was Salvatore Sicari and Charles Jaynes, now serving life sentences for kidnapping, raping and killing their neighbours' ten-year-old son Jeffrey Curley in Boston in 1997.

I ask Deputy Burke how many high profile inmates they currently hold.

"Ever since Entwistle arrived, everyone else became lower profile," he replies.

A senior source in the Sheriff's department, who witnessed Entwistle's psychiatric assessment, when he first arrived at the jail said he had been classed as a sociopath.

This is someone with a personality disorder, which is displayed in extreme anti-social behaviour or attitudes.

The source said: "Everyone who has assessed him since he arrived in the States has said he is a sociopath."

I reach his cell at the end of a three-hour tour.

It is at the far end of the 20th floor corridor, past the gym and caged rooftop basketball court.

Dozens of men are crammed into the new man unit on the left, while others peer out from the equally-crowded special management unit ahead.

Then, inside the medical unit, there he is - alone.

Barefooted, silent, immobile and with only his thoughts for company.