Prison opens probe of priest murder

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BOSTON, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- An autopsy was scheduled Monday on slain defrocked pedophile priest John Geoghan, the Boston Herald reported.

State prison officials coming under harsh criticism initiated an internal investigation to find out how a self-described neo-Nazi was able to allegedly beat, stomp and strangle the state's most notorious pedophile inmate in a secure isolation unit.

Inmate Joseph L. Druce, a 37-year-old former junkie, convicted murderer and neo-Nazi, was put into segregation shortly afterward.

Druce followed Geoghan into his cell after lunch, tied the defrocked priest's hands behind his back and stuffed a sheet in his mouth before strangling him with the same sheet, Robert Brouillette, of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, told the Washington Post.

He then repeatedly jumped from the bed onto Geoghan and beat him with his fists.

Leslie Walker, executive director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, described Geoghan as "a frail, slight, short old man" who should have been better protected by prison officials.