What Happens In NH Prisons?

By Megan Davis

Do you know what is really happening behind NH prison bars? To find out what goes on there, you would need to talk to someone who was on the inside. Frank Staples could help you with that. He was there and is willing to share his story with us. 

Frank Staples is a liberty activist who stands up for the oppressed and is not afraid to ruffle a few feathers. While sitting silently, he was one of the nine people arrested for disorderly conduct on October 13, 2021, at an Executive Council meeting.

Frank’s story began in foster care. Because he got into some trouble, he was forced to live in the Sununu Center, the state institution for children found to be delinquent or mentally ill. After that, he was apprehended for selling drugs and he was put in the county jail while he waited to go to trial. 

In jail, the guards came up with many reasons to give Frank a lot of punitive segregation time, which landed him in solitary, where he spent a total of a year and nine months. 

Frank kept asking why he was there, and eventually, they told him that he asked to go to the hole. Frank said that he figured the real reason for his solitary confinement was because he upset the corrections officers. He was using the jail’s kiosk to report and document abuse. Eventually, he was banned from using the kiosk. 

Frank refused to go to court, so while handcuffed and shackled, Frank was beaten, dumped in his cell on his face and left there for 5 days before he was sent for medical evaluation.

After that incident, Frank started to fight back more inside the jail, destroying sprinklers and irritating the staff.

Although there weren’t any legal grounds to send Frank to the state prison, one day he found himself being sent there. To warrant prison before a trial, the guards said that he had been assaultive towards staff. 

At the state prison, he spent 5 years in solitary. 

I asked Frank how he got through those years, and he said that reading books helped him persevere. But the guards didn’t always allow the inmates to have any books. Frank fought that because per prison policy inmates could have books. He said that this caused him to be tasered and kicked in the face. 

Frank said that the warden probably didn’t know about what was going on. He let the guards do whatever they wanted, unless it caused him trouble. 

Watch the interview with Frank Staples

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