State investigators concealed degree of Aaron Hernandez’s drug use prior to suicide
The Boston Globe
October 30, 2018
By Beth Healy
State investigators had more evidence than previously disclosed that former New England Patriot star Aaron Hernandez was using a dangerous drug in prison prior to his death — information that was concealed in public records and from his family and lawyers.
An inmate interview with officials the day Hernandez died, April 19, 2017, was partially redacted from a 132-page public report. The hidden portion, which the Globe was able to review last week for the first time, said: “He’s spent the last two days smoking K2 in his cell and he wasn’t in the right frame of mind.”
Prison advocates and inmates say the prevalence of K2, even at Souza-Baranowski, the maximum-security facility in Shirley, is widely known.
“We have been hearing more and more about K2 in the prisons, and particularly SBCC,’’ or Souza-Baranowski, said Elizabeth Matos, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services, a nonprofit in Boston. “We have clients call us complaining about the odor and complaining of second-hand smoke. Guards also complain about the second-hand smoke.”