A story by Buddy Bieler from 2025
Over the phone, Buddy tells Nicole Lund the story of an apology from an officer that he's known a long time.
Recorded message: Hello. This is a pre-paid debit call from:
BuddyBieler (BB): Buddy.
Recorded message: An inmate from the Maine State Prison, Warren. To accept this call press 0 [beep]. This call is from a corrections facility and is subject to monitoring and recording. Thank you for using Global Tel Link.
Nicole Lund (NL): Hello?
BB: Hello
NL: Alright, so what's the story you're going to tell me?
BB: Well, I guess I'm going to have to tell you a story about me going to court and finding out something out that I didn't ever know.
I went down to Lincoln County Courthouse after I was already sentenced. I think it was for buying something. I went down with two transport officers from Lincoln County Jail that I've known pretty much since I was a little kid. We got down to the courthouse, and obviously I know people there. I know the clerk of courts, I have them check on my fines.
This woman comes around the corner with another woman and starts talking hella shit to me, telling me she hopes that I get raped in prison and just a bunch of dirty, filthy shit like that. The transport officer, Donny Smith, got really defensive and snapped at her really, really bad. Donny Smith, the officer, got really upset. I was like, "Donny, it's alright, come on, just let it go."
He walked me back down to the cruiser and he was really upset. Emotional. He said to me that he was sorry, they were sorry. I didn't know what he meant, so I was like, "What do you mean?" He's like, "Well, we never gave you a chance. You was a kid, and we didn't try to give you rehab or any help, because you wouldn't go upstairs and cooperate with them." What he means by that, MDA[?], Jim [pease?] and Jason [pease?], they're the lead detectives down here at MDA, and they're officers up there. That's what they do, the people that went up there and told and cooperated, they helped with sending them to rehab or, you know, helped them out. I was just a kid. I was 16 years old. I didn't go up there and tell anything, so I never got any help. They always just threw the [?] and he apologized for that. He said that he was sorry and it really just struck home. I wasn't expecting that, and I've never heard that before. He was the transport officer that had seen me grow up as a kid. It was really - I don't know the word I'm looking for - emotional, I guess. He was emotional. I wasn't expecting that. I wasn't expecting him to get defensive and stick up for me. I wasn't sure, I wasn't expecting him to say all that to me. Is some of it the truth? Yeah. Should I have to go up and tell on someone to get help? I don't believe that's true, but that's just the way it works. No one cared. That's just how it is, I guess.
