Aaron Hernandez, the late New England Patriots player found dead last month in prison, made several requests to be moved to another part of the lockup and be bunked with other inmates, including one he called his “heart.”
Details emerged in five handwritten letters Hernandez penned to prison authorities during his time at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Department of Correction provided the letters to CNN, with some names redacted, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
‘Please make this happen’
Hernandez implored authorities to move him to a section of the prison called P2, which he said was “where I belong.”
“I’m just trying to be placed with people I’m close with and the place my time in here will go the smoothest, which is best for me and yall,” he said in one letter to Inner Perimeter Security. “I am even requesting to (bunk up/celly up) with my brother (name redacted).”
In the same letter, he said that most inmates “go where they fit in most as long as they have no enemies” and P2 would be most fitting and “comfortable” as he got ready to settle in for a “life bid.”
“So, please make this happen,” he wrote. “I even prefer to move in with (name redacted); me and him are very close and have been since the streets and that’s FACT, not bullshit. He’s my heart and like a real brother to me that’s why I want and am requesting to go upstairs and live with him.”
In two letters, he also requests to be moved to a section called N1 after he finishes time in an orientation block.
“I know a few people over there and I’m cool with (redacted) and knew him for a while,” he said in a letter to a deputy.
Found hanged in prison cell
Hernandez was convicted in 2015 of the murder of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd and was sentenced to life in prison.
In April he was found hanged in his prison cell.
Earlier this month, a judge vacated his murder conviction under a rule in which convictions are thrown out if a defendant dies before his or her appeal is heard.
Wary of theft and exploitation
In a letter to an assignment officer, Hernandez urged a move to P2 because he was concerned that people in another block, called P1, might steal his possessions, including letters and “law paperwork.”
The prominent ex-athlete, a onetime star tight end whose case has been covered heavily across the country, was wary of the items being sold for “money and publicity, which will continue to kill my cases like the media has already done.
“But there are two people I know from the streets who I’m close with; I will bunk up with them because I actually could trust them” not to take advantage of him, he said.
At the end of that letter he cites “two roomies/bunkies/cellyies” he wants to bunk with:
“1. (redacted) who is my ‘heart’ and is already in P2” and “2. (redacted) who I’m close with, kind of like a brother because I been knew!”
“P.S. Please make this happen!”
Rumors and gossip
In a second letter to IPS, Hernandez expressed concerns about people spreading what he said were untrue rumors and gossip.
“I have been hearing from many or rather few thinking I’m (redacted), but that is false, people are always coming up with things that are incorrect,” he said.
After Hernandez died, Newsweek reported that he feared being outed as bisexual.
Last week, his fiancee, speaking in a televised interview, denied rumors he was gay.
“I asked him if it were true,” said Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez. He replied “that it wasn’t.”
Correction: A previous version of this story used a quote incorrectly citing the Massachusetts Department of Correction
