Aaron Wallace: Can you tell me what this is?
Safiya Masry: It's Nathan Goodleaf's dispensation request for the wedding.
Aaron Wallace: And you signed it?
Safiya Masry: I did.
Aaron Wallace: You approved it?
Safiya Masry: That's what signing it means.
Aaron Wallace: And presumably you did so because you believe he qualified under regulations then in place at your institution?
Safiya Masry: It's not my institution Mr. Wallace. I am the superintendent and my authority comes from the Prison Board.
Aaron Wallace: I understand. But you signed because you determined that Mr. Goodleaf deserved to get married?
Safiya Masry: Yes.
Aaron Wallace: Both you and the Board are bound by the same rules, right?
Safiya Masry: Yes.
Aaron Wallace: Rules that are codified in the March 15, 2004 directive 4201?
Safiya Masry: That sounds like a rhetorical question.
Aaron Wallace: What's the very first line of directive 4201?
Safiya Masry: A major departmental objective is to foster ties to the community that will help create stability in the inmate's personal life, the department recognizes that a marriage can assist in creating that personal stability.
Aaron Wallace: And did you say major objective?
Safiya Masry: You heard me the first time Mr. Wallace.
Aaron Wallace: Now when the Prison Board overruled your decision for Mr. Goodleaf, did they explain why?
Safiya Masry: Well Mr. Goodleaf had a violent altercation with a fellow inmate and the Board felt that that disqualified him.
Aaron Wallace: When was that violent incident?
Safiya Masry: It was five years ago.
Aaron Wallace: And when you assessed the situation, what did you think about that incident? There's a notation on the dispensation request. Flip to the second page, I marked it. What does it say?
Safiya Masry: It says that after a comprehensive review of the facts in that incident that I determined that Mr. Goodleaf had acted in self-defence.
Aaron Wallace: Four months ago, you authorized another inmate wedding, for Bradley Fossberg. Did inmate Fossberg have any violent incidents while in prison?
Safiya Masry: There was an altercation with a fellow inmate two years ago.
Aaron Wallace: But the Board accepted your recommendation in spite of all that?
Safiya Masry: Yes.
Aaron Wallace: Now why do you imagine that the Board was so concerned about a violent incident from five years ago, that you believe was in self-defence, yet shrug off inmate Fossberg's violent incident which is so much closer to his request date?
Safiya Masry: Well, I believe that there was a totality of criteria.
Aaron Wallace: Specifically, Ms. Masry?
Safiya Masry: I don't know.
Aaron Wallace: So in the end, you cannot account for the differences in the Board's rulings?
Safiya Masry: No.
Aaron Wallace: Because there doesn't seem to be a consistency in the policy?
Safiya Masry: Well I don't think that there is any evidence of that.
Aaron Wallace: The previous seven years at Bellmore the Superintendent before you authorized 16 weddings, were you aware of that?
Safiya Masry: Not of the number, no.
Aaron Wallace: Now according to the record, not once did the Prison Board intervene to overturn the Superintendent's recommendation. Now, what do you imagine makes Nathan Goodleaf so special?
