Such were the regulations in force at the prison where Ferry was being held at the time that he had to kiss wife, Heaven, and daughter through a glass partition.
Hannibal Lecter had to deal only with bars.
The point has been made by Ferry’s attorney, and other advocates for his cause, that the Belfast man does not pose a threat to American society.
Given the Irish-American community’s knowledge and experience of the behavior of other former IRA and INLA members who have sought to begin new lives in the U.S., the immigration authorities in Colorado can safely take it for granted that the release of Ferry poses no threat to the citizens of the state, or the town, his wife and daughter call home.
And yet Ferry has been held for over a year now as a writ of habeas corpus gathers dust even as a little girl wonders if her father is more myth than reality.
The matter of Ferry’s future immigration status is in the hands of the Court of Immigration Appeals. There is little he can do but wait for that body’s decision.
There is no reason in the meantime that Ferry can’t be allowed out of jail to be with his family, and indeed argue his case before the court of American public opinion, just as fellow Belfast man Malachy McAllister has been doing.
The Good Friday agreement, to which the U.S. government is a party, allowed Ferry to leave a prison in Northern Ireland. It was decided that Ferry posed no threat to the agreement, the peace process or society at large.
The same conclusion holds true here in the U.S. Ciaran Ferry should be released before the law finds itself in yet deeper ill repute in his case.