(LifeSiteNews) A pro-life activist imprisoned for attempting to save the life of unborn babies has been seriously injured in prison.
Will Goodman, currently an inmate at Federal Correction Institution Danbury in Connecticut, suffered severe injuries on Sunday, November 15, after falling in his sleep from an upper bunk and landing headfirst on the floor underneath.
“The bunk is over 5 feet high,” he reported by prison email to friends the next day. “There are no guard rails along the side. When I fell, I landed on the top of my head with all … my force. This loud noise woke up other men nearby. I cracked my head open and lost a lot of blood. I knocked myself unconscious.”
Goodman was taken by ambulance to the emergency room. Although he was vomiting blood and doctors discovered that he had skull fractures, he was sent back to the prison that night. There he suffered from severe dizziness and nausea, sleepiness without being able to sleep, and pain to his head, face, shoulders, lower back, with bruises and swelling. His nose bled for two days.
The pro-life prisoner asked his friends not to make the accident public as he didn’t want his parents to worry. (He has now informed his family.)
Photo of Will Goodman: Jim Haley
Goodman’s head was bandaged, and he was given a neck brace. However, the prison has been treating his pain and discomfort only with ibuprophen, Tylenol, and anti-nausea medication.
“I can feel my facial bones when I chew food. It is painful and odd. They want to see if someone will take pictures of me with my swollen bloody eye, head bandage, dazed and confused look, and neck brace,” he wrote on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, right after sending that email, the pro-life witness suffered another misadventure.
On his way back from the prison library, where Goodman sends his emails, he lost consciousness and was awoken by the sound of heavy boots running and several guards yelling. Goodman was put in a wheelchair and taken to the medical wing.
READ: Sentencing of pro-life rescuers convicted under FACE Act temporarily stayed in Michigan
“Unfortunately, [after] about 10 yards, the front left wheel fell off, and the wheelchair soon lunged forward, wrenching my neck, and the female guard pushing me started cursing at me, blaming me for moving around,” he wrote. “She claimed I hurt her hip and did it on purpose. I tried to explain it was not me but the chair, but she was very mad at me and kept pushing the wounded wheelchair. Fortunately, a more professional guard explained to her that the wheelchair was falling apart, so we proceeded on foot to get [me] checked out.”
Goodman was deemed well enough to be released from the medical wing with a walker. However, as late as Wednesday, Goodman still suffered so badly from dizziness that he could not shower. When he is well enough, he will need to use a special shower chair for the disabled.
Fortunately, he reports that, overall, “the staff has been quite professional, several even being understanding or sympathetic” during his ordeal. He has also met with kindness from his fellow prisoners, several of whom thought at first that his fall had killed him. Some of them are also political prisoners.
“I have been extremely blessed by the help of several friends here, especially the January 6 guys, including some Christian friends from the Bible study,” he wrote on November 20. “They check in on me. They bring me food. They pray with me. They lie and tell me I look better.”
Goodman assured his friends this email that he is “hanging in there” and that there is “no need to worry.”
“God is a Divine Physician,” he added. “The recovery is underway. The path ahead is in God’s Hands. I trust in Him.”
Will Goodman was one of the pro-life witnesses who attempted to save the lives of unborn babies in October 2020 at a late-term abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. On August 29, 2023, a jury found Goodman guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and “conspiracy against rights.” He was subsequently sentenced to 27 months in prison and a $125 fine by U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
Goodman’s jailhouse essays may be read on LifeSiteNews.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at LifeSiteNews and is reprinted here with permission.
Call on President Trump to pardon the FACE Act prisoners on his first day in office.
