A prison psychologist lost her job last month after shooting her lover, a convicted felon recently released from the minimum-security facility where she worked.
Kristel K. Rider shot Lamount K. Friend once in the chest on April 21 in front of his grandparents’ home near Clayton. He survived, though the .38-caliber bullet from her Smith & Wesson revolver barely missed his heart. And the two apparently have reconciled.
The incident report filed by the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office described their relationship as “BG,” an abbreviation a department spokesman said stands for “boyfriend and girlfriend.”
No charges have been filed in the case.
Friend, 33, was released from Neuse Correctional Institution in Goldsboro on April 3 after serving five months for assaulting a female and carrying a concealed weapon, the latest in a long string of criminal convictions.
Rider, 28, was a staff psychologist at Neuse until April 28, when she resigned after being confronted about her relationship with Friend. She had worked for the state Department of Correction since 2004, according to state records.
Friend’s grandparents, who raised him, said the two met behind bars.
“When he was released, she went to get him,” said Marie Clemmons, Friend’s grandmother. “He went to her house, and that’s where he stayed. He was living with the therapist.”
Rider declined to comment for this story.
It is a felony for Correction employees to have sex with people in state custody, a crime punishable by up to 31 months in prison for each count.
“You can’t fraternize with an inmate,” said Lee Clemmons, Friend’s grandfather and a retired correction officer. “She was a counselor. She knew what the rules are.”
Keith Acree, the spokesman for the state prison system, confirmed that Rider treated Friend at Neuse. However, he said the prison system could find no evidence that the two had sex while Friend was incarcerated.
Friend was shackled whenever he met with Rider, and their therapy sessions were held in a room with windows and with other people present.
“They were in a fishbowl,” Acree said.
However, Rider admitted to prison officials that she had a romantic affair with Friend that started when he got out, Acree said.
As Friend’s therapist, Rider appears to have violated several ethical rules through her relationship with the inmate, potentially imperiling her state license.
Martha Storie, director of the N.C. Psychology Board, said Friday that Rider has an active license. The board does not publicly disclose whether a complaint against a licensee has been made or whether an investigation is pending.
Therapists are forbidden from having romantic relationships with those they treat because their position potentially gives them emotional power over the patient.
“It is very clear that when someone is your direct client it is a violation of our ethical principles,” said Annette Perot, president of the N.C. Psychological Association, a professional group separate from the state licensing board. “It’s our responsibility as psychologists to conduct ourselves in ways that are in the best interests of those we serve.”
A fight, and then a gunshot
Friend’s grandparents said he had been in and out of trouble since he was a boy. When Friend was a toddler, his mother dropped him off and asked whether they would baby-sit for a few hours. She never came back for him.
Friend’s court record contains more than 30 criminal convictions for transgressions such as robbery, illegal firearms possession and cocaine trafficking.
B.S. Report–So often it seems that therapists and psychiatrists are every bit as messed up as the patients they treat. I’m sure there are many competent exceptions, but perhaps many therapists listen to so many horror stories that it makes them somewhat jaded in their own behavior.
Of course, what do I know? I’m not a “professional” therapist–but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express…
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