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Prison Responds To Petition Asking For Photos Of Chris Watts' Dead Family To Be Removed From His Cell
Nearly 16,000 people signed on to a petition demanding prison officials not allow Watts to keep photos of the pregnant wife and two young daughters he murdered with his bare hands.
Prison officials have responded to a Change.org online petition asking them go into Chris Watts' cell and take down photos of the pregnant wife and two daughters he murdered with his bare hands.
They won’t do it.
Prison officials have "no legal basis for removing the photographs from Christopher Watts,” the Wisconsin Department of Corrections said in a statement obtained by People. Watts was transferred to Wisconsin late last year for safety concerns.
While arguably tasteless, the photos don't technically break the rules.
“Incarcerated inmates are permitted to possess certain identified items of property, including photographs,” the statement said. “Some photographs are not allowed, such as those depicting gang signs, colors, or insignias or photographs that include nudity.”
The online petition asking for the images to be removed garnered nearly 16,000 signatures.
“We, the public and taxpayers, demand that any pictures of Watts' murder victims are confiscated and that he does not receive favorable treatment due to the publicity of his criminal case,” the Change.org petition states.
Watts pleaded guilty last year to killing his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The nation became obsessed with the case, not only because of the gory details but also because Watts initially portrayed himself as a worried husband and father concerned about his then-missing family.
Earlier this year, Watts sat down with investigators from the Frederick Police Department, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI for a five-hour interview. That interview revealed disturbing details about how Chris killed both his wife and two daughters, including the fact that he has sex with Shanann shortly before strangling her to death and then transported her body to an oil field with his two daughters, where he then smothered them to death before disposing of their bodies.
