The Department of Correction has denied Alan Gell's former girlfriend and their son permission to visit the former death row inmate in prison.
Gell is back in prison, serving a five-year sentence for taking indecent liberties with a minor. The minor in question is his former girlfriend, Olivia Harris of Ahoskie. She is the mother of Gell's child, 18-month-old Sean Michael Gell, Joe Neff reports.
During the year and a half that Gell spent awaiting trial in the Bertie-Martin Regional Jail, Harris and Sean made weekly visits to see Gell.
After Gell pleaded guilty and was moved to the state prison system, Harris and her son applied for visitation privileges. The Department of Correction turned them down.
More after the jump.
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Gell's mother, Jeanette Johnson, has permission to visit her son. She said she called the Craven Correctional Institution and asked why Harris and the couple's son couldn't visit.
"They said Olivia was the victim and that Sean was a product of the crime and a product of the victim," Johnson said.
Harris couldn't be reached. But she has consistently said she does not consider herself a victim and that their sexual relationship was consensual. She was 15 and Gell was 31 during their relationship. She opposed his prosecution.
Prison regulations say inmates can't have visits from crime victims who are 17 years or younger.
"The policy allows for exceptions, and if she wants to pursue it, we'll consider it," said Keith Acree, spokesman for the Department of Correction. "We're going to hold things as they are, until we hear from Olivia."
Acree said Harris might have an easier time getting approval when she turns 18 Monday.
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