Written in August, 1993 and
privately distributed shortly thereafter, "Room 101" was was first publicly
presented on November 27, 1997 at CompuServe's "Ourworld" web site in response
to allegations made by Danny Harold Rolling and Sondra London about Robert Lewis in their
book, "The Making of a Serial Killer", and at London's web site, http://www.sondralondon.com
. Since neither Rolling nor London had informed Lewis of the allegations they had
planned to make about him nor had they afforded him an opportunity to respond to those
allegations when they did make them public and given that "Room 101":
its re-publication and
promotion were undertaken as the first in a series of steps to present a more accurate
account of the Rolling confessions.
On May 6, 1999, after the publication by London in late 1998 of previously undisclosed
material about Rolling at London's web site, the "Room 101" pages were
reformatted and copied to the newly established RAD!Websites where they were to be
presented in conjunction with "The Telling of a Tale", a web site which would delve into
Rolling's motive in the Gainesville slayings. At the same time, a reciprocal link
was established between the original "Room 101" CompuServe site and another web
site about Rolling maintained by "Grandma Spider".
On the evening of May 20, 1999, in a collect call from Lewis, the web master of
RAD!Websites was informed that, if he did not take down the web sites immediately, Lewis
would be held in solitary confinement by Minnesota Department of Corrections officials
until such time as they were taken down. When asked to be allowed to speak with
someone in authority, Lewis informed the web master that no such person was available (it
is to Lewis' credit that he did not take that opportunity to escape). In the face
of such coercion, the web master had no choice but to remove the sites. All of
the sites were removed except the home page of the old CompuServe site which was retained
as a courtesy to those following the "Grandma Spider" link.
On May 26, 1999, Lewis, whose communication was this time clearly being prompted, informed
the web master that, due to its "Grandma Spider" link, the remaining CompuServe
home page had to be removed as well - "or else". It is interesting that
the State did not ask "Grandma Spider" to remove her Lewis material, even when
she reproduced "Room 101" in its entirety at her site.
Inquiries made to Minnesota Department of Corrections officials revealed that they had ordered the sites taken down under DOC policy
303.040, which prohibited convicts from gaining access to the internet directly or through
"third parties." They stated that the purpose of the regulation was to
"stop inmates from committing fraudulent or illegal activities through the
internet". When asked what in "Room 101" was fraudulent or illegal,
they asked for and received a copy so they could read it. Further attempts to
communicate with Minnesota officials up to and including the governor were not answered.
The information appearing on the RAD!Websites pages was published under a 1996 grant of
full publication rights to the Rolling material by Lewis and was published, without him
otherwise consenting, on the sole volition of the web master. "Room 101"
raises constitutional issues of cruel and unusual punishment and, in so doing, is entitled
to protection as political speech. In addition, Lewis is a public figure involved in
current events and his words are presented in several web sites, particularly the site
maintained by Sondra London, with whom Lewis has had prior contractual arrangements.
Yet the State of Minnesota moved selectively, targeting only the material at RAD!Websites.
After having been informed by the Minnesota
Civil Liberties Union that DOC policy 303.040 would require the censoring of documents
published on the internet by the Minnesota Supreme Court, Minnesota officials relented and
revised the policy to exclude the clause prohibiting third party access to the internet by
inmates. On June 8, 2000, the web master at RAD!Websites was in turn informed of
that fact.
"Room 101" is now again being re-published, once again reformatted, but still
"as it was originally written with some typographical errors corrected."
In January, 1993, Danny Harold
Rolling, charged with five counts of murder in the August, 1990 slayings of Gainesville,
Florida college students Sonja Larson, Christina Powell, Christa Hoyt, Manuel Taboada, and
Tracy Paules, confessed to those crimes with Florida State Prison inmate, Robert Fieldmore
Lewis, speaking for him.
In early 1997, Sondra London, who has researched and written extensively about Rolling,
asserted that Lewis "manipulated, coerced, and betrayed" Rolling in order to
"profit from accounts of Danny's crimes," as well as to "receive
consideration from Corrections on the conditions of his incarceration during the few
remaining years of his mandatory 25 years ..." and that "after Bobby helped the
state coerce confessions from Danny, he was moved to protective custody at his own
request, in a double-wide cell with access to amenities such as microwave and TV."
The following is a contemporary account of the arrangements made between Rolling and
Lewis. It was written in August, 1993 to document the conditions under which Lewis
was being held while in protective custody and was distributed to officials in Florida.
This account is drawn primarily from letters written by both Robert Lewis and Danny
Rolling in 1993. It is reproduced here as it was originally written with some
typographical errors corrected.