Richard Hatch really wants out of prison

Richard Hatch has been corresponding from prison with a Boston gay publication called Edge-- proclaiming his innocence and calling prison "torture" for an innocent man. He's serving four years in prison, remember, for failing to pay income tax on his Survivor winnings and related income.

In his letters, Hatch says that the first six months of incarceration were awful. There were reports he was being held in segregation for his own safety, but what the reports didn't say--and what Hatch claims--is that 51 other rapists, murderers, and pedophiles were segregated along with him from the general prison population. Now Hatch is in a lovely prison compound that kind-of sounds like Martha Stewart's camp cupcake. He's in West Virginia, in a wilderness setting where there is all sorts of wildlife. And he's teaching fellow inmates study skills and helping them search for jobs. Most of all, he's miserable without his spouse, Emiliano Cabral (they were married in Canada before the trial). "Emi", as Hatch calls him, has moved back to his native Argentina because his American visa only allows for six-month stays.

Hatch says he does plan to appeal his conviction and he also says the prosecuting attorneys lied about him on several occasions during the trial. The court is expected to decide whether to hear the case in 2007.