Deborah Jeane Palfrey Checks Out

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the "DC Madam" whose call-girl service got busted in the cross-hairs of partisan payback, has committed suicide. She hanged herself at her mother's home in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

Susie's  talk with Jeane, 2007: Link

Transcript of DJP interview: Link

 

 

Jeane, I am so sorry. I know you swore to me that you'd never serve another term in prison for prostitution, or anything else. You almost lost your eyesight the first time. I'm sure you asked your lawyers if there was any hope for your sentencing, and I guess it must have looked bleak.

I know how pissed you were. This was an act of revenge, and I know who you're determined to haunt.

You were righteously furious at all the men who "walked away." 

I'm sure that goes quite a ways back, but it certainly includes the esteemed gents on your client list: Louisiana fundamentalist, Senator David Vitter; Abstinence Ambassador Randall Tobias, who squashed AIDS funds all over the world; "Shock and Awe" war profiteer, Harlan Ullman.

And that was just the expendable layer. None of them were charged with anything; all are living quite comfortably, in particular because they have no conscience whatsoever.

Was Jeane suicidal, in the first place? Yes, but I'd describe that carefully. She wasn't irrational to think she wouldn't survive another round in a penitentiary; her health was poor. And she was brittle, the kind of person who is aware of her considerable intellect and education, but who finds herself in unlucky and vulnerable situations over and over again.

She was gullible to the wrong kinda guys, the kind of men who turned her out when she was young, whom she mistakenly placed faith in when she was looking for love, or a safe harbor. She's the kind of woman who should've been groomed for university when she was young, and cultivated for her bright mind and sensitivities. Instead, she was exploited and wasted— and her bitterness, her depression, was a result of that cruel awareness.

She tried to "go straight" after the first round in prison, and of course, was undermined by the typical prejudices against her record. She became more angry about the hypocrites, and determined to beat them at their own game. But it's clear that when Cheney bigwigs were on her tail, she wasn't going to beat their surveillance and manipulations.

Why doesn't everyone kill themselves when they're facing hard odds like Jeane did? Well, that's the million-karma question. All I can offer at this point, is painfully prescient rhetoric: Hell hath no fury like a smart woman scorned.... and justice has NOT been served.

Comments

[Bert Latamore]

Susie,

I just saw this in my email and am utterly shocked. I remember your interview with her not long ago. She definitely put a strong case forward, and I think she was right that someone in Washington panicked when she closed down her business and sold out of California. They thought she might expose people. Too bad she didn't!

Have you ever read "Oswald's Story", Norman Mailer's heavily researched exploration of the character and life of Lee Harvey Oswald? If now you should, it is fascinating (and a great companion to another fascinating book, "Legacy of Ashes", but that is another discussion). Anyway, I think Deborah Jean Palfrey might be a good subject for that kind of really deep character exploration bio. Just a thought.

Those of us who are left behind have to go on as best we can.

Clits up,

Bert

[funkyj]

It sure is convenient that this lady who was an embarrassment to lots of power people decided to off herself. Makes a fellow go "hmmmmmm..."

[Sue Katz]

My sympathies, Susie. Thanks for this heartbreaking piece.
Sue

[msrqwest7]

I'm one of your conservative fans, and I find it interesting that I am very much in agreement with you on this sad turn of events. How is it, that the clients(men)avoid prosecution? Are prostitution laws actually another way to maintain a ready and vulnerable subclass? Absent the law, perhaps we would have women who could attain a status similar in fame and money as pro athletes? OK. The Bible thumpers could never allow that. Bless you Jeane.

[Lise Menn]

So sorry, Susie. Keep on with the good work!
Love, Miss L.

[cheapt]

Thank you Susie. I feel anger, sadness and despair. Your post helped me sort out my feelings. I can only hope for some type of justice in this. Paul

[Jean]

Susie, I was just dumbstruck to read about Ms. Palfrey's death. I was heartbroken when I heard her prison sentence. Your interview with her was so enlightening. I feel so disgusted. During lean times in my life I would turn to prostitution and be able to get by. Having been raised ridgedly Catholic I felt somehow prepared for it. Maybe it's the suppression of sexuality that allows for compartmentalization. From now till I die I will be undoing the falsities I grew up with, believeing our nation is this righteous, without wrong society. We have lots of strengths, and I hope soon we'll start using them. J

[Carrie]

What a terrible turn of events. I, too, am suspicious about this "suicide" given that Ms. Palfrey held many secrets of higher-ups (whose pants get pulled way down, I hope.)

[amy]

"go straight"... haha

[minstrel hussain boy]

i hope she finds some peace. vitter and the other assclowns will be just fine. it's the same old story, no conscience, no doubt, or pain.

i wish she had been able to find an easier way out. still, i respect that she found it and went on her own terms.

i really hope that she has, at last, found peace.

[Steve]

I feel badly for her, but can't help hoping she left more information about other high profile clients.

[gman]

Was very saddened to read about this story today. That someone had to die because our country pretends to be sexually repressed and feels the need to make an example of someone for consensual sex is beyond belief.

Yet tonight on television commercials will air for Viagra and Girls Gone Wild videos. Why couldn't they have just fined her for tax evasion and let it be? Totally senseless and a waste.

[karma]

"i don't wanna say goodbye to you, so i'll just say goodnight to you."--kanye west

[paula]

Very sad indeed. Condolences to you, Susie.
I was reading an article in the New Yorker about human trafficking, and somewhere- some country- Sweden! I think it was Sweden!- recently made the purchase of sex illegal, but not the selling of sex. So johns get arrested, but not prostitutes. Very interesting, no?

[Liam]

What a sad commentary that a woman who chose to devote her life to giving pleasure to others was destroyed by our society. It's just another indication that when it comes to sexuality, America has it completely and utterly wrong. I long for the day when our Puritanism gives way a more mature, healthy, and non-judgmental attitude towards sex, and when our society welcomes those like Ms. Palfrey instead of doing our best to destroy her.

[Pam Rosenthal]

Thanks so much for following this story, Susie. Your 2007 talk with Deborah Jeane Palfrey was terrific. Even given the awfulness of her situation, talking to you and responding to your smart, sympathetic questions must have given Jeane some comfort and satisfaction.

I was deeply saddened to learn about her suicide. Thanks again for being witness to outrage.

[Laurie Mann]

Yeah, it's insane that she'd get 55 years for consensual behavior and some people get nothing for murder and war profiteering. Disgusting.

[pprcutsnplastic]

This is so tragic. I've been following Deborah Jeane's story for a while, and it's criminal of our government to have treated her this way. She was so clearly the victim of politics, and it breaks my heart that she has died because of the hypocrisy and sex fear of our government.

What she was doing should not have been illegal. She should not have been followed, entrapped, prosecuted the way she was. She should not have been in danger of an unjust sentence the fear of which would cause her to end her life. End of story.

[C.S. Lewiston]

If Ms. Palfrey had indeed exposed top-level Republican morality wonks for the sexually-maladjusted hypocrites that they were - what good would it have done? Henry Hyde, Dan Burton, Bob Allen, David Vitter and other such moralistic scoundrels, who want to shut down normal peoples' sex lives while enjoying play-for-pay themselves, got virtually pardoned even after being outed.

Ms. Palfrey probably wouldn't have been facing 55 years if she didn't know too much.

[doug]

The alternate conspiracy theory I've heard is that she received a threat about what might happen to her in prison. Impossible to verify.
BTW, it's "hanged" not "hung."

[Miss Nomered]

Thank you for posting this.

The whole situation is really tragic.

Up to 55 years in prison? What? That's insane.

Sorry for your loss.

[Aitch]

Let us not canonize the woman. Debbie was a PIMP. One of the worst of her kind too. Her fees were outrageous and her protections offered were nil.

Nobody deserves such an end. Two consenting adults, a consenting act. An agreeable, amicable arrangement. But she took advantage of her girls in a despicable way, worse than any male pimp I've had the displeasure of contacting. This saga of high-profile prostitution busts has got to end, now! The moral majority excuses themselves from duty behind a podium; meanwhile, lives are destroyed and/or lost. Complete innocents in what is amounting to a game for the creeps who sneak out behind the floodlamp.

No desecration meant, but She is/was the worst of her kind outside of lowlife inner city pros rings.

[spinach]

are you kidding? they killed her. she stated several times in public that she would never kill herself, and that if she was found dead to suspect foul play.

in fact, she went as far as securing her apartment for the next six years.

[Bill Brent]

Just to add a completely different perspective on this topic:

OPEN NEW WINDOW: HANGING as a feminine response to the bride price of relationships.

It's a very old style.

In relevant part:

The life of a Karakalpak bride at that time was not necessarily a happy one. From now on she effectively did the majority of the work in the home of her mother and father-in-law. It was important for her to show respect and deference to members of her new family and custom forbade her to address her mother-in-law, father-in-law, or brothers-in-law by their proper names - their titles were used instead. The majority of brides would live in their father-in-law's home for many years. Whilst many marriages were happy and successful there were many situations where young wives fled back to the parental home. Even then the wife would be encouraged to return to avoid the repayment of the qalın' [bride price].

There were also frequent cases of murder and suicide. When Rossikova visited the southern part of the delta in 1901 she mentioned that hanging was the most common way for women to commit suicide. In his poem Kelin ("Daughter-in-law") the famous Karakalpak poet Berdaq, living in the 19th century, vividly described the fate of a Karakalpak girl, sold into the house of her husband for cattle.

"... I was purchased as goods,
For a pitiful fifty tuar.
Evil father, but he is already old".

This may not seem relevant, but it sure sounds like a prison to me.

--Bill
www.LitBoy.com

[Robert Zoltan Szeles]

Wow. Not reading the depressing news
very often, I just found out about this
here.

I am shocked and horrified. More shocked
than I was by the news of Eliot Spitzer's
incident (I knew they were going to get
him, somehow, sooner or later. He pissed
off too many powerful corrupt people).

What a dark blemish on this country.
You can have sex with anyone for any
reason (of age), but pay for it and
you're a criminal. One of the many
horrors left over from the Puritans
(a far too complimentary sounding name).

Ugh.

Sorry Susie.