John Joseph "Jack" Geoghan (/ˈɡeɪɡən/ GAY-gən; June 4, 1935 – August 23, 2003) was an American serial child rapist and Catholic priest assigned to parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston in Massachusetts.

The investigation and prosecution of Geoghan were one of the numerous cases of priests accused of child sexual abuse in a scandal that rocked the archdiocese in the 1990s and 2000s.

Law lost the support of fellow clergy and the laity after it was shown that his response to allegations against dozens of priests consisted of assigning them to different parishes, thus allowing sexual abuse of additional children to take place.

[1] Geoghan was convicted of sexual abuse, laicized, and sentenced in 2002 to nine to ten years in Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, a maximum security prison.

He lost his father when he was only five years old, and was subsequently raised by his maternal uncle, Mark Keohane, who was a Catholic priest within the archdiocese of Boston.

[5] While Geoghan was assigned to Blessed Sacrament, Anthony Benzevich allegedly told church officials that the junior priest was observed bringing boys into his bedroom.

On September 18, 1984, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, the new Archbishop of Boston, removed Geoghan from the parish after complaints that he was molesting children.

On December 7, auxiliary bishop John Michael D'Arcy wrote to Law complaining about Geoghan's assignment to St. Julia's because of his "history of homosexual involvement with young boys".

[3] Instead, Geoghan was placed on sick leave on May 24 and, between August 10 to November 4, was treated at The Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut.

On December 13, the institute sent Banks a letter explaining the discharge summary, stating that, "The probability he [Geoghan] would act out again is quite low.

"[3] Psychiatrists concluded that Geoghan had "atypical pedophilia in remission" and a "mixed personality disorder with obsessive-compulsive, histrionic and narcissistic features" but decided he could be safely reassigned.

[7] On November 28, 1990, Banks recommended that Geoghan return to the parish, but left the decision up to Cardinal Law and another bishop.

In the second case, a judge dismissed the conviction of Geoghan in two rapes, after hotly contested arguments, because the statute of limitations had run out.

On August 23, 2003, while in protective custody at the maximum security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, Geoghan was strangled and stomped to death in his cell by inmate Joseph Lee Druce (born Darrin Ernest Smiledge; April 15, 1965).

[12][13] Druce was serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for killing a man who allegedly made sexual advances toward him.

The man who had surprised Druce was reported to have been wearing correction officers' pants, suggesting a reprisal by prison staff for the embarrassment surrounding Geoghan's murder.

[18][19] In June 2007, The Boston Herald received a handwritten letter signed "Joseph Lee Druce", stating "The truth about Officer involvement in John Geogan's (sic) death", along with an address for a YouTube video.

The address contained a video taken by security cameras inside of Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, made during the murder.

[22] Robert Joseph Banks, then an auxiliary bishop in Boston, had recommended in 1989 that Geoghan remain as a parish priest despite receiving an assessment that he would likely continue to act on his pedophilia.

[24] John Michael D'Arcy, who had written an unheeded letter of warning to Cardinal Law about Geoghan's behavior, was transferred from Boston to Indiana on February 26, 1985, and ended his career as bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend.

Geoghan is briefly depicted in the film in a scene taking place in 1976 at a Boston police station, played by an uncredited actor.