xt795x25f21d https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt795x25f21d/data/mets.xml  Kentucky  1963 newsletters  English Eddyville, Ky.: Kentucky State Penitentiary  This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Physical rights are retained by the owning repository. Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Please go to https://exploreuk.uky.edu for more information. Castle on the Cumberland Kentucky State Penitentiary -- Periodicals Journalism, Prison -- Kentucky Castle on the Cumberland, January 1963 text Kentucky State Penitentiary v.: ill. 28 cm. Call Numbers HV8301 .C37 and 17-C817 20:C279 Castle on the Cumberland, January 1963 1963 1963 2021 true xt795x25f21d section xt795x25f21d  

  
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
  

V APenalprGSSPubllcatwn
»_ Janfiélfiyfi.‘ 15 :19537
-- Ththanp

, } VolumeII f : '

 

 

 

  
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

> IN. HHHH HoHHHH CASTLE

HBydit’éfzk'lél: A Message
‘ : To Our OutszLde Readers

 
   
   

TheCarmvaHFlctlon)

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

Volume II, Number VII January 15, 1963

CA$TLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

 

 

ADMINISTRATION
The Honorable Bert To Combs, Governor

Wilson W; Wyatt, Lto Governor

W} C. Oakley, Commissioner Dre Harold Black, Director
Department of Corrections Div. of Institutions, Dept. of Cor.
Marshall Swain, Deputy Commissioner W5 20 Carter, Director of Education
Department of Corrections Department of Corrections

PRISON ADMINISTRATION

 

Luther Thomas, warden Lloyd To Armstrong, Deputy warden
Kathlyn Ordway, Business Manager W; To Baxter, Guard Captain
Reverend Paul Jaggers, Chaplain H I
Henry Ea Cowan, Educational Supervisor
William Egbert, Vocational Instructdr*

BOARI)0F‘PARDONS & PAROLES

 

Dro Fred.Moffatt, Executive Director Walter Ferguson, Board Chairman
Simeon Willis, Member Ernest Thompson, Member

CASTLE STAFF
Lawrence Snow, Editor Leonard Rule, Associate Editor

Stanley Brawner, Lithographer

 

 

The CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND is published monthly by the inmates of the Kentucky
State Penitentiary at Eddyvilleo Subscriptions, one dollar a year, payable by
money order at: CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND, Box 128, Eddyville, Kentucky; and by
inmates at the Chief Clerk“s Officeo Articles are solicited, but the CASTLE rem
serves the right to reject, edit or revise any material submittedo Opinions ex»
pressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the administrationo
'Permission is hereby granted to reproduce any part of this magazine, provided
proper credit is given to author and source° A marked copy of the quoting pubu
lication is appreciatedo

 

 

 

  

 

@QD'FILE‘ MEWQ

 

 

 

CHAPMIw‘gégGERs NAMED PRESIDENT OF KCA

.a.“ ,

 

 

Chaplain Paul Jaggers of this institu-
tion was named president of the Kentucky
Chaplains Association during the Asso~
ciation's meeting last month in Dan-
Ville, Kentucky.

in penal work for almost 11
years, the Chaplain has been a minister
for more than be years. Born in 1899
near Louisville, Kentucky, he was educa-
ted at the University of Louisville, the
Bryant and Stratton Business College,
and the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary. He was pastor of two churches
in Louisville for many years. He has
also worked in the Seminary library and

Actice

taught classes in English and psychologyo

Currently Chaplain Jaggers is instruct-
ing a discussion~type class in psycholo-
gy at the prisono

NEW BUILDING FOUNDATION NEARS COMPLETION

 

Some 16,500 man-hours of work on the
part of inmate laborers have already
gone into the foundation of the new

educational~reoreational building sched-
uled to be completed next summer,
according to Millard Cummins of Prince-
ton, Superintendent of Construction for
the project. Average depth of the
foundation holes so far has been about
25 feet, and 36 holes had been poured at
the time of this writing. The foundan
tion should be finished by February.

Two-byufour and four-by-four lumber for
the project, which will employ much used
material, is being milled from stateu
owned trees on the prison reservation.
Inmate farmers are doing the work at
considerable savings to the state.

The building is being built under the
supervision or Architect Lawrence Casner
of Madisonville, Kentucky. An erroneous
report in an earlier issue of the CASTLE
listed.Mr. Casner's address as Paducah.

.Sparkman after he

INMATES PLEDGE BLOOD FOR CHILDREN

 

When Dale Flatt set out to collect blood
pledges for the benefit of indigent
children, he set his goal at 60 pledges.
At this writing, some 150 inmates have
already pledged their blood.

Flatt conceived the idea as a Christmas
gift from the inmates of this penitenti~
ary to the children of the area. warden
Luther Thomas, obviously touched by the
plan, not only gave his consent, but
called the men the signed the pledge
into the chapel on Christmas day to
thank them personally.

News of the unusual Christmas gift was
picked up by area journalists and trans~
mitted in the newspapers and over radio
and television facilities.

INMATE-OFFERED FOOTBALL SCHOLARSHIP

 

If all goes well, Robert "Reno" Wilson
of this institution will soon be attend-
ing classes at Murray State College on a
football scholarship, announced inmate
teacher Norman Sanders during the
Christmas show. The scholarship, a h-
year grantainuaida was recently offered
to Wilson by Dean J. Matt Sparkman of
the college.

Reno Wilson, 26 and a native of Louis-
ville, played varsity football for three
years at Male High School, serving in
both center and guard positions. The 6-
foot, 225-pound athlete’s playing abil-
ity was brought to the attention of Dean
served as guard and
tackle on Bud Lyons“ team here in the
prison.

A. A. GROUP HEARS FROM SCOTLAND

 

The KSP A. A. Group last month received
a letter from an A. A. group in Perth,
Scotland. The letter informed the mem»
bars that they had been registered as a
separate Perth prison group.

 

Page 1

CASTLE ON THE‘CUMBERLAND

 

 

 

 

 

  

FIRST KY PENAL HIGH CLASS GRADUATES
CwJ STAFFER SPEAKS .AT CEREMONIES

 

Fourteen inmates successfully completed
a high school brush-up course and were
awarded diplomas last month after taking
equivalency tests given by Murray State
College. It was the first time in Home
tucky penal history that inmates had
been given a chance to win secondary
school diplomas.

The fourteen men had devoted an hour a
day to concentrated courses in mathema=
tics, grammar, social studies and
science during the school semester that
ended last month. Teaching the men were
inmate instructors from the penitentiary
school, which currently offers typing in
addition to instruction in the first
eight grades. The program was superm
vised by Education Supervisor Henry E.
Cowan and his associate, Mr. William
Egbert, and was originated with the
assistance of Murray College officials
and.Mr. W. Z. Carter, Director of Educam
tion for Kentucky penal institutions.
KSP warden luther Thomas was also inn

strumental in getting the program
8 tarts do

During the ceremonies, at which nine
eighthwgrade students were also graduaw
ted, warden Thomas Spoke briefly to the
students, stressing the institution‘s
desire to help men who wanted help. He

also announced plans
tional school in the future.

Before introducing the principal speaker
warden Thomas read two notes he had
received from inmates of the prison.
One, signed by all to members of the new
Dale Carnegie course, expressed thanks
to the war en for permission to attend
the famoug public-speaking classes,
taught here by volunteer instructors
from the area. The second was from an
inmate who told the warden what a talk
with him in the past month had done for
him. He said that as a result of the
talk he had begun .attending church
regularly, and a "big load had been

to begin a vocawv

taken from his shoulders."

The featured speaker was Mr. Harry S.
Bolser, representative in the western
Kentucky area for the Louisville COURIER
JOURNAL.

Bolser said that he had been to the
penitentiary many times, but always in
his professional capacity, and always
under unpleasant circumstances. He
welcomed the opportunity to visit under
more pleasant circumstances, he said,
and expressed his belief that the
stepped-up educational program here is
the greatest thing in the history of
Kentucky penology.

Speaking of the new educational building
new under construction in the prison,
Bolser hoped the warden would take ad-
vantage of the new Space by inviting
outside lecturers in to speak to the inw
mate body. He volunteered to take his
own time to Speak on newspaper work when
the building is completed.

"Education is like health," said Bolser
at another point in his address; "once
you have it, no one can take it from
you 0

"Education develops the mind,“ he cone
tinued. "It equips men to better meet
the challenges of life." He then went
on to Speak of the need for determinan

tion, telling the students of a boy of
fourteen who left home to join a racing
stable. working long hours for little

pay, the boy became an exercise boy and
dreamed of becoming a jockey. One
night, Bolser said, the boy was sitting
on his cot in the stable, discouraged
and homesick and thinking of the kind of
life he saw around him -- the fast money
and women, the boys who were becoming
narcotics addicts, -and the other consew
quences of life among the racing set.
It was then he remembered meeting a
journalist from Ohio who had told him to
look him up if he ever needed help.

After the winter meeting in New'Orleans,

 

‘73ETHHETHTTHBFTHEEEEIAND

Page 2

  

the boy hoboed to Cincinnati and managed
to talk the journalist into putting him
on as an office boy. working long hours
on the paper, he nevertheless managed to
attend school and save enough money to
go to colleges working his way through
on another newspaper.

"That boy," Bolser concluded, “is stand”

ing before you todayo"

"P0012 BOYS, Hem" SAYS DIRECTOR OF sou“
CATION am mm STUDENTS ammo seams

 

W} Zn Carter, Director of Education for
the Department of Corrections and a man
who has been largely responsible for the
accelerated educational opportunities at
KSPS also Spoke during last month's
graduationo

Introduced by the prison9s Supervisor of
Education; Henry Cowan, Mr. Carter told
the assembled students that he could
make them a speech every week and occa-
sionally dido

“I won't take advantage of a captive
audience," he said, "but I would like to
say that this (the presentation of high
school diplomas) is quite an occasion in

Kentucky.“ He called for applause for
the graduatesg then called for the
teachers to stand to receive their

share of the applauseo

Carter then told of the cooperation of
Murray College officials in the program,
which included putting up the registra=
tion fee for the inmate graduateSo
"They said they wanted to help those
poor boys down there in the penitentim
aryo well, I sayb poor boys, Halli It's
time for all of you to start helping
yourselves now 9.9 and if you believe
that, give me_a hand%"

The ovation was deafening.

XMAS SHOW UNCOVERS CONSIDERABLE TALENT

 

 

For a complete list of graduates and the
teachers this semester, see page 70

The Christnas variety show, an all-
inmate production staged on the day be-
fore the day before Christmas, provided

two solid hours of diversion for the in—
mate body of KSP and proved that talent
is not lacking in this cloSed world.

The show opened with presentations by
the Dale Carnegie students, including an
uninhibited court-call skits a "Dale
Carnegie" song written and sung in Twist
rhythm by Otis Montgomery, and an hi—
larious "visiting evangelist" sketch by
Clarence Underwood. Impromptu talks, an
amazing memory demonstration by Jack
Cavenderg a comical uimprovement" skit
by Black Eye Patterson, and other skits
rounded out this portion of the show.
wayne Stephenson served as Master of
Ceremonies.

The second section was emceed by Tippy
Lewis” a talented and relaxed comedian,
with music by the institution‘s Rhythm
Kings under the leadership of Chuck
Souleso High spots of the show included
solos by Clark Jones and.0tis Montgomery
twist contestg comedy skits, and. music
by the bands.

CARNEGIE INSTRUCTOR HERE FOR XMAS SHOW

 

of the area businessmen
who are devoting their time to the prim
son"s Dale Carnegie class, was in the
prison for last monthfls inmate variety

Jim Rudd, one

ShOWo
‘Rudd, a friendly and personable young
insurance agent from Madisonville a-

he's with H. W} Rudd & Company ~~ gave
the CASTLE an outline of the famous Dale
Carnegie organizationo

Dale Carnegie and Associates (the formal
name of the company) was formed by
Carnegievs wife following his death, ac-
cording to Rudd, but Carnegie had laid
the groundwork by first teaching the
course himself and later training as~

 

Page 3

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

sistants from the graduate ranks.

The organization now headquarters in New

York, but it is international in scope.
Currently some 1007 Dale Carnegie inn
structors are teaching in Africa, Eng~

land, Austrailia and other world areas.
Six of the instructors, including Rudd,
work in the Illinoismlndiana4western-
Kentucky area under the sponsorship of
the Lockyear Business College in Evans-
ville, Indiana. It is these instructors
who volunteer their time to give the in-
mates of this prison a course that nora
mally costs $150. Under the prison
program, the New York office contributes
supplies and teaching aids, thus making
the entire course of instruction free to
both the inmates and the prison.

MORE EYE BANK PLEDGES MADE

 

Keith Ayers and Jack Cavender last month
pledged their eyes to the Lions Eye Bank
in Louisville, becoming the Ehth and
55th KS? inmates to will their eyes.
There are still a number of blank forms
available for anyone wishing to will his
eyes at death so that some blind person
may see again. Apply at the news office.

WITCHDOCTOR ARRESTED IN CALIFORNIA

 

A Mexican "witchdoctor" was arrested re~
oently in Mecca, California and given a
suspended sentence and probation for
practicing medicine without a license.
According to California authorities,
Alvino vega Lopez charged his patients
from $5 to $7 for treatments consisting
of such practices as rubbing the body
with a black chicken to cure arthritis
and the prescription of fried stink bugs
pickled in olive oil for mental ailm
ments.

Lopez also claimed to be able to revive
persons who had been dead not longer
than 15 minutes by inserting a glass
tube into their biceps. A believer in
reincarnation, he said that he had ale
ready been born three times.

CLOTHING ROOM DRESSES OUT 50-h0 MONTHLY

 

An average of 50 to ho men a month are
"dressed out" _- outfitted for the trip
back to the free world an by the cloth"
ing room, according to Mr. Robert Parker,
Officer in Charge.

Men leaving either on parole or expirau
tion are given 35 and a suit of clothing
upon their release. In summer, the suit
consists of a set of khakis, shoes, a
hat or cap, and other necessary gar»
ments. In winter, the releasee may
choose either the khakis or a gray wool
uniform with coat. Both sets of clothe
ing are made in the prisonVS garment
factory and fitted by the clothing room.

The usual dress-out procedure involves a
trip by the releasee to the clothing
room a few days before his release date.
The clothes are fitted at this time and
later, on the day he leaves, the cloth”
ing, pressed and altered, is ready to be
donned at the checkuout point in One
Cellhouse.

Sometimes, however, parole papers come
in unexpectedly and there is only an
hour or two to get everything ready.
According to Mr. Parker, no one has yet
missed a bus because of the clothing
room, however.

The clothing room is also responsible
for providing sheets, pillowcases, and
other "housekeeping" items except brooms,
m0ps, and cleaning materials, to the
cellhouses, and keeping the llOOwodd
inmates in clothing. Toward the latter
purpose, the clothing room issues some

175 dozen blue jeans and 200 dozen
striped or blue chambray shirts ‘during
a typical 6~month period. White suits
and khakis are also issued to men whose
jobs require Special uniforms. All
clothing is numbered at the time of is»
sue, and everything but caps, gloves,

shoes and overshoes are prisonenade.

Mr. Parker commented on the efficiency

 

NESTEE ON THE CUMBERLAND

Fage h

  

of his crew, which includes Gordon
Mercer, the clerk, and Reese Jones,
tailor.

NO CRIME}, DELINQUENCY, AMONG THE MIIISR

 

Except when their beliefs conflict with
U. S. educational and Social Security
laws, the peaceful, hardworking members
of the Amish religious sect never see a
court of law, for crime and delinquency
are unknown among their numbers. There
is, furthermore, no divorce, no poverty,
and no oldmage problem among the Amish.

Most Amishmen a- the Amish religion is a
branch of the old Swiss Mennonite Church
~- live on neat, productive farms in
Pennsylvania and are militantly Opposed
to what most of the rest of the world
calls progress. They use no electri-
city, no tractors, no motor-driven
machines to till the soil or operate
their homes. Their style of dress goes
back to the 19th century, and married
men wear full beards. They see no
movies, drive nothing but horses and
buggies when they go to town, and they
purchase neither radio nor television
sets. Most members of the sect go no
further in school than the eighth grade,
and their religion forbids the purchase
of insurance em a doctrine that has
caused them considerable trouble with
the Social Security Administration.

Yet the Amish live a full and productive
life. Their food is famous the world
over, and their families are closewknit,
harmonious units. Should an Amishman
become ill, or too old to work, the
family or the church takes care of all
his needs. No Amishman goes hungry or
homeless as long as he has Amish neighe
bors nearby.

Ironically, the Amish, who are seemingly
the most desirable of U. S. citizens,
may have to move en masse to Canada un»
less bills now pending in Congress can
provide them with relief from laws that
threaten their troublemfree, crimeafree
existence. Laws requiring them to hire

college-trained teachers or close their
schools -- and hiring outsiders to teach
their young would probably result in the
dissolution of their way of life -— and
to participate in the Social Security
program -- which the hardworking, inde-
pendent Amish neither need nor want —~
are among those from which they seek
relief.

REFORMATORY STUDENTS STUDY MARKET

 

Boys confined in the reformatory at Red
Wing, Minnesota, have been “buying" and
"selling" stocks recently, according to
their newsheet, The RIVERSIDE. The GXW
periment was performed as part of their
social studies class. Each boy based
his purchases on an imaginary $5000
capital.

SIXTH ANNUAL PRISONER AWARDS ANNOUNCED

 

The Sixth Annual Lindner Foundation
Prisoner Awards Competition has been an=
nounced, and this year's rules may be
seen in the library.

There have been some changes since last
year, when several KSP inmates entered
the competition. There are, for exam=
ple, only three divisions this year:
Art, Music, and Literature. The first
prize in each division remains $50, but
a second prize of $25 has been added.
There will also be 5 honorable mentions
in each division, worth $5 each.

Entries in art may be in oils, waters
colors, charcoal, pencil, or crayon.
Works must be titled and the entrant
should specify whether his work is an
original or a copy. In the literature
division, poetry, short stories, novels,
plays, and any other fiction or non-
fiction will be considered. There is no
limit on the length of the piece. Each
literature entry must be typewritten and
double spaced on standard white typing
paper. It goes without saying that your
name and address must be included with
your entry; For address, see the rule
sheets.

 

Page 5

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND '

 

  

LATE EDUCATIONFRECREATION NEWS

 

INMATES ORGANIZE BOXING PROGRAM

 

Several inmates with boxing experience

are now organizing a training program

for young inmates who want to learn

prizefighting. wayne Stephenson, Dale

Flatt, Otis Montgomery and Joe Anderson

are acting as instructors and trainers

for the program. An 8-b0ut card is sche-
duled to be held toward the end of this

month if enough men are ready to go the

required three rounds.

Training sessions are now underway in
the gymnasium from 1 to 2 P. M._ 'Ac-
cording to Norman Sanders, secretary for

the group, the first two weeks of the
program will be devoted to body condi~
tioning. Calesthetics, shadow-boxing,

rope-skipping, and workouts on the Speed
bags will be included in this work.
Both speed bags should have been in~

stalled by the time the magazine is out.

"If we're ever going to have a good
Sports program," said Sanders, "now is
the time to start thinking about it.
But we're all going to have to go all
out to support it, regardless of our
personal feelings. If we can show'that
we‘re interested, that we'll take care
of any equipment given to us, and that
we want a program, then we'll have it."

Some lb or 15 inmates have already
signed up for the boxing program, but
the instructors are welcoming any other
men who want to participate. To get in—
to the program, talk to any of the
trainers on the yard, or drOp into the
gym during the workouts.

A. A. TO HOLD ANNIVERSARY DINNER

 

The prison's Alcoholics Anonymous group
will celebrate its sixth anniversary
this month with a special dinner program.

scheduled for the
Chaplain daggers,

Several Speakers
dinner,

are
including

several inmate speakers, and interested
persons from the area. Some of the out~
side speakers, however, will come from
as far away as New York City to address

the group.
The dinner will be held in the chapel.

NEW TYPING CLASS, NEW GED CLASS BEGUN

 

Students in the seventh and eighth
grades at the prison school will now
have the chance to learn to type, ac-
cording to inmate teachers. Formerly
the typing class was restricted to those
men who had passed the eighth grade edu-
cational level. The new typing class,
taught by Kenny Clinton, is being held
immediately after regular school hours.

A new GED training program has talso
started in the school. The program is
for the purpose of preparing applicants
for the equivalency high-school diploma
for the tests given here by officials
from Murray College. The first class,
which ended last month (see Page 2), en-
abled all fourteen of the students to

pass the examinations and get their
highmschool diplomas. If the present
class does as well, the GED program

will, in all probability, be a permanent
feature of the school.

SWING BAND PUTS ON JUMPIN' SHDW IN GYM

 

The institution's swing band, the Rhythm
Kings, put on a second show in the gym-
nasium Christmas Day. Emceeing the
second Christmas program was Tippy Lewis
and leading the band was Chuck Soules.

During the show, Leo Marshall, Clark
Jones, Cornell Littleton, Dave Hardin,
Chuck Soules, William watson, Paul White
and Jack Johnson did vocal bits, and
Clark Jones and Otis Montgomery blew
some fine sax solos.

Comedy skits filled out the program.

 

 

CASTITE ON THE CUMBERLAND

Page 6

  

TEACHERS AND GRADUATES THIS SEMESTER

 

(See story, Page 2?
TEACHERS

Norman Sanders, mathematics
Eugene Treviso, science
William.Wise, geography
William Grenat, 2nd grade
Eugene Ferguson, hth grade
Dickie Brandenburg, 3rd grade
William Baldwin, 2nd grade math
Kenny Clinton, typing

Edgar Johnson, English

Edward Isaacs, English

HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES

 

William Grenat
Dickie Brandenburg
William Baldwin
James Cavender
RobertvDaley
Jack Henry
Alonzo Housman
Edward Isaacs
Virgil McCown
Jack Meredith
Anthony Shaw
David Steele
Gary Utterbaok
Robert vaughn

EIGHTH GRADE GRADUATES

James Crews
Raymond Forsting
Jerry'Holder
Johnny Rouse
rErnest Summitt
Joseph Venway
vernon ward
James Bolton
Bobbie Miller

 

CHAPEL NEWS

 

 

L

INMATES ENJOY RELIGIOUS REVIVAL

 

 

By Jonathan Parks, Librarian

The writer has made its acquaintance of
hundreds of men here, learned something
of how they think, and has some to un—
derstand at least partially the depth of
their feelings about their environment.
During all this time, he has never wit-
nessed such a tremendous inmate-body
reSponse to any event as that which oc-
cured last week. The event, a religious
revival, attracted scores of men to the
Chapel and produced an uplifting, over-
whelming emotional unity among us.
Chaplain Paul Jaggers and the Reverend
Paul Kempft, an outside minister, as
well as several prominent laymen from
nearby communities, participated in the
services.

we inmates of Eddyville Prison have long
gone our own ways, concerning ourselves
with petty personal problems and ignor-
ing the interests of others. To be
truthful, we have always worked against
one another. It was a wonderful experi-
ence indeed to see the unity, the one-
ness, created among us by the sincerity
of Joe Rose, the enthusiastic, down-to-—
earth conversational style of the ser-
mons of the Reverend Mr. Kempft, and the
dynamic deliveries of Chaplain Jaggers.

I, for one -- and I'm sure that a great
many men will agree -- would liks very
much to experience again soon the warmth
and invigorating atmosphere stirred to
life here by this revival. Let's all
hope we can have another such revival
next year.

 

 

mm ON THE CUMBMLAND eeeeeeeeee Box 128 eeeeeoeeooeeeeoee Eddyville, Kentucky

GENTLEMBN: Please Send a year's subscription to the CASTLE to the following per-
sons. I enclose one dollar for each subscription.

 

 

(Name) ‘ .(Street or Box Nb) (City) (Zone) (State)
___ Please use separate sheet for additional names

r,444Ai_____________________________A

 

 

  

 

WW? ifiEfl'iFCD'EWflE 81711913

 

 

AN EDITORIAL MESSAGE TO OUR OUTSIDE READERS

 

The following editorial article is not intended to represent the
It is simply a statement of opinion on the
part of the Editor, and should not be interpreted as a

points of this prison's administration.

any other prison administration.

feelings or viewe

critical attack on this or

 

One day not really too long ago, I was
seated in a Pullman car behind a
pleasant-looking young woman and her
son, a boy of about eight. As the train
halted briefly at a station, we found
that our car had stopped directly'bea
neath a large state penitentiary. The
boy stared through the window at the
grim fortress with its stone walls and
concrete guntowers and asked, "Mommys
what is that place?"

"That‘s a prison,
men thereo"

Tommy. They put bad

“Why do they put them there,
persisted.

Mommy?" he

"To protect us from them while they make
good men out of them," she repliedo

Ilm smiling at the memory nows but it“s
a rather wry smile; for today I am one
of the "bad men" who are being I"made
good," and I know that what the young
mother told her son in all good faith is
in fact pure mythology -- prisons dcn°t
protect and they don‘t reformfi

Bitter words from a convict with an ax
to grind? Perhaps. But judging from
the exchange articles I read in my prev
sent job as editor of a prison magazine,
a good many correctional officials and
penologists are in wholehearted agree»
ment. So are most other people, lay or
professional, who have ever taken an inn
telligent peek into today's penal eye
stems. And it may well be that you, as
a citizen and a taxpayer, also have an
ax to grind —~ for the failure of priu
sons to do their job is not only costing
you hard cash, but jeopardizing your

property and perhaps your life as well.

I said that prisons do not protect.
With very few exceptions, no one stays
in prison forever. In most states, we
prisoners are eligible for parole after
serving a half or a third of our time.
Should no parole be granted, the law
still provides for "good time" deduc~
tions that put most of us back on the
streets well before our maximum terms
expireo Even the so-called "life" term-
er is not necessarily doomed to a life
behind bars. He may be paroled after as
little as seven years. As a result,
something like 96 or 97 percent of all
the felons your courts send to prison
will sooner or later be back in the com-
munity. If what my fellow passenger on
the train said is true - if inmates
leave the reformatories and penitentiw
arise in a reformed and penitent state
we then society9s protection has been
provided for and all is wello

Unfortunately, it doeant work out quite
that wayo Most of us um some authori-
ties say as many as 80 percent of us ~-
will steal and kill and rape again.

Why? What‘s wrong with prison and paw
role officials that makes them dump so
many unrepentent hoods, yeggs and thugs
back into your laps? The truth is, of
course, that they have little choice.
In spite of a wealth of good intentions
and new knowledge on the part of crhn-
inologists, penal institutions are still
not equipped to cope with the individual
offendero They cannot be until a large
enough segment of the voting and taxpayu
ing public decides they must be.
(Continued)

 

 

 

mafia? 0N THECUMBERLAND

Page 8

i
l
|

I

  

Let's have no misunderstanding about it.
This is not an attempt to shift the
blame for my actions or those of my‘felm
low prisoners onto the shoulders of
either the prison officials or society
at large. In our more realistic moments
most of us know that accepting reSponsiw
bility for failure is the first and most
important step in any real change for
the better. But it is not incompatible
“nth the acceptance of blame to ask fa“
a hand on the way upo Largely because

‘ of public misinformation and misundera
~standing about penal matters, that hand
is too often either not available or it
is actually exerting a downward pusho

This year, there are more than 200,000
men and women crowded into adult corre0e

tional institutions designed to hold
considerably fewer peOple. The number
is not declining. Each year, your

courts send tens of thousands more to
join us in our already packed quarterso
Forgetting for the moment the enormous
cost of capturing and convicting us
(and, in most cases, footing the bill
for our own legal defense as well), it
is costing you between $1200 and $2000
annually to feed, clothe, house and
guard each of us mm an amount which is
no longer really adequateo Moreover,
because none of us is gainfully emu
ployed, you must also support our depenw
dents, even bear the expense of precess=
ing our writs and appeals. Obviously,
paroles, releases, and geodetime deduce
tions are necessary or your tax burden
for our support alone would soon become
intolerable. But that still wouldn9t be
the end of the story.
would be necessary to build more and yet
more multi—million dollar prisons to
hold us an a continuing capital outlay
that would be a serious drain on state
and federal treasuries.

Faced with the critical problem of penal
overcrowdedness, most correctional
officials realize that their only course
is to try to make constructive citizens
out of destructive hoodlums. This is by
no means an impossible task. The latest

Before long, it-

psuedonscientific theories notwithstand~
ing, very few prisoners consciously or
unconsciously want to live behind bars.
On the contrary, many would like nothing
better than to live a normal life in the
normal manner: by making an honest
living at productive work.

If this rings false, remember that it is
not the bigmshot racketeer, the organ»
ized hoodlum or the truly professional
criminal, but ‘the failure at crime who
fills the country°s prisons. With rare
exceptions, the prison inmate is the
fillingmstation bandit, the robber of
grocery stores, the burglar of small
businesseso He is the boy next door who
is caught stealing a car, the slum kid
who robs candy stores for pocket money,
the petty forger, the kind of criminal
for whom crime doesn“t pay and never
Willa Like the alcoholic, he is a perm
son whose behavior, to be explainable,
must stem from serious character defi~

ciencies which he finds difficult or
impossible to correct on his own. In
short, he is a sick man; for onLy a sick
man would persist in behavior that earns
him nothing but grief and ruin. Like
other sick men, he usually wants to get
1Ne 110

To help him get well, most penal insti«
tutions provide _- where public opinion
and available funds permit me at least
an elementary school program and such
vocational training as conditions allOWo
But, because wardens are forced to
do a deeperate juggling act with
their traditionally slim appropriations,
they can do little beyond this, even
though they know that education alone
will not remake a warped personality.
Few state prisons can provide even a
s