xt7ffb4wmd0b https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7ffb4wmd0b/data/mets.xml Kentucky 1972 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, October/November 1972 text Kentucky State Penitentiary v.: ill. 28 cm. Call Numbers HV8301 .C37 and 17-C817 20:C279 Castle on the Cumberland, October/November 1972 1972 1972 2021 true xt7ffb4wmd0b section xt7ffb4wmd0b

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UNITED WE STAND iDIVIDED WE FALL

\
THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
Honorable Wendell H. Ford Honorable JUlian Carroll
Governor Lieutenant Governor
THE DEPARTMENT ‘OF CORRECTIONS
Charles J} Holmes Commissioner
Luther Luckett I Deputy Commissioner
THE KENTUCKY STATE PENITENTIARY

Henry E; Gowan Superintendent

‘William'M. Egbert Admin. Assistant

William Reynolds .Assoc. Super./ Custody

William Lesley Assoc. Super./ Treatment

Duke Curnutte Chief Counselor

W. D. Johnson Senior Captain

P. E. Walker Educational Director
CASTLE STAFF

Bob Redmon V ‘ Editor

Chas DuRain Illustrator

Jimmy Talbert Law Reporter

James Graves Reporter

Ronald Watson Press Operator

.CASTLE is published under the supervision of Mr. James R. Hubbard
and is a member of the American Penal Press Association.

7” c7151 2 OF mm N729

CASTLE is publis ed by the inmates of the Kentucky State Penit-
entiary near Eddyville. The primary purpose of this publication
is to promote a better understanding between the prisoners and
interested persons outside. The views and comments contained
herein do not necessary reflect those of the administration.
Permission to reprint all material is granted provided the source
is acknowledged, If there is any good here, use it with our
blessingso

From The Editor‘
Convict Cartoonists

2
n

Governor Ford's Message 5~6-7
Commissioner HolmeS' 8
01' Hard Time Takes a Shower 9
Guest Editorial 10
It's Only a Delusion 11
Editorial Opinion 12
Pass The Biscuits Please 13
Civil Death 1t—15
Mary Tyler Moore Vs The Game of The Week 16
A Touch Of God 17
Poetry 18~19~20
Letter To A ConVict's Wife 21
The Truth Of The Matter 22
Correctional Education 23
Educational Department 24
Bits And Pieces 25
The Jailhouse Lawyers 26-27
Short Story 28a29
Puzzle 30
Ode To A Convict's Wife ~, _ . 31=3%
01' Hard Time In The Chain Of Command (inside back cover)

.. M... , ~ , _' ‘ , :

«tﬂgm;;= IN iﬁs KENTUCKY sskTs PENITENTIARY sag;

NEARLY EVERYONE ENJOYS THE CASTLE

In 1 v 3 l I
‘f

‘FROM 1% 1mm?

What is doing time? It is just that: It
means a great many things to a great .many men
and it certainly would be fair to say that it
means a.different thing to each different man
.3’ that is going through the torment that it

‘ brings. It means one thing to the people who
run the places where men do their time. It
means another thing to the families-and friends
who wait at home: and it means something alto—
gather different to the society and the system
of justice that brought it all about.

, But, what about the men who are doing the time? What does
it mean to them? I feel it would take a literary genius to cap-
ture the feeling and the mood of every man who has ever been im-
prisoned, therefore, it would be an impossible task in a.fewrhun~
dred words, to tell just what doing time really can be and is.
But there are certain things we all share: in common that affect
each of us in doing our-time.

The libraries are full of stories, some long and some short
that tell about prison life, and doing time, but I feel “that
none of them have ever captured the whole picture. For one thing
doing time is changing. It is always changing, if for no other
reason than the fact that the faces who are in charge, change.
Change in faces are not the only change though. The attitudes are
changing on both sides of the fence,and the changes at this point
seem to be good ones for the most part.

The changes are slow, and there are many times when we feel
that the whole process of change needs to be speeded up a hundred
times its current rate. Yet, when we think about it, we come to
realize that the situation, or the act, behind the time we are
doing did not come about in a hurry. It took each of us aawhole
lifetime to end up where we are, and all the years of our lives
are surely some part of our doing time or we would have to accept
all the years of our lives as waste.

The biggest single criticism of the system would seem to be
that they refuse to accept each man for just what he is without
the benefit of ever really knowing him or caring about him as a
person. For the most part, I think that is a valid criticism.
We have seen some examples recently of attempts to change the
old ways and institute programs for change that would give each
man doing time an opportunity to express himself as a human being
and we certainly are thankful for" these efforts even though at
times we see them as too slow and unwieldly.

The days for being a hard rock con with a completely anti-
social nature is:a thing of the past, just as an attitude of
being the toughest and meanest Back in the compound who doesn't
take any crap from anybody is fast disappearing. Neither one has
completely disappeared. There are still some examples of both
clinging to the cliff of our world by their fingernails. But
both of these groups are headed for extinction, as well they
should be. As the whole of society has become more enlightened,
so has doing time begun to graduate to a level of understanding
that has never been known before.

Doing time is a pure loss and there is no need in going into
details of that. Each of us in our own waxu has suffered and is
suffering the private hell that is a part of doing time. But

CASTLE OCTOBER-NOVEMBER PAGE 2

there is a need to point out that doing time is changing and we
should be alert to those changes and accept them with an under:
standing born of the responsibility of first being a mane

Doing time is an unhappy situation and that is the very best
that can be said about ito Anyone who ever suggested that it
could be enjoyable or even compatible would be a good candidate
for certificationo However, the inescapable fact that each of
us9 for whatever period of time it may amount to9 have got to do
the timeo During that period we all have a certain way of hand=
ling ourselves and conducting ourselves and certainly it is obyia
one that the way we do our time will tell how the time will goo

None of us has any respect for the officer who has an attic
tude that we are all a bunch of cattle and that we are unable to
think for ourselveso Likewise, none of us care for having a man
who is doing time with us step on our toes in one fashion or the
othero

'It is too bad that it is going to take the change that is
blowing in the wind so long to do away with the prison adminis=
trator or officer in the system who considers all men committed
to an institution as so much cattleo But, the hopeful thing is
that the change is just as certain as. the wind on which it is
blowing and the day will come when doing time will be free of at
least that much of the problemo ~

Will the day come when all those doing_time are considerate
and courteous to the men at his side who are also doing time? No
doubt, it will take society just as long to rid itself of those
who could ”care_lessﬁ about the other guyo For the fact isg the
two are closely related and debates are carried on endlessly as
to which came first; The harrassment and the indifference or the
attitude of the convicto '

When we look at the fact that change is coming in doing time
and we see that much of that change is on both sides of the fence
we come to the very undeniable conclusion that the two are intere
twinedo Further, we fell that the speed and efficiency with
which things do change will be closely tied to the way that each
man who is doing time responds to each other and their needso

This then is a pitch for just one thing; Respect each other
and each others9 rights in the hope that it will make an impres=
sion big enough to command the respect of those in administration
big shots and little shots alikeb and that it will hasten the day
when doing time will at least be a human .and understood expera
ience rather than the frustration and hate building experience
that we know it as todayo

Nothing is simple or comes without a priest but the act of
courtesy which you display when you say a simple please or thank
you or pardon me is an act that has farcreaching affect On your
whole life and the way you are doing your times

This is one way you can help speed the changea which we all
want and work for in our different wayso

In this issueawe have a couple of articles sent in to us
from two of our outside readerso Mro Polsgrove of Louisvilleg Kyo
has an article dealing with correctional reform which he is trya
ing to get passed in the General Assemblyo SEE PAGE l5=l6
Mrs. KOLo Asher of Parducah9 Kyo, sent us a poem that she received
from her husband and ask if we would print ito SEE PAGE 21

We are always very happyrto hear from our outside readers,
whether it be commending us or criticizing us9 and we would like
to hear from each and everyone9 regardless.

CASTLE OCTOBERoNOVEMBER PAGE 3

coN war caRmON/Zm Palm/Rab
w (ill, go cementum RECORDS

Probably for the first time in history cartoons were pub.3
lished in the United States Congressional Records. 16 convict
drawn cartoons» all of which decrys the prison system, appears in
NinetywSecond Congress' hearings of the Committee on the Judiciary
CORRECTIONS: PART VIIwB, Appendix 319 Pages 1535 through 1550.
Of these 16 convict drawn cartoonsg 13 were the product of CASTLE
illustrator Chas DuRain. ,

All the cartoons were submitted to the Congressional Commite
tee by Joseph Grants Publisher of the PENAL DIGEST INTERNATIONAL,
and Co~director of the National Prison Center during his testi—
mony before the Judiciary Committee. Like the testimony of neare
ly all the witnesses called before that Committee, all 16 of the
convict drawn cartoons denounce some area of the present prison
system, and the related fields - such as parole proceduresg rehao
bilitation programs and even the rhetorics of selfestyled penolo~
gist. ,
Of the 16 cartoons, one is drawn by Don Hood of Huntsville,
Texas's Echog one is by B. Drummond who is probably in Leavens-
worth Federal Prisong and one is signed Askew, who is in the Fed»
eral Prison at Lewisburg, Pa. Here at Eddyville, we noted-with
some pride that while these cartoonists carried their message
across well enoughg and presented excellent art work? they lacked
the universal appeal and causticv humor that has become the
DuRain style. ,

Only one of the DuRain cartoons was previously published in
CASTLE. 3 others were previously published in the PENAL DEGEST,
and the other 9 were published for the first time in the Congres=
sional Records. All 3 of the other inmates cartoons had been pub»
lished in the PENAL DIGEST INTERNATIONAL;

Looking back, it 'seems impossible that little more than a
year agoMro Curnutteg the prison's chief caseworker; encouraged
DuRain-to take up cartooning. Since then more than 100 DuRain
cartoons and short numerous sketches have appeared in publicato
ions other than CASTLE. All of which says much.f0r the Depart»
ments new policy of "Helping the inmates help themselves,“

Reflecting upon the laughter he has caused since he first
came to work in the CASTLE NEWS OFFICE little more than a year
ago, DuRain said: “When I was a little guy I always wanted to be
a mailman so that all the peeple would smile when they would see
me coming with their love letters and old age-pension.checks.“

James Graves
are a a a a a s a a s a a s s a e a a a s a a e e e s a a a a a e
You acan't really worry about what people think of you if you

realize how seldom they do.
' - cdr‘

CASTLE OCTOBER-NOVEMBER PAGE is

GOVERNOR FORDVS ADDRESS TO
THE COUNCIL ON CRIME AND
DELINQUENCY

Louisville; September 7, 1972 ~ 7:00 P.M.

“The timing for this address could not have been better.
Only yesterday at the Southern Governors' Conference, part of our
morning business session was devoted to crime, corrections and

ustice.
J Revealing to me in all of this was the very fact that govern
nors are placing the highest priority ever on the problems you
share and are vitally concerned with. .

alt-became obvious during the conference that, as Commission»
er: Holmes .said in his introduction, this administration has
indeed chartered a new course, not only in corrections, but in
all phases of the criminal Justice puzzle. -

And it is a complex puzzle. Governor Hall of Oklahoma termw
ed crime; “the chief enemy of every governor." Governor Mandell
of Maryland looked accross the conference table at Governor Geor-
ge Wallace, telling us of his experiences in the control of hand
guns and how perhaps the Governor.of Alabama might not have been
crippled had his would-be assassin been a resident of Maryland and
thereby subject to newly provided investigative procedures before
buying and carrying a pistol. '

I want to assure you here. tonight. that America's Governors
are giving much more than lip service to the dilemma of public
safety. Legislatures are involved as never before as well as
independent organizations such as the United States Chamber .of
Commerce when it recently underscored the critical need for
reform in our corrections systems.

And letﬁs look at a difference in philoeophy. Four years
ago. in a speech before Southern Governors, my predecessor took
the conventional, or easy way out,9 in dealing with criminal Just»
ice. He blamed it on someone else9 and I quote: "It is rooted in
our court system and its coddling of criminals."

This is where we disagree. Yes, there are huge gaps in our
court system. Yes, there has been coddling of criminals. But
the measure of onevs posture ixlthis is not retortic, it is acto
ion.

I have no intention of belaboring you with facts and figures.
Yet you, and the public, deserve a full accounting of what we are
doing in facing up to our responsibilities to stem the tide of
crime.

Our first budget offers a form of revenueusharing to fund a
15 percent supplement to local police officers who qualify thrw
,ough selfoimprovement. Because of the president's wage—price
freeze, we haVe thus far been denied approval in implementing
this program, but I have commuicated with the president, urging
his approvals and am prepared to testify in Washington for our
police officers before the Federal Pay Board; I firmly believe
an exemption will be made in our behalf.

(CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)

CASTLE OCTOBERnNOVEMBER PAGE 5

We have also increased the salaries of our state police by 5
percent in addition to their annual increments. We have trans-
ferred 30 policemen from the division of boating to more complex
duties in order to take full advantage of their training and
experience. f ‘

These individuals are being replaced with qualified men who
have achieved water safety and patrol standards. Their appoints
ments are based on merit to comply with state and federal regulm
ationso .

In order to intensify Our detective force, we are removing
them from timewconsuming arson investigation activities and
assigning 10 fully trained members of the fire prevention diviw
sion to that task.

Overall, we have increased the budgetary allotment to piblic
safety by 10 million dollars in the first biennium.

Kentucky now has seven new circuit judges to decrease heav~
ily overburdened court docketss To assure that everyone, regardw
less of his financial status receive fair and just protection
under the law, we are establishing the office of Public Defender,
a 2.6 million dollar project guaranteeing constitutional rights
of all accused.

No aspect of criminal Justice in Kentucky was so in need of
overhauling as was our corrections system.' Our administration
inherited a corrections system that was not only critically under
funded, but was so riddled by patronage that it was on the verge
‘of total collapse. ‘ '

Beginning at the top, Kentucky is fortunate to have one of
the most pragressive and firm minded corrections reformers in the‘
country. Commissioner Holmes comes to us with impressive cred»
entials and a compassionate interest in peeple. He has reorganm
ized the corrections department with genuine concern for a system
which rehabilitates rather then one which only punisheso

Don't think for a minute there will be coddling of criminalsa
I remind you of the tough stand taken during recent disturbances
at our state penal institutions. '

Our new law governing the state parole board will help Some
missioner Holmes carry out his reform of Kentucky’s Correctional
system. We have not only assured professional competence of the
appointees, but we have taken the board out of politicos.

On the fiscal side» we have also made positive contributions
to Kentucky's correctional system. we have increased state appro-
priatiOns going to our corrections department by over 30 percent
this biennium. We have also increased our support to the Kentu
ucky Crime Commission from 2,. 1 million dollars to 6.7 million
dollars. This new money going to the Crime Commission can bring
an additional l6 million new federal dollars into the state over
the biennium.

One visible component of the new direction in Kentuckyls care“
rection system is the new Blackburn Correctional complex near
'Lexington.‘ This model facility, designed to help parolees adjust
to life in the “outside world", could set the pace for correction-
al institutions of the future. — - -
(CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)

CASTLE OCTOBERwNOVEMBER PAGE 6

We are not going to build any more giant facilities of the
one to two thousand inmate category. These oversized, impersonal
types of institutions only decrease the opportunites for correct~
ion and rehabilitation and increase the chance for trouble. The
smaller. more manageable centers, well staffed with professional
help. are in our plans for a new Kentucky Correctional System.

We are also building a u. 9 million dollar forensic psychiatry
facility for mentally disturbed inmates now residing in our
prisons. This is Just another component of a corrections system
that believes in rehabilitation as well as protection of law
abiding citizens.

A word of caution. Money, bricks. mortar and fancy charts
give us no assurance of success unless they are preperly used.

I become irritated with government officials who try to con-
vince us that everything will be fine and dandy Just because
there has been massive funding. The wise use of funding determ
mines success or failure.

In our case. there had to be massive funding in order that
we might: .

1. Prevent the collapse of our correctional system;

2. Restore dignity and a sense of selfwimprovement

to our police officials who have been bypassed for
too many years;

3. Recognize that without proper compensation, we will

not have the quality we must have in our judges;

h. Take advantage of federal funds available, yet not

acQuired.

In a large sense, the 50 states have been supported most
effectively by the Safe Streets Act. As governors, though, we
are concerned and critical that the President of the United
States seeks only 57 percent of the authorized funding for this
activity. Crime is a lOO percent challenge and deserves total
commitment. This total commitment is reflected in Kentuckst
expanded approach. '

You can see. I trust. the overall picture - from the police»
man on the beat. through the courts. in corrections and probation
and parole. All must_work together if we are to substantially
erase the threat of crime.

Our police need the support of every decent citizen of this
state. - .
Our courts must have the ability to provide speedy trials
while assuring everyone those protections granted by our constitw
ution.

Our criminal papulation must realize we want them freed. but
only after they are free of criminal behavior.

‘Our institutions are wastes of money if they don't rehabilin
tate, and our parole system is inept unless those released have
continuing professional guidance and supervision.

Only when all of these factors come together in concert will
we be able to say the war is being won.

I am practical enough to expect further difficulties. We
cannot solve overnight the puzzle of crime and delinquency that
has eluded us for decades.. We cannot anticipate complete calm»
ness in our overcrowded institutions when they have been hell
holes for ages.

(CONTINUED ON NEX PAGE)

CASTLE * cc TOBER-NOVEMBER PAGE 7

Buti we have finally placed the pieces in proper position.
We are beginning to fit each into the other. When this puzzle is
completed, the picture will be one of more security than ever
before for our families, our properties and all which is so mean-
ingful to the lawoabiding citizens of the great state."

Courtesy of
Mr. Glenn Hodges
Public Information Officer

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* * * *

A NEW DIRECTION FOR CORRECTIONS IN KENTUCKY

“The corrections system of Kentucky has turned the corner,
and is moving in a new direction: _

~~~ Away from the narrowominded view that the only way to
deal with prisons' problems is with custody and punishment.

an Toward a new era of rehabilitation in which more individ-
ualized treatment will be given to inmates and more attention
directed toward their specific problems.

Moving on its new course, the Kentucky Department of Correct-
ions will emphasize the growing role of small correctional instit-
utions across the state, underscore the value of probation and
parole and other community services as alternatives to institut-
ionalization, and promote the proper implementation of community
based work release, forlough, and education release programs.

[The traditional concept of corrections, emphasizing punish~
ment over rehabilitation, has failed in its primary goal- to
protect society. The failure of the concept has contributed
significantly to the high number of prisoners who return to our
state institutions.

. Through wider application of individual treatment, education
safer custody and human care, and the vital aid of the community,
we will hopefully eliminate these flaws, produce a more workable
correctional system, and release an improved person.”

. Commissioner Charles J. Holmes’
s e a a e s s a s a a s a a a s a a a a e a a s e a a s a s a e a

SO YOU THINK YOU GOT TROUBLES?

In lBOh, Kentucky convicts could not be released from the
“jail and penitentiary house" until they had paid off the court
cost and various fees. From example, in that year, George Fieldw
ing arrived at the old.Frankfort prison with this bill:

Clerk's fees oooooooeooooeoooooooeooooooooeoooo $9 66

Sheriff's fees OHOOOOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOOO000000.000 1s 11

Attorney's fees ooooooaooo'oeooéooeoeoooooaoooco 2 50

Veniremen's allowances .......a...o............ 1h 93

Called Court,.expenses-of ..........3.......... 10 61

$33 313
There were additional charges, as in old George's case:

To the sheriff, summoning 23 men as guards .... u 83

To one rope, to confine prisoner on taking

him to penitentiary IOOOOOOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOC0.000 2

To distance of 17 miles, at l2$ cents a mile .. 2 12%

To 23 guards, for traveling 17 miles, at 3 cents

going and returning ............o;o............ 2;” 6
Incidentall old Geor e had two cars. 30
(History ofyamerican Pgison) y DuRain
CASTLE OCTOBERwNOVEMBER " PAGE 8

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OCTOBERoNOVEMBER PAGE 9

CASTLE

smears-mun

THE EEK ENLIGHTMEEZW
By: William‘s° Gottringer

For decades erudite criminologiSts and pragmatic penologists
from Beccaria to Moore have been searching diligently for aathee
cry of criminal behavior to explain why some individuals act out
in socially deviant wayso Perhaps, because of the trap of fashm
ionable scientific exploration 'they have inadvertently passed
over the most obVious of explanationso, Even though simple ens
planations are often not inclusive enough to fully satisfy the
cynic, it is quite possible that criminal behavior is natural and
unlearned and non-criminal behavior is a spurioussand suppressive
outcome of the social contract, In other words, it is feasible
that a criminal is behaving as a result of the interaction be:
tween his natural instincts and coercive social pressures and the
successful laWaabider is behaving by sitting on his instincts and
being reinforced for doing so with learned obscure social compena
sations. Put even another way, &.criminal is real, m.nonacrimina
al is idealo However, this new enlightment is not aimed at con»
doning criminality or to say that it is desireable, because cera
tainly we have grown to a stage too complex to irreSponsibly pera
mit the destruction and dissolution that it inevitably brings.

Substantiation of the shocking thesis is founded in the scia
entific concept of evolutiono Through the years the natural sci=
ences have come to accept and prove the idea that man is just a
distinct species within the animal kingdom, contrary to the non=
secular fantasy of man as a completely unique entity in the uni»
verse seperate from the lower animals, Of course, there is a
plethora of zoological proof in support of the former notion, but
the most incredulous layman can be swayed with the recent psychOa
logical studies that find even the most humannlike behaviors, in=
eluding social organization, morality, and language to the prev
sent in other social animals,

An anthropologist named Dart made the discovery of austrom
lopithecus africanus, the ape man link between modern homo saa
piens and his animal ancestorso This discovery did not gain im»
mediate esteem, but with its recent growth of acceptance has adds
ed a new dimension to the idea of man aaaaa the animal; it has dew
storyed Rousseauls romantic fallacy, "God made, all things good
and man meddles with them and makes them evil," because Dartvs
australopithecus africanus was actually a killer apeo This ape
man made and used weapons systematically to satisfy his primary
instinctual drives of domiance and territorial gain.

It would not be beyond reason to conclude that we have inc
herrited some degree of these ancestral animal instinctso One
can easily swallow that our human obsession with theecempetitﬁms
aquisitions of social status and material possessions haS“ its
roots:in the dominance, territorial and even killer instincts of
australopithecus aficanus° Naturally then, when social pres-
sures coerce and thwart such strong independent drives,the result
is criminal behavior from fraud to murdero

In conclusion, it would seem almost obligatory for contem=
porary penologists to at least consider incorporating this thesis
into their correctional philosophieso It would necessitate more
active and stringent teaching aimed at suppressing instincts or
at the least changing them into socially acceptable behaviors.
It would also require a sound reason for doing so, far beyond the
obscure learned social compensations available at presento

CASTLE OCTOBERaNOVEMBER PAGE 10

its oNlY A bezﬂsioﬂ

If there is anvthing that will make
people beat a path to your door more
than a better mouse trap, it is a better
sales pitch to sell a better mouse trapo

At the turn -of the century9 the
Lovell Manufacturing 0009 of Erie9 Pan,9
had both. They called it the Delusion
Mouse Trapo 19m not sure .who was sup»
poseed to be deluded on this deal. The
mice, I guess!

Their ad carried a picture of the
trap with a mouse entering and started
off with a poem of sorts: ‘

The mouse goes in to get the bait9

And shuts the door by his own weight9
And then he jumps right through the hole,
And thinks heis out9 but bless his soul9
Heis in a cage somehow or other»

And he sets the trap to catch anothero

Next comes the purple pitch: V

”The greatest thing in the mouse trap line is called the De—
lusion, because it does not catch a; mouse around the neck and
squeeze the immortal soul out of him9 like the old kind9 but gets
him inside in a cordial9 friendly manner9 and sets out _m.free
lunch counter for the victimo When the other mice hear him rattw
ling the plates and smacking his lips9 they all go inc It will
hold enough for aaquorum9 and after the caucus has transacted all
the business that is to come before the meeting» 'a motion to ads
journ is in order; but when they come to adjourn9 it is found to
be impossible to do so with any degree of successo They genera1=
1y worry through the watches of the night9 and in the morning the
woman of the house puts the trap into a pail of water9 and the
work is done° Thousands of mice are now climbing the golden
stairs in this manner. This trap is more fatal than the yellow
fever» and about as prompt and efficient as a Leadville vigilante

_ . lmm_ ~gs committee. The way this trap is going,
/’”; «’””““ M»r’* xi - it woth be long before: the_ women of
“ “ '~ M” this glorious republic will have nothing
to jump up in a chair and squeal at what
evero The Delusion is filling up the
little mouse cemeteries throughout the
land at an appalling rate.”

The company sold millions of mouse
traps and did send a lot of mice up the
A goldenstairs9 but it' found trapping
people more profitable and began making
television cabinetso

No one knows what happened to the
enchanting executioner who wrote the
copy for this ado It is believed he
6 moved up to greater challenges, moving
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er of the Titanico

Bob Redmon

CASTLE OCTOBERStNOVEMBER ' PAGE n

E’DITOMAL crimes:

THE PRESS AND THE PRISONS

The press is a powerful instrument, far more than most peo»
ple appreciate. The press not only informscmmit is a strOng tool
in shaping public opinion and "thinking." ‘Man thinks as he is
conditioned or taught to think. If the press and other media rem
peatedly refer to ex~cons in the style ofm="Smith, an ex~convict"
and to others as "Mr. Smith and Mrs. Wilson," then the public
is unconsciously conditioned to form their thoughts in terms of
"Smith, an exccon." And why is the designation "execon" so often
unnecessarily tagged on a name when the article itself will usu»
ally reveal this? Does the press refer to "Mr. Jones, an ex»
garbageman," or Mrs. Wilson, a school dropout?"

The press possesses the greatest power for enlightening and
changing the public's thinking toward inmates- and examinmates.
Unfortunately, they seem to be stuck in a rut of "style" and con»
tinue to do us injustice and the public a disservice.

Another evil of the press which I think should be noted is,
the practice of quoting out of context, or selecting quotes in
such a way as to cast a bad light on the inmate or inmates; Quot-
ing out of context can be a particularly treacherous ploy. Out
of a lengthy statement, the press will excerpt a few sentences, a
.single sentence, or even a part of a sentence, for quotation.
Invariably, the quotation selected can be interpreted (or misino
terpreted) w.dozen ways, which allows for journalistic gymnastics
by the reporter. By inference and innuendo, the quotation is
more often than not given an extremely different meaning than was
intended by the speaker.

Reporters also seem very adept at asking leading and loaded
questions. A skill they probably learned from prosecutors.

In most prison systems, IVve learned, when the press does,
or is allowed to visit a prison, they are given a "guided tour"
in Which they are shown only what the administration wants them
to seemammand no more. Rare is the prison where a:reporternhas
free access to speak to random inmates of his choosing. A re«
porter may be permitted to speak with a few Qsélectéd“ inmatescea
inmates who the prison officials know will speak the administrae
tion line, Or inmates who are unable to express themselves well,
or inmates who are bitter, hateful, irrational and, consequently,
reflect badly on all the rest. And when a reporter is allowed to
talk to prisoners, it is always in the intimidating presence of
an official mmmmm never in privacy as with an atto