xt7r7s7htr06 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7r7s7htr06/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, July 1963 text Kentucky State Penitentiary v.: ill. 28 cm. Call Numbers HV8301 .C37 and 17-C817 20:C279 Castle on the Cumberland, July 1963 1963 1963 2021 true xt7r7s7htr06 section xt7r7s7htr06 /

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VVolume III, Number I

July 15. 1965

 

CASTLE ON THE CUMBERLAND

 

ADMINISTRATION

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENDS

The Honorable Bert T. Combsa Governor Castle News 2
Wilson W. Wyatt. Lt. Governar Editorial 9
Marshall Swain, Corrections Commissioner THE LAST FULI.OUNCE 10
Dr. Harold Black, Director of Institutions THE SWITCH 12
w. 2. Carter, Director of Education THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 15
Exchange Page 17

mm OF PARDONS & PAROLES
Tall Tales 18
Dr. Fred.Moffatt, Executive Director Department Reports 19
Walter Ferguson, Chairman WITHOUT PARAPHERNALIA 21
Simeon Wi 1113, Member INDEPENDENCE DAY AROUND THE WORLD 22
Ernest Thompson. Member Crossword 23
Statistics & Movies 2h

PENITENT IARY ADMINISTRATION
The CASTLE Laughs 2b

Luther Thomas, warden
Lloyd Armstronga Deputy Warden

W. T. Baxter, Captain of the Guard
Reverend Paul Jaggers, Chaplain

Henry E. Cowan, Supervisor of Education

William Egbert, Vocational Instructor

 

CASTLE STAFF

memmeSmmsEfitw
Harold.Arnold, Associate Editor
James F. McKinney, Art Editor
John Busby; Multilith Operator

Ted Lewis” Silk Screen Adviser

 

The Castle on the Cumberland is published on the 15th of each month by the inmates
of the Kentucky‘State Penitentiary at Eddyville. Subscriptions, one dollar a yearn
Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the adminiw
stration. PBrmission to reproduce any part of this magazine is granted, provided
credit is given to author and source. Marked copies appreciatedo

 

 

 

1

 PAROLE REFOIM BILL PAssss BOTH HOUSES, MAY IERALD SWEBPING CHANGES rm muons

 

July 3 w- Excitement and hppe.mountediin
the prison last night and this morning
as news reached the‘BOryear-old maximum!
security institution that the House Ihad
passed the muchmdiscussed parole reform
bill by a 66d20 vote. The bill passed
the Senate last month with only token
opposition and will become law October
1 of this year.

Briefly, the bill removes all re-
strictions yon parole eligibility and
leaves the question of when a prisoner

.shall be paroled to an enlarged, five-

member Parole Board. It also creates a
special Advisory Commission to oversee
parole and corrections programs, ine
creases parole board salaries to a mini-
mum of $10,000 a year, and appropriates
$125,000 to defray the costs of the Ad-
visory Commission and cover, the salary
increases.

In the prison earlier, news of the prow
posed bill had been received with dis
vided reaction. Many longdterm
prisoners, disillusioned in years past
by government acts relating to prison
and parole operation which -~ in their
opinion, at least -- boiled down to
little or nothing, adopted a '.wait and
see" attitude toward the proposed
changes. Much of the cynicism, however,
was swept'away when... the. House,, acting
during a Special Session of the State
Legislature called by Governor Combs to
consider ways of keeping five United
Mine Workers hospitals Open, passed the
bi 1.

Governor Combs made passage of the bill
possible when he amended the call to
special session to include parole re~
form. Otherwise, the bill would have
had to wait for the regular session of
the Legislature next year.

At this writing, the mechanics of the
section of the bill abolishing limits on
parole eligibility have not been clari-
fied. But a story'by Dick Berger in the
June 22 IDUISVILLE TIMES quoted an adu-
ministration spokesman as saying the
bill I'follows very closely the model pe-

2..

nal code adoPted by the American Law
Institute .“

Present limitations on parole eligibiliw'
ty are as follows: Prisoners serving up
to 15 years become eligible for parole
consideration after serving one third of
their sentences; those serving sentences
of 15 to 21 years are eligible in six
years; and prisoners serving sentences
in excess of 21 years, including life,
can be paroled after eight years.

The bill eliminates these limits, estabw
lishing a policy that permdts the re»
lease on parole of any prisoner at any
time it is felt he is ready to live
successfully in a free society.

The task of working out the mechanics ~~
that is, setting policy that will de~
termine who will be considered for
parole and when -- is left to the Com»
missioner of Corrections.

The bill also provides for the estabw
lishment of an ll-member Advisory
Comnission to act as a "watchdog“ body
over correctional and parole practices
and to screen future applicants for paw
role board posts. The governor himself
will make the appointmnts from a list
of qualified nominees prepared for him
by the Commission.

The Parole Board Chairman, the Commis~
sioner of Corrections, the Director of
Institutions and the Director of Probav
tion and Panic will become ex-officios
members of the new Advisory' Commission.
The other seven members, to be selected
by the Governor, will include two crimi-
nal court judges, a psychiatrist, a prov
fessional educator, an attorney, and one
representative each from business and
labor.

The bill will thus fulfill some of the
recommendations made by the National
Council on Crime and Delinquency, which
recently studied Kentucky's penal sys~
tom. The NCCD report, quoted at length
in the press, was highly critical of
both male prisons.

 e éj

50») Din—exam; /é=c:L

. system, is still working

Earlier in his term9 Governor Bert Combs
designated this last year of his tenure
as the period during which he would
tackle penal reformo Following the” NCCD
report the area press” including esPe ciao
ally the two Louisville papers 9 the
COURIER JOIRNAL and TIMES» as
the PADUCAH SUN DEMDCRAT9 carried on
sustained campaigm to bring to light
conditions in the prisonso

At one point the TIMES assigned staf’iD
writer Dick Berger to have himself com-e
mitted to prison to take an inside looko
The project was approved by Governor
Combso

But all indications are that the bill
will not be the end of the sound and the
fury over penal reformo It is generally
felt that other reforms will be taken up

by the next regular session of the
leg is lature in l96h. The Governor0 3
Task: Force on Correctionsg created to

of updating the penal
and will cone
tinue to work of finding longarange
solutions to unravel the tangle of probe
lens in the StateVs longwneglected core
rectional institutionso

consider means

PRImN RECORDS ANNULLED IN MICHIGAN

 

Ezcwconvicts in Michigan may have their
criminal convictions annulled if they
finish out their sentences or paroles
satisfactori1y"9 said an AP release
quoted in WEEKLY PROGRESSO

The bill provides that era-conflcts whose

records have been annulled shall be'

treated in all respects as persons who
have never violated the lam

NEW YORUS MANDAEIDRY DEATH LAW DIES

Person's convicted of firstwdegree murder
in New York will no longer face an autos»

matic death sentenceo Insteada a life
sentence will be imposed unless the
juryg acting in a separate session,J Lima

poses the death penalty by unanimous
verdicts New York. is the last state to
abolish the automatic death penalty for
firs twdagree murder convictions o

GOVERNDR“S TASK FORCE RECOMMENDS MORE
NDNEY FOR PROBATION AND PAROLE DEPT»
TWO MILLION NEEDED FOR LAGRMGE OVERHAUL

 

well as

June 19 mo An additional $009000 annum
ally is needed to enlarge and strenghten
the stateVs probation and parole systems
said Governor combs“ Task Force on (form
rections todayo

The Task! Force ms created some months
ago to study Kentuckyls archaic penal

system and make recomendations that
could be put into effect before the end
of.” Combs” terms

The money9 said Task Force Chairnan

Mo Ro Mills9 would be used to hire 1?
probation and parole officers to take
part of the load off the 50 officers
presently employed by the depar’ment and
to raise the minimum salary for field
officers to $hl§ a months The present
minimum salary is 33089 with a top of

576°

Also recommended was the upgrading of
educational requirements for parole
officersg and the placing of Probation

and Parole Director James Wells under
the merit systemo

Still another recommendation of the Task
Force was that a psychiatrist be added
to the staffs of both the Reformatory at
laGrange and the Penitentiary hereo At
presentg neither institution has a psym
chiatrist.9 although the Reformatory has
two psychologistso The addition of a
fullmtime medical director for the price
one was recommended at the same timeo
Both institutions currently employ partw
time physiciamfio

In other correctional news, consulting
engineers estimated the total cost of
renovating the State Reformatory at
laGrange at more than two million dole
lane; The figure included a recommended
increase in pay for prisoners who would
be doing most of the labor on the mas:
sive overhaul job from eight cents a day
to a dollar a dayo The walls of the
dormitoriess the plunbing systems and a
large part of the ventilating system are
to be repairedo

3

  

EIGHTEEN' RECEIVE GRADE SCHOOL DIPLOMAS,
HIGH SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY GERTIFICATES

 

Inmates and the county and state "can be
proud of the progress represented by
'the new school building," said Lyon
County Superintendent of Schools Jason
White in an address before the KSP
graduating classes last month.

White was referring to the educationalw
recreational building now under con~
struction in the prison compound. The
new twowstory'building, which will have
classrooms, offices and a library on the
ground floor and a gymnasiumnauditorium
on the upper level, is scheduled for
completion late this year.

White was the featured speaker at a
ceremony that saw eighteen young inmates
graduate from the prison schoolo Nine
of the men had completed their eighthw
grade work in the hé-month semester just
ended. The other nine received equivam
lency high school iplcmas under a prom
gram set up by,] “dials of the instituw
tion and of Murray State Collegeo

To qualify for the equivalency certifiw
cates, inmates must have at least a 10th
grade educational background and be over
21 years of age. A encasemester course
in mathematics, grammar, social studies
and other secondary subjects is given
applicants for the certificates. Folw
lowing the course a battery of examinaw
tions is given by Murray State offiu
cialso Successful completion of the
tests entitles the inmate to receive his
certificate. _ In the two examinations
given. at KSP so far, 23 applicants
passed the tests, three failed.

Other speakers on' the program included
Supervisor of Education Henry Cowan,
Warden Luther Thomas, and the Department
of Correction's Director of Instituionw
al Education, Mr. I. 2.‘ Carter. In his
brief talk, Garter told the high school
graduates that, as far as he knewg all
Kentucky colleges would accept their
certificates in lieu of regular high»
school diplomas.

Receiving eighthngrade

k

d ip lomas we re

David Collins, Bobby Hobbs, James
Jackson, James Key, William O'Bannion,
Ernest Ritchie, Johnny Starks, ,Allen

Stump and Raymond Tucker.

Commoneal Brooks, Sherman Jared, ‘Otis
Montgomery, Richard Oliver, Clarence
'White, Mose Parker, Marvin Patterson,
Booker T. Seats and Vernon ward received
highwschool equivalency certificates
during the ritesoI

Reverend Leon Oliver gave the invocation
and benediction,. while inmate.Mel Rigdcn
served as photbgrapher. ' i

no women}; COMMIT SUICIDE BY enema"

 

David Gammon, 27, and Everett Paul
Flannery, 38, both ended their lives by
hanging within a single lOmday period
last month, bringing to four the number
of hangingesuicides here within the last
years '

Gammon,
from Warren County,

serving a fivemyear sentence
hanged hhnself with
a pair of coveralls tied to bars in his
isolatifly”eell on June 15. An investi-
gation was requested by his father, who
had found a note in Gammon's property
that expressed the prisoner's fear of
being murderedo Gammon had a backw
ground of mental illnesso

Then, on June 25, as a coronerVS'jury
assembled at the prison to hear evidence
in Gammonls death, Paul Flannery, a
lifer who also had a long record of menm
tal disturbance, was discovered hanging
from a vent in another isolation cell.
The jury immediately recessed to view
the second body, then pronounced‘ both
deaths suicideso Flannery, of Fayette
County, had been in prison von the senw
tence since 1919. He had been denied
parole seven times.

Just three months before, in March,
1965, James Cameronn also serving life-,
was found hanging in his cell in one of
the regular cellblocks. Net fifiiteoa
year earlier, i.n July, 1962, the body of
Oakley Hengey was discovered hanging in
an isolation cell. The institution has
no psychologist or psychiatrist.

 GHAPLAIN JAGGERS STILL 'ABSENT FROM
PRISONs HIS AILMENT IS BONE CANCER

"‘Eddyvi 11a),

 

Chaplain Paul Jaggersg out of the hospi»
tal at this writing but still under
treatment in Louisvilleg is a victim of
bone cancera according to latest rew
portso

The 6hayearmold ministers a pastor for
be years and Chaplain of the penitentiw
ary for 113 went to the Kentucky Baptist
Hoopital in Louisville in May with what
was assumed to be a bursitis of the hipo
Tests given him there revealed the
presence of malignant cellS»

At one point the Chaplain underwent
surgery:9 but the incision was closed
when it was learned that the cancer was
not operableo For some time after that
he remained in the Louisville hospitals
then checked out to remain at the home
of relatives in the same CitYe He is
being treated at the outpatient clinic
of the hoopitalo

Whetherthe Chaplain will return to the
prison in his official capacity has not
been determined at this POthe

A native of Louisville3 Kentuckys Ghap=
lain Jaggers attended the University of
Louisville» the Bryant and Stratton
Business College and the Southern Bape
tist Theological Seminarya He was
pastor of two large Iouisville churches
before accepting an appointment to the
prison churchg at which time he moved to
Kuttawas near the prisons

PASTOR or KUTTAWA CHURCH Is SUBSTITUTING
DURIN} CHAPLAIN JAGGsmse HOSPITILIZATION

'Born

‘hopes sometime to

 

The personable young minister of
Kuttawa"s First Baptist Church is serVQ
ing as Acting Chaplain during the illw
ness of Chaplain Paul Jaggersg who was

recently stricten with cancers

Reverend Galvin'Wilkinss 29.9 has volune
teered his time free of charge so that
inmates would not be without counsel
during the regular ChaplainVS absenoeo
Alternating in the pulpit with Reverend
Re G. Shelton (First Baptist Churchg

g

Wilkins also is in the
prison several times a week to hear ins
mate problems and to provide counsel.

in Muhlenburg County; Kentuckys
Wilkins lived in Evansville» Indiana
from the age of 7 until he was 18 years
old. Graduating from Bosse High School
of Evansvilles he attended Baylor Univ
versity in Texas for a times Later he
transferred to Georgetown College in
Kentuckyg where he took his Bachelor of
Arts degree in the Bible with a minor in
history.

Reverend Wilkins took his first churchg
the Baptist congregation in Hares Texass

in l95he In the nine years that folw
lowedg he has been pastor of four other
churches.

The father of three children s- a girl,
79 two boysg 3 and 9 wu'flilkins has not
yet found time to attend seminaryo He
attend the Southern

Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisa
'villeg howevero

rWilkins seems to have made the transim
tion from pastor of a free congregation

to prison chaplain with more than or=
dinary eases Part of many of his visits
to the prison has been spent in making
himself acquainted with the physical one
vironment and with the meno

PROBATION GRANTED IN'MANSLAUGHTBR CASE

Riverheadg No Yo (A?) me “You will feel
punishment every time one of your two
children asks youg 'Where"s Daddy?M

With that admonition8 a judge suspended
sentence on a 56eyear-old mother cone
victed of the fatal shooting last April
of her schoolteacher husband in an arm
guement over how to rear their two sons.

Judge Diokenson noted that it was un=
usual to give a suspended sentence on a
first degree manslaughter convictions

but told Mrs. Jean Bartos “The cause of
justice would not be served by putting
you in jail with hardened criminalso"

U':

 FRUSTRATIONS, HEARTACHES AND HARD WORK
ARE PART OF DAY'S WORK FDR.KSP TEACHERS

 

Teaching, whether in prison or in the
free world, is never an easy job; nor is
it always as rewarding as many suppose
it to be. But it would be hard to imp
agine any teaching job more frustrating
than teaching in a prison school —-
especially if the teacher happens to be
an inmate too.

Most of the frustration stems from the
peculiar convict attitude of distrusting
the knowledge of other convicts, and the
fact that the teacher must live inti-
mately with his students 2h hours a day,
year in and year out. Part of it is due
to the fact that inmates who are under
26 years of age and who cannot "test
out" higher than eighth grade on a
standard test of educational development
are required to attend school -- result-
ing in a captive audience situation that
few outside teachers would care to buck.

Add to this the lack of the more sophis-
ticated teaching aids, the fact that all
classes are conducted in the same room
at the same time (a problem that will be
eliminated when the new school building
is finished), and all the other physical
inadequacies of the school plant, and
you have a real king-sized headache for
anyone who sincerely wants to do a com—
petent job of teaching.

Yet the inmate instructors, with the
help of Supervisor of Education Henry
Cowan and vocational Instructor William
Egbert, do what must be described in
most cases as an excellent job in Spite
of the handicaps and headaches of their
work.

They get very little out of it per-
sonally, however. Except for bouquets
from the Speakers at graduation time and
whatever personal satisfaction they can
glean from their work, their only reward
is the standard eight cents a day and a
two-dollar bonus each month - a total
of $14.50 a month for one of the most
difficult jobs in the prison.

How well qualified are they?
6

There are no professional teachers among
the current crop of inmate instructors,
Not all have had college experience.
But most are people with inquisitive and
quick minds who have used their time in
prison to good advantage. Certainly
most have studied far beyond the high
school level and most are voracious
readers who have learned from their
teaching as well as their reading. And
most of them are teaching subjects that
are of special interest to themselves
and which they have studied more or lees
deeply before being assigned to the
018580

What kind of men are they otherwise?
Let the following sketches of each
teacher tell the story:

EUGENE TREVISD, 265 from Detroit,
Michigan, was sales manager for an edu-
cational materials company before coming
to prison. A first offender, he is
serving a life sentence. Married, with
two children ~~ a boy and a girl -- he
is a high school graduate and served in
the army for two years. He teaches
science in both the elementary and the
GED classes, sociology in the school's
new -pre=release program.

WILLIAM WISE, 3h, is from Indianapolis.
Serving 21 years, Wise has had 33-years
of college extension courses in business
administration from Indiana University.
Prior to coming to prison, he served 3
years in the army and worked as budget
manager for a Goodyear Service Store.
He is a surfwboarding enthusiast and
teaches health in the elementary school,
the Three R’s in the ”Old Mansj“ Class
we a course for older inmates who are
unable to read and write.

WILLIAM GRENAT, 35, is from Lawrence-
burg, Indiana, serving life and 3 years.
A carpenter outside, he takes his read-
ing seriously and lists it as his prinr
cipal hobby. Grenat completed his
secondary education here by passing the
GED test for a high school equivalency
diploma, a job his voracious reading
made easy. He teaches history in both
the elementary and GED classes.

 NDRMAND SANDERS9 529 from Paducahs
Kentucky; worked 3%- years toward an
engineering degree before leaving school

for the Air Forceo After two years
thereg he went to work as a structural
iron worker and established an ornam
mental iron shop of his cwno Normand is
divorced and serving a 5myear sentences
He teaches mathematics in the GED

classes and doubles as school clerko

SHERMAN JARED» 2&9 was top scorer in the
GED examinationso A native of Los
Angeles, California» he went into the
Army from his junior year at high
schools A member of the school swimming
team for 3 yearsg he Spent most of his
, free time outside surfboardings skins
divingg waterskiing and swimmingo He
teaches geographyg is serving lifeo

JAMES PAGEg 329 from Columbias Kentucky9
is also serving lifeo He has two chile

drens but he is divorceda is a high
school graduates and split four years
between the Army and the Air Forceg

where he studied at the NCO School and
learned jet mechanicso In outside lifeg
he was a machine operator and a receiVe
ing clerko He enjoys swimmingg golf and
rleatherworks and he teaches the third
grade and the Old Mans“ Glasso

DAVID TRODGLENO 309 is serving 10 years
from.0wensboro9 Kentuckyo Row divorceds
he is a graduate of the Owersboro high
School and formerly served as an intere
preter of Russian in the Armyp where he
attended language school. Outsidefl he
was a bookkeeper and construction mans
and photography is his hobbyo In heres
he teaches English on both elementary
and high school lovelsv business in the
preerelease programo

Jams LOUDERMILK‘, 57,, is the oldest in
the facultyo Hailing from Miamis
Floridas he attended the University of
Miami as a journalism major for 2 yearsg
worked as sports editor of the Collier

County (Florida) newspapero He also did
free lance wri‘hlngo Married» with h
children between the ages of 2 and 7

years, he was a First Class Aviation
Radioman in the Navy, where he spent
five years. He enjoys fishing, diving,

3 o 77

 

teaches mathematics and

He is serving 2 yearso

and swimming»
premreleaseo

NAMES 'SARGEANT EERNDDN
OF THE YEAR"

INMATE GROUP
WCORRECTIONAL OFFICER

 

An unofficial inmate group that calls
itself "The Barons of Good 'Will” has
named Sergeant William Herndons h79 Corn
rectional Officer of the yearo

Sergeant Herndons father of seven child=
ren and deacon of his Cobbs Kentucky
church» is an intelligent and friendly
officer who is generally liked and re~
spected by the inmateso He was assigned
to the day shift last Augusto

DIABETES CLAIMS LIFE OF INMATE

Shock from a diabetic condition is said
to have been the cause of the death of
James Bo Hoopers h], a lifer from Mack-
ville‘9 Kentuckyo Hooper died in his
sleep on the night of June 50

Hooper» who received his life sentence
under the Habitual criminal Act almost
eight years ago in Springfield,
Kentuckyp would have been eligible for
parole late this yearo

TEACHER IS HIGH SCORER ON'GBD TESTS

Sherman Jareds an inmate instructor in
the prison school” was among those roe
ceiving their GED high=school equiva=
lency certificates last montho Jared"s
average score of 6602 was the highest of
any made by inmates of either this ins
stitution or the reformatory at LaGrange
since the testing program was begun some
months agoo

Jared9s highest average was in social
studiesg a bit of irony since it was the
lack of social studies credit that kept
him from graduating from high school in
civilian lifeo

 

A DEFINITION OF FEAR

Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignov

rams o
-= Arnold H. Glascow

7

 STATES MUST CONFORM T0 FEDERAL STANDARDS
0N SEARCHES AND ARRESTS, SAYS HIGH COURT

The United States Supreme Court last
month ruled that state laWnenforcement
agencies are bound by the same procedu-
ral standards as the federal authorities
when making searches and arrests, ac-
cording to a UPI release.

The high court based its decision on tha
fourth amendment to the U0 So Constitu~
tion, which guarantees the right of the
people to be secure in their a'persons,
houses, papers and effects against un~
reasonable searches and seizures."
Under the new ruling, all state authoriw
ties must issue a warrant, properly
sworn or affirmed and for "probable
cause" before making searches or ar-
rests or seizing propertyo

In another ruling the court declared
that inmates of state institutions could
appeal to federal courts even though
they may not have exhausted their rights
of appeal in state courtso

Other recent rulings concerning criminal
proceedings, according to the release,
require appointment of counsel to inn
digests accused of felonies as well as
those who wish to appeal their con”
victions, and make it mandatory for
courts to treat wealthy and indigent dew
fendants alike when making rules govern»
ing free trial transcripts,

SCHDOL BEGINS FEE—RELEASE PROGRAM

 

The last two months of each prisoner's
stay here will be spent partly in a prev
release instruction course, according to
Supervisor of Education Henry Cowano

The classes, which take up an hour each
day, are for the purpose of training men
soon to be released in citizenship,
business mathematics, letterdwriting and
spellingo Inmate instructors Eugene
Treviso, David Trodglen and James
Loudermilk are teaching the classo

 

If men talked about only what they
understood, the silence would be unbearw
ableo —- Max lerner

8

womn INMATES CARE FOR RETARDED nos IN
lZ—YEAR-OID MINNESOTA ' PRISON PROGRAM

If the inmates of Minnesota's Shakepee
State Reformatory seem to show an un-
usually high interest in taking jobs in
child care and care of the mentally re-
tarded, it's perfectly understandable.
Shakopee Reformatory is Minnesota‘s
facility for female felons, and the in-
mates there have been serving as
"mothers" to retarded children for a
dozen yearso

The program started, according to THE
MENTOR, a penal press publication, when
someone in authority thought of using
one of the cottages on the reformatory
grounds to ease overcrowded conditions
in the facilities for retarded children.

“It didn't seem an unsuitable place for
children," says Ruby Co Benson, present
superintendent of the wallmless, cell—
less prisono “We had 35 handicapped
children'who could not help themselves
we and, a few yards away, women who
needed to satisfy their normal maternal
instincts. The idea of letting the
women care for the childrenWas new, all
right =a but it seemed logical. we've
never been sorryo"

The children were moved into the cot-
tage. Ten carefully screened volunteers
from the inmate body were then selected
to act as ”house mothers," and the prev
gram was underwayo

Children placed with foster mothers at
the reformatory are trained to the limit
of their capacity before making the
transfero Then, at Shakopee, the girls
care for the children physically, cone
tinue their training and give them love.

Ihe children, who range in age from four
to twelve years old, often express
eagerness to get back to Shakopee'when
taken home for a visit with their
parentso As for the “mothers," the pr0’
gram seems to benefit them, tOOo Not
only do they have an outlet for a
womanVS natural instincts, but they
often seem to get their own lives
straightened out in the process°

 ' w \u cl 5r

@de‘l‘ium'f

 

KENTUCKY CONVICTS MAY NO LONGER CONSIDER THEMSELVES FORGOTTEN MEN

Now that the parole reform hills which appears to be only the first step in the
revision and modernization of Kentuckyfls longeneglected penal systems has passed
both House and Senateg it is high time the CASTLE expressed the gratitude that many
of no here feel toward those individuals and organizations reopensible for what
must be considered a definitely new and mm for Kentucky =m revolutionary attitude
toward oonvicted men and their problemso

we do not pretend to speak for the entire inmate bodyo No prison publication oan
hope to do theta any more than a newspaper can be truly the ”noise" of its areao
The inmates of Kentuckyis prisons have been forgotten men for so long9 through so
many changes of administrations that many are not yet ready to believe that anye
thing concrete will really be done about the prisonso

Yet I think that most thoughtful members of the inmate body7will agree with us that
fresh winds have begun to blow over the stone walls of the prisons the winds of
humanity and reason and hopeo I think also that they will pray with us that these
winds will continue to blow strongly enough to dispel the stale airs of blind tram
dition and hypocrisy and apathy that have stifled and smothered the prisons for so
long 000 and the human beings who inhabit theno

But winds of change are no more self generating than are the winds of natureo The
parole reform bill is not itself the generating force; for laws as well as prom
grams are no better than the men who make and administer theme Rather it is the
thought and spirit and attitude behind the laws that will make the real difference
in the lives of those of us locked away here ands indirectly9 in the welfare of the
entire stateo

Certainly Governor Combs exhibited wisdom as well as humanity when he refused some
time ago to leap into a program of change before he had enough information ’m be
sure the ohanges would be good oneso He got and is getting that information from
his "ihsk Force on Correctionsg" a group of individuals who are helping to bring
new enlightenment and a new'sPirit to Kentucky penologyo

The newspapers of Iouisvilleg .LPaduemah9 Lexington and the other major areas of the
state threw the weight of their influence against a wall of pnblio indifference toe
ward and ignorance of penal affairs.9 playing a vital role in shocking the oitizens
of Kentucky out of their apathy and educating them to the human requirements of men
behind barso ‘Within the Department of Correctionss men 'who have had the knowbhow
and desire to do something about the waste of lives and talents behind these wallso

9;

 

 

 but who have often found their efforts frustrated by inadequate funds and interest,
have got solidly behind the new movement and, in some cases, have helped to spark
it. '

The lawmaking bodies of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, both of which voted over—
-whelmingly for the reform bill, deserve considerable credit for the courage and
foresight they displayed by their actions in special session. So do those individ—
ual senators and representatives who defended the bill so eloquently against the
Opposition ~- an opposition which even so baSed its complaints not on the nature of
the bill, but the belief that it was not enough and not wellwtimedt

But if -- as seems certain new -- real changes are going to be made to bring
Kentucky's walled.wastelands into the Twentieth century, it also means that new re~
sponsibilities are going to be thrust on us, the prisoners of Kentuckyo And this,
too, is a welcome change. For too long, convicts have been treated much like
erring children, to be sat in the corner to look at blank walls for a given.period
of time and then released to err again. If the start that has been made is con-
tinued, the responsibility for getting out of that corner will be put where it

belongs -= on our shoulders. we hope we haven‘t forgotten how to carry a load.

 

 

Condensed From

Federal Probation

 

THE IAST FULL OUNCE

By James V. Bennet, Director

Federal Bureau of Prisons

 

The Federal judge had before him a 53-
yearuold defendant who pleaded guilty to
a charge of transporting forged securi~
ties interestateo The judge was inn

formed that the authorities of several_

other jurisdictions would not prosecute
the defendant on additional check forg-
ing charges, provided the Federal
Government imposed an appropriate penal~

tyo

The man was a first offender. Following
the death of his wife 18 months previn
ously, he had become desPondent. In an
attempt to fill the emotional gap in his
life, he had undertaken the courtship of
a middleaged widow. After he had ex»
pended his fina