$3.oo Inside Southern Prisons Winter, 1978 Vol. VI, No. 4

Guest Editor Tony Dunbar

Issue Coordinator Kathleen Zobel

Managing Editor Bob Hall

Editorial Staff Clare Jupiter Jennifer Miller Marc Miller Jim Overton Joe Pfister Geraldine Robinson

Lay-out and Design Karen Barrows

Composition Southern Types Chapel Hill, NC

Cover Photograph Jackson Hill

Southern Exposure® published quar¬ terly by the Institute for Southern Studies. A subscription for one year costs S10 for individuals and $12 for libraries and institutions. Address all editorial and subscription corres¬ pondence to Southern Exposure, P.O. Box 230, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Second Class postage is paid at Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Copyright © Institute for Southern Studies, Kroger Plaza, Chapel Hill, NC. ISSN: 0146:809X. Post Office Publication No. 053470.

Articles, fiction, poetry and photo¬ graphs are welcome. Send stamped self-addressed envelope for guide¬ lines: Box 230, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. 2 Letters to the Editor

WHO GOES TO PRISON

TONY DUNBAR 3 Introduction: Still Life MICHAEL A. KROLL 6 The Prison Experiment: A Circular History HA RR/OTT JOHNSON QUIN 12 Daily Justice SEAN KERNAN 15 Prison Portfolio NZ/NGA NJERI 18 Making of a Conscious Warrior MARC MILLER 25 The Numbers Game

BEHIND WALLS

JOHN VODICKA 32 Prison Plantation: The Story of Angola JIMMY STOWE 39 Portraits from Craggy GENE GUERRERO 42 Scientific Penology Comes to Georgia ANDREW GRIFFIN 48 “Hey, My Mom’s in Prison” WILLIAM CAUSSE 52 Another Day TONYSAYER 56 When the Preacher Carries the Keys TOM R. WARREN 59 The Wonderful World of Rectum Inspection RAY MARCH 60 Free Men: Three Generations of Alabama Prison Guards

RITUAL SACRIFICE

RANDALL WILLIAMS 70 The Legacy of Legalized Murder DUDLEY CLEND/NEN 74 John Spenkelink: Scheduled to Die CLARE JUPITER 76 Lost Lives greg McDonald 80 The High Price of J ustice VIRGINIA FOSTER 84 What If It Was My Boy?

LOOKING AHEAD

JOE INGLE 88 What You Can Do WILLIAM LEEKE, WILLIAM NAGEL 94 What the Experts Say BECKI NEY, POLLY SMITH 97 Alternatives That Work WA YNE BROOKS 100 From Where I Stand 102 Book Reviews Letters to the Editor A Dream from Prison, by Anthony Kamahele Brushy Mountain Prison, Tennessee

Months ago, when Southern Expo¬ On Human Rights hole naked and the blowers were sure announced the upcoming issue on turned on full speed. I shivered for prisons in the South, we received quite Dear Mr. President (Jimmy Carter): three whole days without food or a few thought-provoking responses from Reduce your energies by 99.9 water and I slept on a cold concrete prisoners. Here are excerpts from three percent about the Human Rights of floor the whole while I was in the dark of those letters. the People of the USSR and other hole, and after the third day I was taken parts of the world. Turn around and out of the dark hole and put in a cell come on back home to America. There to sleep on naked steel and was told that On Imprisonment is a whole lot lacking in the Human if I write a writ against them, I would be Rights of American Minorities and killed. But I took my chances and filed When a man’s mind is being torn from especially the “Penal System of Ameri¬ anyway; that case is still pending. ca.” We But that is reality — he is a man toward insanity. prisoners need Human Rights, really when the conspir¬ Men in this situation and state of mind desperately, desperately. acy really started, and to this day I am are with my back against the wall. programmed for self-destruction. Israel L. Rogers Such a terrible waste of God’s There is no greatest Camp J understanding here repay among the administration for the gift: Life! How does this Society? Angola, La. To whom ever has the heart, the inmate, nor is there any respect. The courage and wisdom to understand that officials here feel that we the inmates I cry not for pity but on the contrary. “My Color Is My Crime” need no respect and are nothing more Only wishing to make sight for those than names and numbers, and they, I have been in who walk in blindness, for such punish¬ prison almost nine years. the officials, are our lord and master I came to Parchman in ever ment can never repay Society for the 1971 and and we their servants. This penal system since then crime. my life has been a tightrope is based upon false pretenses. What man on earth has the right to and survival is natural instinct; in order In Parchman Prison, here in Missis¬ for a man to survive here he must bestow such punishment upon another stoop sippi, we the black inmates dominate and in man? This man, whoever he may be, I my case be an Uncle Tomming the prison population. Aren’t all of us pray for his lonely soul, for his punish¬ nigger, something which I could never here for a crime, but most of us are ment is or will be far greater than the measure up to. First these people take here for being black and that alone is punishment he has bestowed upon his what little freedom I did have out in our crime This so-called prison is fellow man. society by framing me, and me being nothing more than a plantation and, ignorant of the law at that time and in truth, it is run as such. Rudy Berain couldn’t do anything for myself and nor I eat to survive, I sleep only to wake Baton Rouge Parish Prison could I turn to anyone for help, because up to the same nightmare and I live Baton Rouge, La. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my for the undying love and desire to mouth. help my people and I am here in this In ’72 I was beaten by trusties and world by the grace of my God.

prison guards. During that time one had Vernon Madison to say “Yes sir, Boss” or “Captain” Parchman Prison which I refused to do, so I was beaten Parchman, Miss. and kicked, also spit on and sprayed with mace, and thrown in the dark

2 TONY DUNBAR

Introduction: Still Life

Late one summer evening in Atlanta, a urban zoos and dying countryside? All that 20-year-old man walked into a suburban the distraught store clerk could offer was, superette and paused to examine the magazine “The guy ought to be off the streets.” But he, rack. When the store’s only other customer too, had had a few unpleasant brushes with made her purchase and left, the youth strolled the law and was not so sure where his armed to the checkout counter, pulled a .357 assailant should be sent, or for how long. revolver out of his jacket, pointed it at the And what should society do with the clerk and ordered the frightened boy to lie thousands of less damaging lawbreakers who down on the floor. He grabbed the $87 that commit what one of our authors terms “the was in the cash register and ran for the door, common cold of crime”: the drunken brawl¬ where he collided with an elderly woman try¬ ers, check forgers, pill stealers, car thieves, ing to enter. At the sight of his weapon she stereo snatchers, hookers, winos, drug users fainted to the sidewalk. Her next week would and rip-off artists? They are the “average be spent in Grady Hospital recoyering from criminal,” and they are paraded through what was called a slight heart attack. The courthouses from Richmond to Baton Rouge robber reached his car parked beside the curb, by the hundreds every day. To commit, but even before he could get it started the correct, corral and punish them requires an police had been flagged down by an onlooker enormous job force of police, lawyers, judges, and were in the parking lot. Their quarry counselors, probation and parole officers, surrendered meekly; he was handcuffed and doctors and jailers — but reported crime carried downtown. In a darkened apartment, still increases. the lights turned off for nonpayment, his wife In response to rising crime, many states and child were left without support. legislate ever-lengthening sentences. Tennessee, It was almost a routine event. An armed for example, will now hold a person sen¬ robbery occurs every few hours in Atlanta. tenced to “life” for 30 years before even The damage was relatively slight in this case: considering him for parole. But the suspicion a woman temporarily hospitalized, a trembling persists that treatment of this nature, too store clerk vowing that he will quit his job as terrible to be comprehended by most citizens, soon as he can find another way to pay his does nothing but warp men and women college tuition. The “suspect in custody” beyond recognition, making them unfit to received 10 years in prison, but he had been live in a free society. there before. He was nine years old the first The 50 or so convicts who contributed to time he got busted, for stealing a baseball this volume confirm that lengthy incarcera¬ bat, and he spent three months in a Dekalb tion merely encourages criminal-like behavior County juvenile facility waiting for the court and engenders bitterness which ultimately to find him a foster home. Now his record, will be felt by all of us who walk the street, as the police say, is as long as your arm. sit in the park, run a business or own anything What is to be done with the perpetrators worth stealing. Oscar Wilde told the story a of such crimes, the disturbed and some¬ century ago when he wrote, “The vilest deeds times dangerous people produced by our bloom well in prison air / It is only what is

3 good in man that wastes and withers there.” get them illegally. To do otherwise is to There is simply no escaping the conclusion accept deprivation, indignity and injustice, that our present system breeds crime. It may in that sense, all us in here are political slowly waste people, but the process itself prisoners because we are victims of an op¬ promotes rather than eliminates crime. pressive economic and political order. The One drastic alternative to imprisonment criminal law that affects us is essentially a is execution, and though a civilized people codification of the values and self-interest of must balk at such an option, the spectre of the dominant class. state-sanctioned mass murder looms large as frustrated officials attempt to save them¬ Too few citizens now play a part in deciding selves by offering simple-minded solutions to how justice is practiced in our communities — an angry public. This volume, published in and who it is practiced against. It is not suf¬ October, 1978, comes on the eve of what may ficient to leave to the courts the job of label¬ be a wave of executions, beginning with John ing people as “criminals,” to the corrections Spenkelink in Florida (see page 74). If the officials the task of defining “humane treat¬ media, politicians and public can stomach ment” for offenders, or to the legislators the such a spectacle, our chances of rationally responsibility of deciding how many years or addressing the basic realities of crime and how many volts it will take to deter a young punishment in America are evermore remote. man or woman from breaking the law. Someday, somehow, we must face the No issue is more vital than the right of central fact that our prison system in general people to be safe in their homes and in the and the death penalty in particular are not in¬ streets, yet we assign the work of our protec¬ struments of justice. They do not apply to tion to professionals who, the record suggests, everyone equally. The figures show that those know little more about the problem than we whom we are condemn almost without excep¬ do ourselves. The stakes include the very life tion the poor, uneducated, underemployed, of our community, and each of us must play ill-defended, the misfits and social outcasts. a part in the winning. By failing to imprison the heads of callous We intend this twenty-fourth issue of corporations, by letting the embezzler off Southern Exposure as a “reader” for reflection with six months and then sending a poor on why the system is failing and what we can thief to 12 years in a distant and unseen hell, do about it. The voices heard here are all part we demonstrate that the criminal justice of the criminal justice system in one way or system is a cynical, schizophrenic device to another; they are grouped in four sections to perpetuate our biases in favor of the rich and address four central questions: who goes to our need to control the poor. The conclusion jail, what happens inside, is the death penalty drawn by one convict who wrote us is even necessary, are there alternatives. There are no more to the point: simple solutions offered here to a system that daily confuses and threatens us. Rather we Most people who come from a poor class intend this book as the basis for discussion environment where money’s hard to come by about why we are now losing the battle against have been brainwashed from childhood up to crime, and as an invitation to our readers to believe that to be “somebody” they’ve got to accept their responsibility for devising a have property, education and material goods. criminal justice system that is fair, protective The system does not permit many of us to and positive. obtain these things legally, so we will try to SECTION ONE

Who Goes to Prison

photo by Sean Kernan Michael A. Kroll

The Prison EXPERIMENT:

A Circular History

for inexpensive labor in the colonies and Adopted in the Pennsylvania colonial the cost of maintaining the vagrants at assembly, the new code provided that home, England shipped more than a majority of crimes be punished by It is difficult to imagine a prison-less 50,000 convicts to the American colo¬ “hard labor” in a house of correction. society. As small children, we invent nies in the 150 years preceding the This code governed the Pennsylvania games where the “good guys” put the Revolution (after which Australia be¬ Colony until the British compelled its “bad guys” in jail. In adolescence, we came the primary destination for the abandonment in 1718 in favor of the play packaged games and try to avoid exiles). earlier, more brutal codes which still going directly to jail and forfeiting our Ironically, the eighteenth-century prevailed in the other colonies. $200 while we cluck our tongues pious¬ Age of Enlightenment encouraged the But the idea remained alive. Within ly over an acquaintance sent to juvenile rise of prisons. Prior to that time, no two years after the end of the Revolu¬ hall. And finally grown, most of us general philosophy other than utility tionary War, a small group of people either become hard-liners, wanting to underlay the confinement of paupers. met in the home of Benjamin Franklin send more people to prison in hopes But by 1779, the English jail reformer, in Pennsylvania to discuss punishment of reducing crime in the streets, or we John Howard, sickened by his own in the new state. Dr. Benjamin Rush, turn into liberals who hope that by re¬ experiences overseeing English jails and one of the signers of the Declaration of ducing the overcrowding and neglect in emboldened by a growing movement for Independence, presented a paper propos¬ our antiquated and gloomy fortresses compassion in the legal system, succeed¬ ing a new treatment of criminals. Dr. we may enable the offender to make ed in getting the English Parliament to Rush proposed a multi-faceted prison something of his or her life. pass an act to establish “penitentiary program including: (1) classification But imprisonment as punishment is a houses.” But the English, in the midst of prisoners for housing; (2) a rational relatively new idea in the history of of a losing overseas adventure that was system of prison labor to make the pris¬ political organization — an experimental draining the national treasury, never on self-supporting, including gardens to reform of seventeenth-century America put the law into general use. provide food and outside exercise for which we now accept as a given. Until It remained for the newly indepen¬ the prisoners; (3) individualized treat¬ late into the eighteenth century, criminal dent country of the United States of ment for convicts according to whether sanctions in Europe took the forms of America to implement Howard’s plan their crimes were those of passion, habit, fines and capital and corporal punish¬ on a grand scale. And the American or temptation; and (4) indeterminate ment. A few people were confined to Quakers proved the most important sentences. In that same year, Quakers public institutions but these were main¬ force for the introduction of imprison¬ organized the “Philadelphia Society for ly debtors’ workhouses and holding ment. Long before the Revolution, in Alleviating the Miseries of Public Pris¬ tanks for those awaiting trial or punish¬ fact, Quakers had experimented with ons.” Through itslobbying,Pennsylvania ment. detention as a form of punishment. passed a new criminal code in 1790 The only widely used alternative to Shocked by the brutality and blood¬ which permanently established impris¬ corporal punishment — which included letting of corporal punishment, the onment at hard labor as the normal execution, flogging, mutilation and Quakers, who dominated Pennsylvania, method of punishing convicted crim¬ public ridicule in the stocks and pillor¬ put through a number of reforms inals. The first jail designed under ies — was exile. Prompted by demands culminating in the “Great Law”of 1682. the new code, the Walnut Street Jail

6 ProductionsHumanity

Prisons replaced stocks and pillories and were the first “reform.” in Philadelphia, contained individual era, including the Kentucky State Peni¬ cells for the solitary confinement of the tentiary at Frankfort, the Virginia State offender, thus giving birth to the Early American Prisons Penitentiary at Richmond and the modern prison system. And imprison¬ Georgia State Penitentiary at Milledge- ment took its place as the cornerstone Though the first prison was estab¬ ville), the states introduced innovations of the criminal justice response system lished in 1790, by 1 800 the Pennsylvania to combat problems of discipline and in the young country. facility had already begun to show escape. Massachusetts furnished its From that time in 1790 to the weaknesses due chiefly to overcrowding. guards with “a gun, a bayonet and a present, America’s experiment with But the program during the first decade strong cutlass to be worn as a side arm,” imprisonment has been characterized by appeared to function well enough for and can be credited with introducing extraordinarily regular bursts of liberal other states to copy the experiment. such controls as “collars or rings to be reformist zeal. At generation-long inter¬ For the first few years, inmates — both worn by such prisoners as shall in any vals, new philosophies develop to explain men and women — worked at a number way discover a disposition to escape.” the failure of the period just past and of trades and earned roughly what The legislature later amended this to “an to justify the continuance and expan¬ their free world counterparts earned. iron ring on their left leg to which a clog sion of prisons into the future. The cost of their upkeep was deducted attached by a chain shall be suspended The philosophy of imprisonment, from their wages. Prisoners could during their continuance at prison....” since that first earn a step away from mutila¬ pardon for good conduct and The power of executive pardons also tion, can roughly be broken into five hard work and many were in fact underwent a change. Hailed early on distinct eras: the Early American Prison pardoned. No chains or irons were al¬ as a stimulus to good work on the part (1790-1830), the Penitentiary System lowed. Guards were forbidden to use of the prisoner, the pardon had been (1830-1870), the Reformatory System weapons of any kind. Corporal punish¬ granted so frequently that in 1823, (1870-1900), the Industrial Prison ment was not allowed. As other states Virginia became the first state to de¬ (1900-1935) and the Rehabilitative Pris¬ made use of the Pennsylvania experi¬ prive its governor of the power. on (1935-?). With the growing consensus ment, they modified it to fit their Corporal punishment, barred at first, that the philosophy of rehabilitation has circumstances and ideas. Virginia, under soon reappeared. Georgia used the “cow also failed, we are embarking on our the influence of Thomas Jefferson’s skin,” the “slue paddle,” and the newest rationale for imprisonment: architectural designs, constructed a “wooden horse” to enforce rigid disci¬ “just desserts” — a philosophy stripped prison intended to house one man per pline; Maryland reintroduced flogging; of any pretensions to altruism. cell — a plan not followed until the next New Jersey experimented with solitary Each of these concepts was believed era of prison philosophy in 1830. confinement on bread and water for at the time to be the answer to rising Massachusetts introduced red and blue extended periods of time; and by 1807, crime. Each failed. The failure of each uniforms. New York “refined” the sys¬ Kentucky relied on the whip and the produced debilitating conditions of tem of uniforms in 1815 by requiring ball and chain to maintain order. overcrowding and brutality within the all its inmates to wear the now familiar Following the initial Quaker impetus, prisons, which have in turn been the prison stripes. religion played only a minor role in the single most consistent justification for As new prisons sprang up (eleven philosophical justification for imprison¬ prison expansion at each juncture. major institutions opened in this first ment and prison programs through the 7 Above: Chain gang poses in front of early nineteenth century. The primary transport wagons, 1919. Below: Eastern basis for imprisonment was “rational¬ State Penitentiary. ity”: incarceration as the rational penalty for society’s criminals. But with the failure of “rational codes” to decrease crime, focus shifted to the “criminal” and causes for his or her deviancy were easily located in the environment. The religious community led the new “reform.” One of the founders of the New York Prison Asso¬ ciation, Unitarian minister William Channing, declared, “The first and most obvious cause of crime is an evil organi¬ zation derived from evil parents. Bad germs bear bad fruit.” Channing’s moral stance led directly to the policy of isolation: in the austere silence of one’s cell, the prisoner could get back to God. Once isolated, “the progress of corruption is arrested; no additional contamination can be re¬ ceived or communicated.” The most important question of the period became whether to isolate totally, as the Pennsylvania Quakers urged, or to isolate only at night, allowing prisoners to work together, in silence, during the day as the New York Unitarians advo¬ cated. Though the differences seem ir¬ relevant today, both camps were pas¬ sionately committed to their respective positions. Nevertheless, both groups agreed on a number of points. First, the prisons of the 1790s had failed because they had not separated the inmates. Second, since the criminals’ environ¬ ment led to their crime, an institutional environment would be responsible for their reformation. And third, the archi¬ tecture of prisons became central to both camps. Prisons had to be designed for maximum isolation. Clearly, neither the Quakers nor the Unitarians nor any other group ques¬ tioned institutionalization itself.* It had become an accepted part of American life.

Humanity Penitence: Productions 1830-1870 NC The seeds for the second era of Division prison philosophy, which had been Archivesof sown in the earliest days of the Repub¬ and lic, finally blossomed with the opening History of Pennsylvania’s Eastern Penitentiary in 1829. The basic idea guiding the design of this penitentiary, and which influenced both prison construction and administration for the next century,

8 was separate confinement of all inmates, 19,086 people in prison. By 1870, after production, which was $19 million in at hard labor. Reformers did not con¬ the Civil War, that number had jumped 1885, grew to $34 million by 1905, and sider the labor punitive, but restorative. to 32,901. doubled again by 1930. The inmate lived, slept and spent his It became clear that the philosophy During the Great Depression, how¬ working days in the cell, except for of penitence had not worked. Crime ever, unions and free industry forced one hour a day of exercise. Solitude soared and prisons were as overcrowded their state and federal legislatures to was so rigidly enforced that prisoners as ever. A new burst of prison construc¬ eliminate the sale of prison products on exercised in the yard one at a time tion began after the War; these institu¬ the open market. The only prison indus¬ to prevent inmate contamination by tions applied a new philosophy: refor¬ tries to survive were those which served inmate. mation. More than 30 reformatories were the state, such as the manufacture of The Pennsylvania system of cellular built during the quarter century follow¬ license plates and school desks. confinement was soon modified by ing the Civil War. In the South, partly because of the practical, physical considerations. Cells Emphasis on production and profits weakness of unions and the pro-business were so small that work in them became characterized these youth prisons. In legislatures, this transition occurred impossible and group areas had to be addition, the Reformatory introduced more slowly. The Civil War virtually established for both work and dining. two other features of the modern wiped out the region’s fledgling peni¬ These work areas helped make money system: sentences were indeterminate tentiary system, and in the years that for the institution but permitted the (and could last until adulthood), and followed, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, possibility of “cross infection” by prisoners could be released if they Louisiana, and Arkansas leased out their allowing communication between con¬ maintained good records. All prisoners entire prison populations to private victs. To prevent such contact, prison were graded according to achievement contractors, giving rise to some of the authorities instituted the “rule of and conduct, and only those who most brutal conditions in a world of silence,” which required all prisoners to reached the “first grade” could be brutal conditions. Alabama, Virginia, refrain from talking at work, meals, or paroled. The Reformatory Period Kentucky, Tennessee and the Carolinas anywhere, and to keep their eyes down sowed the seeds for the Rehabilitation maintained central prisons but leased when outside their own cells. Violators Period that would come 50 years the majority of their prisoners to private were whipped. later.f employers such as coal companies and During this period, 25 new prisons plantations. While these persons com¬ peted with private farms, they had the joined the growing system. Though The Industrial Prison: “social virtues” of larger, they quickly grew as overcrowded 1900-1935 financing the correc¬ as their smaller predecessors. By 1838, tional systems and maintaining planta¬ the 5,000 cell Michigan State Prison tion cultures. Though no longer much opened at Jackson, and architects saw By the beginning of the twentieth of a money-maker, the plantation prison the possibility of making the prisons century, authorities and critics alike remains a fixture in the South today. large enough to be cost-effective as units recognized how little reforming had The Texas system, for example, which is of production. been done within the reformatories. The surpassed only by the United States All these institutions had substantial¬ prison populations had increased again, government in the number of people ly the same architecture, programs, and by more than 60 percent since the it imprisons, is largely financed by even rules and regulations. Each had Civil War. To meet this growing horde inmate labor in the cotton fields. (The tier on tier of gloomy cells, a program of convicts, prison officials stretched 13th Amendment abolished slavery of daily work and Sunday religious old facilities to the bursting point, “except as punishment for crime.”) services, uniforms, a thin, monotonous renovated existing facilities, and began diet, and cruel punishments for rule- another round of prison construction. “Rehabilitation”: breakers. The public became less and Except in rare cases, American The Modern Prison less concerned about prison problems prisons from 1900 to 1935 were custo¬ because they had less and less oppor¬ dial, punitive and industrial. Classifica¬ tunity to see or hear what went on in tion and “moral instruction” faded as With the demise of the industrial the prisons. When the new factory overcrowding and costs increased; the prison and the great increase in prison system of production began to turn potential of the prison industry to pay populations again (a 140 percent in¬ the prisons into profit-making ventures, for its operating costs outweighed the crease between 1904 and 1935), new legislatures accepted that penitentiaries moral justification for silence and soli¬ prisons had to be built and a new philo¬ should remain a permanent part of tary confinement. The value of prison sophy invented. Prison experts pro- public administration.

♦Ironically, among the few organized the choice of the site of the Winter Olympic The Reformatory Period: groups in this country who have begun to Village at Lake Placid, New York, for our 1870-1900 challenge the very concept of imprisonment newest youth prison, the editor of a small are the Unitarians and the Quakers, whose newspaper could write: “We cannot experiment has molded our thinking on the see the disadvantage to placing confused, The need to make the institutions subject for 200 years. rebellious, wayward young men in this environment. Perhaps here, if anywhere, money-generating became crucial as fThe Reformatory notion of saving they will be able to find some healing for the numbers of prisoners rapidly grew. our youth has remained an influence to the wounds that city life has inflicted upon In 1860, the Federal census reported the present day. Thus, in 1978, defending them.”

9 Above: Cell-block in old wing of Auburn claimed the new philosophy of rehabili¬ State Prison. Below. Visiting room. tation. At the same time, another funda¬ mental element was added to the equation with the 1930 birth of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The federal government had entered the prison picture in 1895 when Congress gave the Department of Justice use of the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Shortly before the turn of the century, the first civilian federal institution was built nearby. The second federal prison opened in Atlanta in 1905 and, shortly thereafter, a third was added to the federal system — McNeil Island in Washington state, which had first been opened and oper¬ ated as a territorial jail in 1865. They represented the entire federal arsenal of prisons until 1925 (and all are still in use today). But during the decade of the 1920s, new federal crimes, particularly liquor and narcotics violations and inter¬ state car thefts — required the rapid ex¬ pansion of the federal system until today there are more than 60 federal institutions housing 30,000 prisoners. The creation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons coincided with the beginning of the rehabilitation philosophy of im¬ prisonment. The legislation creating the Bureau states: “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress that prisons be so planned and limited in size as to

. . . assure the proper classification and segregation of prisoners according to their mental condition and such other factors as should be taken into consider¬ ation in providing an individualized system of discipline, care and treatment of the persons committed to such insti¬ tutions.” Humanity To enhance the possibility of rehabil¬ itation, the indeterminate sentence, Productions a which had been feature of the Re¬ formatory, came into its own. If a prisoner had a fixed release date, the theory went, there would be no incen¬ tive to improve. So, release became tied to the inmate’s ability to convince the parole board he or she had been rehabil¬ itated. The Federal Bureau of Prisons fully embraced this idea. Director San¬ ford Bates said in 1934: “The prison of the future aims to release its prison¬ ers if, as and when it can be reasonably sure that they and society alike have profited by the instructions and rehabil¬ itative efforts that have been offered to them.”

10 “Liberals” Call For again. It is unending. In truth, our them to be “patriotic and eager to serve “Just Desserts” prison system has had a single thread of their country” in 1941. The prison consistency: expansion. population declined by 4,659 during The belief that we could rehabilitate Five years before the official creation those years, enough people to fill ten criminals in our prisons has had no more of the Bureau of Prisons, the Attorney prisons. But, by 1946, when unemploy¬ positive results than any of the other General was telling the Congress: “The ment rates again rose and the country rationales adopted and discarded in our federal penitentiaries are crowded far no longer needed “patriotic” soldiers, short history. In fact, the goal of rehabil¬ beyond their normal capacity...the need the prison population again increased itation has given rise to grotesque for additional institutions was never by more than 20 percent in the year and behavior modification models. Propo¬ greater.” a half following the War. nents of rehabilitation still administer Fifteen years later, a new Atttorney During the Korean War, the popula¬ some of our prisons and sit in our General reported: “Our existing insti¬ tion declined by more than 1,000 Congress. (In the recent debate on re¬ tutions are crowded far beyond their prisoners, only to rise again after the vision of the criminal code, Senator normal capacity...we must undertake a troops came home. Between the end of Kennedy made an impassioned — and broad, long-range building program.” the Korean War and 1963, federal successful — plea to defeat an amend¬ Another 15 years passed and another prisoners increased by 33 percent. But ment that would have deleted rehabili¬ Attorney General’s report was issued: beginning in 1964, with the massive tation as a reason for locking up people.) “Overpopulation places a serious burden escalation in Vietnam the prison popu¬ Since World War II, the “we’re doing it on the federal prison facilities....We lation again declined. By 1968, it had for your own good” reasoning has been must build.” shrunk by 4,800. The Tet offensive in the most potent influence on prison This year, the Bureau director told 1968 signalled not only our eventual de¬ philosophy and design. Congress: “The Bureau’s long-range feat in Vietnam, but the beginning of the But, like all the justifications before construction program was undertaken biggest boom in prison construction in it, rehabilitation has fallen into disre¬ specifically to reduce institutional over¬ our history. Reduced to 19,815 prisoners pute and a new cry is being heard crowding. In the Spring of 1975, an in¬ in 1968, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is among “liberal” penologists: “just des¬ crease in the federal prison population today responsible for 33,029 people, an serts.” Based on the theory that punish¬ began which was unprecedented in size, increase of 67 percent in 10 years. ment for antisocial behavior should be and largely unexpected. This increase “There is to one who surveys the just that, the just desserts philosophy is in prisoner population has severely history of prisons over 150 years,” wrote unencumbered by any “do-gooder” taxed our facilities and our staff. Wayne Morse in a 1940 report for the baggage and bears a striking resemblance Despite continuing support of our Attorney General, “considerable signifi¬ to the original “rational” principles programs, growth in institution capacity cance in the persistence and elusiveness guiding penology in America. has not kept pace with population of the custodial-punitive characteristic Just desserts has been adopted by the increase.” of imprisonment. Attempts have been present director of the Federal Bureau We are exactly where we started, ex¬ made to develop prisons as agencies of of Prisons, Norman Carlson, as ardently cept our caged population has grown. In moral instruction, as great educational as rehabilitation was embraced by his 1850, 60 years after the Walnut Street institutions, and finally as great industrial predecessor. It represents an apparent Jail was opened in Philadelphia, there centers; and in each instance the attempt pendulum swing to the right by were not quite 7,000 people in prison, has failed. After all is said and done, im¬ reformers and is accompanied, as each or three out of every 10,000 Americans. prisonment remains a custodial and new philosophical “answer” has been, By 1900 that figure had grown to more punitive agency.” by demands for another huge expansion than 50,000, or seven out of every As long as we keep searching for the in prison building. 10,000. Today, the prison population is "right philosophy,” there is no reason In addition to just desserts, the code 250,000, 11 out of every 10,000. (If to hope that this assessment will change. words most likely to justify the secure we add to this figure the number con¬ The plain truth is that as long as we caging of the next generation of Ameri¬ fined in our jails and juvenile detention have prison cells we will fill them and as can prisoners are “career criminal.” centers, the total approaches 600,000 long as we fill them we will create more Since anyone with two or more criminal people.) In the South, prisoners make prison cells. Until we, individually and convictions is defined as a career up an even higher percentage of the popu¬ collectively, demand an end to the criminal, the phrase serves only to lation: 80,000 people, or 13 out of every barbarity of imprisonment, we can define that class of people already im¬ 10,000 Southerners, are in jail. expect only the barbarity of war to have prisoned. Though our definitions and Except for three periods, federal any effect on reducing a prison popula¬ justifications of criminality and punish¬ prison expansion has been constant. tion that already exceeds the per capita ment change, the same people always These three exceptions are like beacons population of any industrial nation end up in prison: the poor, the minor¬ illuminating the values of our govern¬ except South Africa.□ ities, the disenfranchised. No amount of ment. During the first three decades of tinkering with those definitions has ever life, the Bureau’s prison population Michael A. Kroll coordinates the altered that basic fact. grew by 55 percent. But between 1941 National Moratorium on Prison Con¬ The federal prison system, though and 1945, the population declined by struction, a joint project of the Uni¬ only 50 years old, has reflected the 23 percent. The Attorney General who tarian Universalist Service Committee same responses as the state systems: had described prisoners as dangerous and the National Council on Crime and build, fill, crowd, overcrowd and build and increasingly violent in 1940, found Delinquency. 11 Daily Justice

By Harriott Johnson Quin

The Magistrate’s office is a way- shoplifting. Across from him glowers cence. The Magistrates know her well, station for people charged, after arrest, the manager of the auto supply store will release her again, aware that if with criminal offenses. A rotating group holding in his hand the $2.95 battery she were put in jail, five young children of individuals appointed by the court, which he retrieved from the ragged coat would be motherless or would be placed the Magistrates hold a degree of discre¬ of the accused as he tried to slip out of in foster homes. In boundless faith she tionary power often misunderstood by the store. Already, both defendant and promises to appear in court. the public. accuser seem weary of the slow process In another room sit the kids, adoles¬ By formalizing the arrest proceedings — both have been in this place many cents of 14, 15 and 17, charged with initiated by police, the Magistrate’s of¬ times before. drug possession — sometimes just dope fice serves as the starting point for the There, in the adjacent office, sits the but often a more dazzling array of criminal justice system. It is here that absent-minded mother of five small powders and pills. the appearance, behavior, tone of voice, children, three scattered on the floor, words and companions of the suspect one clinging to her skirts, a baby on her all intersect with the presuppositions lap sucking a bottle. She goes through and biases of the Magistrate to form the the familiar motions of dealing with a So the steady stream of suspects calculation of bail. It is here that the warrant for her arrest on the charge of passes through, more on weekends, constitutional right to the presumption yet another bad check. Smiling and a rising tide when the moon is full: of innocence gives way in the face of a apologetic, she promises to get all the manacled robbers, belligerent pub¬ Magistrate’s knowledge of the defend¬ those money matters straightened out. lic drunks, local hookers and drug deal¬ ant’s past criminal record and the basic If only she could just deal with the ers, abusive husbands, quarreling neigh¬ statistic that many of these persons twins with cerebral palsy, could remem¬ bors and, on occasion, a well-dressed, ber to take her “nerve” charged are eventually found guilty of a medicine, could prosperous citizen — out of place, a ill at ease as the criminal act. And it is here that a policy work way to get to the weekly group charges are typed up favoring incarceration and isolation of session for depression, could keep and bail arranged. the defendant from the rest of society enough food in the house to feed all her A few of the suspects are taken from begins. family. Yesterday, when the Salvation the Magistrate’s office to the top floor An observer in the offices of the Army brought her food, she gave it all jail for a night or two, or weeks — until Magistrate cannot help but note the to her neighbors because they claimed the date of the trial. The majority, how¬ heavy flow of emotions thinly masked she was selfish and should share what ever, secure their freedom by posting by the steady scratching of the clerk’s she had. It seems her troubles never end, some form of bail, either from personal scrawl or the brisk typing of the inevita¬ and yet she is always vaguely smiling; resources, those of friends, or through ble form. The first-time offender sits in with her young family trailing behind the services of the professional bail- confusion and bewilderment, lost in the her, she floats through life amid a havoc bondsmen who float through the court¬ crisp maze of the multiple steps of the of confusion and irresponsibility. Often, house, lounging in the halls or near the criminal justice system. she seems one more large child bobbing Magistrate’s office. Those who cannot Here, in the worn straight chair by a along with the five, but, amazingly, she afford the bail fee must await trial Magistrate’s battered desk, sits the tiny, continues to survive her collisions with behind bars. middle-aged “bum” with baggy trousers police, courts, landlords, predators, liv¬ The Magistrate’s office takes on even and greasy shirt; he’s charged again with ing not by wits but by a cunning inno¬ more significance when one realizes that 12 UdryLesliebyillustration

whether a person is released on bail or not sometimes determines their fate at a court trial. Studies show that the defend¬ ant who appears in court from the street will fare better than the defend¬ ant who comes in under armed guard. A local case illustrates the point. In the winter of 1977, several youths were charged with a series of felonies: breaking and entering, larceny, theft from parking meters. All had previous minor brushes with the law, and one community. families, spectators,, attorneys, court was on probation. All were school The trial of the three commenced officials. Conferences are held between drop-outs and unemployed, hanging with the two youths on bail appearing the judge, attorneys for the State and about at home or on the streets. When in court with their families, while the the defense, while witnesses, defend¬ they appeared before a Magistrate, they third was brought down from jail under ants, family and friends sit numbly were each assigned a bail of $2,500. guard. As the jury was selected, a waiting for their moment in court. Neither the youths nor their impover¬ conference between judge and Sometimes the pace of the case is ished families could afford such high prosecuting and defense attorneys con¬ so rapid that the matter is settled bail, and even the bailbondsman’s fee cluded in a settlement: the young men before they are fully aware that their of $375 was too much. Consequently, who had been free on bail were sen¬ hearing has taken place. the young men remained in jail until tenced to two years probation upon a Prisoners from the upstairs jail are they were assigned court-appointed plea of guilty to a lesser charge; the paraded in under guard. Clerks of the attorneys. Two youths assigned the third youth was given an active prison court take statements from indigents same attorney had their bail lowered to sentence and taken away under guard seeking a court-appointed attorney or $500 within 10 days by the appeal of to the state maximum security prison. means of paying off a fine in install¬ that attorney. The third young man Instead of prison, his two cohorts en¬ ments. The well-dressed bail bondsmen was appointed a different lawyer who rolled in the Jobs Corps, and were lounge among the attorneys or sit alert did not bother to appeal for a lowered allowed fresh starts. amidst the spectators, checking the bail. courtroom for missing bailees. The While the two youths were out of bailiff periodically shouts for order in jail awaiting trial, community coun¬ a threatening tone or calls loudly three selors helped them with education, The workings of the courts are times in succession the name of the employment or out-of-the community often whimsical and arbitrary. To a missing defendant, thus placing him or placement with the Job Corps. Their spectator, the local District Court on her under the full force of the law as families were involved in the planning a typical day is chaos. Names are forfeiting bail and subject to arrest. and counseling efforts. The youth called too rapidly, often mispronounced The court action abruptly halts when awaiting trial for three months in jail or lost in the loud murmurings of the the judge takes a break; all rise in honor had minimal contact with family and private conversations of defendants, of his (there are few woman judges)

13 leaving or entering the courtroom. fashionable hair styles. But what was Harriott Johnson Quin is a Durham, Sometimes, though, the hubbub is so unfolding amidst the sleek affluence was N.C., resident, a graduate of Duke great that the judge slips out or in a sordid tale of duplicity and chicanery, Divinity School and a candidate for without being acknowledged at all. of questionable management, altered ordination in the United Church of For the first-time defendant, the board meeting minutes — manipulations Christ. She is actively involved in court experience may seem a period of by officers of the corporation under the numerous criminal justice issues, includ¬ slow motion which accelerates into a threat of financial ruin during the ing the N.C. Coalition against the Death rapid chain of events: the Prosecuting 1974 recession. Attorney suddenly starts the trial; Where then had the moral fiber of Penalty, Yokefellows Prison Ministry, and the the defendant and witnesses are inter¬ the community been more deeply Raleigh Wilmington Ten Defense rogated by attorneys and sometimes by strained — in the petty crimes of the Committee. the judge; a cross-examination may take downtrodden in District Court, or the The courts described in this article place. Then the judge deliberates, deter¬ more covert and clever manipulations are located in North Carolina. Other mines guilt or innocence, asks if the of powerful corporate officers, un¬ states have similar low-echelon courts defendant has covered in anything further to say polite court proceedings? □ to deal with common crime, but they on his or her behalf if and passes guilty, may go by such names as General Ses¬ sentence. In short order, defendants sions or County Court. may move from their seats among the spectators to the place beside their attorney at the defendant’s table, to the witness stand, to a position of erect or dejected expectancy before the c Stuff deliberating judge, to an amazed or resigned position before the Clerk of the Court as they are required to hand over person or property to the State. Pretty white lady, You were well quiet kept, The District Court deals with the In the glassine bag. We know this by far. common cold of crime — the poor and Disguising reality It was the money-making nigger, powerless people of society caught up in Under the name of scag. Who made you a star. petty lawbreaking, minor thefts, assaults, shoplifting, bad check writing. Many a night, You was always cool, An observer of the District Court or the We made love to the moon. For niggers like me. more flamboyant moments of the I’d be so high, When you choked alabaster kids, Superior Court is left with the impres¬ In the dopefiend’s swoon. It just could not be. sion that criminality is indeed typical of the underside of society. So peaceful the words, Then they showed up, You spoke to me. With that methadone thang. This world ain’t nothing, Hitler’s tonic, So let it be. With a mixture of tang. One day, in the midst of a District Court holiday, I stepped into the Many times I had, Since dual wrongs, hushed atmosphere of a Superior Court A problem or two. Could not make right. trial. Physically, it is just across the But they all went away, I put you down, hall, but in substance, a vast gulf exists When in came you. And began to fight. between the two courts. The case under consideration related to the problems of Some take you in toots, A question to the public, an out-of-town corporation confronting Called a one and one. So fitting you see. financial disaster. The defendants con¬ When we got together, Dare to answer, ferred continuously with their finely I’d like to gun. If honest you be. attired attorneys, thumbing ledgers and records. The prosecutor was deferential I’d do anything, ’Tis a funnny thing, to the witness on the stand, a distin¬ For your glorious high. Here in the pen. guished professional, a stockholder. The From robbing and stealing, We can’t get out, judge was politely attentive, his ques¬ To telling a lie. But the lady gets in. tions couched in courtly terms — peers seeking to discover the truth together. The aura was of country clubs, expen¬ — H. B. Johnson sive dinner meetings, long-distance Yanceyville Prison phone conferences, quick plane trips. Yanceyville, NC The few spectators were evidently wives and friends of the defendants; the women wore beautiful clothes and

14 Sean Kernan

Prison Portfolio

15

/ feel much love for many of the people I met in prison. They were, on the whole, a bit poorer and less-educated than people I know on the outside, but otherwise not unlike them. One thing that distinguishes people inside from people outside is the quality of their lawyers. i met a man who’d been waiting on death row for thirteen years to be killed for what may or may not have been a crime. He hates no one for this. This amazes me more than all the horror stories I’ve heard. The early visits didn’t clarify my thoughts, they confused them. What finally became interesting was not the differences between me and these men but the similarities. I hope I’ll never go back to prison.

— Sean Kernan

17 Making of a Conscious I Hustling Warrior

I was born in a small town called Siler City, North Carolina. I’m the youngest of 13 children. We were very, very poor. We were farming up until I was in the sixth grade. We were basically a typical black sharecropping family, very poor and working a land for a white man, and we got nothing from the land except a shack to stay in and the little food that we grew in a small garden that we would tend after we finished tending his farm. In the sixth grade we moved and we bought what was supposed to be a Africa house, but it was really a shack. You News could lay in the house and feel the photo come byTami breeze in the winter time through Hultman the walls. My mother started doing domestic work, maid stuff, you know. Mopping floors for rich white folks, going in back doors and eating leftovers. My father’s always been an alcoholic. I can remember him having a job a couple of times, but never long periods of time. It was a garbage collector’s job, or something like that. I never remem¬ ber him not drinking. I attribute this to his lack of ability to deal with the ills of society and its frustrations, partially the degradation of the black man. I feel like Nzinga and her daughter, Ayana he did this because he was frustrated and wanted to escape the unjust dis¬ crimination.

I was Interview with pregnant when I was 16 in the tenth grade. I quit school to have my baby. I have a daughter now, 10. Her name is Ayana, and I’m very proud of her. Nzinga Njeri I finished school when I was 19. Soon as I finished high school, I left home and started traveling. By Clare Jupiter Even before I was out of school, I had started “making money,” what is called “hustling.” The first illegal

18 money, illegal as far as the American I actually didn’t think I had a habit for four government and tax courts is concerned, that I made was what they called months, and I was shooting dope every “playing the till” — snatching money out day. Then when I missed a day I knew the cash register while it’s open. Most of my older brothers and sisters I was a junkie, because I was very sick. had moved away from home and were living in the larger cities up north and in Greensboro, North Carolina. I was going up there and I was meeting big city kids. Kids that are raised in the country are not exposed to as much of society’s ills as the kids in the city, or their oppres¬ sion is less brutal in that their contact with society is limited to farming. Being around the kids in the city when I went to go visit my sister, I picked up on different things like getting high, byphoto “making money,” and talking slick. In Jackson the country, the most daring thing that Hill we would do would be, maybe, steal your daddy’s whiskey. Or steal some sugar — that was very daring. I started getting high and smoking reefer when I was in the ninth, tenth grade. When I made money, I always took it home to my mother, or part of it. I was bringing in some three or four hundred dollars, at least once a month. I was not on heavy drugs. I had the money and I didn’t know what to do Standard dorm with it. And I knew my family needed housing at Raleigh Women’s Prison it. One day Mom asked me, “Where are They came to my house looking for me mostly it’s individuals. The drug game is you getting this money from?” Of one morning. That afternoon I had so cold and larceny-hearted, it’s not course, the first thing hit her mind, I packed everything I had and I was gone, easy at all to hook up a group to make imagine, was prostitution, me being a me and my daughter. money, or a team even. Because every¬ young girl and just beginning to go out I hooked up with my husband, who body afraid the other one’s gonna rip and going to the city. And this is one of was an old friend of mine dating back to them off. Because they know how they the first things poor parents fear, grade school. We weren’t going together are, and they be thinking about ripping another mouth to feed. And she asked in school. But after he had went to the somebody off, and they be having a me where I got the money, and I told service and I got out of school, we guard up against other people ripping her, never mind where I was getting it, hooked up and came back home. And them off. Occasionally I was still just spend it, cause I knew she needed we got married, and I started traveling. sending money home to Mama, because it. And if I go to jail, just get me out. I lived in like four or five different she’s still working to this day, which I That’s all I wanted her to give back. states, and then I started messing with regret. My first encounter with the pigs was drugs, started using heroin, and I Basically, I think the reason I was in twelfth grade. The postal inspector became ajunkie. into drugs was, it was what other people came to my house about some checks I My husband was in the Navy, and we were doing, and it was something to do, had forged. Some stolen welfare checks were traveling a lot. But then we were other than just living, just existing and out of Greensboro that a guy had traveling on our own, too, making doing the everyday things that a normal stolen, gave em to me and I busted em money, doing a little bit of everything, life would be. I suppose you could say it for him. I got a portion of the money mostly armed robberies. My husband was just being frustrated with how and he got a portion of the money. and I worked together as a team, but things are and knowing, or thinking, 19 you can’t change anything, you just It was a gradual kind of thing. When to North Carolina to stay. During that have to deal with it. And instead of you first start doing it, you’re doing it time we came back was when he got the actually dealing with it, you escape it because, you know, it’s there, and each 20 years. And while I was out on bond, through drugs. day you doing a little more, til you they revoked my bond, and the bonds¬ I never tried to reach the get a job. I had a point — I actually didn’t think man came from Virginia, came down couple ofjobs, but it was just something I had a habit for four months, and I here and picked me up one Monday to do, a change of pace, you know, was shooting dope every day. And I’d night. They told me that I was going up because I never actually wanted to swear I didn’t have no habit. Then when for a hearing, right? They didn’t tell me work. Then when I got married, my I missed one day, because there was no they were revoking my bond. When I husband didn’t want me to work. And drugs in town, then I knew I was a got up there they threw me in jail. I then I got frustrated sitting at home, so junkie. I admitted I was a junkie, went to court up there and got two I finally decided that I should work, to because I was very sick. years state time. get out of the prison of home, of the It wasn’t hard to get drugs at all. For 15 months I was up there. I got housewife bag, and I got a little job. That’s the problem. After you get on out in ’74. I can look back now and I My daughter was with me. We spent drugs, then it’s hard. But when you first see some messed-up things, but at the a lot of time together then, but after she start, you have your first sample free. time, everything was cool with me. was three, that’s when I got on drugs, That’s how they get their clients. I was Because you had your own private room. and we didn’t spend so much time to¬ about 19 or 20. Before then it was It was all pacified, you know, it was all gether anymore because a junkie’s first reefer and pills, red devils, stumblers, candy-coated. You couldn’t actually see love is drugs. Regardless of what yellow jackets, then acid. I took acid for the prison bars, but you knew you anybody says, he loves drugs better than a while. better not go out that gate. It was set anybody else. up like a college campus. Not even a fence around the place. That’s one thing I want to speak on, the psychological control of women in the prison. It’s said that men are treated II The worse than women. I agree. Physically protest they are, I assume. But what people fail to understand is physical can heal much easier than mental. It takes time and a lot of hard work to heal your I couldn’t afford it. I faked a nervous mind, when your mind is warped. breakdown in jail. And the doctor And that’s exactly what happens in come in there and gave me a shot of women’s prison. Women are controlled some shit, I don’t know what it was. psychologically, not physically. They But it had me knocked out all night and have the physical restraints. They have the next day. Because they thought the mace and the sticks and everything,

I was ill — I was kicking a dope habit — but they’re not used as quick as with they decided to give me a bond that I the men. could make. So they reduced the bond But they have psychological control The first time I got busted was in to $250, from a $500 bond. over the women like a mother-daughter, North Carolina, for forgery — a personal When I got out, I got my husband an parent-child relationship. She’s made to check that was taken out of an armed attorney that I paid $2,500. It was feel like a guilty child, a child that’s robbery. My husband got busted at the nothing but a ripoff. He still got 20 broken a rule and deserves punishment. same time for armed robbery. They years, in August of ’72. And she accepts her punishment as a wanted to bust me for the same armed In the meantime, while we were passive child, because she feels inferior, robbery because he had a woman ac¬ out on bond for that — before we went first to society, and second to the prison to court for that complice. But they couldn’t bust me robbery — we had authorities. So she’s made to look and because I had a perfect alibi and all moved to Virginia, and we were still feel and act like a child. And she sub¬ kinds of witnesses. I was going to busi¬ using drugs. A junkie that we knew mits very, very easily. ness school in Siler City and at the time planted some drugs under our living What tripped me out, when I was on the robbery jumped off, I was sitting in room couch and called the man. Well, the receptive ward, and when this broad my typing class. So they couldn’t ac¬ we had drugs anyway, you know. He walked into the room, everybody’s tually hook me up with the robbery. didn’t have to plant it, we had plenty supposed to stand up. Whatever you’re So they charged me with accessory drugs anyway. As I understand it, he doing, you supposed to drop it and after the fact of armed cases robbery, which had uptown himself that they stand up like this is your maker and is nothing but saying you knew about threw out of court cause he set us up. taker coming in, right? I just couldn’t it but didn’t tell us. And we got busted up there and we deal with that. I didn’t get up at all, and I stayed in jail for like ten days. were both put in jail. I wasn’t the only one. Right after I got out of jail, I got a My husband got nol prossed, which Well, they didn’t want us to know lawyer with some of the money I means that they can reopen the case at that they didn’t appreciate us not get¬ had been making during the armed any time. He got me out on bond the ting up. It was never mentioned until robberies. My bond was S 10,000, and next day after he got out. We came back they went out. Then, some older in- 20 mates come over to us and ask us, “Are you crazy? You didn’t stand up. That was the superintendent that just came in.” And I said, “So what? I wasn’t in her way, what I got to get up for?” She said, “They h ave to get up. Show her proper respect, you know.” It kind of tripped me out. Their control mechanism there is Their control mechanism is lockup. It's petty lockup. When you’re bad, you know how your mother sends you to the stuff, but you’d be surprised to know room when you do something wrong. how effective it is. All the time you’re not Well, that’s the way they do in prison — you go to your room, you spend 10 understanding how you’re being controlled days in your room for being a bad girl, and how for doing this and that, for talking loud you’re being turned into a zombie. in the line. When you walk, you got to walk in two’s, you can’t say a word while you’re walking, and all this freak garbage. It’s petty stuff, you know, but you’d be surprised to see how effec¬ tive this petty stuff is. People say, well. “I’ll just go on and do this because it’s petty, it ain’t going do nothing. I’ll obey these jive rules.” But all the time when you’re obeying the rules, you’re not actually understanding the rules. You’re not actually understanding how you’re being controlled and how you’re byphoto a Jackson being turned into zombie. So, it’s Hill very vicious. But, back to my (laugh) adventurous life. I got out of prison in ’74, out of Virginia, learned nothing. I got out just as ignorant as when I went in. I went to a little typing course, when I was there, but you know, I never used it, all I got was a file clerk certificate. Then I got busted and went to prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, in ’74, for forgery. And I got five years. It was at this time Room for one, that it really dawned on me, after occupied by two, Raleigh Women’s Prison going to Raleigh, because Raleigh is raw, naked repression. They don’t try to disillusion you at all about being any¬ III Busted where other than in prison. They want you to know you’re in prison. They don’t try to make it look like no college campus, they don’t try to make The other incident was with a younger it easy, they let you know you’re doing sister, a beautiful sister, that trans¬ hard time. formed along with myself into a warrior, The living conditions are ridiculous. a conscious warrior, and started doing You can lay in your bed and reach over conscious work, conscious struggling. and touch the next woman laying in I was in there five months before the She refused to let the guards search her. her bed. That’s the footage space be¬ protest jumped off in 1975. It was a The guards wanted to strip-search her tween the an beds. And there’s always a couple of incidents that brought it for alleged razor blade she was con¬ bunk on about. One was a was top. There’s no single beds. It’s with sister that cealing, you know, to jump on another a dormitory with 80 beds. And you got complaining about side ache, and the inmate. And two guards wanted to strip- four commodes in there with 80 women. nurses kept telling her she’s faking it, search her. And she refused to let the And four, maybe six, face-bowls. The trying to get off from work. She wasn’t men strip-search her. Which I would heating system is worse. No air, no faking it; she had appendicitis. Her have too. And in the process she tried to ventilation. appendix erupted on her one night, and go out the door to holler to us and tell now she wears a bag the rest of her life. us what was happening. She opened the

21 The guards came in riot gear: helmets, mace, tear gas, sticks. It was a decision that we had made that we were going to be non-violent, but the guards didn't see it that way.

HistoryArchivesDivisionNCandof

door and was leaning halfway out the lockup time is eight o’clock. We had prisons. They asked us to go in, and we door, and the guards just slammed the put the word out on camp that every¬ told them we could not go in because door and her went head through this big body should get their blankets and pack we wanted to see the governor. We plate glass in the door. And it busted a lunch. We were ready to sit out all wanted to expose conditions, unless the cut door and her head up, right? night, because we were protesting the they decided they wanted to deal with And they rushed her to the hospital and conditions and treatment of women in them and change them. They gave us a stitched her up and they brought her prison. Over 50 percent of the prison lot of promises about the governor was back and intended to put her in isola¬ population turned out. out of town, and they could do some¬ tion, on a concrete floor, with a concus¬ It was done very well. It was mobil¬ thing when he came back, and not to sion. And, we couldn’t hear it, you ized, but we didn’t have organizing. worry about it. Just go on back and live know, we couldn’t deal with that, That caused some of the, I guess the a normal convict life now, and when the right? small defeats, physical defeats that we governor comes back we’ll help you out. And we had our first protest, which had. We should have organized people And of course, we refused, saying no, was like 40 people. We refused to go more around what was going on and nothing happening, we’re not going no back to work until they brought her out what could happen. We underestimated place. Four o’clock in the morning of the isolation and put her in the hos¬ the state and the agents of the state, and they came back again and asked us to go in the pital ward. We were very effective that we overestimated their human concern. gym, where they had mattresses time. We went to sit on the lawn and no¬ laid out on the floor, and surrounded by And this was like two months later body asked us to go in. The sergeant guards that they had called in from the that we decided to have the major one. come over and asked us what the deal other prison camps. We refused to go in the auditorium. And at It was just a decision that we had made was, and we asked him what it looked 5:30 in the about the conditions that we were living like. And he didn’t say anything else. morning, we had laid down to go to in and the incidents and events that had He left and went back and called up his sleep, and formed a circle. been happening. Our demands were that officials and told them what was hap¬ The guards came in riot gear: helmets, there be an independent investigation of pening. mace, tear gas, sticks. They formed the hospital. One Sunday afternoon, the About 12 o’clock that night, Mr. a circle around us and started picking us fifteenth of June, we decided that we Kea, the superintendent, came out with up. Snatching and hitting sisters with weren’t going in at eight o’clock. Usual Walter Kautsky, the assistant director of sticks and things. It was a decision that

22 we had made among ourselves that we found out later, that they were going to they called it, came back the third month. were going to be nonviolent, very take that same negotiating team out the We got back to Raleigh, we continued peaceful, let em be carried. Don’t walk, back door to the men’s prison. Another to stay on lockup. Five of us stayed on be carried. All we wanted to do was talk negotiating team was made up, and stayed lockup for a year. with the governor, present our demands in there from eight o’clock that morning You stay locked up 24 hours a day. and see til seven that they were met. But the that night and come out crying. You get out two hours a week for guards didn’t see it that way, and they They had gotten nowhere. We had asked recreation, exercise. After the first year, came in full force, ready for a fight, them, begged them not to go in, make the five of us got off lockup, and I swinging clubs when they came in the them come on the yard and talk to us. stayed off for six weeks. Then, it was an door. So we fought back, very accu¬ But they went in, and five minutes after assault on a captain. Some six women rately too, I think. Guards were jumping they came out the director of prisons, assaulted the captain after he had jacked over the fence and things. It was about Ralph Edwards, came out and say, this sister up and threw her against this 350 guards that day, and about 350 “We’re giving you 10 minutes to get fence. One Sunday her mother came to back to the see women, too. Well, the first night it was building. If you ain’t back, her, and because her mother didn’t less guards, I would say 200. That Thurs¬ we’re dragging you back.” have a proper picture ID, they wouldn’t day when they came in, it could have Mr. Kea’d been fired. Got a new let her mother in. But the same mother been one-on-one guards. superintendent, Mr. Powell, another had been coming to see her all along. Seven o’clock in the morning after black man. Another token. And we They knew her by face. And this par¬ we had fought, and women and guards were very upset, very disappointed, and ticular Sunday they wouldn’t let the had gotten hurt, Kautsky asked the people started voicing their opinion and mother in. The sister, of course, got troops to retreat, ordered the troops to arguing. And we decided to go on back angry, and she went to the captain, retreat. We went in for negotiations to the dorm. But on our way back to the went to the administration building, with the director of prisons, assistant dorm we were stopped by the guards for which was forbidden on a Sunday. You director and some a heads, high officials. fight, because they were holding a lot know, they don’t want no inmates around when the visitors are And nothing was resolved. Another date of hostilities from Monday. We were there, was set up for that Thursday morning. pinned against the dorms with the guards cause we might act like convicts, you know. When she went over there the We had control of the prison from Sun¬ in front of us, and they forced us right day until that Thursday. And it ran very into the door that they knew was locked. captain got mad and said she had no effectively. Women were very responsi¬ They were doing us a job, and a lot of right to come over there because it was ble. It was no escapes, no fights or sisters got hurt pretty bad. Clubs and visiting Sunday and she ain’t supposed to be there with the visitors. anything. It was about four matrons on tear gas; glass was broken. She the whole compound, the ones that After we had fought for like two say, that’s her mother and she want to know weren’t afraid that the inmates would hours, and we had kind of patched up why she can’t come in. do something to them, I guess. the ones that had gotten hurt and sent During the process the man told her she That was Thursday we were supposed to the ones that were hurt bad out on going to lockup. She told him she ain’t done negotiate again, but that Wednesday they stretchers, they backed buses up to the nothing to go to lockup for. sent out an And he unsigned paper saying what door and called out specific names, jacked her up and threw her demands they were going to meet, who should get on what bus. One of against the fence. which was practically all of them. But these buses, 34 women were on. We And when them sisters on the yard the catch was, there was no signature on were shipped to a men’s unit, 200 miles saw him, they just went to her rescue, the to defend paper. It was typed up, and there away from Raleigh, up in Morganton, her, cause this man weighs was no state seal on the three hundred paper. So had North Carolina, up in the mountain area. pounds, about six-seven, we went along with it, that would have On the sixteenth floor we were put in and the sister weights a hundred and been it. Cause they weren’t obligated to individual cells. Seven of us stayed there ten, about five feet. So the scales had to fulfill any of it. It was a trick, and some for three months. In between times they be balanced, and the sisters balanced the of us happened to catch it. We sent it were selecting ones that were being scales. And because of that, at random, back and told them, no way. Negotia¬ good girls, bringing them back. They six of us were chosen to go on lockup, tions set for tomorrow morning, and made three trips: one the first month, and I was one of them. Our disciplinary we ain’t negotiating before then, either. one the second month and one the third statements read, “according to ten state¬ The original plan was, that they were month. The last ones, the ringleaders ments signed by ten inmates, these six to come on the yard, and we were going to set up tables and speak to the body, not a negotiating team, like we did Monday. Because I feel like, I can’t speak for all those sisters. I’m not going to be feeling the licks that these sisters are going to feel. So Thursday morning They want to know who my people are, they sent for the same negotiating team I tell them my people are any oppressed they had Monday. I was on the first negotiating team, and I wasn’t about to people. So they tell me I should take run up in that snag. Cause I know it was nothing but a trap. The plan was, I six months more months on lockup. 23 women assaulted Captain McLam on a We were put on lockup. We were given After that, they started threatening certain day. But they stated clearly, different sentences, ranging from no me physically. The head of custody time on come in one they had no evidence. No staff member lockup — one sister got cut day and called me out and saw the assault.” talked to me in the loose completely — to six months on lobby. Nobody was We never saw those statements. Our lockup. I got six months. sitting at this little table but me and him, lawyers couldn’t even see the statements. right? And he say, “You know what, you not going to ever get out of the prison alive.” I said, “What did you say?” And he looked at me and laughed. He say, “I said you not going to ever get out of dorm C.” I said, “No, that’s not what you said. You said I wasn’t going to get out of prison alive. Are you threatening my life?” He said, “Do you think I should threaten you?” I said, “I don’t know. If you feel like I’m threat¬ IV Dealing on the system ening you, then it would be logical to threaten me.” And I told my attorney were supposed to be going out and let¬ that. By the time the attorney got there, ters that were coming to me. I knew of course, the superintendent had never that they couldn’t have gotten any let¬ heard the conversation before. So out of ters out of my cell, my cage, to xerox, the three years I was in prison, I spent so they had to xerox it coming in and two years on 24 hours-a-day lockup as out. a result of my beliefs and my activities So when they started asking me what and the protest in ’75. I was studying, I was telling them, “Black My husband died in April of ’77. He All the time I had been studying and history.” And I had a medallion on my had been on escape for two years and understanding what was going on. Why neck, a wooden clenched fist. The man he was hitchhiking and got hit by a truck, it was a need for a protest, what hap¬ asked me, “What is that?” I told him, on 85, outside of Durham. I got off pened after the protest, why it happened “It’s a medallion,” right? He say, “What lockup in June of ’77, for the second like that. Why the state became so vi¬ does it mean?” And, you know, this time. After my husband died, I feel like cious, and reacted so man was viciously, from a asking me to deny my princi¬ that had some influence on me getting peaceful protest by women, unarmed ples, deny my symbols, right? And my some play about getting off lockup. women. I to — began ask the questions of colors I had red, black and green on, They were only going to let me go home myself and I had literature I began read¬ a hat, I think it was. And they want to for two hours, just for the funeral. My ing and studying so I could answer them know what that means, right? So I ex¬ sister got in touch with a state senator, myself. And for the other women, the plained it to them. They asked me was McNeill Smith out of Greensboro, Guil¬ officers even, when they would ask, I anti-government, anti-US government. ford County. And he called down there why they were so frustrated with their I told them I was anti-anything that and demanded that I be given a 12-hour jobs. Why it’s a need for prisons. Why oppressed my people. Then they want unsupervised leave. They sent two pigs some with me to the funeral. people do all the work and make to know who my people are. So I tell no After I had went to the funeral and money and some people do no work them my people are any oppressed and make all the money. people, and both are human beings, come back, they all gave favorable re¬ When I went back on lockup the right? So, they told me that I should ports of my behavior at the funeral. second time, I decided I wanted to take This take six more months on lockup. allegedly helped me get off lockup a and all this correspondence course in political So that’s another year that I spent on good stuff. But after that, science out of Franconia College in New lockup, for my studies and my direction. my goal was to still deal on the system, but Hampshire. All my books were black Of course, I called my attorney and told get out of prison as soon as possible, cause I saw how I was history, Marxism and revolutionary him that they were locking me up for being crowded theory. And of course, the pigs saw the my beliefs, but by the time he got there, and hampered in there. The only thing books coming through the post office, the charge was plotting to escape. I I could do was get out of there because and they couldn’t stop it because it was went back to the board again for plot¬ it was obvious that I was never going to a federally funded program. ting to escape and I said, “Plotting to get on the campus again to do any kind So they did the next best thing: they .escape? Where’s the evidence?” These of work, to deal with anybody. I felt jacked me up. And I never got off lock¬ pigs tell me they got an anonymous like I had grown as much as possible up. They never ask you questions rele¬ phone call from outside the prison, say¬ inside a cell, and the next strategy I vant to you getting off lockup. The ques¬ ing I was getting ready to plot — sitting worked on was getting out of prison. tions are always like, “What are you in a maximum security lockup. The cell And I got out. □ studying? Who are you writing? Who do was a four-bed cell, but it was strict Nzinga Njeri now works at Africa you know? How many organizations do orders that I should be by myself. That News, a Durham, North Carolina, news you know?” I noticed the folder they let up after about six months. They agency, where she is being trained as had in there. They had xerox copies of decided they weren’t going to break me, an audio technician and on-the-air my own handwriting, my letters that so they put somebody in there. broadcaster.

24 i±r±4 illustration by Anthony Kamahele, Brushy Mountain State Prison, Tennessee

THE NUMBERS GAME

A SOUTHERN EXPOSURE SPECIAL REPORT by Marc Miller

Southern a Exposure here assembles from wide variety of • Southern states incarcerate a far greater proportion of sources statistics on the prison systems in the South. The their citizens. The four states with the highest proportion numbers echo the conclusions of the more personal testi¬ of their population behind bars are in the South. With 28% monies elsewhere in this volume: our prisons discriminate of the US population, the South incarcerates 38% of the against the minorities and the poor, confine people in over¬ country’s total prisoner rate — crowded and population. The incarceration ill-equipped prisons, do not educate or rehabil¬ the of number people behind bars per 100,000 people in a itate the incarcerated. Despite that depressing these reality, given geographic area — is 35% higher in the South than in figures show that the South — more than any other region — the country as a whole. In North Carolina, the rate is almost continues to expand its already immense prison systems, twice that for the nation (chart 1). not because there are more crimes committed in this region, Rather than alleviate the social and economic conditions but because imprisonment has become an easy and accept¬ that produce most crimes or embark on meaningful programs able method of coping with the state finds undesirable: people to prevent recidivism, Southern states are engaged in massive the poor, the black, the uneducated, the unskilled. In almost construction programs intended to increase the capacity every measure of how well we deal with prisoners, the South of the region’s prisons by 35% by 1982, at an estimated lags significantly behind the rest of the nation. cost of a half billion dollars. Again, the South, with 28%

25 of the nation’s population, will build half of the country’s serving short terms are almost equal; in each case, the num¬ new prison space. Louisiana, with plans to nearly double its ber of blacks serving long sentences is two to three times prison capacity, leads the way, but South Carolina, Ala¬ the number of whites serving comparable sentences. For bama and Mississippi are close behind with plans to increase example, in Georgia 901 whites and 1,183 blacks are serving their systems by 87%, 73% and 72% respectively. Only two sentences of one to three years; 523 whites are serving over states have no significant growth plans, Kentucky and West 30 years compared to 1,067 blacks (chart 5). Virginia (chart 2). Southern states cannot justify their high • Prisoners are unskilled and uneducated. Although there rates of imprisonment by high crime rates since figures show are few specific figures on the economic backgrounds of little difference from the nation’s norm (chart 3). prisoners, indirect data shows that almost all are poor; the men and women behind bars have few marketable skills and • Prison systems in the South are racist. While this repeats little education. Few have finished high school; when given common knowledge and court decisions, the numbers still tests, most reflect a level of education barely beyond grade overwhelm. In every state in the South, the percentage of school. In Louisiana, the average education by testing is prisoners who are non-white far exceeds the proportion of equivalent to completing the fourth grade. In Alabama, the non-whites in the general population. For example, in Vir¬ prisoners are classified according to their previous occu¬ ginia, 19% of the state’s population and 61% of the prisoners pations: out of 50 possible occupations, 57% fell into a single are black. In every state for which figures are available, one — laborer (chart 6). Critics and corrections officials agree the percentage of blacks in prison is at least twice the per¬ that the key to staying out of jail is having a good job; get¬ centage of blacks in the state as a whole (chart 4). Conditions ting a job requires education. Yet 11 Southern states rank for these prisoners are worsened by the low percentage of among the worst 13 in the US for per capita expenditures for minority prison employees relative to the prison population. public education and all 13 spend less than the national While the prisons typically contain about 50% to 60% blacks, average. Every single Southern state has a higher illiteracy black corrections officers comprise approximately 10% to rate than the national average. 40% of the total (chart 4). On the other hand, because Prisoners are not only unskilled and uneducated; they are corrections work is a low-pay, low-skill, low-status field — also young (chart 7). This is a logical outgrowth of the phe¬ and one “serving” mostly minorities — this percentage of nomenally high unemployment rates in this country for minority employees is high relative to the outside popula¬ young people, rates which lead directly to widespread tion. Moreover, corrections officers in the South receive dissatisfaction and crime. Education and skills can lead not lower pay than elsewhere: starting salary in 1976 ranged only to employment, but also to staying out of jail: the from $6,348 in Louisiana to a high of $8,016 in North money to hire a lawyer. Elsewhere in this volume, Southern Carolina, compared to an average of $8,832 nationwide. Exposure shows how people who receive a death sentence The most dramatic inequities appear in the sentences rarely could afford to hire a lawyer and were instead repre¬ handed down to blacks. This inequity reflects the bias in our sented by a court-appointed attorney. judicial system against not only black people, but against all the poor: those who can’t afford a good lawyer get longer sentences. In each case, the number of blacks and whites CHART 2

PLANNED EXPANSION OF SOUTHERN PRISONS

CHART 1 New Prison Construction, Renovation or Acquisition Planned for June 30,1977 to December 31, 1982 NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN SOUTHERN PRISONS

Total Number % Incarceration Rate Ranking State Net Increase Net Increase Total Cost of In Beds As % of 1977 State of Prisoners, Male per 100,000 Popu¬ Among Expansion in 1977 lation in State 50 States Proposed Capacity Millions of $

Ala. 6,099 96 166 11 Ala. 2,528 73% $ 38.0 Ark. 2,399 96 112 21 Ark. 376 12 n.a. Fla. 20,009 96 239 3 Fla. 5,325 32 77.6 Ga. 11,658 96 234 4 Ga. 3,440 45 n.a. Ky. 3,661 96 107 23 Ky. 385 1 19.0 La. 6,731 97 173 9 La. 4,160 95 131.4 Miss. 2,302 97 97 27 Miss. 1,296 72 n.a. N.C. 14,189 96 261 1 N.C. 1,442 13 47.8 S.C. 7,004 96 250 2 S.C. 3,643 87 57.0 Tenn. 5,501 96 127 17 Tenn. 800 23 12.0 Texas 22,439 96 177 8 Texas 6,900 29 78.0 Va. 8,483 96 170 10 Va. 1,760 22 29.6 W.Va. 1,233 97 66 42 W.Va. 0 0 0.0

South 111,708 96 184 South 32,055 35 $490.4 U.S. 292,325 96 136 U.S. 62,194 25 $1,089.0

26 • Regardless of race, age or wealth, prisoners in the South to expenditures of $5,919 nationwide. In 1976, Southern suffer far worse conditions than prisoners elsewhere. This prison systems employed .40 people per convict compared contention is supported not only by personal accounts and to .46 nationwide; this was a significant improvement for the numerous court cases, but also by figures showing that South over the previous year’s figures of .32 in the South Southern states spend less money per convict, hire fewer and .45 nationwide. Chart 4 showed how little Southern employees per convict and provide few educational or states pay their corrections employees, suggesting a lack of rehabilitative programs (charts 8 and 9). Southern states interest in attracting the most qualified workers. Only at the spend an average of $3,916 per convict each year compared top, at the level of the director of a board of corrections, do Southern salaries compare to those in the rest of the nation.

1ART 3

- OF CRIME, 1976

NUMBER OF State Crime Rates per 100,000 Population PRISONERS, BY LENGTH OF SENTENCE & RACE Against Against State Persons Property Length of Sentence in Years, for White & Nonwhite 1 - 3 4-5 6- 10 11 - 20 21 -29 30 and up

Ala. 389 3419 Ala. Ark. 304 3102 White 174 150 351 216 56 274 Fla. 648 6369 Nonwhite 163 140 511 498 154 581 Ga. 423 4386 Fla.*

Ky. 262 3035 White 2489 2503 1459 1132 377 1047 La. 473 3389 Nonwhite 1997 2471 1834 1723 488 1457 Miss. 296 2172 Ga.f N.C. 403 3478 White 901 915 1078 736 100 523 S.C. 599 4308 Nonwhite 1183 1176 1804 1524 188 1067 Tenn. 393 3866 N.C.** Texas 356 5108 White 1506 1862 1345 1050 286 Va. 308 3895 Nonwhite 1554 2140 1863 1936 488 W.Va. 152 2168 S.C. White 657 374 650 453 162 273 South 322 4250 Nonwhite 650 473 898 885 349 483 US 460 4806 Va. White 327 516 681 520 155 443 Nonwhite 330 646 996 985 385 807

* CHART 4 Fla. year are: ...I;-w. T;g; divisions 1-3, 4-5, 6-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31 and up. f Ga. year divisions are: 0-3, 3.1-5, 5.1-10, 10.1-20, 20.1 and up, PRISON SYSTEMS’ DISCRIMINATION AGAINST BLACKS life sentence or death row prisoners. ** N.C. year divisions are 1-2, 2-5, 5-10, 10 and up, life sentence. Percent of Percent of Percent of State Popula- Prison Popula- Corrections State tion, Black, tion, Black Officers, Non- 1970 White, 1976 CHART 6

Ala. 26% 62%* 22% SKILLS AND EDUCATION LEVEL OF PRISONERS Ark. 18 n.a. 33 FOR SELECTED STATES

Fla. 15 30 * n.a. Alabama.: Out of 50 Ga. 26 60 f 13 possible job categories, 57% of the prisoners fall in one category — laborers. Ky. 7 26 ** 12 Florida: One-third are occupational! unskilled; the average La. 30 64 * 20 have completed a tenth grade education. Miss. 37 70 ** 48 Georgia: 29% are occupationally unskilled; 31% function below N.C. 22 57 * 27 the fourth grade level; 77% have no high school S.C. 31 LO 00 * 43 diploma; only 17% ranked as middle class. Tenn. 16 50 ft 30 Kentucky: 51% are unskilled; 63% have no high school diploma. Texas 13 60 ** 24 Louisiana: The average level of education by testing is fourth grade. Va. 19 61 * 23 North Carolina: 79% have no high school diploma South Carolina: 68% have no W.Va. 4 n.a. 2 high school diploma; 27% never completed the ninth grade. Tennessee: The median level of education by testing is sixth grade. n.a. — not available; f — 1974, tt - 1975;* - 1977; ** - 1978 Virginia: 24% are illiterate; 76% test below the ninth grade level; 1% test at the twelfth grade level or above.

27 Rehabilitation programs are virtually nonexistent through¬ out the South. In Tennessee, only 2% of the corrections budget is allotted to “rehabilitative services.” In Texas, about the same amount of money is allotted for work release programs — which can lead directly to employment for a convict completing a prison sentence — as is paid to the Department of Corrections director. With the lack of rehabil¬ itation programs and the continuation of social conditions which create criminals, high recidivism rates are only to be expected (chart 10). The worst conditions in Southern prisons arise due to overcrowding. System-wide lawsuits attacking poor con¬ ditions - primarily overcrowding, but also including poor health conditions and the lack of functioning classification systems to separate, for example, violent from nonviolent prisoners - have been won in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. The response of the states to these suits has been cynical at best: when ordered not to admit any more prisoners into already impossibly overcrowded prisons, several states have simply housed their new prisoners in county jails; county jails are notorious for having conditions even more brutal than the state-run facilities (chart 11). Seven Southern prison systems contain more prisoners than they were built to hold; South Carolina is the worst with 50% more prisoners in its facilities than they were designed to hold. Five more states have prisons very close to full. Only one, West Virginia, is not in danger of being overcrowded. Overcrowding has been the primary excuse for the building programs undertaken, but far more humane, rational and inexpensive solutions exist: lower rates of incarceration; more use of rehabilitative programs — especial¬ ly work release — to decrease recidivism; and prevention of the very conditions that cause crime in the first place.□

CHART 7 photo by Jackson Hill

PRISON POPULATION BY AGE, 1977

State 18 & 19-21 22-24 25-27 28-30 31-35 35 &

under over

Ala. 435 687 615 433 320 337 518

- Fla. 507 3226 3882 5657 - 2229 3162

- Ga.* 2812 - — - 7993 — 1488

Ky.t 113 930 — - 1823 — 344 458 La. (average age for prisoners in 1978 = 28.7 years) N.C. 1307 2401 2507 2130 1585 1564 2593 S.C. 227 1244 1392 1144 939 865 1269

** - - - - - Tenn. 578 - - 922 - 512 - 227 293 Tx.ft 1483 3478 3558 3248 2411 2958 3589 Va. 185 1140 1388 1161 855 800 1192

* Ga. age divisions are: 2 1 and under, 22-39, 40 and over; averaye age is 29 years. f Ky. numbers are approximations. ** Tenn. ages are given only for new prisoners incarcerated in Marc Miller is an historian on the staff of the Institute 1976-77; age divisions are 18-20, 21-30, 31-35, over 35. ft Texas ages are 19 and under, 20-22, 23-25, 26-28, 29-31, for Southern Studies. He is currently editing a book of 32-3 7, 38 and over. first person accounts of work in the twentieth century.

28 CHART 8 CHART 11

PRISON SYSTEMS’ EXPENDITURES, 1976 OVERCROWDING IN PRISON, 1977 State Total Expendi¬ Expenditures Expenditures Number Employees State Prisoners Held Prison Popula- tures for Cor- for Correction¬ for of per Temporarily as a % of the rectionsSystem al Institutions Institutions Employees Convicts In County Prison’s Total (in thousands) (in thousands) per convict Jails Capacity!

Ala. $ 24,447 $17,055 $3,284 1482 .29 Ala. 2626 95% Ark. 11,297 10,153 4,056 813 .32 Ark. 0 99% Fla. 134,924 94,853 5,242 9812 .54 Fla. 253 132% Ga. 53,784 37,392 3,062 3949 .32 Ga. 393* 115% Ky. 20,653 15,537 4,249 1513 .41 Ky. 0 130% La. 39,854 23,600 3,718 3021 .48 La.. 780 111% Miss. 11,976 10,165 4,544 1976 .44 Miss. 575 95% N.C. 80,875 61,262 4,621 6000 .45 N.C. 0 104% S.C. 35,855 25,648 3,670 2751 .39 S.C. 697 150% Tenn. 34,008 29,036 6,003 2755 .57 Tenn. 0 149% Texas 67,629 56,172 2,849 4826 .24 Texas 0 93% Va. 68,034 46,843 6,262 5539 .74 Va. 824 88% W.Va. 11,020 9,725 7,435 836 .64 W.Va. 0 64%

* SOUTH $ 594,356 $ 437,441 $3,916 44,273 .40 Number held as of July 14, 1978 U.S. $2,276,335 $1,730,262 $5,919 134,420 .46 f Excludes prisoners held in jails; only includes those in state prisons.

SOURCES CHART 9 Finding comprehensive and reliable statistics on prison systems is THE SMALL SCALE OF REHABILITATION PROGRAMS difficult. There are gaps in the data where state departments of cor¬ rections have declined to provide supposedly public information, if indeed they have ever documented their own failures. The data from Georgia: 7 work release centers with a capacity of 459; 9 adjust¬ corrections departments has been augmented by information supplied ment/restitution centers with a capacity of 325; only by other state agencies, investigative reports, information from prison 1% of the state prisoners are on work release. reform groups and federal reports. Kentucky: 4% of the 1977 corrections budget allotted to Sources include: “career development.” Annual and quarterly reports of state departments of corrections: Louisiana: 42 prisoners in work-release programs. Florida (1976-77); Georgia (1976); Kentucky (1977); Louisiana Mississippi: 84 prisoners in work-release programs; 585 in (1975-77); South Carolina (1976-77); Tennessee (1976-77); Texas education programs. (1977); Virginia (1977); West Virginia (1975-76). Alabama Financial and Statistical Report, 10/1/ 76 - 9/30/77. North Carolina. 11.9% of the prisoners in work-release programs. Alderson Hospitality House, Judgment. South Carolina: About 10% of prisoners in employment pro¬ Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, May, 1978. grams, work-release programs, work-study Corrections Magazine. programs, and federal referral programs. Council of State Governments, Southern Office, Survey of Correc¬ Tennessee: 2% of corrections budget allotted to “rehabilitative tions Systems in the South. services.” FBI, Crime in the United States, 1976. Texas: 3% of corrections budget allotted to the education of Law Enforcement Assistapce Administration, Expenditure and adult offenders; .08% allotted to work release (the Employment Data for the Criminal Justice System, 1976. LEAA, Prisoners in State and Federal Institutions on December amount — $47,245 — barely exceeds the annual 31, 1977, Advance Report. salary of $45,300 received by the director of the Texas LEAA, Prison Population and Policy Choices. Department of Corrections. LEAA, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1977. Louisiana Coalition on Jails and Prisons, inside. National Clearinghouse for Criminal Justice Planning and Architec¬

— ture, US Incarceration and Commitment Rates. National Prisoners Statistics CHART 10 Bulletin, Prisoners in State and Federal Institutions on December 31, 1975 and Capital Punishment, 1975. North Carolina Department of Corrections, State Correction Statis¬ RECIDIVISM RATES, SELECTED STATES, 1977 tical Abstract for January through December 1977. Statistical Abstract for the United States, 1977. Florida: 31% have a prior felony conviction. Texas Department of Corrections, 1977 Fiscal Year Financial Georgia: Recidivism rate is 53%. Report. Tennessee: 67% have one or more convictions; 35% have two or US Census, Current Population Reports, series P-20, no. 324, 1978. more. US Commission on Civil Rights reports on North Carolina, Louisi¬ ana and Virginia: 33% have one or more prior convictions; 16% have two Georgia. or more. Virginia Department of Corrections, Felons, Misdemeanors, Recidi¬ vists, 1977 and Monthly Population Report. The Virginian-Pilot. 29 Behind Walls

"The soft skin, the warm blood and the Prisons, and the threat of them, are the giving heart are all absent in the harsh setting cornerstone of our criminal justice system. / live in. ” But how many free citizens have ever ven¬ —Ronald L. Freeman tured inside the towering rock walls, seen Tennessee State Penitentiary the iron gates slide open and shut electron¬ ically, felt the eyes of a TV monitor on their back, or heard the incessant din of a building packed solid with humanity? By and large, the community respects the signs reading “Enter Only on Official Business” which cordon prison property off from the rest of the world, and we thereby allow prisons to remain a place of exile rather than renewal. In the following pages, this frightening, perverse and debilitating land of exile is described in pictures and words. It is a bleak and painful portrait, but it is realistic. The setting is the South, unmistakably so in the case of the plantation prison named Angola or in the history of chain gangs recited by three generations of Alabama guards; but there is not so much to distinguish one region’s prisons from another’s. All exist to deprive people of liberty and to remove them from contact with society. It is difficult, as Gene Guerrero’s “Scientific Penology Comes to Georgia” explains, to make prisons more corrective while retaining the wall around them. Most of our contributors, in fact, deny that any¬ thing corrective can take place in the alien environment of penal institutions where, a Louisiana convict writes, “even the soul is deliberately stripped away.” Yet people have built these imposing fortresses by careful design, and if no one opposes this folly, we will surely build more. SECTION TWO

31 PicayuneTimesOrleansNew

Prison Plantation

By John Vodicka Angola State Penitentiary, Louisiana, 1978. The Major, walking briskly and straight-backed in typical Marine Corps fashion, his eyes hidden by reflecting sunglasses, proudly leads his entourage through the prison camp. “Been in command since last May,” he speaks confidently to the small group. “Ever since Camp J opened up. It’s the cleanest camp you’ll see at Angola. You won’t find another as clean as this one.’’ As they approach the camp unit named Shark 2, the Major commands his underlings to unlock the cellblock. Slowly now, apprehensively, the visitors approach the line of cells with steel doors. “Isolation,” the Major says. “Keep em in here if they cause us trouble.” One of the visitors jerks open the covered slit in the door — darkness within. “Are people in here?” he asks. “Catch the lights,” the Major orders. Seconds later, the viewer is momentarily stunned by the brightness through the small slit. Beneath the glare, beyond the steel door and yet more bars, are two black men in prison jumpsuits, curled head-to-toe on a three-by-six foot metal slab. The prisoners do not move, not even to acknowledge the sudden burst of light. They remain in a fetal-like sleep. Their six-by-ten foot cage is bare except for the bunk, a toilet and a sink. The observers move down the cellblock corridor. Next cell. Two men. Both black. No lights. No mattress on the one metal bunk. Next cell. Two men. One, standing when the slit is opened and the lights turned on, falls backwards onto the concrete and begins to silently gesticulate, shaking uncontrollably. “Does this man normally do this?” asks one of the observers. “Or is something the matter with him?” The Major snaps to immediate attention and peers into the cell. “Shit yeah,” he laughs, looking around at the guards. “He’s psychotic. You should see him do his grasshopper imitation.” More laughter. The Major puts his arm around the turnkey’s shoulder, and together they lead the visitors off the tier.

32 OrleansNewSteele,Burt Left: Angola prisoners Times working in canefields, Picayune 1930’s. Right: Prisoners marching to Angola fields, 1977.

The Story of Angola

I

Those familiar with the Louisiana isolated cages officially known as “Close- State Penitentiary at Angola often refer Cell-Restriction,” and the prison’s death to it as the “Alcatraz of the South.” row. Sixty miles north of Baton Rouge and From a second story window at A.U., bordered on three sides by the Missis¬ a prisoner can see much of the peniten¬ sippi, the prison is naturally secure; it is tiary. About one mile west of the front almost impossible for anyone to escape. gate, almost in the center of the prison The Angola penitentiary is shaped like a complex, sit eight H-shaped concrete giant animal trap, with the river forming and steel buildings, collectively known a 10-mile crescent around the 18,000 as the Main Prison; these are the dormi¬ acres of floodplain, and the snake- and tories for nearly 2,000 prisoners. Behind vermin-infested Tunica Hills complete the dormitories is the Tag Plant, where the barricade to the northeast. A few for many years convicts have produced miles beyond the Hills is the Mississippi license plates for Louisiana car owners. state line. To the south and southwest, Camps There is one road to the prison: C and H house from 200 to 500 maxi¬ Highway 66, a winding, 22-mile blacktop mum and medium security prisoners in which begins just north of St. Francis- cellblocks and dormitories. Opposite ville and ends at the prison gate. Before Main Prison is Camp A, built by convict the highway, riverboats provided the labor in the early 1900s. Camps D, J only access to Angola. and I are north of Main Prison, just Just inside the prison’s front gate is a beyond a cluster of small houses and Y-shaped, two-story building called mobile homes known as “Bee Line,” the “A.U.” (Admitting Unit). Here, se¬ where many of Angola’s administrative curity personnel photograph, fingerprint, and security personnel live. Most have outfit and lecture newly arrived person¬ never lived anywhere else; their fathers nel. The A.U. also houses many of and grandfathers were also prison em¬ Angola’s political prisoners, in small, ployees. Besides housing for Angola’s

33 free people, Bee Line has a post office, “The free man sits up on his horse, grocery store, snack bar, gas station and aimin’ his rifle just over your head, laundromat, all constructed years ago when he don’t think you’re choppin’ by prisoners. cotton fast enough. The free man most¬ From the Tunica Hills, the warden’s ly says, ‘All right, ol’ thing, get movin’ house overlooks the penitentiary. Imme¬ in that line,’ or ‘You better catch up diately below is a cemetery where hun¬ nigger, before I put a foot in your black dreds of unclaimed, unwanted Angola ass,’ or somethin’ like that. They mostly shoot prisoners are buried. up over your head or shoot down Angola is a vast expanse of rich green by your feet.” At earth — delta farmland. Scattered over any time during daylight hours, this land are seven days a week, black prisoners Camp J isolation wing, groups of 50 to 60 prisoners, march in rows, two by two, from cotton Angola, 1978. mostly black men, picking, chopping, digging, planting under the surveillance field to soybean field; or ride silently of shotgun-toting white guards on aboard uncovered wooden wagons, as horseback. they work the farm — modern-day slaves Says one Angola prisoner: on a prison plantation.

II

Go down sunshine, go down, oh Well before the Civil War, Louisiana intolerable work quotas — prisoners hurry please go down. passed legislation to lease its entire pris¬ were kept in leg chains and even chained This aggie hoe, this grassy row, on population (which at that time was together as they worked in the fields. won’t let me see sundown. 78 to 80 percent Caucasian) to a num¬ Floggings, isolation, electric shocks, Won’t let me see sundown, poor ber of private businesses. The main beatings with chains, blackjacks and belts were routine. From 1870 until boy, won’t let me see sundo wn. objective, of course, was income — if a 1901, This aggie hoe, this grassy row, net profit was not possible, at least the more than 3,000 convicts died under won’t let me see sundown. state could pay the costs of maintaining the lease system. Anonymous its prisoners. In fact, the system proved In 1900 the Louisiana Prison Control Prison work song so lucrative that in 1848 the legislature Board purchased an 8,000 acre farm added provisions to the original contract called “Angola,” a name obscurely awarding the state 25 percent of private derived from a Latin word for “place of interests’ profits from convict labor. anguish.” Originally, Angola was a After the Civil War, cotton growers family plantation with an antebellum mansion eagerly sought convicts to ease the labor overlooking the river and the shortage brought aboutby Emancipation. delta land. Shortly after the farm was Louisiana’s prison system abandoned purchased, the state established a prison the “bastille” system and instituted on the site. Later, this purchase was aug¬ “penal farms” in order to best capitalize mented by 10,000 additional acres of on the skills of the convicts, most of land. whom were former slaves. Now caged Until 1917 the farm at Angola served men suffered exploitation as well as as a branch of the main prison in Baton brutality and dehumanization. Rouge, and white prisoners, some as “Before the Civil War we owned the young as seven, made up its population. Negroes,” commented one early Louisi¬ Black prisoners were farmed out to ana prison official. “If a man had a good other camps to build levees along the Negro, he could afford to take care of river, and to plant and harvest crops. him; if he was sick, get him a doctor. He But once Angola became the main state might even get gold plugs in his teeth. prison, its black population began to But these convicts, we don’t own them. grow. And with the influx of black pris¬ So, one dies, we get another.” oners, emphasis on agricultural work As could be expected, the convict increased. As a result, blacks continued lease system was especially brutal to the to be under absolute control just as prisoners. It gave rise to chain gangs, slaves had been 60 years before. Nine¬ archaic and sadistic instruments for teenth century economic practices con¬ maintaining discipline and meeting tinued into the twentieth century. 34 MurphyDouglas}.byphoto

Angola’s Admitting Unit, where “radical prisoners” are housed, as well as new arrivals and death row

convicts. Tunica Hills are in background.

III

You want us to teach those con¬ Through the early 1900s, Angola to chase escaped fellow prisoners; they victs ping-pong, baseball, elocution made headlines only when it was were rewarded handsomely for shooting and gee-tar playin’? Those fellows flooded by the river or when someone escapees. By 1940, while fewer than 20 free men aren't up there for ringin ’ church discovered that the prison was financial¬ guarded Angola, 600 convicts bells. ly unsound. In 1928, Governor Huey were armed with rifles. Gov. Earl Long Long announced to the taxpayers that The infamous Red Hat camp — forced to close in 1972 because of 1950 the penitentiary cost them $1 million a public out¬ year; “the Kingfish” felt that Angola rage at the cramped conditions and abuse inmates suffered there — was should be self-supporting, a state- operated business enterprise. “I could another legacy of the Long administra¬ house and feed those inmates at Angola tion. The one-story punishmentcellblock cheaper here in the Heidelberg Hotel in was an oven in the summer and an ice¬ Baton Rouge than what it is costing to box in the winter. Each cell contained keep them there,” Long stated. Rehabil¬ an iron bunk without a mattress and a itation of prisoners was not one of his wooden bucket for body wastes. For concerns. days at a time, as many as six or seven During this time, official brutality men were crammed into one cell. Off to thrived at the prison. Inmates were one side, a small room contained Ango¬ regularly underfed, beaten and tortured. la’s electric chair and generator. All Angola guard captains have admitted to condemned prisoners spent their last more than 10,000 floggings from 1928 days in Red Hat before they were taken to 1940, with some prisoners receiving into that small room. A 10-foot barbed as many as 50 lashes. Records for the wire fence, with manned guard towers year 1933 reveal 1,547 floggings with at each of its four corners, enclosed the 23,389 “recorded blows of the double entire building. lash.” During the administration of War¬ The brutal practices and policies of den R. L. Hines, a Long appointee, an Huey Long’s prison appointees, con¬ average of 41 prisoners died each year. doned by Long himself, continued into Huey Long’s appointees also intro¬ the ’50s, with administrators and guards duced the “convict guard” system, resisting outside attempts to reform which Long envisioned as a way to save Angola. In 1951, an executive commit¬ money and at the same time allow bet¬ tee appointed by Governor Earl Long ter behaved prisoners to be “rehabilitated (Huey’s brother) investigated Angola through the exercise of responsibility.” and reported that sanitary conditions Prison officials called the convict guards were deplorable, that gambling was the the “most loyal people” they could find prisoner’s only recreation, and that

35 flogging bordered on torture. Another candidate Robert Kennon seized on committee of penologists condemned Long’s inability to oversee and operate the use of convict guards. Still, nothing Angola, and promised to run the prison was done. with a more humanitarian philosophy. Then, in 1951, 37 Angola prisoners Kennon was elected governor in 1952, severed their left heel tendons with and almost immediately brought in out¬ razor blades to protest inhuman work side progressive penologists to run photo loads, deplorable housing, lack of recre¬ Angola. From the legislature, Kennon by ation and obtained new Burt inadequate diets. “We eat $4 million for buildings at Steele weevils and beans,” said one convict. the prison. Orders against corporal The publicity surrounding the protest punishment were posted. Disciplinary Red Hat Unit, Angola. gradually exposed the facts of life at boards were established. Dietary needs Angola, inducing Earl Long to appoint of prisoners were met. Prisoners were still another committee — this time of paid two, three or five cents an hour for judges, journalists and others — to their field work. investigate. These reform measures were short¬ At the committee hearings in March, lived, however. The legislature, admitting 1951, inmates and guards testified that physical conditions and treatment about floggings, lengthy confinements in at Angola were bad, still felt that Ango¬ Red Hat cells, the absence of rehabilita¬ la should make money, and that prison¬ tion programs, filthy living conditions, ers should be required to work the fields spoiled food, long hoursof backbreaking six and seven days a week. slave labor in the cane fields and on the By the early 1960s, progress at levees, political corruption and sexual Angola had tailspinned. The lash and assaults. Red Hat cells were replaced with more A former prison captain testified that modern forms of brutality. Overcrowd¬ he had whipped a prisoner until his arms ing became a major problem — over could no longer lift the lash, had given 3,000 prisoners were housed in 50-year- the whip to a younger relative, who also old facilities built to accommodate flogged the prisoner until he was tired, 2,000. The custodial staff was unpro¬ and then returned the whip to the cap¬ fessional and recruited from Louisi¬ tain, who finished the beating. The ana’s poor, white, rural dwellers. The prisoner was black. His offense — he majority of Angola’s prisoners were “brushed” against the captain’s white black, and they were verbally and phys¬ daughter. ically abused by the racist clique of Governor Long was embarrassed by white guards. Medical care did not exist. the committee’s findings, which blamed Every year, guards or inmates killed as his administration in part for conditions many as 40 prisoners, and over 150 at Angola. “I thought the committee prisoners were stabbed and so severely would have to vindicate me,” Uncle Earl wounded that hospitalization was re¬ said later, “butthey hanged me instead.” quired. Rehabilitation programs were Suddenly, “prison reform” became nil. Angola’s legacy of horror and an issue in Louisiana. Gubernatorial inhumanity continued.

When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality; his mind does not IV dose to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and In an unprecedented move in 1962, tionality of prison systems. open interchange of opinions; his the US Supreme Court applied the The first such challenge came in the yearning for self-respect does not phrase “cruel and unusual” to a state 1969 Hoit v. Sarver case, a suit filed on behalf of all inmates at the Tucker Re¬ end; nor is his quest for self- law in a California prison case. Two realization concluded, if anything, years later the Court, led by Chief formatory and the Cummins Farm Unit the needs for identity and self- Justice Earl Warren, directly approved at the Arkansas Penitentiary. The prison¬ respect are more compelling in the right of a prisoner to seek relief ers charged that life at the prison the dehumanizing prison envi¬ in federal court. These decisions pro¬ amounted to cruel and unusual punish¬ ronment. vided the legal groundwork for prison ment. To give relief to the plaintiffs, the US Supreme Court Justice condition lawsuits and led to a series of federal judge ordered Arkansas to devise Thurgood Marshall challenges by inmates to the constitu- a plan to correct the situation. 36 MurphyJ.Douglasbyphoto

First offenders in Angola dormitory.

Then, in Gates v. Collier, a 1972 any more prisoners until the population suit against the Mississippi prison farm declined below 2,640. He ordered the at Parchman, Judge William Keady state to improve security, medical care found a range of conditions similar and food service; to decentralize the to those in Arkansas: inmate guards, penitentiary by building full facilities abominable living conditions, rampant elsewhere as well as at Angola; to elimi¬ violence. He asked the state to substan¬ nate fire, sanitation and health hazards; tially upgrade conditions and proce¬ and to desegregate the prison. dures and to abandon some of its worst “If the state of Louisiana chooses to facilities. run a prison, it must do so without It was inevitable that Angola would depriving inmates of rights guaranteed be the next major prison conditions to them by the federal constitution,” case. By the late 1960s more than 4,000 West said in the order. “Shortage of men were crammed into Angola’s facili¬ funds is no defense to an action involving ties, built to hold no more than 2,600. unconstitutional conditions and prac¬ Inmate-on-inmate violence, stabbings, tices, nor is it a justification for con¬ sexual abuse and killings had reached tinuing to deny the constitutional epidemic proportions. Both guards and rights of inmates.” prisoners feared for their lives. Ade¬ Prison reformers, abolitionists and quate medical care was lacking. Sani¬ socially concerned public officials hailed tation hazards existed everywhere: a 20- the court order, calling it a “godsend,” year old accumulation of raw sewage a message from the federal courts that under the Main Prison kitchen and would ultimately bring Louisiana’s dining hall had created an unbelievable prison system out of the dark ages. stench and rodent problem. Their hopes were short-lived. To be In late 1968, four Angola prisoners — sure, some changes occurred at the Lazarus Joseph, Hayes Williams, Lee sprawling prison farm. But today, three Stevenson and Arthur Mitchell — filed years after West’s ruling, Angola remains suit against the state. In 1973, after the a sewer of degradation — primitive, US Department of Justice intervened on coercive and dehumanizing. The state’s behalf of the prisoners, Federal Judge E., response to the order has been short¬ Gordon West, a former law partner of sighted and irrational. For example, to Senator Russell Long, appointed another reduce Angola’s prison population to federal judge to investigate conditions at 2,640, the Department of Corrections Angola and hold hearings. West said that began refusing to accept state-sentenced conditions at Angola should “shock prisoners housed in parish jails. As a the conscience of any right thinking result, nearly 2,000 prisoners who person.” In 1975 he declared conditions would have been transferred to Angola at Angola to be unconstitutional and remained instead in crowded, antiquated prohibited the prison from accepting local jails. Asked about the overcrowded

37 situation, Governor Edwin Edwards cal¬ and guards are said to curse, threaten lously remarked: “It’s not my problem. and physically abuse convicts. As one I don’t have any relatives in jail.” Angola prisoner said, “The security In reaction to the court order, the people seem to be people who enjoy state convinced the legislature to spend inflicting pain. Imagine if you can six to more than $150 million to construct eight guards with blackjacks, beating new prisons and expand existingfacilities one man with his hands restrained in at Angola; $50 million alone was ear¬ handcuffs.” marked to build new camps at Angola After 800 Angola inmates staged a to provide dormitory and maximum peaceful work stoppage in May, 1977, security bed space for more than 1,500 the state Department of Corrections prisoners. This expansion has pushed transferred 200 prisoners to then new the prison population at Angola up to Camp J, the isolated maximum security 4,300. Angola is fast becoming the outcamp of this maximum security largest prison in the western world. prison farm. These first residents of And life for a prisoner at Angola Camp J were, according to corrections remains much the same as it was in officials, either instigators of the work 1931. stoppage or “habitual troublemakers.” Today, as in years past, state and From the outset, Camp J became prison officials see Louisiana prisons known to prisoners, their families and as a business enterprise. In 1968, 3,000 prison employees as Angola’s “punish¬ of Angola’s 18,000 acres were planted ment camp.” Indeed, even today prison in sugar cane: 10 million pounds of officials readily admit that Camp J is a sugar and 500,000 gallons of molasses place where “fear” serves as the sole were produced. Hundreds of thousands “rehabilitative tool.” of dollars worth of soybeans and cotton Prisoners at Camp J are denied are harvested annually. Nearly half of certain foodstuffs: dessert, sugar, salt Angola’s prisoners, most of them black, and pepper. They are locked in their daily plant, harvest, dig irrigation cages virtually 24 hours each day; some ditches, erect fences or pick cotton. cells are without lights. The prisoners’ Armed guards on horseback, most of outgoing and incoming correspondence them white, watch over the convicts is closely monitored, and they are not who toil in the fields, and occasionally allowed to speak unless spoken to first. taunt them by firing rifle shots over And there is reported violence: their heads. The prisoners receive two beatings, tear gas, abuse. Prisoners who cents an hour for their labor. were deported to Camp J in May, 1977, Medical care is still woefully inade¬ say that guards began systematically Alone within my cell, if only the quate. Additional staff has been hired, brutalizing them from the beginning, walls could speak, but prisoners frequently complain of and have continued ever since. They would tell me ofthe suffering medical neglect, denial of treatment The federal court order of June, 1975, and misery /’ve seen for illness or injury, and of harassment ameliorated some of Angola’s problems, Where a man is if just a number, just they complain to prison adminis¬ but, as one prisoner said, nothing — not one to make the count straight. trators. In early 1978, 150 prisoners court orders, not governor’s committees, Where the love is taken and his who contracted food poisoning were not more educated and “enlightened” heart is filled with hate. disciplined and then, oddly, charged prison officials — can really change Forgotten man. with “theft by fraud” for complaining Angola. Angola will always endure, its to medical technicians at the prison camps rooted firmly in the soil sur¬ Night time finds me sleepless, hospital. Security officials claimed that rounded by the Mississippi River and lying on my bed, the prisoners, in making their com¬ the Tunica Hills. Nothing, short of abol¬ With thoughts of bitterness and plaints, were shirking their work re¬ ishing it altogether, can improve Angola. revenge flowing through my head, sponsibilities in the fields that day. “All the reforms in the world,” main¬ on a world that says it’s right to In another incident, a prisoner whose tained the prisoner, “won’t change lock a man away. leg was broken in an “altercation” this place from what it is — isolated, When will the day come, when all with a guard was left in his isolation unmanageable, and racist.” of us must pay? cell for nearly a week before he saw the As the mother of a man confined at Forgotten man. prison physician. Camp J wrote, “I’ve heard my son’s Otis Neal, Inmates’ claims of brutality continue. cries, and I’ve heard his pleas, and I Louisiana prisoner Convict guards are no longer used, but can’t seem to do anythingto help him.” □ inmate-on-inmate violence still rages,

John Vodicka directs the Louisiana Coalition on Jails and Prisons in New Orleans.

38 byJacksonHillphoto

Jimmy Stowe Portraits from Craggy

“Hey man, not me, I’m just waiting to be trans¬ Jukers ferred,” I explains. “This place is a little more secured than Central “Yeah, well I had been waiting for seven months!” the first Prison,” the guard joked as we arrived at Craggy juker said. “I’m putting the icing on the Prison unit in the mountains — a unit that had been cake now .... Before you leave, you’ve got to bor¬ condemned 10 to 15 years ago officially but was row an axe, find the stone to sharpen it on, cut the still being used. During this time the system was wood, resharpen the axe, wait for the wooden stove holding 4,000 more prisoners than it was built to to warm up after you make the fire, hustle up the hold. The whole prison system was old and outdated ingredients, make sure you got the right amount of so bad the Associated Press ran a special series on it. yeast to make it rise properly, take it out the oven, And I was sent to the most criticized unit. let it cool off, put the icing on it, cut the cake to I was assigned to “A” Dorm where, although in test it, offer the right people a piece and if they the mountains, I still knew a good number of the like it, then you’ll be able to leave after you clean population. The first ones to talk with me were the up the mess!” jukers. All the time knowing that they were right, I went “Now Stowe, you just wasn’t satisfied with that on to say, “Well, I know something that ya’ll don’t.” ‘candy bit’ that you had the first time. I’ve told you All I knew was that I wasn’t going to quit trying. and told you but you just wouldn’t listen! Well, “Hey Stowe, ain’t no use of you trying to fool you’ll feel that ‘brand new’ 15 years that you yourself, we’re just telling you the truth! Them haven’t even woke up to yet,” one of the jukers people the ones who tricked you into these moun¬ preached. tains,” the jukers reply. “We’re your friends; I hope “Yeah, they tricked you into these mountains you do make it out of the mountains soon, but I’m and you’ll be here a while,” another one claims. not going to wait on you. I’ve seen a many leave 39 here, and my cake is almost baked.” The penitentiary is about half and half. Some of Actually, the jukers are usually a so-called friend the girls are actually beautiful. I was a “run boy” in of yours. The majority of the time, the things that the walls when this girl came in that night. This was they be saying is true. It’s just a part of the “break¬ when the walls was so crowded that the inmates ing in.” And it also serves to set your mind to a very were sleeping in the open space on the bottom floor. active line of thinking, toward reality. And don’t She walked in a graceful step with her pants tight¬ just, by no chance, happen to mention your woman! ly fitted to show the imprint of her thighs, and you “Yo woman what!!?” one of the jukers snapped. could clearly see the roundness of her soft and fluf¬ “Man, by the time you get off that bit, and go to fy looking behind. She stood straight, to flash the your crib, your children will come to the door and apple-size tits that she accumulated by taking pills. holler, ‘Mama, who is the nigger at the door?’ and When she smiles at you with her smooth, hairless when she comes to the door she’ll say, ‘I don’t know face and arch eyebrows, from somewhere comes the who that nigger is!’” Then the juker continues, sound of soft music and sweet thought to the mind. “How can you call yourself a man and left a wife in At first she was sent to the open space on the bot¬ that cruel world to rear two children? How in the tom floor, but the inmates blew that by making world can you still call yourself a man?” noise — they were shouting all the way from the Yeah, they sho-nuff on my case. My only escape third tier, and they couldn’t even see her. This was to walk away. As I slept that night, my thoughts actually was one time the inmates were acting like were really in a swirl. All of the joking conceptions the animals we were always accused of being. So the made by the jukers served to bring out the truth of sergeant moves the two men out of the cell in front reality. of his office and puts her in there. And me being the “run boy,” were delivering all kinds of slick chain gang raps to “Deb” for the inmates. Penitentiary girls I don’t condemn the homosexuals, cause I feel of course, I’ve always been an all-round dude, that a person should be allowed to do whatever he able to get along with anyone. I have always enjoyed please with his life. But of course, a lots of people just talking with the “penitentiary girls” and the call me crazy simply because I tells them that “this undercover homosexuals. I tries to find out what is my life and I lives it the way I want to.” makes them tick, how they first got into that bag, and did they like what they were doing? Their answers Chain always vary. But I usually go on into their gang mafia life story. in the North Carolina prison system, most of the The most recent “homo” that I’ve rapped with unit officers were against inmates from Charlotte. was in the Marine Corps when he caught his time. They claim that we are troublemakers. What it was, He was convicted of “common law robbery” in was we just didn’t take any shit, and we hung Jacksonville, North Carolina, for jumping on two together as all inmates from the same town. It’s just that Charlotte is the marines and taking 75 cents. Although this was his Queen City of the Carolinas and first offense, a military affair, he was crossed by the naturally the crime rates were higher, and the state and given 13 years while the max for c.l.r. in polices made sure that someone wore them cases. this state is 10 years. He had lost both his parents by I was raised in the Charlotte ghettos, in gang the time he was 14, when he then quit school and, fights, stealing and killing and there just ain’t no at 15, left his home (he had six sisters but at the way I can let no inmate tell me what to do. When I present time has lost all contact with them) to join got here to Craggy, I saw that the brothers from the circus, the fair, and then the Marines. He was Charlotte used and flunkied a lots of the dudes from really a big dude, very honest and believed in speak¬ the mountains. ing his mind. From what he tells me, he was on the Yeah, the inmates are organized in this system as farm (Caledonia Prison) broke, with no outside help. the mafia are in the world. There are loan-sharps One day he was approached by a few inmates who (with high rates and stiff penalties), storekeepers, offered to take care of him if he committed homo¬ dope-pushers and gambling rights; all connected sexual acts with them. Letting the truth of reality to the mob. I was told that there was a riot here move him to a new venture in life, he looks upon his just last year between the blacks and whites over manhood as not being torn down or weakened, but the gambling rights. After a few stabbings and more or less strengthened by doing as he felt and injuries, the conclusion was a 50-50 division. admitting up to it. Anyway, after it was over, A lots of black inmates underestimate the white in¬ one of the inmates brought him some cigarettes. In mates, not realizing they can be just as brutal, cunning some strange way, he seemed to enjoy what he and tactical. They have a reputation for “stealing did ... . you,” too. Stealing you mean tipping up on you and 40 stabbing you, mostly when you’re asleep. second dude. “I’m giving you four shakes [pills] .” If there is anyplace that you’re really turned out “I take five,” the first man argue. to live in the criminal world, it is here. And the By now both voices were in an excruciating tone, lawmakers know for themselves that this system cursing each other and continuing the argument comes nowhere near doing the job of rehabilitation with the matter of how much is owed. Somehow or correction that it have brainwashed you, the they manage to work out something and is back public, into believing, which really makes no differ¬ loaning each other money that same night. Only one ence or two of these to you. After all, why should you be concerned arguments lead to a fight. On the other side of with what happens to a bunch of convicts? Just me, I observes the loan-sharp because they’re using your tax money, don’t mean collecting his money and there’s always this some¬ one that comes that they are required to tell you the truth about up a little short or tries to shoot what is done with it. some slick game under this creditor, but they, the loan-sharps, don’t argue with anyone. They warns and does. For twenty-five push-ups I can remember what broke me from associating The Godfather with just “any and everybody.” It was behind a game of “dirty hearts” for 25 push-ups. During the He’s envied by some inmates and admired by course of the game this dude received enough points others. He’s an ace pimp, a number one con man, to do the 25 push-ups, but he claimed that my part¬ a money-maker, a woman breaker. When he dresses ner and I were cheating. We just figured that he he’s careful not to wrinkle his neatly pressed and creased wanted to get out of doing the push-ups, but then browns, tailored to fit him in a continental he claimed that he was going to make us do some style with a perfectly squared cuff. (The top stitch of his shirt push-ups. Later, he and my partner were in a corner jacket matches his S65 Bostonian shoes.) He’s fast with both his hands and where he really thought he was going to make my mind, and when he partner do some push-ups. So I hurried over to stop speaks he’s always heard. Taught by experience, he’s a leader my partner from getting a case, cause the dude was among inmates. His thoughts are those of a halfway crazy anyway and wasn’t worth killing, but king who plans to prolong his powers by using to my surprise, the dude told me if I was to say a psyche game on those chumps who lust for another word that he was going to let me have it. At “money and the power.” His emotions are buried that moment I was really shocked, and I just had to under a thick layer, a pride that can be seen only think: “This fool is standing in front of my partner by a sharp observation of his cleverness. They call and him I, not strapped down [armed] or nothing, while the “Godfather.” King of all criminals, one my partner and I are strapped down and really ready whom I admire respectfully. Because I have known to go to his ass.” this influence of power that he feels, since I was 15 We knew that he was insane to do what he did, so and I was leader of a small gang. My gang! That we just walked away. But that was the closest I feeling of sho-nuff knowing that you are somebody. come to killing someone out of a series of detri¬ I was always the champion in games that I played. mental events that have went down. And in the sixth grade finishing out with straight A’s And all that from a card game. put another distinction and self-praiseful feeling On of Fridays right after payoff is one of the world’s confidence which inspired me on in high school most confused to become the exchangings of money that I have homeroom president and a leading ever witnessed. The dormitory becomes like the member of my junior class. Still continuing this world stock exchange. Witness the tensions and drive, I was the first of my category to become pressure build up among inmates when money owed leading seaman on my ship while in the Navy. And at the is not received. My first thoughts were that s— was young age of 19 was president of a black going to be flying all over the place. organization formed by the strong on my ship On one side of me, I was listening to a “business during the time of the Vietnam War when there was a black argumentation” which went on as follows: servicemen’s uprising in the Philippines. “Well looka here man, where’s my money?” cries Under my leadership we had started a mutiny the first man in a calm voice. “You can pay every¬ conspiracy to turn the ship around. That power! body else and can’t pay me.” The same calm voice, That influence which takes control of a man’s mind in a louder tone. to become always the dominating figure. Yeah, I “Them were cash loans,” the next man shouted. have seen it, felt it, and can never lose it. So yes, I “Mine was a cash loan, Nigger!” the first calm admire the Godfather in a sense of understanding voice, but much louder now. and respect. I even occasionally shoots a booster of “Yeah, but that was in a poker game!” said the encouragement myself. □ 41 first professional penologist, Ellis Mac- Scientific Dougall, to oversee Georgia’s correc¬ Penology tional system. MacDougall, who had previously headed the South Carolina Comes to and Rhode Island prison systems, had a reputation as a reformer’s reformer. “Every time I pick up a newspaper,” he once said, “and see that a second of¬ Georgia fender has committed a crime, I feel guilty. Our responsibility in corrections is to see that the criminal doesn’t have a second victim.” He was no bleeding heart. “We don’t say coddle the prison¬ ers. But the average man in prison today can have his cycle of crime stopped; he can be a useful member of society.” In May of 1971, three months after he arrived in Georgia, MacDougall called the conditions in some work camps “atrocious” and promised that a team of state investigators would examine Gene Guerrero all 42 remaining county-operated camps. County officials angrily called him a It was one of those reform move¬ gang camps. In his report Collier found “dictator . . . choking us to death with ments with clout: the Citizens’ Fact these changes “very hopeful,” pointing rules and regulations.” MacDougall Finding Movement. Leaders of 14 major out that Georgia “must strive for greater responded, “They called me a dictator organizations in Georgia — including experience in scientific penology” be¬ and I was. It took somebody to come in the cause and start PTA, Civitan, the American Asso¬ the “new prison will not achieve laying down the law. . . . One ciation of University Professors and the its proper end unless it is operated un¬ guy’s got to come in and shake the sys¬ Georgia Press Association — had come der competent personnel and unless tem by the ears.” together to report on major state issues. scientific methods of penal administra¬ Other reforms began. The first work- League of Women Voters representative tion are adopted.” release center — designed to ease the Josephine Wilkins, later a behind-the- Coll ier and the others had good reason prisoner’s transition back into society — scenes mainstay of the Southern Re¬ to be optimistic. Georgia’s penal system had opened in 1970. More followed, gional Council, was there when the was so bad that any change was bound with the first pre-release drug treatment group met in April, 1938, at Atlanta’s to be good. Or so it seemed. But in center opening early in 1973. That year Piedmont Hotel to hear Tarleton 1944, only six years after the new pris¬ a new training academy for corrections Collier report on the penal system. on opened, the newly appointed head of staff opened at the University of Geor¬ For years, particularly since the 1932 the Georgia prison system called the gia. The department was included in publication of Robert Burns’ / Am Reidsville prison “an outrage.” The Governor Carter’s highly touted reor¬ a Fugitive From a Georgia Chain Gang, pattern would be repeated decade after ganization of state government. And by reformers had been working for an decade: an expose of incredibly bad December of 1972, one-fifth of Georgia’s end to the chain gangs. Collier, featured conditions; demands for professional 8,218 prisoners were involved in various columnist for The Atlanta Georgian, administration of prisons and an end to academic or vocational programs, in¬ told the fact finders: “Georgia has county-operated camps; optimism that cluding part-time and correspondence abolished chain gangs by calling them the corner had been turned; then anoth¬ courses. public work camps and has forbidden er expose. At the same time, several new catch shackles and chains...[but] it is not to In 1957 conditions were so bad at phrases became a part of Georgia penol¬ be forgotten that the most degrading the Buford Rock Quarry — where ogy. At three model prisons “compre¬ feature of the chain gang is its lack of “incorrigibles” were sent to break big hensive learning laboratories” were influence for regeneration — its rule to rocks into little ones - that 41 prisoners established using the “latest educational work from sunrise to sunset without took sledgehammers and broke their technology and programmed instruc¬ alleviation.” own legs. Within the basement, in one tional material (teaching machines).” Earlier in 1938, in the first major of Buford’s solitary confinement cells, According to the 1972 annual report, change in Georgia corrections in three a reporter investigating the prison “Constant efforts will be made to link decades, a Board of Penal Administra¬ system found “Thay is no God!” behavior modification concepts with tion had been created to supervise the scrawled on the wall. educational programs... to increase new state prison in Tatnall County near Reformers continued to criticize motivation, develop self-esteem, and Reidsville. It had been a gift from the Georgia’s prisons throughout the 1960s. lead to goal-setting.” federal government, made after reform¬ In 1971, amidst mounting public atten¬ Thus, in the humanistic setting of ers induced Eleanor Roosevelt to tion and prison tension, newly-elected improved educational opportunities, the investigate conditions in Georgia’s chain Governor J immy Carter appointed the practice of behavior modification en-

42 illustrations by Ted Outwater tered the prisons of Georgia. But soon prisoners at the three model institu¬ tions complained that they were simply locked in the prison library in the morn¬ ing with the teaching machines and not let out until “class” was over. Despite this immediate indication that behavior modification might be better suited for the drawing board of prison reformers than the real world of rehabilitative programs, the practice gained momen¬ tum under Ellis MacDougall as it did nationally under a new school of technocratic prison managers.

Roots of Modification

The concept of behavior modification began with the work of psychologist B. F. Skinner and his famous experi¬ ments with a little box to modify the behavior of pigeons. Skinner felt he had established that deviant activity is learned in the same manner as normal behavior rigibles.” A similar START program al rehabilitation counselor Allen Ault, and consequently can be modified began in October at the Medical Center had become warden of the newest through the appropriate use of rewards for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, major prison in the state: the Georgia and punishments. As early as 1965, Fed¬ Missouri. Diagnostic and Classification Center eral Bureau of Prisons officials adapted The START programs, according to (GDCC) in Jackson. GDCC, which had behavior modification techniques by Federal Prison Director Norman Carlson, opened in late 1968, was the product of using a “token economy” program at were “an attempt to provide a more the reform philosophy of a decade the National Training School for Boys effective approach for dealing with those before — diagnosis. With degrees in that rewarded obedient boys with to¬ few, but highly aggressive and assaultive, rehabilitation counseling and special kens which were convertible to cash. inmates who are found in any correc¬ training in behavior modification, Ault Under Ellis MacDougall, Georgia tional institution.” But a storm of was cut from the same no-nonsense reformer mold as began an experiment with such a reward controversy over these behavior modi¬ MacDougall. Soon after he a program with the passage of the Youth¬ fication programs broke in 1973 and became warden he told group ful Offender Act of 1972. Instead of 1974 after the ACLU’s National Prison of youths that Georgia jails were among straight time, “Youthful offenders are Project filed suit on behalf of inmates “the worst in the country,” and he committed to the department under the in the two federal prisons who, as best described the classification process he provisions of this act for an indetermi¬ they could, had been protesting condi¬ inherited at his Center as “the place we nate period, not to exceed six years for tions. As one former START prisoner received every felon in the state so we corrective and preventive incarceration.” described it, “We told the pigs that we can decide which ‘chain gang’ to send After a “diagnostic evaluation” utilizing had just formed our own program him to.” On the other hand, Ault said, psychological tests, a “contract” is entitled STOP (Stand Together, Op¬ behavior modification showed great made, specifying “the type institutional pressed People) and that as far as we promise because the punitive prison program the offender agrees to com¬ were concerned they could take their discipline system could be replaced with plete and a conditional release date brush shop and the rest of their brain¬ positive reinforcers in which “the in¬ contingent upon successful completion washing program and shove it.” mate starts with nothing and must earn of set goals.” When all terms of the In early 1974, Carlson was asked to whatever he gets, but when he gets it, contract have been fulfilled, a five- testify before a Congressional commit¬ it belongs to him.” Ault soon had his person board considers a youthful tee. He denied that the feds had ever chance to implement his theory for offender for conditional release. coerced offenders through any sinister better prison management. Youthful offenders were not the efforts, but went on to say that the In December, 1972, several prisoners only offenders thought to need behavior programs “can include either positive were transferred to GDCC after an in¬ modification. In September, 1971, the rewards or aversive techniques including cident at the Reidsville prison. Ault Attica uprising occurred. Across the a variety of punishments to promote a quickly concluded that his prison did country, prison officials braced them¬ change in behavior.” not have adequate facilities to handle selves. It was time to get serious about the new breed of assertive prisoners handling prison troublemakers. The Control the Uncontrollable who were, he complained, “intimidating control unit of the US Penitentiary at the staff.” But he was also unhappy Marion, Illinois, set the pace for the use Back in Georgia in July, 1971, with what he called the standard “ad¬ of modification techniques on “incor- MacDougall’s cohort, young correction¬ justment centers in which people were 43 Prisoner Ratio” of any state in the US — an incarceration rate higher than any of the industrial western nations as well. As an answer to the overcrowding crisis, Ault secured a $1.8 million grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Agency (LEAA) to begin a package of byphoto reforms called “a New Direction.” /ackson They essentially extended his fascina¬ Hill tion with behavior modification into the sentencing of all prisoners. Part of the program called for relieving the pressure of overcrowding by enlarging pre-trial diversion programs and using probation to keep people out of prison, and in¬ troducing pre-release and post-release programs to keep ex-prisoners from returning. But the core of the program was behavior modification. Ault replaced the statutory good-time provision with “earned time,” a program which would “allow the department to do contract¬ ing with each inmate, whereby an

exemplary inmate . . . could earn up to two days for every day served.... It would be up to the inmate to earn his way out.” Whereas under good time a prisoner got an early release unless it was taken away by a disciplinary just put there to rot.” He commissioned The center was designed for “uncon¬ committee for conviction of a rules specialists at the University of Georgia trollable” prisoners: “Inmates who have violation, now prisoners would be to design a program with a “behavioral been instrumental in causing riots, sit “graded” daily by guards and counselors emphasis.” After some alterations by downs, and other situations of inmate to earn their shortened sentences. Ault and consultant jim Granade, the unrest that jeopardize the security of Despite protests from the ACLU and design became the GDCC Adjustment the institution”; those who “have others that no rehabilitative or voca¬ Center, known by most prisoners as the shown consistent assaultive tendencies”; tional training programs existed for H-House at Jackson, Georgia. It was in and those “who consistently prove prisoners — regardless of how motivated fact a modification of the federal themselves to be escape risks.” The they were — Ault convinced the legis¬ START program. H-House soon began to fill with those lature to approve his law change and H-House had two main phases. In who were involved in periodic protests sanction his LEAA-financed behavior Phase I, basic good behavior was re¬ of conditions at the Reidsville prison modification experiments. quired. The prisoner’s cell and area had and those, like Nation of Islam mem¬ to be clean and neatly arranged, and the bers, who were by definition trouble¬ Vacation From Personal Involvement prisoner had to be clean as well, with a makers. haircut and shave. Prisoners could be While Ault was launching new pro¬ Meanwhile, protest leaders inside the checked by guards at any time, day or grams for “incorrigibles,” many of the system continued to be sent to the H- night, for possible violations. The men basic conditions which led to protests House. Jerry Patterson was transferred were allowed one hour a day out in the from prisoners continued unchanged. from Reidsville to the H-House at Jack- small yard. “Correct behavior,” the By January 1,1974, when Ault replaced son on November 6, 1974. The inter¬ Department of Offender Rehabilitation an ailing MacDougall, the problem of departmental teletype stated that he explained, "is reinforced with privileges overcrowding had reached a crisis point. was “involved in militant activities caus¬ such as mailing, books, yard time, hot Between 1960 and 1972, the state’s ing unrest among other inmates.” That coffee and carpet purchase.” As an prison population dropped from 9,000 was two days after Reidsville prisoners inmate’s behavior was modified, he to about 8,000 — first, with the removal conducted a peaceful work stoppage to could move from Phase I to Phase II — of misdemeanor offenders from state protest conditions — peaceful until a where there were more privileges — and prisons, then staying down during the guard opened fire with a shotgun, killing thereafter back into the general prison economic boom of the Vietnam War. one prisoner. population. Men can be slower than In 1973, it started back up, hitting In sending Bobby Hardwick to pigeons. The program design called for 10,000 in early 1974. By October, H-House, Reidsville warden Hopper prisoners to remain in Phase I for two to 1974, the Atlanta papers announced wrote: “He has written so many writs three months and in Phase II for about that with 214 prisoners for every that it has taken an extra, separate file five months. 100,000 people, “Georgia ranks first in to hold his legal papers. He has contin-

44 uously complained about mistreatment. transferred to H-House, officials would Inmate Hardwick has chosen an anti¬ Georgia's penal system not let him send the donation or write social the child because it was not on path. . . . Therefore, it is recom¬ was so bad that any his mended that he be transferred to GDCC approved correspondence list. Finally to participate in their behavior modi¬ change was bound to be the Children’s Fund wrote the prison¬ fication program in hopes that this will er saying they were sorry but they change this inmate’s devious trend.” good. Or so it seemed. would have to give his child to another Neither Hardwick nor Patterson were sponsor. silent in H-House. Hardwick wrote Dr. Richard Korn, designer of the One of two counselors assigned Warden Ricketts (who had taken Ault’s country’s first “adjustment centers.” to H-House testified that he had not place at the Jackson prison) requesting Over the years he had changed his mind had personal contacts with H-House dismissal of a charge of possession of about the value of such programs, and prisoners for five or six months be¬ contraband since items seized in his cell was especially critical of H-House. It has cause, “I burned out. I decided to take “could not be termed ‘contraband’ 79 individual cells, each 6V2 feet by 8/2 a brief vacation from personal involve¬ ment.” The other counselor said his because: (a) There’s no rule or regula¬ feet, with square portholes in the back. tion with regards to H-House that states By walking along a catwalk, a guard can daily contact was often limited to an inmate found with two pair of over¬ look directly down into the porthole striding across the catwalk from above alls, a change of pillowcases or two pair and watch the prisoner. According to and behind the cells. The prison’s of undershorts constituted contraband; Korn, the catwalk at H-House distin¬ Assistant Superintendent for Care and (b) Every item such as tooth paste, guished it from other segregation units Treatment said that the main office soap, etc., were all issued to me by prison around the country. The prisoners’ in Atlanta ignored the H-House “man¬ officials and none of which was illegal¬ knowledge that at any moment they agement team” recommendations for ly obtained by me.” Ricketts wrote might be observed or interrupted was, transfer out of H-House as much as back to inform Hardwick that the he explained, a “very damaging factor. 75 percent of the time. At the time of disciplinary committee found him not The men tell me they can’t be alone the trial, some prisoners had been in H- guilty, commenting that this “should with themselves in privacy when they House for more than two years. The prove to you that at the Georgia Diag¬ need to, even at night.” typical prisoner was allowed out of his nostic and Classification Center justice Further testimony came from James cell only six hours a week for exercise always prevails.” X. Simmons, who had been sent to H- and showers. Hardwick did not agree. The previous House three times; the last time, he Dr. Richard Korn described the year he had been written up because he was transferred from Reidsville because effects of such confinement on men: had refused to trim his fingernails. His he had been charged with “rib and “All mammals, particularly those closest to punishment was “10 days, isolation — 1 agitate.” On the stand, he described us, have certain needs. For meal per day.” a day in H-House: “An average day example, they have needs for purposeful Hardwick next wrote to state offi¬ is just being in your cell. You can activity. ... If you cage certain rodents cials and a state senator. When the sena¬ walk around; just walk around your in a small cage and don’t give them a tor queried Ricketts, the warden replied cell. You can’t really do no loud hol¬ treadmill to get their energy, they would that “special care is taken to assure each lering, so you can’t really holler down simply die. ... In man — an animal who inmate in can divert himself more with confined H-House is afforded to another inmate if you want to . . . purely each and every right granted by law.” the library cart used to come once a symbolic or intellectual activity — there are tremendous needs for stimulation. After Hardwick, Patterson and other week. But most of the time you have H-House prisoners requested aid from nothing to read so it’s just staring at Stimulation for the mind is the equiva¬ lent of food for the organizations around the country and the wall, you just stare at the wall, body. . . . Just as a received none, several of them filed and you might try to do some push¬ body begins to feed on itself... the mind suits against H-House, acting as their ups. You try to do something to make triggers, from its store of memories own attorneys. The suits and legal the day go by, try to get past the day. and impressions, old material and pro¬ petitions went to Federal Judge Wilbur You wait for chow, because that’s jects them in a hallucinatory way. . . . One of the standard effects of Owens in Macon, a former US Attorney the only real, that’s the only kind of long-term and a Nixon appointee to the bench. little — you wait for chow, just live segregation is delusion and hallucination. He consolidated the various petitions for chow, just live for that.” . . . They can’t concentrate, their minds

— 25 in all — into one suit which came While in H-House, Simmons wanted begin to fade. They begin to doubt to be styled Hardwick v. Ault. Next, he to take a correspondence course. His themselves. . . . When you add to all of appointed a team of lawyers to handle mother sent him the money which he that the uncertainty of release, the sense the prisoners’ case: Ralph Goldberg sent to a bank. But in H-House they of helplessness, the sense of powerless¬ and Tom West from Atlanta’s office of wouldn’t let him keep a bankbook “so ness . . . you are creating a situation, ex¬ the Southern Prisoners’ Defense Com¬ I couldn’t withdraw the money, so it actly characterized . . . as those practiced mittee and Emily Calhoun and Al Pear¬ was tantamount to me not being al¬ and called torture in countries to which son, law professors at the University of lowed to take the course.” Another we do not particularly like to be com¬

Georgia. The trial was held in April, prisoner, while at Reidsville, had “a- pared. . .. This is mental torture.” 1977. dopted” a child in the Philippines by After the trial, Judge Owens first In one of those ironies of history, sending regular donations to the Chris¬ told state officials that if they did not the expert witness for the prisoners was tian Children’s Fund. When he was transfer prisoners previously recom-

45 Drug Abuse Penitentiary Style

"We realize that we're using more medicine than we would on the outside, but you're dealing with a different kind of people." — Physician working for the Virginia Department of Corrections

It is not hard to imagine the appeal the penitentiary. tors feared they would have to ampu¬ of tranquilizers, to both prisoners and Prolixin is a very powerful behavior¬ tate Tucker’s legs. However, recent prison administrators, as a means of modifying drug whose known side improvements in his condition may easing the oppressive conditions of effects include tremors, rigidity, im¬ enable him to receive plastic hip incarceration. Tranquilizers may help mobility and an irreversible stiffening joints. to dull the frustration, make the bore¬ of the extremities. According to the Because of the horror of his exper¬ dom more tolerable and provide prison penitentiary hospital records, Tucker ience, Tucker’s story was picked up by officials with a cheap adjunct secu¬ received Prolixin as often as twice in the press. The American Civil Liberties rity system. But while there may be a three days, in tablets and by injection, Union of Virginia has filed a million higher concentration of frustrated, in varying dosages and at times with¬ dollar lawsuit on his behalf. anxious and depressed people behind out the prescribed Cogentin. The ACLU found that the peni¬ bars, it is wrong to assume that this By mid-December Tucker had be¬ tentiary physician who authorized the particular population is immune to the come withdrawn and refused to eat. prescription from Central State Hospi¬ harmful effects of behavior-modifying The psychologist described him as tal for Henry Tucker knew very little drugs. being in a “catatonic-like trance.” about Prolixin. He admitted that he Henry Tucker has been an almost Tucker developed a high fever as well had to consult the Physicians’ Desk regular resident of Virginia institutions as a stiffness in his shoulders, elbows Reference to determine the proper since he was first placed in a state and hips. When his condition did not dosage but did not read the three mental hospital at the age of 21. Six improve, he was transferred to the columns which described harmful side years later, in 1964, he was sentenced Medical College of Virginia. In Feb¬ effects. The penitentiary staff psy¬ to life imprisonment for breaking and ruary of 1977, even though his joints chologist, who relays treatment and entering, attempted burglary and at¬ remained stiff, he was returned to the medication recommendations from the tempted rape. According to prison penitentiary. Over the next seven state hospital to the penitentiary, records, Tucker has been considered a months, Henry Tucker lay on his bed stated that he did not know what “chronic schizophrenic,” apparently in the prison hospital; physical therapy conditions Prolixin is useful for, what because he periodically became de¬ was stopped because he could not bear form the drug comes in, its recom¬ pressed and disoriented. He complained the pain. There were no orders to turn mended dosages, or the potential side mostly of anxiety and nervousness, him so he was not turned, and he effect. Tucker is only one of many symptoms for which the doctors pre¬ developed bedsores that spread and men and women who are discharged scribed Sinequan, Valium, Stellazine, deepened until other inmates com¬ from the state hospital and returned Mellaril and Thorazine. Several times plained of the smell of rotten flesh. to their assigned prison units with no he was admitted to Central State Hos¬ In September, Tucker was trans¬ doctor or specially trained medical pital; he was described as experiencing ferred to the Medical College of Vir¬ worker responsible for regulating the “unpredictable mood swings from ginia again, this time in critical condi¬ dosage or monitoring the side effects depression to frustration and bitterness tion. The joints in his arms and legs of a prescribed controlled substance.□ for no reason.” This time the doctors were frozen, he was malnourished, he prescribed injections of Prolixin every suffered from inner ear and blood — Carolyn Fisceiia, two weeks with Cogentin to mitigate infections, and his bedsores were Coordinator of the A CL U- side effects, and returned Tucker to crawling with maggots. Originally, doc¬ Virginia Prison Project

46 As one former START prisoner described it, "We told the pigs that we had just formed our own program entitled STOP." mended for transfer from H-House, he would order them to do so. The state voluntarily complied and a large number of prisoners were removed from the Adjustment Center. Then, in January 78, Judge Owens issued his landmark ruling that the H-House program in “the totality of circumstances amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.” The decision is the first to recognize that a behavior modification program is, by its design, unconstitutional. Attorneys for the prisoners and for the state have reached a settlement in which H-House prisoners will be placed on work details during most of the day, allowed contact visits and permitted outdoor group recreation for at least an hour daily if weather permits. No prisoner will be transferred to H-House without a hearing or held there for more than six months except under special circumstances specified guards. Supporters of the program argue their prisons. In Ault’s last year in in writing to the prisoner. that because evaluations of the prisoners Georgia, only 10 percent of the prison¬ are made by correctional staff on a ers could take advantage of education Hollow Promises regular, daily basis, guards are more programs at any one time, although involved with prisoners in their keep. 79 percent lacked a high school In October, 1976, Dr. Ault left In Colorado, the earned-time concept diploma. Reformers have experimented Georgia to head Mississippi’s prison quickly became a key part of Ault’s instead with one gimmick after another, system, where his Georgia predecessor, program. His basic plan described by the while condemning rebellious prisoners Ellis MacDougall, was temporarily in Rocky Mountain News was “to separate to programs designed to break and the charge. Ault said Georgia’s corrections ‘hard case’ incorrigible inmates — cripple them emotionally. problems were because of “a pure and who cause most of the present prison New techniques are constantly simple lack of money to do the job.” violence — from the general prison coming off the consultant’s drawing Then in mid-1977 Ault, by now de¬ population through a new maximum boards. Dr. Herbert Eber is an Atlanta scribed by the press as “one of four or security facility.” psychiatrist who designed the psycho¬ five top prison experts in the United Around the country the debate on logical tests now used to evaluate all States,” accepted a position as head of correctional reform continues. The incoming Georgia prisoners. He has Colorado’s prisons. Prisoners’ Solidarity Committee calls studied prisoners in three states, and re¬ Ironically, reformer Ault’s only real the prisons “concentration camps for cently announced the development of a contribution to Georgia may have been the poor.” Others agree. David Bazelon, sophisticated computer system which the change in the good-time law. With Chief Judge of the US Court of Appeals can predict for a warden if one of his major revisions, it now applies equally for the District of Columbia, says “All prisoners has tendencies towards suicide to all prisoners, giving them an early these proposals [for changes in sentenc¬ or escape, or is likely to respond to release automatically unless they re¬ ing, etc.] fail to consider the social treatment. The system is currently in ceive an unsatisfactory evaluation. injustices that breed crime. Can it be use in Georgia, Oklahoma — and Colo¬ Functionally, the new system resembles true that this nation would rather build rado. □ the old pre-Ault good-time law, except a new prison for every slum dweller who it releases prisoners even earlier. The turns to crime than try to alleviate the earned-time system may be progress, cause of his lawlessness?” but as implemented now in Georgia it is The current generation of reform Gene Guerrero is the director of the not, in any real sense, behavior modifi¬ corrections commissioners, like Allen American Civil Liberties Union of Geor¬ cation. In fact, the only ones whose Ault, have failed to provide basic edu¬ gia and a board member of the Southern behavior may be modified by it are cational programs for the poor who fill Coalition on Jails and Prisons.

47 byJacksonHillphoto

Andrew Griffin: Do prisons work? Can a person death in jail. I was scared when I first came up here. be helped by prison? I know. The other day they brought in a group, and Betty: If they want to be helped. a couple were in tears. They, were scared to death. Some inmates had to tell Janet: if they had the right kind of program them, “There’s nothing to be afraid of. that would work. More education programs and There’s nobody gonna jump you in here.” more work release, which we have very little of, especially us with long sentences. I was in pre-med Janet: But you don’t know that when you come before they brought me here. I had been out on in here. bond three and a half years, and my appeal was Andrew: How long does it take to adjust to denied. I was doing fine in school and everything. being here? Now where am I? I’m at a standstill. To me this Millie: I ain’t never gonna adjust to this place. is not rehabilitation. Pat: You make do — but you don’t adjust. Millie: In order to be rehabilitated, you first Millie: Some people do adjust, I’m gonna tell have to be habilitated. I don’t feel that this you now. But they go completely out of their institution or anything they offer me (which I don’t minds, too. There are some people that have actual¬ feel they have anything to offer me) could reform ly adjusted in this place — people that don’t ever me. I feel like I have to reform myself. want to leave here. I’ve felt that way ever since I’ve been confined. I wouldn’t care if they kept me locked up forever When I walked in that door — and that looks like what years ago, they told they gonna do — I’ll me they was gonna break me. Well, they didn’t. never adjust to this place. I haven’t, and I’ve made They kept me in maximum security 408 days it through seven years. And I’ll make it through with one that thing in mind, that they was gonna the other seven years or whatever it is I’ve got break me. And when I come out I was still as much left — twelve, four, five, I don’t know. hell coming out as I was when I went in there. I’m Betty: There are some people that come in here being honest and what I say in front of you I say that this institution has helped and can help. Be¬ in front of them or anybody else. cause they bring people in from these little bitty Andrew: What does somebody go through when towns up in the hills, that didn’t have no running they walk through the gates of this place? water. They didn’t have clean sheets; they didn’t Betty: A lot of women are scared to death. When have three meals a day; they didn’t have a doctor they bring in new admissions, they come to Dorm or a dentist. I’ve seen women come in the dorm One, the dorm that I’m in. You’d be surprised at that didn’t even know what the damned shower the women when they walk in and see the other was. They were afraid of it. women sitting around. I suppose you get this line But as far as rehabilitation, I’ve been here three of shit in jail about, “Oh, there’s all sorts of homo¬ times. I want to stay out, but if circumstances sexuality and they’re gonna attack you and take all come up where I need some money and I know how to your stuff.” You know, you could scare a person to get it in a quick way — other than working 48 “Hey, my Mom’s in prison”

A Conversation at Tennessee Prison for Women

Interview by Andrew Griffin

my tail off on two jobs or something like that — murder, robbery, we’ve got child abusers in here, then I will resort to what I know is an easy way they don’t know nothing about this good kind of to make money. food.” I could not believe this man said this. I was Andrew: What is medical care like in this insti¬ so upset, I cried for about two hours. But I cannot tution? understand how somebody who feels that way Janet: Medical care is a problem. I don’t think can have that kind of position. I guess politics runs really it stems from the institution, but from the anything associated with any kind of government. lack of funds coming in to hire medical personnel. Andrew: Tell me about your classification levels. We have a doctor come in once a week on Tuesdays. Everyone who comes in starts off at Level I? If you’re sick, you just wait till then, unless you’re All: No, Level II. having real bad problems. Then they’ll take you to Millie: On Level I you get locked up at six the hospital. o’clock; no activities after six o’clock, you get Pat: It depends on who’s working. They have locked in your room at six, or if you have a room¬ to call the nurse first and explain what’s wrong mate, you have to stay in your room. On Level II with you to her. if the nurse says take you to the you can do anything anybody else does except hospital, then you go. if she says give you two leave the institution (unless it’s to go to the doctor aspirins and go to bed, then you go to bed. or something). On IV and V you can go outside Betty: If you get a cold on Wednesday, you’re the institution if you are invited and they approve just out of luck. You have to wait until next Tues¬ it. day to get any antibiotics. Andrew: How do you move from one Level to Janet: Why don’t you put in your article that another? we do need better medical care, more work release Betty: Behave yourself. centers and more incentives to get out of prison? Janet: Every two months they have a grading Betty: We need more recreation. period here. Millie: The first thing I’d do [if I was warden] Betty: It depends on your work area: how you is have everybody that works here spend the night do your job and how you get along with others. here as a prisoner. Millie: Well really, you don’t know how they are Betty: And the judges, too. going to grade you. It’sjust really a confusing system. The thing I can’t understand about prisons is the One month they may grade you 121, that’s low hiring procedure. Why would they hire somebody to Level IV, and this month I got 140 out of 160. work in a prison who has no compassion, no feeling Betty: The grading system is based on who for their fellow man? grades you; if they like you or if they don’t. That’s We had a man working here, and I overheard just human nature. That goes on the street. Two him saying to my boss in the kitchen that we were COs [corrections officers] grade you. if one likes fixing too good a food for these inmates. He told you she might give you 160. The other might give my boss verbatim: “These women are in here for you 118. 49 “Every time my children visit, they leave here crying, And that's the hardest thing on all the women I've talked to, When they leave crying, there's nothing you can do about it,"

One thing I would like to see written is more were older women, like in their late 20s and 30s and privileges for Level V. All you have to work for 40s. Nowadays the majority of the women are from now is a rocking chair and a full-length mirror. Who their early 20s to their 30s, and it’s mostly drug-re¬ the hell wants a rocking chair and a full-length lated. But there are a lot more women coming in mirror? You need something to work for within now for armed robbery. an institution. We used to have other privileges here. Millie: And there’s a lot more also that didn’t We used to be able to go out with a visitor on have an accomplice, whereas before it was mostly Saturday or Sunday for four hours, to go out to the men that sent them out, and they didn’t know eat or to a movie. Okay, somebody came in drunk, what was going on. Now they commit it them¬ and they snatched that. They used to have Honor selves, and they know that nobody else has sent Dorm and Self-Government, but that got too con¬ them out. fusing and they snatched that. Betty: I don’t credit this to women’s lib. I think I was in Honor Dorm and Self-Government. In that women are just getting more brazen. The role Self-Government the inmates and staff voted on of women is changing. you, and if you weren’t in this little clique, you Millie: But that’s because the role of men has didn’t get in. I know, ’cause I was in the clique. changed. Whereas you used to have gentlemen, now I’m just being honest. But what I’m saying is we you got . . . pimps. need some incentive to be on Level V. We used to Betty: Women aren’t depending on men nowa¬ be able to go out shopping once a month, but that’s days as much as they used to. There are so many gone now, too. single women, single parents. You just see women Andrew: From what I understand, there are doing things by themselves nowadays. kitchen jobs and a beauticians school. Is that about Andrew: Is there a homosexual problem? it? Betty: In any controlled environment, it’s gonna Millie: And school, GED [high school equiva¬ go on. I mean, you can’t stop it. But sometimes I lency program], consumer business and key punch. wonder if they’d just let these people be together, Betty: Then they have job openings in the ad¬ I bet you over half of them would say, “God, how ministration for those that have secretarial skills. did I get involved in this?” I mean it’s all right with Janet: It depends on if you are qualified for the the little Coke change and cigarettes and stuff, but job or not. They have a classification committee when it gets down to the nitty-gritty, I firmly composed of the counselor, the nurse and the believe a lot of them would say, “No go. I don’t associate warden of treatment. They decide what even want to be into this.” you are qualified for. And they’re not doing that much, but some of Millie: Even if you are qualified and they don’t these people who work here think they’re doing like you, you don’t get the job. everything. But if you stop and think — where Andrew: Do you have to change yourself to get could they do it? I ain’t gonna tell no lie. It goes them to like you? on. It has been done. But I think if they said, “Let’s Betty: Your personality around here changes just let it go,” a lot of people would lose interest every eight hours. You have to change with the COs. in it. One shift you may be able to cut up, another shift Janet: Well, I just might be naive, but I ain’t comes on, you have to be quiet. This place is good never seen anything go on except somebody sitting practice, ’cause it’s the same on the streets. together. _ Janet: You have the ability to deal with people Betty: Well, see, you haven’t been around that inside or out, but here it’s so confined, it’s magni¬ long. You stay in your room, and you’re naive, too. fied. A lot of women come in here and don’t have any¬ Andrew: Is the type of crime that women are body, and they latch onto this special friend. They committing changing with the changing role of need somebody. But if you have a close friend in women? here, they say, “Hey, we’d better watch them; Betty: The majority of the women here are here they’re getting awfully chummy.” You really can’t have a in for drug-related crime, and there are younger friend here. women in here than before. Like in 1971 there Janet: You really have to watch it. might have been 55 or 60 inmates in here, and they Betty: You get paranoid in here. The COs have 50 byJacksonHillphoto

a logbook at the desk, and they write down what now. But my third little boy, since I’m up here they see or think they see. They had a riot here in (this is my third time), he doesn’t trust anybody, ’71, and we got ahold of the logbook and read it. because I told him, “I have to go back to the hos¬ There were things like, “I thought I saw so-and-so pital.” I wasn’t honest, you know. But you can’t playing footsie under the table.” If they put as tell a seven-year-old child that you’re going to the much constructive thought towards things like re¬ penitentiary. I saw how the oldest one dealt with it, habilitation, it would be a lot better place. and I don’t need four juvenile delinquents out Andrew: What’s it like going before the parole there. board? It’s really hard on children. Mine are in foster Millie: Let me tell you about the parole board. care. If the state would stop and think how much They will cut time for anybody that has political money they have to put out for foster care plus the pull, but if you’re poor — poor white, poor black, upkeep for a woman in here, if they would make all the poor Chicano, poor anything — then you’re just out people like me, who are in for checks and credit of luck. You have to make the best of a bad situa¬ cards, pay back what they owe — if I had to pay tion. They’ll write you this form letter and say, “We back all that I charged on Master Charge and Bank feel you haven’t done enough time.” Yet someone Americard — I might stop and think. Whereas all with pull might get 10 years and go out in two. We I’ve had to do all three times is come in here and sit had a girl that had 50 years for first degree murder, on my ass for a given period of time. I’m costing the and she went out in five. Another one had 30 and state all kinds of money. went out in six. Millie: I know I have. Andrew: What happens to a child when its Janet: They’re just now trying to get a resti¬ mother comes to a women’s prison? tution program started in here. Some men work and Janet: It’s horrible. That’s the hardest thing. I pay it out to their victims, but they haven’t got have two children — twins that are four. That’s the anything started for the women. They need it. If biggest mental anguish I have. My family has them, you’re on Level IV or V, you can have one kid here for the weekend to and it’s a hardship on them, and the children can’t stay in the room with you. understand why I can’t come home. Every time one of mine comes, they leave here Betty: Two of mine — I have four — are under crying. They can’t understand. And that’s the hardest psychiatric care right now. My first child, he just thing on all the women I’ve talked to. When rebelled, and he thinks it’s smart and cute that his they leave crying, there’s nothing you can do mother’s in about it. I prison. He wanted to go to school and just go back and cry, too, for two or three say, “Hey, my mom’s in prison,” like he was a little days. There has to be a better way. gangster or something. He started doing little things that could end him up over across the street [at the Juvenile Offenders’ Center]. So we snatched Andrew Griffin is a native Mississippian, living in him up, and he’s seeing a psychiatrist. He’s better Mars Hill, N.C., where he works as a waiter. 51 ANOTHER AY D William Causse

The kids are playing in a nearby grove of trees. security desk. The oriental doctor, if one is sick There’s still a nip in the air, but the sun is warm on enough to see him, only knows nine words of my love and I in this grassy meadow. I’m full and English: “I can see no pain — you go to work.” He content with my woman in my arms and as I gently may have been a doctor in Korea but here, he’s just run my fingers through her hair, I think that times a joke. like these make life worth living. I get dressed and start to make my bed. Hospital What’s that blinding flash!!!??? corners, eight-inch-wide collar; plenty of rules I open my eyes and I’m back in the dormitory. about bed-making but none about flushing toilets Damn it! It’s five a.m. and the lights have just come or taking a shower. Can’t figure it. I lie back down on. The free man starts blowing his whistle like he’s and try to get a few more winks before we eat at directing traffic and I bury my head under the six o’clock. pillow, trying to recapture the tranquility of my “Dorm six, chow!” dream. Too late, it’s gone. I get up, grab my towel We straggle out through the recreation room to and toothbrush, and head for the bathroom, hoping the chow hall, wondering what gastronomic delights to reach one of the six washbowls before the other await us. “Get in line. one hundred plus men I live with. I’m in luck. Single file, there. Button that jump¬ suit. Roll those Finished with my morning ablution, I walk back to pant legs down.” The lieutenant is on his make my bed and the stupid talk is starting already. job early. “Get up an’ brush yer teet’, ya scumbag, you ain’t Biscuits, creamed beef (?), jelly, and milk. I’m sittin’ at the table wit’ me, yer breat’ smellin’ like starving. My hungry mouth receives a big spoonful a bear’s behind.” of creamed beef and, after two chews, rejects it. “Who you foolin’? You ain’t took a shower since Tastes more like creamed pencil erasers. Have to Thursday, Funky Butt. Don’t worry ‘bout my make do with biscuits and milk. Could be worse, but teeth.” it’s not much to go to work on and I know I’ll be Barry White is moaning his desire from a tapedeck hungry before I get to the sallyport. somewhere. Sometimes, I think the worst thing The food supervisor is standing by the table about this place is the incessant noise. If the inmates where we dump our trays. “Too much food is going aren’t making it, the free people are. to waste here,” he says, his breath smelling like “Sick call.” cheap wine. “Damn particular hoboes, probably Nobody bothers to go. The pimply faced young ate under a bridge when you were free. My food is nurse, who thinks she’s the Queen of Sheba, only the best in the state, best in the whole damn gives out aspirin and we can get those from the country.” Much snickering to these remarks. The 52 byHillJacksonphoto

man is obviously a mental case with delusions of around the sallyport, waiting, grumbling about going grandeur. Such are the vast majority of our fearless to work. It’s Monday and there’s no rain in sight. leaders in this God-forsaken circus. “Crews twelve, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, Back to the dorm. It’s six-thirty and there’s a eighteen, twenty, A. R. D. C.” They’re playing our half-hour to kill before work. Plenty of stupid talk. song. “Think it’s gonna rain?” We file, one by one, through the sallyport as our “Naw, weatherman said thirty percent.” names are called. Plenty of stupid talk going on. “Looks cloudy to me.” “Ohh, get your filthy hands off of me or I’ll tell “That’s fog, you dummy.” my man on you.” “You a punk, Boy.” “Yo’ man’s a gal-boy, too. Ha! Ha! Ha!” “Yo’ bald headed mammy’s a punk.” “When I was out there, I had more money than I “Got somethin’ on yo’ mind?” could spend. Got a cigarette? Gimme a light, too.” “I’m gonna bust yo’ head when we get in the “Want me to punch you in the chest to get it field.” started?” “Bust it now, Punk.” “Man, I was pimping whores and slamming “Shut up, the free man is coming.” Cadillac doors.” Barry White is still groaning, “I’ve got so much “Next time I get out there, I’m gonna rob me a to give,” but now he’s challenged by Natalie Cole bank so’s I can get some federal time. Them feds on the radio: “Our love will be as tall as the trees.” don’t work you like this.” All these love songs but no love, just negativism, “That DA in New Orleans is a mutha. I’m going hatred and bitterness. to the coast when I Maybe I belonged here, once, get out — hear armed robbery but no more. Getting old I guess. only carries six years out there.” Here comes the field foreman. “Everything off the floor. Go to work — NOW!” “Alright, pair it bellows the free man. up.” Everybody crowds the head of the line. I grab a couple of sticks of gum and a fresh pack “Don’t cut in front of me.” of cigarettes, and head for the door. It’s chilly, but “You ain’t got no badge, you can’t tell me if I wear a jacket I’ll be sorry later when I have to nothin’.” carry it. Better to be cold for awhile. I walk out into if there was a line for the electric chair, I truly the brisk morning air, hands in pockets, shivering believe some of these idiots would try to cut it. slightly but knowing that OP Hard Hearted Hannah, We march out in a column of twos and fall in the sun, will be roasting me soon enough. behind the one hundred or so men from the other There are about one hundred men lounging unit. No trucks this morning, so we’re going to walk 53 We look like a grotesque Mardi Gras parade marching down the side of the highway with an armed, mounted escort.

somewhere. The horseboys bring the horses up for This is what I’ve been waiting for. With the the line foremen and gun-guards. Fatso, one of the rhythmic rise and fall of the hoes, I can put myself gun-guards who weighs over three hundred pounds, into a semi-trance and escape, mentally, for a while. mounts up. The horse lays his ears back and turns to “What you waitin’ on?” look at the heavy burden on his back. He starts I look up, but the man on the horse isn’t talking bucking. The gun flies one way, Fatso’s hat the to me. I glance at my watch. Nine-thirty already, other, and Fatso himself goes over the horse’s head. good, good, the time is passing quickly. Only an Undaunted, Fatso dusts himself off amid much hour and a half to go. laughter and jeering and climbs back on. Much to “I’m doing the best I can, Boss,” the man our glee, the horse repeats his performance but, answers. this time, receives a severe beating with a rifle butt. “Got to do better, can’t get these weeds cut The third time Fatso mounts, the recalcitrant nag leaning on that hoe. You got a write-up coming.” behaves and off we go. The men at the head of the The man throws his hoe down. “Lock me up, I line act like they’re chasing the field foreman’s horse ain’t working no more.” and those at the rear of the line have to run to keep The free man calls for transportation and I move up. off, chop, chop, chop, drifting into my own world We look like a grotesque Mardi Gras parade again. marching down the side of the highway with our “Headland!” armed, mounted escort. These free folks strive to My reverie is broken and I head over to the line take away our individuality and we strive to main¬ which is forming near the fence, looking for my tain it. We all wear similar jumpsuits, yet each man line-up partner. The stupid talk never stops. looks different. Some have brightly colored “This work is senseless, they got bush-hogs to cut bandanas on their heads, some have knit caps, these weeds.” others have straw hats. Some wear rubber boots, “Takes gas to run a bush-hog, don’t take nothin’ others wear brogans (LiT Abner shoes), and a few but water to run us.” have their pant legs rolled up to show off loud knee “It’s still stupid.” socks. I can pick out the punks and gal-boys by the “You stupid.” bright scarves around their necks. Passing motorists “Yo’ mammy’s stupid.” slow their cars and crane their necks, staring in We file past a truck and hand our hoes to the tool in disbelief. I can’t blame them. boys, who stack them on the truck, then start the “I can’t run anymore, Boss,” cries a man who long march back to the compound. As we walk-run, had open heart surgery two years ago. slipping and sliding in the mud, I dream of a cold “You better catch the line up, old thing.” cup of Tang. Funny, how I appreciate all the little The man collapses. A field foreman dismounts things I took for granted when I was free. Never and rolls him over with the toe of his boot. “You again. I’m thirty-six and if I come back again, two, carry him to the truck,” he orders. The two it’ll be as a four-time loser and it will be for good. I men pick up the unconscious man and furtively don’t think I could take this, day after day, with no pick his pockets and slip his watch off while end in sight. I’m going to make it this time — I carrying him to the pickup truck. “What the hell have to. you all staring at? Catch the goddamn line up.” And Back at the sallyport. “Everything out of your we’re off to the races again. pockets, hats off, boots and brogans off for shake- Finally, after about two miles, we are issued hoes down.” They do this to us twice a day, everyday. and ushered into a field overgrown with weeds. Here I don’t know what they’re looking for and they comes the good Samaritan. “I want my field to don’t either. This is just to keep the free men busy. I look like a golf course. Now get to work.” sometimes think the low ranking free men are 54 treated worse by the brass than the inmates are. I’m patted down and head for the dormitory in my stocking feet, wishing I could make a free man wash my muddy socks. Idiots! Stupid, this whole system is stupid, there’s no rehabilitation here, just work and useless expenditure of energy and harassment. God, I want out of here. I’m rehabilitated by fear of spending the rest of my life in this futile environment. At last, my long awaited cup of cold Tang. It’s count time, and then chow. As usual, I’m starving — sure hope there’s something good for lunch. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, and greens. PTUI!! The meatloaf tastes like they washed the cream sauce off of the pencil erasers we had for breakfast and compressed them to form this dish. If the inmate store didn’t sell canned tuna, I think I would starve. I go back to the dorm and lie down for a few minutes, then it’s one o’clock and back to the relatively calm at the women’s prison, where she is sallyport for the same routine. It never changes doing ten years. I worry about her and she worries about me. Guess that’s what love is all about. except for the excitement of a brief scuffle, now and “Dorm six, chow!” then, when tempers flare in the heat. They are quickly broken up before any damage is done and Cornbread, red beans and rice, greens, and jello. all the Not participants get for their trouble is ten days’ much, but at least palatable and will get me loss of good time and five days in the hole. The through the night. horses are brought up and everyone watches expec¬ Now, for a shower, then I’ll answer my mail and tantly as Fatso prepares to mount. We are rewarded. hope for a decent movie on TV. Anything to escape The horse groans and lies down. This is too much this boredom. and even the free people are laughing and slapping Ten-thirty and the lights are going out. The free their knees. We finally march off down the highway man starts his patrol up and down the aisles, looking with smiles on our faces. for a radio to confiscate or someone to write up for It’s another field, but the work is the same: hard, talking. Things quiet down and I look back on my boring and senseless. The free men are passing out day. It’s been a waste, I haven’t accomplished write-ups like crazy and I work at a steady pace, anything, and I know tomorrow will be a carbon trying to avoid them. The field foremen write copy of it. I relax and the darkness closes in on me. people up, hoping that most will get extra duty on The sun is warm on my love and I as we lie the weekends, and they can make some overtime. in this grassy meadow. She leans over and her soft, What a way to make a living. full lips brush mine.... It’s four-thirty, the work day is over and I’ve survived another without a write-up. Mail call, the high point of my day. There’s always a letter from my love and I think her letters, more than anything else, keep me from giving up. Yes, there’s one for William O. Causse is serving time at Dixon Correc¬ me. I lie back and read it five times. Things are tional Institute, Jackson, Louisiana. 55 Tony Sayer

When the preacher carries keys photo by Sean Kernan

announced motive was one of generosity and compassion. The authorities were not content merely to set Harry adrift; they appealed to the name and spirit In North Carolina prisons there is a pocket. The suit and the money, and a of Christmas to uphold their action. phenomenon known as “the Christmas perfunctory phone call to me, were the Christians, at least, have cause to won¬ rush,” in which selected prisoners with state’s sole offers of assistance to Harry der just what twisted interpretation of only a few months left on their sen¬ at the time of his release. Christmas inspired the state in this in¬ tences are released early, a week or so As he got in my car Harry had diffi¬ stance. And everyone else may justly before Christmas. It is intended as a culty with the seat belt. He knew what wonder why these selfsame Christians gesture of good will in keeping with the a seat belt was; he had seen them on allowed it to happen: why the church season. Last December, because there TV. But he had never actually fastened allows the state to appropriate its most was no one else to pick him up, I waited one. His nervous grappling symbolized sacred occasions, symbols and offices outside the prison gates for one bene¬ his whole condition: no job, no place to to justify such callous actions. ficiary of this practice. A while back go, almost no money, not even a change This is not a new question. Nearly Harry had been briefly and unsuccess¬ of clothes, no friends, virtually no con¬ two centuries ago church representatives fully paroled. Harry is an alcoholic, and tacts, trying to reconnect with a world suggested confinement as a humane his inability to control his drinking changed nearly beyond recognition. alternative to brandings, forced ampu¬ quickly led to his return to prison. The authorities did not free Harry; tations and other tortures. The modern Except for this short-lived experiment they abandoned him. penitentiary came into being, and the in freedom, Harry had been behind bars Something more than bureaucratic church has been involved with prisons for 17 years. When he came out, he wore indifference and lack of foresight lies ever since. Then and now that involve¬ a used suit and had 20 dollars in his behind this incident, for the state’s ment has been marked by an inconsist-

56 ency of motives and by widespread who are oblivious to these conditions, blacks all his life and cannot see any¬ moral confusion. who do not feel they have entered “the thing inherently more oppressive about Consider prison chaplains. Perhaps valley of the shadow of death” when their situation than his own. Besides, as nine-tenths of all full-time chaplains are they step inside the prison, can hardly he says, slavery ended a long time ago; employed by the state. They work for instruct prisoners in awareness; and the the blacks are obviously on top now, their respective departments of correc¬ hope they offer will be limited or false. both economically and politically. Lib¬ tion. Just like the wardens and the Chaplains who recognize these realities eral cliches and somber statistics about guards. Only someone grossly unac¬ but acquiesce out of a sense of power¬ unemployment among black youth quainted with the tensions of prison life lessness, or who actually seek to justify count for little compared to Roger’s could regard this as a circumstance con¬ these conditions, have little hope to personal experience. And his personal ducive to ministry. Confidentiality — share with prisoners. Nevertheless, these experience is constantly reinforced by important in any pastoral relationship, prison conditions often go unacknow¬ incidents like Governor Hunt’s handling but especially so in a setting where ledged at conferences on “correctional of the Wilmington Ten. Appearing on trust is almost non-existent and distrust ministry.” statewide television, Hunt informed his is a survival virtue — is compromised The correctional practice which au¬ viewers he had spent “literally hundreds from the outset. Many prisoners open thorizes such conditions cannot be of hours” studying the case. Lavishly their first encounter with a chaplain reconciled with the Gospel. Identifying praising the courts, he emphasized the with the words, “Who do you work oneself with the correctional structure guilt of the defendants and refused to for? Who pays your salary?” The answer and the justice it enforces interferes pardon them. But he did reduce their to these questions determines the depth with pastoral work in basic ways. sentences by roughly seven years each. of interaction that can be achieved later For example, prisoners generally What struck Roger is that Hunt stressed the on. Other prisoners never approach a accept responsibility for their crimes, in guilt of the Ten and the heinous nature chaplain because they already know the the sense that they admit that they of their crimes, yet answer to these questions. acted freely, that they could have chosen drastically reduced their sentences any¬ Representing the church, the chaplain to do something else. But they may way. A lifer himself, Roger cannot understand has the chance to maintain a uniquely avoid accepting a specifically moral why the Ten should be independent stance: neither prisoner responsibility for their actions by re¬ singled out for a special reduction, nor guard. Instead, many chaplains sorting to statements like “What I did particularly if they are just as guilty as eagerly define themselves as part of the was wrong, but so is the system,” or he is. Roger’s answer to this riddle is prison’s overall “correctional” strategy. “Who knows what’s right and wrong?” simple: Hunt buckled under pressure But prisons are not “correctional insti¬ The important thing about these state¬ from the black community and its tutions”; they are merely prisons. When ments is that they transcend the prison supporters. Though some of his impres¬ the chaplains combine the correctional setting and attack the notion of law sions are mistaken, Roger accurately and pastoral vocabularies and come up itself. The law is seen as a tool which identifies Hunt’s performance as a polit¬ with designations like “correctional anyone powerful enough can wield. ical expedient. Justice had nothing to community” for institutions that are These evasions are credible precisely do with it. riddled with violence, fear and scorn, because they are founded upon concrete Prisoners like Chad and Roger need they commit themselves to concealment instances of manipulation of the law. to accept moral responsibility for their of truth. During the Bert Lance affair, for exam¬ own wrong actions. They need to repent. The law’s failure to In a setting where body language — ple, I worked extensively with a young embody real justice tends to obstruct this “how you carry yourself” — is an all- prisoner named Chad. Chad drinks a lot, step, first by important medium of communication, has a poor employment record and providing endless opportunities to foist it is bizarre to see chaplains brandishing sometimes writes bad checks to get blame off on the system, and then by keys to the institutions they serve. No himself out of a bind. While the nation seeming to render the whole enterprise of or gesture could disclose more emphati¬ heatedly debated whether Lance’s over¬ ethical reflection fantastical irrel¬ cally their solidarity, not with prisoners, drafts of several hundred thousand evant. This leads us toward another but with the system. Those chaplains dollars constituted a crime, Chad re¬ way in which the chaplain’s identifica¬ and other outsiders who have to be ceived a four-year sentence for writing tion with the correctional structure locked in and let out surrender them¬ $200 worth of bad checks. Chad did not interferes with pastoral work: the justice of God becomes selves, however briefly, to the daily miss the irony of this contrast. To pro¬ indistinguishable from experience of the prisoners themselves. test that Lance did not “actually” the justice represented by the prison Their movements create a bridge between break the law is to duck the issue. The system. those behind bars and the world outside. fairness of the law is precisely what is at This emerges very poignantly in a Those chaplains who carry keys rein¬ stake. confession made frequently by prisoners: force the isolation and abandonment “It is God’s will that I am here in prison.” experienced by the prisoners. The unspoken conclusion of this state¬ Conditions within prisons tend to ment is a resigned: “... and God is not suppress hope and awareness. The noise, A more complex case in point is the here with me.” The whole arbitrary the overcrowding, the forced idleness, response of white prisoners to NC Gov¬ system is viewed as an expression of the access to drugs, the racial tension, ernor James Hunt’s Wilmington Ten God’s justice, which is thus completely the ever present television — all these decision. This response was first shared separated from God’s love and forgive¬ factors reduce the possibilities of self- with me by a prisoner named Roger. He ness. discovery and cooperation. Chaplains has been competing economically against A truly alert church would recognize

57 the practical and theological contradic¬ opportunity to relate to members of Gradually a community arises of people tions inherent in a state-employed the other sex simply as friends. Prisons who are unafraid of contact with prison¬ chaplaincy and would move to assign are full of individuals whose education ers, who do not need or want to be its prison ministers independently. It was cut short and who now lack confi¬ “protected,” and who recognize that would relinquish its keys and other dence in their learning ability, yet who imprisonment is largely destructive of emblems of the chaplain’s identification respond eagerly to encouragement and the ends it presumably means to serve. with the correctional structure, and it instruction. Prisons generally have “li¬ In this context the Biblical word most would vigorously preserve the two pas¬ braries” barely worthy of the name and often used to describe ministering to toral initiatives most conducive to badly in need of replenishing. In most prisoners — "visit” — takes on rare solidarity with prisoners: confidentiality prisons a high proportion of the populace power, for it signifies this task of simply and the freedom to criticize the system. is idle. A host of activities might be setting at nought the whole strategy of It is distressing to see many instances encouraged — in art, music, physical imprisonment. where the church is basically unwilling fitness, to name only a few areas. Cor¬ The “theology of retribution,” which to minister to the imprisoned unless respondence and visitation programs can provides a cheap religious rationale for state funds are forthcoming. help the many prisoners who rarely if the condemnation directed against pris¬ ever receive a letter or a visit. No com¬ oners today, must be dismantled. The munity ministry will ever “improve” a church must rediscover that every human prison enough to eliminate its harsh being is created in the image of God, The issue is not so much the abolition conditions. For these conditions are with rights that must be respected and of state-employed chaplaincies as the what the prison is all about. They will gifts that should be nurtured; that renewal of the church. Chaplains who be eliminated only when prisons are forgiveness is the highest form of Chris¬ draw their salaries from the church do abolished. But the abolition of prisons tian love and the key to reconciliation; not, as an automatic result, bring greater is a process to which a community and that Christ is to be found among discernment or integrity to their work. ministry makes a distinct contribution. the suffering, specifically among the im¬ The change will have only a symbolic The function of prisons, after all, is prisoned. For at present, many prisoners effect unless, at the same time, the to separate individuals from the com¬ experience the realities of God’s love church moves beyond the relatively munity, to hold them in a state of isola¬ and forgiveness in spite of the church. individualized “chaplaincy” toward com¬ tion and abandonment, to render them Certainly the prison poses a wide- munity-based “ministry.” invisible to the larger world. Even the ranging moral challenge to the church. The difference in these two terms smallest gestures of kindness or trust, Others engaged in this struggle may lies in the relative elitism of the former. regardless of the timidity or lack of think the church an improbable ally, “Chaplaincy” denotes a trained pro¬ discernment with which they are but, as the Scriptures somewhat ironi¬ fessional, or at best a team of trained undertaken, strike at the root of this cally promise, “nothing is impossible professionals, whereas “ministry,” at its function. Every time a volunteer sits with God.” □ broadest and best, signifies the various down on a prisoner’s bunk or pulls up callings to service given to all Christians. a chair in the prison mess hall, the A United Methodist minister, Tony The bureaucratization of these various prisoner feels less isolated and aban¬ Sayer co-directs a community ministry callings by the modern church has doned. And for the volunteer the bars to prisoners in Asheville, North Carolina. transformed its common members into and locks and masonry become more He welcomes responses to this article spectators, so to speak, of their faith: and more incongruous, even ludicrous. at: 201 Broadway, Asheville, NC 28801. their main function is to contribute money for the upkeep of the bureaus. In the case of ministry to prisoners, however, the reversal of this process lies within the grasp of local communities. Purgatory There will never be an adequate number of I restless And I professional chaplains, and virtually sleep — I toss and turn. truly am not living every community has a jail or prison My soul it wants to scream. For my heart has turned ice cold. And nearby. Local churches should band though I know it’s not — it seems There’re times I wish these walls would together and establish a presence, in to help crumble To strength, at every jail and prison within By pretending it’s all a dream — crush my weary head reach. As I many outside volunteers pray to God — / call his name And you’d not wonder at mine should be involved as the authorities But he must pay me no mind indifference will tolerate. Chaplains should devote For in my wake or in my sleep If to life you were as dead. themselves to the training and super¬ Peace I cannot find. Oh, it’s so much mental torture vision of such volunteers. It’s a useless life and wasted time In a barred-up little cell. Such a ministry can begin to thrust Where hopeless days are spent. Lord knows I’m going to Heaven against the contours of prison life: racial For behind these fences, bars and walls Cause I’ve served my time in Hell! and sexual tension, ignorance, idleness, There’s no way to be content. loneliness. Many prisoners need the wit¬ And though I’m young in mind and — Dwight Mayton ness of a ministry that is specifically body Station A, Unit 2 9/7 interracial and that provides them the My spirits make me old Nashville, Tenn.

58 ($nAfiec£ow By Tom R .Warren

HELP WANTED: State agency wants energetic spector” last year and received an all-expenses- and ambitious young man to fill prestigious position, paid trip to Alice, Texas, for the national com¬ vital to the safety of the community. Applicant petition. He was named “First Runner-Up” and a voted “Mr. must be high school graduate or at least be Congeniality” at the 43rd National able to write his name. He should enjoy looking Convention of Rectum Inspectors. Today, he is at nude men. a sergeant within Tennessee’s Department of Corrections. Generally speaking, the public is ignorant of Or consider the RI at the prison who is ap¬ some of the thankless duties correctional officers prenticing his teenage son at the downtown YMCA. perform for the safety and welfare of society. In If the son ever graduates from high school or learns any organizational structure, responsibilities and to write his name, the RI will be able to get him a titles go from the bottom to the top in a kind job at the Main Prison. Rectum inspection is indeed of pyramid design. This article is dedicated to the one of those trades that can be passed on from brave correctional officers who represent the top one generation to another. As long as man exists, of that pyramid: the Rectum Inspectors. there will be ani that need checking. The Rectum Inspectors are the elite of the For those interested in rectum inspection who correctional force. While many of his fellow officers don’t have an “in” to prison work, there is a schol¬ are manning guard towers, watching recreational arship program available at the area vocational yards and hassling men in the dining hall, the school. It is a memorial scholarship set up in the Rectum Inspector performs his job like a great memory of E.X. Lax, who was the first RI in Ten¬ surgeon. As each inmate returns from his visit, nessee to die in the line of duty. On a gray January he goes into the RI’s small working office and evening in 1953, he was overcome by gas while strips to the nude. The RI stations himself behind inspecting “Goliath” Williams, a 382-pound inmate the inmate. In a dignified way, he “asks” the man from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Lax died en route to lean forward and spread his buttocks. With to the hospital. The scholarship is for two years quick, professional precision that comes from and allows for on-the-job training at the YMCA, many long hours of training, the RI surveys each Greyhound Bus Depot and various restrooms man’s anus. In a moment or two, it is over, and the of local gas stations. Upon completion of the RI knows that he has kept the sacred trust be¬ program, the student receives certification from stowed upon him. the National Academy of People Employed in The RI knows in his heart that he has fulfilled Rectum Vocations and Essential Rectum Tech¬ the oath each new RI is required to learn and nology (PERVERT). It is these graduates who recite at ceremonies: are given priority for employment by the De¬ I do hereby promise to faithfully execute the partment of Corrections and the Federal Bureau responsibilities and duties of rectum inspector. I of Prisons. Currently, the prison has three full¬ will not be kept from my appointed rounds by time, certified PERVERTs working as Rectum hemorrhoids, gas or diarrhea. Anything that does Inspectors. not appear to be a part of the rectum will be According to one RI, who wished to remain seized by me personally. This I promise, so help anonymous, rectum inspection is looking up. me God! The prison population at the Main Prison is grate¬ Needless to say, it takes a special caliber man ful for the professional RIs employed there. To to serve as an RI. Competition is great for this coin a phrase, we take our pants off to them! highly skilled occupation. For those who make This satire was originally written for the Tennes¬ the grade, it is very demanding. But rectum inspec¬ see State Prison newspaper, but was censored by an tion has its rewards. There is one RI here at the associate warden: “It is true that these strip-searches prison who lays claim to having personally inspected go on, but we don’t want all those churches who over 18,000 rectums in one year. For this high get complimentary copies to read about that kind achievement, he was voted “State Rectum In¬ of thing.’’ It appears here in its entirety.

59 Free Men

Oscar Dees holding photo of old Kilby Prison where the elec¬ tric chair was housed

Three Generations of Alabama Prison Guards

Ray March The following is an excerpt from road boss and prison superintendent. Ray March’s Alabama Bound: Forty- Fred Dees, Jr., worked briefly as a guard Five Years Inside a Prison System. while in college and became a probation/ It is the oral history of three men — parole officer upon his graduation in father, son and grandson — who have, 1972. collectively, served in practically every Author Ray March is a California- capacity in the Alabama corrections based investigative reporter who has system. covered such stories as the Indian oc¬ Oscar Dees worked for 38 years in cupation of Alcatraz Island and the riots the prisons, retiring in 1969 from his at Soledad Prison. Copyright ©1978 position as warden. His son, Fred Dees, by Ray A. March, The University of Sr., began as a steward in a convict Alabama Press, University, AL 35486, camp in 1952 and eventually became a $9.95.

60 in there for stealing chairs out of a OSCAR DEES nigger church! I stayed in it thirty-eight years and I know one thing: you got to have strict 38-year employee discipline if you run that prison over there. Discipline number one. Security of Alabama prisons number two. Discipline. The Bible speaks of discipline all the way through When they hired me to go to work working; then we went right back to it. Discipline. And whenever you get for the state (that was in 1931), I was work. Then we checked in between away from the Bible, you done got plowing a mule out to the end of the sundown and dark. And the prisoners away from it all. If they’d run that row and turned up side of the fence. were so tired, whenever night come, prison up there at Atmore according to The warden — he was sitting there in we didn’t have any trouble with this the Bible — it says use the rod, don’t a old car, a old Ford car, asked me homosexual and all that sort of stuff spare the rod — it doesn’t say nothing did I want to come up there go to ’cause they was too tired. In other about no strap, but it says something work for the state. ’Course, I knew the words, we had the “okay.” We okayed about that rod, and that rod can be used warden personally, he used to be sheriff twice the day, every night and every as a strap or an oak limb or whatever here. I drove right up to the fence. He morning. That was the count, head you want to call it! But it means getting called me Big One, says, “Big One, you count. a man under control, see. want a job with the state?” One of the first things they warned A strap is about six feet long, and the I says, “Mr. Fountain, I don’t know me about was what they call “putting end that they use to hit the man with the hat on a means a con nothing ’bout no prisons. I don’t man.” That has got about, oh, I’d say eighteen know whether I want a job up there or man. They got some professional con inches, it’s just a strap about three-inches men in the not. I don’t know whether Momma penitentiary. They can make wide; it’s just like a razor strap. Now it me it so would want to go up in there now.” plain, and tell you so plain, and tapers from that eighteen inches up to He says, “Well, you an orphan boy, make you believe that he hasn’t done the handle where you, the man that you can make more up there sup¬ one thing, that he went to Sunday School uses it, a piece of leather on each side of porting your momma and sisters than every Sunday and was raised in the church it the width of the leather that they you can here farming. You go talk to and the only time that he was at home use at the tip, and it makes it stiffer your momma and tell her that you can was just to eat. The rest of the time he up there to where he can control it. In make an easier living up there than you was in the church; in fact, they arrested other words, if it didn’t have some trying to make on this farm. You tell him in church, and he ain’t guilty of a support in it, you couldn’t control it; her I ’ll take care of you.” thing in the world, and they had just you’re liable to hit them on his feet or I started at Atmore, the old Atmore. railroaded him in there. That’s what anywhere. That’s the only prison they had there you call putting the hat on a man — The strap was used when a man com¬ then.* and never let a man tell you that they mitted a crime — say he cut another The first job I had was carrying a can’t put the hat on him ’cause they’ll prisoner, they found him with a knife, squad out there. They give me six put the hat on him. or he quit work or murdered another shells, six buckshot shells and a double- Every convict, when he first gets in prisoner or something like that. They barreled shotgun and a trusty to tote the penitentiary, he gets religion. He could give him twenty-onejashes, but some water and wait on me. And I gets the Bible, and he’ll tote that Bible. that’s all they could give him, and that had to wasn’t supposed to let him come up Literally. He’ll tote it, he’ll read it until be in the presence of a doctor, to me, and the deputy warden says, the day that you call him up there to and the doctor had to examine him be¬ “Don’t let them get no closer than so discharge and tell him to get his per¬ fore it was administered and all that sort and so to you” (he was pointing to sonal stuff. Then he’ll leave the Bible of stuff. And the doctor sit there all the some object or another). When I went there. time that you hit him, and you had to to work for them, they’d put the prison¬ I was told about that hat deal, so hit him on the buttocks; you couldn’t ers in the field. In other words, we if they didn’t make him a trusty, then, hit him no where else. You couldn’t hit checked out between daylight and sun¬ far as I was concerned, he was under the him up on his kidneys or anywhere like up. They sent our food to us in contain¬ gun. that, you had to hit him on the but¬ ers out in the field. We stopped an hour Now, I shot one when I first went tocks. And sometimes they wouldn’t and eat dinner right where we was there to work. He run out of an uncle give him but three licks and the prisoner of mine’s squad and I shot him. Ninety- would say, “I’ll do better if you’ll just seven steps. And I shot him down. quit.” * The central structure was built in 1929. ’Course he died after then. And he was Which, I think, that’s the most hu-

61 mane called the punishment there is. ’Cause this is liable to cause you a whole lot of warden, told him he wouldn’t here putting them in solitary, locking trouble.” He talked about it out of one work, so he come and got him, took them up in a place and leaving him there side of his mouth; he was from around him back in there and called Montgom¬ for so many days is a whole lot worse Cleveland, Ohio, or somewheres. ery; they gave him permission to give than just taking him in and spanking So I got him out to the prison. I him twenty-one more, so they give him him a little bit — that’s the end of it. decided that the best thing for me to do twenty-one more. Now, twenty-one days in that dog¬ before he got in there and started some Well, he come back out there — nat¬ house will actually hurt your health. agitating and got my prisoners all messed urally his tail had got in pretty bad Now, spanking your fanny won’t hurt up and everything — I had a good pris¬ shape, and his blood was showing your health. It’ll heal. It won’t hurt you, on — before he’s start a whole lot of through his pants — so he just crawled it’ll hurt your feelings. It takes one of junk, be a penitentiary lawyer — that’s right back up in that same place and he them to hurt your health, the other one what we called them, penitentiary was going to show the rest of them pris¬ takes your pride out of you. You’d hate lawyers, you see. So I told him, “Before oners that he could take as much of it to get your fanny whupped. And you’d I put you back there and let you ruin as they could give. And, excuse the ex¬ do anything you can from getting it about half my prisoners, I suspect I’d pression, this is what he said to the spanked so your friends and your family better make a good south Alabama prisoners, he said, “I got more fanny wouldn’t know it. So that’s the reason I nigger out of you.” So, I took his than they got strap.” That was the sec¬ argue that the strap is the best, ’cause briefcase and all his pencils, all of his ond time. the solitary confinement will really hurt writing materials, and all that sort of He got up there and sat down and I your health and the strap won’t hurt stuff; I got that strap out and I hit him sent back and got the warden, come your health. about two times, let him know what back out there and tried to get him to And another thing, when a man does that was, carried him on back and put go to work. He told him he wasn’t going a crime, or breaks a rule, he needs pun¬ him in the cell. to work. So they carried him back in ishing then, right then, while it’s on his I don’t know what happened, but there and when they brought him back to mind, while he’s got hell in him, right somebody told it in Montgomery that I me — I don’t think they hit him but ten to then’s the time get it out of him. In got this boy’s attention. So they sent or twelve licks that last time — he told three, four days, by the time you write and got him. I must not have got all his them he’d found out they had more strap to Montgomery and get an order and pencils, no! So they take him down there than he had fanny, he could go to work. put him in the doghouse, or give him a to Montgomery and they made a trusty They brought him back and the blood trial — now you got to have the judge out of him, put him to driving for one had run down his pants to the bend of and everything else over there to give of the fellas that went around and his knees and he got his shovel and went him a trial, and he can get him a lawyer looked at all the road camps and all. to work. Well, he worked about an and all that sort of stuff. And I often think about this; he’d eat hour, and I knew the boy wasn’t in any I want to tell you what happened to at my prison, he’d come there driving shape to work, so I called them and told me one time. This is really funny. I was whoever it was — I think it was Floyd them that he was sick, he needed to go warden at a road camp, same road camp Neighbors — he’d come there driving to the hospital. So they come and got I was warden for nine years and didn’t whoever inspected the prison; he never him, carried him to the hospital, and get but two disciplinary reports. I went come there but what I’d always fix him put him in the hospital until his fanny down, I was getting the county prison¬ a good dinner and all, which I let him sort of healed up a little bit. But that ers out of the jail in Birmingham and eat with the officers and all that sort of just shows you now if they had give in carrying them out and putting them in stuff, and he’d always tell what I’d to that fella, he’d had undone every¬ the prison and we was renting them to done. And that goes to show you that thing that they had done up until then the county just like we was to the High¬ they got respect for you if you get his. if they had let him got by. They had to way Department. Then you’d get ahold of one once in conquer him, if they was going to run a So I went down and got this prisoner, a while that’s a ’gator. He’s like from strong prison. They had to get his atten¬ and he was from the north, and them Missouri, he can take twenty-one licks tion. Yes, sir. Now, that boy happened fellas there in the jail they was waiting and — well, for instance, when I first out of my squad. for me to come for, they knew I was went to work up there they gave me a Kilby had Death Row. A man going to come with some sort of ol’ boy from Texas (they called him Texas), sentenced to the chair, he went into junk. So he come out, he had enough and I was loading sawdust and he sat Death Row. He stayed there until pencils to run the University of Ala¬ down. I checked out and went out there they commuted his sentence or electro¬ bama, writing paper and first one junk to load the sawdust, and he sat down cuted him. I went up there every day and then another, and a briefcase. and told me he wasn’t going to work. and talked to them, asking them how Oh, he was really fixed up. Dressed So I sent in for the warden, the warden they was getting along and all that sort all up and I says, “Hey there, boy,” I come out there to talk to him, told him of stuff, which I went all over the whole says (he’s a colored boy), I says, “Now he’d have to work. He told him no, he prison every day. where you’re going you ain’t going to wasn’t going to work, so he carried him I pulled the switch. Well, ah, the only need them pencils and all that paper and in there and gave him twenty-one licks. way that I got assigned to it was ’cause stuff.” I says, “The best thing for you He was one of them kind, see; gave him the warden had heart trouble. The law to do is send that stuff back home.” He twenty-one licks. So he brought him reads that if the warden’s sick, the says, “No, I might want to do a little back, he got right back up there on that deputy warden at that prison’s got to writing.” And I says, “Well, that writing sawdust pile and sat down again, so I do it — at Kilby, that is where it was

62 when I was there. The law read that if the warden was sick then the deputy had to do it, then if the deputy was sick then the director had to appoint a man, he had to appoint a man to pull the switch. You couldn’t just pick up Tomr Dick, and Harry and go in there and kill a man. I done it for four years. I worked under the warden; he had trouble with his heart. I done it all for four years. ’Course he was always standing there side of me, the warden was. Nobody knew out in the audience whether he pulled the switch or I pulled the switch. We was in a separate room. Was nobody in there but me and him. There was a hole about four inches in diameter, and byphoto they would have a little paddle there Barry that said “ready” on one side and “stop” Fitzgerald on the other. So when they got the prisoner ready to be electrocuted and everything and the doctor had done talked to him, the preacher had done talked to him, and he’d done said everything he had to say, then they’d put that little “ready” sign up there, snap, you’d pull the switch. He never did know, he never did know, he never did know what hit him. Well, I’ll tell you that thing is really worried me a whole lot ’cause the Bible says “Thou shall not kill.” ’Course it goes on and says, in the Bible, some was killed during Christ’s time. That, that “He put some to death,” but the way I looked at it the twelve men that learn him how to work, and learn him meal. Raised our own rice in these low sentenced him to the chair was the discipline. If the state of Alabama places — had our rice mill. We made lye twelve men that killed him. I just would learn every prisoner that they hominy out of corn. carried out my duties. I just fulfilled have to come in the penitentiary; if he Now they’ve done away with that. my duty. That thing has been on my couldn’t read and write — I think that’s And they spent twenty-one million mind more than anything, is that the main thing — to learn him to read dollars last year, and they’ve got crops switch. But, on the other hand, some¬ and write and to learn him discipline is that they’ve plowed under that they body’s got to do it. And when I took three things that — the reason he’s in couldn’t even get. They can’t even get the job as deputy warden at Kilby, I the penitentiary is ’cause he hasn’t had them together! They can’t even make knew that went along with it. I worked no discipline at home, and another thing them prisoners work! for the state twenty-one years ’fore is ’cause he won’t work. The criminals has absolutely took I ever saw the electric chair! I never This was prison farm, all farm out this country over. A criminal is treated saw the electric chair until I went here. There’s nothing here like it used better than a man that’s a law-abiding to Kilby as deputy warden.* to be. There was a little over four hun¬ citizen! He’s got more rights, he’s got What’s my idea of the best penal dred miles of terrace. That’s a terrace, everything, everything’s in his favor. A system? Well, I think you need to have see that there? There was over four hun¬ criminal. I hate to say that, but that’s — I would be for rehabilitation to this dred miles of that on this property at exactly the sort of shape our country’s point: if a man couldn’t read and write, one time, when we had mules here. See in. ’Cause our- country’s supposed to be learn him how to read and write, and all that land over yonder? We worked a Christian country, but it’s turned out every bit of that; now they’re not work¬ to where it’s everything but a Christian ing none of it. They’re working right up country. Now, I don’t know what’s * Fred Dees, Sr.: “That chair of his had and down south of the road here. See going to happen, but it ain’t going to a lot of bad on him. Oh, there’s a lot of over yonder where they’re not working? run along like it’s running. I believe the things about that chair. One of them called We worked all that land. Corn and stuff Good Master’s his name before he electrocuted him. That going to pull the plug out — we fed the sure sure enough tore him up. Called his name prisoners with it. We had of it. I do. out.” our own grist mill; we made our own

63 FRED H. DEES, SR. Alabama prison road boss and former superintendent

The easiest three years that I have ever run a convict camp was the road camp here at Eight Mile. I was lucky and got about 70 percent of the popu¬ lation interested in making money on the side and I in turn told them that I would let them make their little lamps and billfolds. I even went as far as to Fred Dees, Sr. help finance them, and as long as they obeyed the rules, the ones that was set out by the Board of Corrections and the things going on at one time; you all can mouth “blam-de-bloom” inside the ones I set out to operate the camp with, either keep this damn whiskey out of camp, and I looked at him and he looked that I would just let them stay up at this camp, or I’m going to lock the at me, and I said, “What in the hell is night, a reasonable time, and I would let wash house door!” I have locked it up that?” them keep the tools where they would on visiting Sunday to show them that I And about that time this convict be handy to them where they wouldn’t would, and they would get a delegation bailed out of camp — his name was have to check them in and out. And as back there to come to talk to me about Stanley Dollard — and he was just bleed¬ long as it kept them occupied while it. And guess who would come? Their ing all over. And a convict by the name they was inside the camp, I could have wives! And try to talk me into the no¬ of Davis had got on him with a meat left Rover down there and he could tion of opening it up. cleaver, and he had cut his left arm have took care of them. A few you had It puts his mind a little at ease about off — the only thing that was holding it didn’t care, but the ones who wanted to his life outside. But now every road was the skin back there — and hit him outnumbered them, and they kept the camp didn’t have that. You would take in his cheek with it, hit him in the chest others straight. a road camp where the superintendent with it, on his arm two or three times, We let them have conjugal visits. didn’t have no feelings, well, you could and the hand he had cut off, he’d hit Visitors, visitors. Female. It cuts your tell, I could tell — I could get the escape him twice. problems down, and the convict that reports each month and tell you quick I grabbed hold, and another convict has any respect for his family, he didn’t which ones was doing it. was there, by the name of Charles Jack- want them to come in contact with no Most violent fights I’ve seen in a road son, and I managed to artery his arm to element like gal boys. So he would help camp has been about homosexuals. Let keep it from bleeding so bad. I told you get rid of them. me tell about an incident. It was in the Charles to hold it, and I run in there But now, that was another rule that evening when all the guards was there where the convict was and — you’ve you bent. In other words, I done it in a and it was — I didn’t like to show no heard the saying that a man was so mad way, I done it just like this: I said, force around anybody because, if that he stunk? Well, I actually smelled “Now I’m not going to let no guard go anybody’d see anything, there was no¬ the fellow. His eyes was way back in his to the wash house on visiting Sunday body to testify against you if somebody head, and I asked him I said, “Give me provided that if somebody comes was to push the fact that you did hit that meat cleaver William” and he says, checking they won’t find nothing, and I one of them. Anyway, as soon as every¬ “Don’t come no closer, Captain Dees,” won’t know nothing, and if we get body left there I put a stop to that — and it was a pick handle standing behind caught at it you can’t say that I know.” quick. But I had been fishing over here, the door and I grabbed a hold of it. I No guard knew. and I had got back and I carried the fish said, “William, give me that meat cleav¬ For the single convict we had the down there to get some of them to er,” and he started backing up, and I loose girls that came. It gave them more clean them for me, and Nichols, the said, “William, give me that meat cleav¬ to look forward to, in my opinion. bookkeeper then, he come out there er,” and all the time I was walking Let me give you a good example of where I was at. I asked him, I said, towards him, and he let me get in reach how I would do it. If I got a lot of trou¬ “Nichols, have you had any trouble?” of him and when he did, he went one ble with whiskey inside the camp, all “No, hadn’t had a thing, everything’s way and the meat cleaver went the right let’s get them all there and [say], been mighty quiet Captain Dees,” and other — that pick handle — but just the “Let me tell you all, I can’t let two about the time he got it out of his time I got him off the floor — I didn’t

64 hit him but one time — his eyes cleared certain extent; then you would figure something else that the public — the fed¬ up and he was just normal. But what out what to say to him to make him do eral government, whenever all this had happened, he was trying — Dollard, like you wanted him to. And then, but segregation mess and civil-rights things the one he cut, was trying to make a gal you had some that you couldn’t, he was coming out — they done away, that’s boy out of him. He was fighting back, wouldn’t listen to you for twenty-four another thing they done away with. and he fought back, too. hours. I’ve tried to control convicts on the They first started to integrate in ’69, Now, the doghouse was another way basis that let me reason with you, but ’69 or ’70, I think. The cells were mixed. of punishing the convict back then. It now if you won’t reason with me — I’ll They slept in the same cell. When they was a room, it was just a bunch of treat you like a human being, like a man. first, I had fifty-two blacks, and they rooms built in a horseshoe shape. It had I didn’t only try to sell an idea; I told sent me eight whites. I had five cells and a steel door that was sealed; when it them face to face, “I’ll treat you like a I put one in each cell and then two to closed, you couldn’t see your hand in man as long as you’ll treat me as one.’’ make it, but I had a white in each cell; it front of you. It had a drain in the mid¬ And along with that you have to put, was integrated. It didn’t help the convict, dle of it, but they give them a bucket to you have to let them know that if they black or white; they was already living go to the bathroom in. And then they don’t do that, that you’ll do something. under the same conditions, both of took it out once a day, every twenty- It’s not all bullshit, is my words, it’s not them was. They only thing that they four hours. You had to feel for it. And all bullshit that you’re trying to sell separated, the white was living on one they would put as many as eight men in them. But you have to let them know side of the penitentiary and the black that five-by-eight room. This was a hole, that you’re not playing. was living on the other side of it. That the doghouse. A lot of folks called it the Oh, I have thrown fits down there was in the penitentiary, not the road hole and a lot of people called it the amongst those men, pulled my shirt off, camps. doghouse. And they’d put him in there kicked my shoes off, thrown my glasses They all ate out of the same pot. for twenty-one days and they would down, acting like somebody crazy, just They didn’t have plates for a white man feed him one time a day. begging one of them to jump on me. You and plates for a black. They went to the In the doghouse they fed him one have to do that, you have to put up a picture show together. They didn’t say time a day — and that was a piece of certain amount of front. But now, he’s whites here and colored over here. When cornbread and a glass of water. Every smart — don’t sell him short; don’t sell they went to the picture show — the third day they give him one meal, a the convict short, because he knows reason I know is ’cause I used to go in balanced meal. Just one meal. They when to say, he knows when to bring with them — they’d mix up. This was all were put in there without any clothes. you a cup of coffee with a smile. Now in the regular penitentiaries. The big He would lose — I’ve seen them put in you take the men that could see me in deal that the paper played up on segre¬ there, I’ve carried a man and put him in the morning, I could come out of the gation in the penitentiary was just a it, and he’d say, weigh one hundred house, and I always walked down the cahoot, anyway. The only thing that eighty pounds, and when I’d get him middle of the road to the camp, and really changed was the road camps. back after twenty-one days he’d weigh they all watched me; they could tell by They had black and white road camps less than one hundred twenty. And that’s the way I walked what kind of mood I and they mixed them up; that’s about not good for you. You’re starving him was in. A black man, he’s studied psy¬ the only thing that changed. They used to death is what you’re doing.* chology anyway. ’Cause that’s who the same toilets. And when, like on Sat¬ Very few camps had a doghouse. I should be teaching psychology in all urday and Sunday, they was turned out never worked at a camp that had one. your colleges. ’Cause he knows. in the yard together, they associated We took ours to Atmore. At Grove Hill The Board of Corrections, the new with one another before the integration sometimes we carried them to Mont¬ people which has come in, say the road thing came. gomery, but most of the time we camp has no rehabilitation towards the Now the discipline has changed, too. brought them to Atmore. But now, inmates, it doesn’t help them any. They When Daddy started he handled con¬ when I was at Eight Mile I brought all don’t rehabilitate them anyway, so they victs strictly from fear. Even in the field, of mine to Atmore. It wasn’t too often, say it’s best for them not to be in a road a man was out there won’t — say they maybe twice a year, something like that. camp. Actually, the road camp kept was chopping cotton and he was behind All the problems you could solve your¬ them more up-to-date on what was them, way behind the rest of them — self — you would not have as many, but going on in the streets ’cause they was they didn’t try no reasoning with him. if you started hauling them away from in the streets with the people. They They laid him down right there and there, it seemed to me like the more knew how to deal with the people, the whupped him and put him right back you did it, the more you had to do it. public, ’cause that’s the kind of work there and made him do it. But when I So you tried to solve all that, as much they did. And they would learn, as time started in ’52 they had done away with of it as you could, without doing that. changed in the street, they would learn the strap (like Daddy was talking). But Today they’ve changed all that. the changes that was made. Now, when we had the hose type, and then it came They’ve lit them up now, and they’ve they pulled him back and put him in the along, when I was tried in court, every¬ got a commode in all of them. That’s penitentiary, he doesn’t know nothing body got scared to use force and then about what’s going on outside the peni¬ things really changed; then that you tentiary.

— me started let tell you — you started * Oscar Dees: “They got where now they give using, putting the hat on the convict, them a meal every day, which is not no really. You would listen to him to a punishment to it now, at all.” 65 too much. So that has a lot to do with that, too, when you say who violates probation more, black or white. I guess really, without that factor it would be about the same. If drugs weren’t a problem, weren’t against the law, shoot, that other proba¬ tion officer wouldn’t have nothing, he wouldn’t have a case load but about FRED H. DEES, JR. twenty-five. Most of the white areas are drug charges. That’s the reason I didn’t "new want it. When we got all these new The breed" of supervisors and were switching territo¬ ries around, I could have got a predom¬ probation/parole officer inately white area, but I didn’t want it. They’re hard drugs. I’ve got a few drug The main reason I didn’t go into pris¬ My degree is in criminal justice and cases, maybe ten or twelve, and that’s on work was pretty well known all political science. Double major. So, this all I want because they’re a lot different was along; I just haven’t got — I won’t say pretty new to me. If you had a to work with, because you keep think¬ aggressive, that’s the wrong word — but good background in psychology or soci¬ ing the only reason they’re a criminal, to me, to really get on somebody like ology, it wouldn’t be too big. Mainly the only law they’ve even thought about they do, which I’ve seen them work; psychology. I had a few psychology violating, the only flaw really they have, and I’ve also seen other guards at other courses, but not really enough for a is drugs; and when you — if you got a prisons try maybe a softer line, maybe minor. Now I’m studying for a master’s burglar, he generally knows he’s done like we use here, and it just doesn’t in correctional counseling. something wrong and you can work work: you’re constantly getting run There’s twenty-four of us in the pro¬ from there — but somebody on drugs, over. Either way. Well, that’s being a gram and they all work for the parole ’specially marijuana, they don’t see little unfair, but it just doesn’t work. board. I kind of look, actually, in anything wrong with it. They don’t feel You’ve still got to have both of them; maybe the next three or four years it like they have a problem or anything. you got to have more or less a strong will be a requirement of this department I’ve got to know a little bit about arm, and then if you want to rehabilitate that you have a master’s. They’re going every one of my one hundred and anybody you’re going to have to work to have to raise the salaries some more, twenty-five. I work with them, and from an authoritative position. When I there’s no doubt about that. But, that’s there’s some of them that don’t need saw right off that I’m just not that way, coming. I would say now, out of these any supervision, really. They’re going to as far as using authority, working from people they hired recently, out of thirty- do pretty good anyway, so some of authority — I just can’t really work five — that’s just approximate — I would them you don’t worry about too much. anything that way — so that’s the main say fifteen of them have a master’s or are You just make more or less sure they reason I didn’t want to go into correc¬ about to complete a master’s program. send their reports in, and maybe go by tions. The case load I’ve got is 95 percent and talk to them every now and then. There were other reasons, too. I’ve black, and I’ve got one hundred and And then, on the other hand, I’ve got seen my father and grandfather, too, twenty-five now. All right, the territory some I feel like — like I’ve got one drug and that’s a job that weighs on you next to me, the probation officer there addict, he’s been through every — we’ve pretty hard all the time. This one does, has 95 percent white. Out of my case got three sorts of drug rehabilitation too, but it’s in a different situation. load of one hundred and twenty-five homes. He’s been through all three of Like, when I leave the office here, I I’ve got about fifty parolees and the rest them and no drug involved; that wasn’t still get calls and all at night, but I can probationers. He’s got about twenty- the reason he was kicked out. It was just pretty well pick up and forget it for a two or twenty-three parolees and the his attitude, and they kicked him out of while. But I notice they don’t; it’s con¬ rest of them probationers. all three of them. Mental health, voca¬ stantly on their minds because a twenty- So you can see how the blacks go to tional rehab, they couldn’t do anything four hour job is; if anything happens in the penitentiary a lot more than whites with him. He just wouldn’t cooperate there it’s their responsibility. But, getting do. It would make you think maybe with them, so the only thing I’m doing back to it, the main reason is just because there’s a double standard of justice some¬ with him, I just go by and see him about I saw right off I wasn’t going to be able where along the line, but it’s really once a week, make sure he stays around to use authority like they do. I mean it’s about even as far as — if a white violates town, give him a urinalysis every now just not in me, as far as I can see, and I his probation, he’s got better access to a and then to see if he’s off drugs. There’s not much else I can do with him ’cause just don’t feel comfortable with it. And lawyer — there’s a good chance he can a probation officer’s job is a lot differ¬ beat the case before it comes up, before there’s no more programs left. And he’s ent. I been in Like said, most of it is primarily it gets to the grand jury — and a black prison several times. social work. Of course, there’s a lot of doesn’t. He’s got a court-appointed As far as methods of counseling, we’re people still in our department who’ll go attorney and they don’t — unless they kind of divided here. A couple here have out and argue it’s not, but for the most can milk a little money out of him, master’s in counseling, but anyway part it’s in that direction. too — they’re not going to defend him we’re always arguing about which ap-

66 proach to take in counseling. I take the less direct approach rather than all the time giving him instructions, telling him what to do. More or less just trying to talk with him, lead him and show him if he does that, what’s going to happen. I realize that giving a man probation or parole instructions by necessity is direct. All right, a few here are very direct. Which, to me is not too much different from just discipline. Because you tell him this is the way it is. You do it, and that’s it, rather than working so much on feeling, just finding out more or less the facts, and telling them this is the way it’s going to be. It works, but it’s mainly on discipline. There was a probation officer, he was big on law enforcement, and when he had one come in he kept a brick in one side of his drawer and a gun in the other one. When he wanted to reiterate a point he would take the brick out and slam it on the desk or take his gun out and say that’s the way it’s going to be, and things like that. They got rid of him finally. I think he went back into the service. He was in the active Guard and went into active duty. If a war comes along, I know who will be happy! He was something else. This is just my observation, but I would think the main problem in the prison system is they try to carry on rehabilitation on one hand and at the same time they operate guards and se¬ curity and so forth on the basis of back when my grandfather was there. People Fred Dees, Jr. are more smart now; prisoners they get probably still don’t have the average education but they’re still intelligent, and it’s hard for them to have a coun¬ selor on the one hand, spending two there’s no need putting them in with something to expect. You’ve got to have hours in a group counseling session and everybody else. something to show them somebody is The first he’s really showing them he cares and offenders, maybe even the going to be on their side when they get

second — they’re really talking over how they feel offender, they haven’t reached out somebody will be working for about things; and then it’s just like the point of no return. For them maybe them. Within the Department of Cor¬ throwing cold water on them when they build, oh heck, several prisons with a rections. put them back in the prison population population of no more than two hun¬ The main thing, the main problem, is dred and kind of the ones we success and you go back to the old thing, strict¬ spread them out, have less with, is the ly security and everybody’s treated throughout the state, and have your re¬ ones who don’t have anybody when

— habilitation alike it doesn’t matter, any individual going on there. And another they get out. Maybe their wife’s left differences, everybody’s the same. thing they’d have to have, which is be¬ them, or their families live somewhere else and I’d like to see it, maybe — well some ginning to start here, is some contact they’ve just got a good job here and reason people who go to prison I don’t think with the community. It’s a little late; that’s the they can’t — should be released. They should have to they’ve started it, but it’s a big change those types don’t have anything to hang sit there the rest of their lives, but they from going from prison back outside, onto — they don’t usually make it, should put it in a way where they have and they need some way where they which is understandable. If you felt like one big prison, maybe Holman, that’s have contact with the community, you didn’t have anybody who cared maximum security, and that would be maybe work release; if nothing else, anything for you, everything was going the lifers, the psychopaths, maybe third maybe even a parole officer go talk to pretty bad, naturally you’d get to where offenders. Put them together, that’s it; them or something, some contact, you wouldn’t give a shit.D

67 Is the death penalty a deterrent to crime? Elaborate studies bolster both sides of the argument, leaving the question undecided. But most people would agree that for a punishment to act as a deterrent, the chances of escaping it must be virtually nil. In our society, the chances are great indeed that an influential person, ably represented by private counsel, can beat the electric chair. The figures demonstrate that most of the 395 men and women the chair threatens to claim went on trial represented by court- appointed attorneys. Serious questions about the guilt or innocence of some of them were never resolved in the hasty and emotional proceedings that led to their death sentences. The story of one such man, Johnny Harris of Alabama, illustrates how the death row inmate is often more a victim of circum¬ stances and racial prejudice than he is a menace to society. One Southern prison administrator has confided: “I’ve never seen a rich man goto the electric chair, and I don’t think I ever will. And I’ve seen one or two on Death Row who I thought might have been innocent.” The will of the public, however, may be to enforce capital punishment whether or not it deters, whether or not the life of an in¬ nocent person is occasionally snuffed out. Execution is a savage response of a people exasperated by the rise of violent crime and willing to grasp at any simple solution, especially one that promises vengeance. But we must ask ourselves, will savagery beget anything but savagery, and will legalized killing not simply stimulate our society’s fascination with violence? SECTION THREE GassMichaelbyphoto

By Randall Williams

Occasionally, in roadside cafes below who are similarly nearing the end. of south Georgia as the buckle on that the Mason Dixon line, diners find their These situations give a sense of belt. Farmer’s clients — typical of plates laid on paper placemats decorated urgency to the activities of those fight¬ capital defendants — are almost always with humorously drawn maps depicting ing the death penalty. They thought poor, uneducated and black. the “United States of Dixie.” The maps they had beaten capital punishment in Black people in general must be are drawn grossly out of proportion, 1972 when the lives of about 600 con¬ considered something of experts on with the Southern states filling up most demned persons were spared by a capital punishment in this country, for of the area and a small space at the top Supreme Court decision. But, in a 1976 they have had more than their share of devoted to “assorted Nawthern states.” decision, the Court laid new guidelines first-hand experience with it, in the There is a macabre irony about these under which the death penalty could be North as well as in the South. Of all maps when one compares them to the imposed. Six months later Gilmore was persons executed since the 1930s, when history and now the resurgence of capi¬ dead, the first to be executed in this officials began to keep reliable records, tal punishment in America. Proportion¬ country since 1967. 53.5 percent have been black. Almost ately, the role of the Southern states in 90 percent of those executed for rape the grisly practice of legal killing domi¬ have been black, 76 percent of those nates the map much like the joke printed executed for robbery, 49 percent for on the placemats. Though all 48 of the murder, 100 percent for burglary. continental states have at various times THE BATTLE AGAINST EXECUTION Blacks have accounted for only about used the death penalty, 12 states in 10 percent of the total population the South have performed more than 60 Death penalty opponents are mount¬ during this period. percent of all government-sanctioned ing a three-pronged attack: trying to Clarence Darrow, in a 1924 debate executions. Of all the death row inmates avoid death sentences at the trial level; in New York City, commented on the in the United States today, 85 percent seeking delays and reversals of death relationship between high rates both for are in those same 12 states. sentences at the appelate level; attempt¬ homicide and executions in the South. Barring the unforeseen emergence of ing to change public opinion and the "Why?” he said. “Well, it is an after¬ another law Gary Gilmore somewhere else, by lobbying legislatures, governors noon’s pleasure to kill a Negro — that is it is almost certain that the next execu¬ and the President and through the use about all.” Southern society has passed tion will happen in the deep South. The of rallies, demonstrations, vigils and the point where white men could kill prisoner nearest the death chamber media coverage. Most of the activity blacks with impunity, so that part of today is John Spenkelink of Florida; is happening right in the South. Darrow’s theory is outdated now. But his death warrant is signed and only the Millard Farmer, the Atlanta lawyer the faces peering through the cell doors persistence of his attorneys is keeping who made a national reputation when on death row remain disproportionately him alive. (See separate articles in this he defended, in the courts and on the black; it may not be easier for a judge to section on Spenkelink and inmate streets, the young black men who came pronounce a death sentence on a black johnny Harris of Alabama.) Other to be known as the Dawson Five, puts man, but it does happen more frequently. Florida inmates behind Spenkelink have a cunning twist on an old cliche when Discrimination in the application of also exhausted all their appeals, and he refers to the South as the Death the death penalty was supposed to have there are inmates in Georgia and Texas Belt, and to the small rural counties ended with the Supreme Court decision

70 The Legacy There is a chance, however, that the next inmates to die won’t do so by gas orelectricity at all, but by thescientifical- ly superior method of lethal injection. A hanging takes an average of eight ofLegalized to 10 minutes to complete. The head must be hooded because the knot often rips open the side of the face. Fre¬ quently, the victim swings until he has strangled to death. There are recorded Murder instances in which strong prison guards grabbed the condemned man’s legs as he hung, pulling downward on them to speed the process along. Shooting also disfigures, and may not kill instantly. Gas takes a long time and witnesses don’t like to watch it because they can in 1972 in the case of Furman v. Georgia. enacted new death penalty laws, and the see the contortions of the body as it The Court said that capital punishment death row total climbed up to more strains against the straps trying to as then practiced amounted to a lottery than 500. Finally, on July 2, 1976, the escape. The hands open and close for conducted by judges, juries and prose¬ Supreme Court spoke again, upholding, a very long time after the pellets have cutors in determining who actually in the case of Gregg v. Georgia, death dropped into the acid. died. The laws then in sentences force allowed imposed under a law which Electrocution produces a “two- juries to give the death penalty for a allowed the guided discretion of a two- minute death dance’’ as the average number of crimes, and to decide each part trial. The Court also upheld similar eight cycles of alternately 2,300 and case arbitrarily. In practice, that dis¬ laws in Texas and Florida, and the 1,000 volts are applied. Usually the cretion meant that juries frequently country was back in the execution witnesses are separated from the death gave death sentences to minority and business. chamber by a glass partition. This spares poor defendants for crimes that might At the same time, however, the them the smell of burning flesh. The earn lesser sentences for more privileged Court decided Woodson v. North condemned man’s eyes are usually whites. Carolina and a similar Louisiana case masked because they may come out of Executions had already declined and voided the death sentences imposed their sockets. Urine is inevitably re¬ in from a high of 199 in 1935 to a trickle those states under laws which allowed leased, and the body may have to be in the mid-’60s when Colorado gassed no discretion but made death mandatory forcibly straightened to make it fit into Luis Jose Monge to death in 1967. upon conviction for certain categories the coffin after the execution. He was the last to die until Gilmore of crime. Thanks to these and subse¬ All executions today are performed 10 years later in Utah, but between quent rulings, 391 prisoners had their deep within prison walls. The object 1967 and 1972 juries continued to give lives spared. One hundred and one is to deter, to protect society, but the death sentences. By the time Furman other death sentences were commuted act is so brutal that it must basically was decided, more than 600 condemned in Ohio as the result of the Bell and be done in secret; society must be pro¬ persons were waiting on death rows. Lockett decisions before the Supreme tected from the act meant to protect After Furman, however, legislatures Court in July, 1978. society. thought they could meet the standards But the death row population con¬ Texas and Oklahoma have already set in that decision with the implemen¬ tinues to climb. The Southern Death passed laws making the injection of fast¬ tation of new laws which either took Penalty Information Center reports acting barbiturates the legal means for discretion completely out of the system that 395 inmates are condemned to killing in those states. Florida and Ten¬ or which put into play a two-part proce¬ die under laws which the Supreme nessee have been considering similar dure: first, the defendant’s guilt or Court has already upheld. Of the 395, laws. An inmate in Alabama who, like innocence is determined in one hearing, all but 50 were condemned in 12 South¬ Gary Gilmore, has insisted that he wants and then the ern punishment — death or a states. Florida has 113, Georgia 72, to die rather than live his life in prison, lesser sentence — is determined in a Texas 74 and Alabama 36. For some of finally agreed to let lawyers appeal his second the case hearing in which both aggra¬ condemned, time is running out. so he could lobby — by mail — for vating and mitigating circumstances of Many states are testing their gas cham¬ lethal injection in his state. The inmate, the crime are considered. bers and electric chairs and hiring John Evans, who killed a Mobile pawn¬ Between 1972 and 1976, 35 states executioners again. broker in a robbery while the victim’s

71 “Execution by lethal injection is Sociologists explain the phenomenon by noting that a society which officially the modem, American way — fast, devalues life by execution sets an exam¬ ple which makes life less valuable to the antiseptic, medicinal, painless individual as well. The single most widely known study, by Thorstin Sellin, compared a number of variables in death penalty states to small daughters watched, argues that come into their homes and businesses the same variables in similar or adjacent states which did not have the death electrocution cooks the internal organs, and take their property and their lives. leaving them useless for medical research Such men are reduced by the legal penalty. The results showed higher or for donations to homicide rates in the death people who need system to non-persons, to animals. penalty states than in those without it. The one transplants. Evans says he wants the They can be killed. dignity of knowing that his death might Once the humanity of the inmates has exception to the general trend of studies is a help someone else. been removed, it is simple enough to go report by Isaac Erlich which claims that Injections are also said to be more on to the argument capital punishment every execution has the ability to merciful and less repugnant, but some supporters make about the economics of prevent seven or more additional murders. Erlich’s opponents fear this might create a feeding, clothing and supervising a study is important dangerous climate in which euthanasia dangerous criminal for the rest of his because it appeared in 1975 when pub¬ in general becomes less objectionable, life. Since most felony murders are lic debate over the value of capital leading perhaps to the day when the committed by young men, life imprison¬ punishment was intense; it was cited by elderly and the handicapped are also ment could be very expensive indeed. the Solicitor General of the United “done away with,” humanely and But the costs of execution can also be States as a reason why the Supreme efficiently. Says Jim Castelli, a writer very high. Appeals for condemned men Court should uphold the death penalty for the National Catholic News Service, are hard-fought and may take years, so in Gregg w. Georgia. "Execution by lethal injection is the “economical,” speedy executions are Other capital punishment scholars modern, American way — fast, antiseptic, out of the question. The costs of operat¬ were quick to attack Erlich’s study, medicinal, painless. Lethal injection ing the special segregation system used criticizing both his data and his tech¬ does for execution what the neutron for condemned men also run very high. nique. The only safe statement which bomb does for war — it makes the There is strong evidence that many can be made today about the deterrent unthinkable more thinkable.” condemned inmates can be successfully value of the death penalty is that it is rehabilitated. Reprieved prisoners fre¬ unproven; it remains a matter of per¬ quently become models for the rest of sonal speculation. the prison population. Some wardens Similarly, the moral rightness or believe this may be because these men, wrongness of capital punishment is DEATH: AN EITHER/OR CHOICE confronted with their deaths, have usually decided by an individual’s own had to look deeply within themselves. conscience. Clarence Darrow said it this Why is the unthinkable spectre of Some primitive societies require crimi¬ way: “There is just one thing in all this executions so popular with the Amer¬ nals to make restitution to their victims. question. It is a question of how you ican public today? A murder victim obviously can’t be feel, that is all. It is all inside of you. Anthropologist Colin Turnbull, in a restored to life, but his murderer could If you love the thought of somebody recent study of death rows as societies, be made to support his family, thus being killed, why, you are for it. If you says he was told by a man who had relieving the state of burden and allow¬ hate the thought of somebody being effectively lobbied to restore the death ing the murderer to find self-worth. killed, you are against it.” penalty in his state, “We don’t know Opponents of the death penalty Supporters of the death penalty what else to do, and we have to do cite two last irrefutable arguments insist that it is a moral duty to execute something.” The death penalty is a against executions: there is always the murderers. But they can only recite the ritual sacrifice of the type made when possibility of executing the innocent, Biblical injunction of “an eye for an there is fear, Turnbull said. “When man and the process of deciding who actually eye.” That message was written in a recognizes his impotence, he falls back dies is still too arbitrary. culture and a time far removed from our on the unknown.” Ritual elements help Capital punishment supporters say own, and most of the mainline churches society cope with murder and death: that the threat of imprisonment, even today are strongly opposed to capital inmates are fed last meals, given last for life, is not enough to keep criminals punishment. rites, made to walk the “last mile,” from killing, and that the deterrent Nevertheless, public opinion polls confronted with — in some states — a value of the death penalty is needed to that once showed higher support in the hooded executioner, formally read the protect society. Most opponents of the fundamentalist South than elsewhere death warrant and then, before a con¬ death penalty believe that there is no for the death penalty now show consist¬ gregation of witnesses, put to death. deterrent value.. Most serious scholars ent support in all areas of the country, There is desperation today, Turnbull agree that the studies which exist are among all age levels and social classes. says. People want to be safe. They are not definitive, but indicate that if there Blacks are just about the only group afraid of violent crime and violent is an effect, it is slightly more likely to left which express a majority sentiment criminals, men like John Evans who encourage crime than to reduce it. against executions, and even that oppo-

72 sition is not as pronounced as it once Tricked was. The shift in opinion came suddenly. As short a time ago as 1966, a Gallup I poll found a plurality of 47 to 42 got a score to settle with one of the lawyers of the percent opposed to the death penalty. land, with who, with one of the lawyers of the land, By the spring of 1976, however, another & that’s not nearly all because I also have a score to Gallup poll found the death penalty settle with that robe man Tricked Why, because back in favor: 65 percent percent for, 28 I against. paid my money to get a life sentence, which wasn’t so damn I mean, I could have Groups like the ACLU and the funny—Tricked fought that case Southern Coalition on Jails and Prisons by myself, the charge didn’t carry but a life, I are working hard to reverse support for should have kept my money instead of paying someone executions, but the increasingly conserv¬ else Tricked Embezzled Robbed Tricked ative, frightened and vindictive mood There is nothing you can say to make me believe that I of the nation makes the and going slow was not difficult. Increased attention is being tricked...by the lawyer of the land & the robe given to fight the death penalty at the man, when their combined actions & deeds amounted to trial level, and the two organizations life Tricked...but not buried...buried only with time. leading the way are the Southern Pov¬ erty Law Center of Montgomery and — Erroll E. Bernard Millard Farmer’s Team Defense Project Camp J of Atlanta. Both launch all-out attacks Angola, La. on the prosecutor’s case. Both use extensive pre-trial investigation, motions, expert witnesses, jury selection and con¬ stant psychological warfare during a trial. The Southern Prisoners’ Defense Committee, headquartered in New Or¬ leans, supplies materials and information which help a private defense attorney meet the well-equipped state prosecutor on a more equal basis. Once a case gets to the appellate level, it may end up in the hands of the Legal Defense Fund, the New York-based group once headed by Thurgood Marshall. LDF attempts to keep clients alive, waiting for the day when public opinion may change again on the death penalty. The Supreme Court has said that the definition of “cruel and unusual punish¬ ment’’ may be determined by “evolving standards of decency.” It was once common to burn witches, to brand adul¬ terers, to whip thieves. Those practices eventually became repugnant and ended. In time, the United States may join Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and the Scandinavian nations in abol¬ ishing executions. Meanwhile, the death rows continue to swell. There may be 800 persons awaiting execution by 1980.D

Randall Williams is an A labama native, a journalist and former editor of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s news¬ byphoto letter. He is now on the staffofthe Insti¬ Jackson tute “The Last Walk” of the condemned. White door leads to gas chamber, Central Hill for Southern Studies. Prison, Raleigh, NC. John Spenkelink Scheduled to Die fieldHolyFrankbyillustration by Dudley Clendinen

Florida State Prison: Gary Gilmore, The record began with his first arrest At the trial in Tallahassee, he took who was so insistent on his execution, at the age of 12 for fighting, malicious the stand to say that the gun belonged and who was obliged by the State of mischief and burglary. It is a record of to Szymankiewicz, who had once used it Utah 14 months ago, was the kind of offenses that grew steadily every year to force Spenkelink into a homosexual man the public fears and thinks arche¬ thereafter through charges of battery, act. When Spenkelink tried to get his typal of murderers: cold-blooded, piti¬ running away, burglary, auto theft, things and leave, Szymankiewicz began to him and then went less, cynical to the core. narcotics — the classical range of adoles¬ choke for the But the true test of capital punish¬ cent crimes. gun. In the struggle, Spenkelink shot ment, and the public support of it, It expanded, when he was 19, into Szymankiewicz once. Past that point, he lies in the execution of a man who does several charges of armed robbery. He said, his memory went blank. Szymanki¬ not want to die. There has not been had spent time in juvenile institutions, ewicz was found in bed, shot twice from such an execution in this country in but conviction on the new charges behind and clubbed on the head. The 11 years. sent him into the California prison sys¬ jury found Spenkelink guilty of murder One is now looming at this prison tem on a sentence of five years to life. in the first degree, and the judge sen¬ in the spare, flat, green countryside of He did time in San Quentin, perhaps tenced him to death. north central Florida. If it comes to pass, the toughest of American prisons, That was the record which was in as it may this winter, it will take place where the relationship between black part responsible for moving Governor on the ground floor of this prison, in a and white and Puerto Rican had settled Reubin Askew to select John Spenkelink three-legged chair hand-built by prison into fear and hate. There he learned to be the first to die under the state’s inmates many years ago, in full view of about survival in a racial guerilla war, new capital punishment law, which had reporters from the print and electronic learned it painfully once when he was been tested and found constitutional by news media. stabbed in the back with an icepick the US Supreme Court. He signed the It is in keeping with state sentiment while walking up some stairs. death warrant on September 12, 1977. and court practice that the next execu¬ Moved to a lighter security institu¬ Askew has never agreed to speak tion should take place here. The Florida tion, he escaped — “just a walkaway,” about the reasons which moved him to legislature rushed into special session he says — and hooked up with the older choose Spenkelink to die, but there are to enact a new capital punishment law Szymankiewicz, an escaped career crim¬ others besides his criminal record. There when the US Supreme Court struck inal whom he picked up hitchhiking on were six men whose death warrants down the old one in 1972. As of late a Texas road. They stayed drunk a great Askew was legally free to sign once a September, 1978, there are 118 men deal, and for the promise of money, he State Supreme Court stay expired the and one woman on Death Row in says, Spenkelink drove Szymankiewicz last of August. But Spenkelink was the Florida, more than in any other state. to New York, then Baltimore, then only one with no attorney and no The first one scheduled to die is a Detroit, and finally to Tallahassee. appeal of any kind filed in court. brown-eyed, handsome man, white, 29 In Tallahassee, Spenkelink says, Szy¬ He took the news in character. He years old, an admitted killer of a fellow mankiewicz robbed him. And then there is,an inch over six feet tall, lean, muscu¬ prison escapee named Joseph Szymank- was the motel room murder, or as lar, soft-voiced, cautious in conversation iewicz. Spenkelink swears, the self-defense and unfailingly polite. He keeps an John Arthur Spenkelink was raised shooting. At the age of 23, Spenkelink immaculate cell and person, writes a in Buena Vista, California, where his shut the motel room door and took to small, scripted, precise longhand and is mother was a teacher and his father the road again. He ended up in a rental determinedly self-reliant, something he something of a failure and a drunk. Fie apartment in California; there he was has perhaps learned in the time he has established a criminal record there and found and arrested. He pleaded guilty to spent in the treacherous society of was extradited after killing Szymanki- two more armed robberies before being prison. Perhaps because of the length of ewicz in a motel room in Tallahassee in extradited back to Florida to stand trial that experience, he is not well-educated. February, 1973. for murder. He does not really understand the

74 various functions and of responsibilities against it. me,” he said. “In order for me to func¬ the judicial system, the executive and “Ridiculous,” he said. tion right every day, I just gotta keep a the press. But he has his standards. On Monday, August 21, after 10 cool head.” months of consideration, a three-judge “I’m not blocking reality,” he said. He once told me that in California, “I panel of the Fifth Circuit rejected all “It’s right there on Front Street all the pleaded guilty to three first-degree the arguments of the defense in a 40- time. I’m afraid of the chair, too, armed robbery charges so three other page long opinion. but... I’ll handle anything they dish dudes could get off. That’s the way I’ve out. I’ve done programmed myself to been raised. It doesn’t do any good Shevin, when he heard the news, was handle that, no matter what.”D for anybody to do any more time than jubilant. Spenkelink, when I saw him necessary.” When a Christmas card the next day, was calm. Legally, he is Dudley Clendinen is a roving colum¬ circulated on Death Row in far closer to 1976, execution than anyone else nist for the St. Petersburg, Fla., Times. collecting signatures to be sent to Flor¬ in the United States. There is only the He is currently at work on a book about ida Attorney General Robert Shevin US Supreme Court left in this current Florida’s death row, to be published by under the message “Wish You Were appeal. “It’s just not going to bother W. W. Norton and Company. Here,” Spenkelink declined to sign. Shevin, who argues against their appeals and for their execution, is the nemesis of the residents of the Row. But the card offended something in Spenkelink. And when the massive, mustachioed How Do You Do It, John? prison superintendent, David Brierton, called Spenkelink down to the office an that Monday a year ago to tell him that Reubin Askew had signed his How do you do it, John ? How do you go on so courageously and full of death warrant, Spenkelink thanked him life? I often see you during visiting hours on Death Row — giving, loving, with for the children courtesy. That’s all. squirming all over you — happy and playing. You and Carlotta and Then they led him down to a newly the children are a family there in that small, crowded, stifling room, and yet painted, sunny yellow cell on the bot¬ you seem to know more love in that space than most families in the free tom floor of Q Wing, down the hall world would ever begin to know. from the room where Chair And the Electric you write to me — not for help for yourself —but for help for others is bolted down to the floor. There on Death Row. At a time when you are closer to death than any of them, you Spenkelink waited, alone but under think of the others before yourself. On prison paper that you have decorated constant guard. For two weeks, while with fragile praying hands, you also request from me information about the Florida attorneys Tobias Simon and death penalty to send to people around the country who have written to you. Andrew Graham consulted with lawyers It is not preoccupation with yourself that helps you persevere, but a greater at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in concern for all of us. New York and rebounded from court to It makes me feel good to be in your presence. Your soft-spokenness and court in search of a stay, he waited. peacefulness of spirit teach those who have been fighting for your life a lesson He got within two days of the date set of dignity and courage. In times of despair and joy, you have constantly for his execution before his lawyers expressed your gratitude humbly and genuinely. Once, only days from death, secured a federal stay while they ap¬ you were writing to us to thank us for our efforts to get a stay of execution. pealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of You bring hope to all the other inmates by your word and by your example. I Appeals in New Orleans. commend you for your strength. Governor Askew said he would not The torment of living under the sentence of death has made other men sign another death warrant, for Spenke¬ break and die* or just break and lie lifeless, wasted men in mindless cages; but link or any other person on Death Row, you have become more fully human. If it must be, you have come to under¬ until Spenkelink had exhausted his last stand our death, in this scheme of society and time, better than those who seek to kill appeal. Spenkenlink’s attorneys filed you. Whatever it is that touches men and opens their hearts, that some 19 issues of argument with the strips them ofself and allows them to love, that removes all prejudices and Fifth Circuit, but there was one primary gives them universal understanding — you have been touched by it, John. issue: that capital punishment in the Whatever violence you knew in the past has long since left you. state of Florida was still being imposed That society wants to kill you speaks not ofyou, but ofsociety. unequally by the courts because 95 percent of all those on Death Row were —Kay Isaly Citizens there because they had killed a white. Jacksonville Against the Death The life of a black man, in other words, Penalty had yet to achieve an equal worth. It *Two men on Florida’s Death Row have committed suicide. was an intriguing argument, and Florida Attorney General Shevin, then and now the front-runner in the race for Gover¬ nor, argued personally and strenuously

75 LOST LIVES?

A PROFILE OF DEATH ROW BY CLARE JUPITER

76 Societies define the value of human lives in countless and varied ways. In the most direct way, capital punishment laws announce not only that some lives are dispensable, but that the state has the right to decide who deserves to die. Our agents in this grisly task, juries in capital trials, select their victims not in the heat of passion or in self-defense, but with cool deliberation and malicious intent. This article examines some characteristics of the people we have chosen for death. One of the most striking features of this country’s death row population is the overwhelming concentration of con¬ demned prisoners in Southern states. Of the 395 prisoners now under sentence of death, 345 — more than 87% — await execution in Southern jails and prisons (chart 1). Here the modern version of capital punishment perpetuates a South¬ ern tradition of violence that is underscored by statistics on the death penalty’s less sophisticated ancestor: lynching. Between 1882 and 1930, 4,761 persons were lynched in the United States, 77% of them in the South (chart 2).

77 CHART 3

NUMBER OF PERONS LYNCHED IN SOUTHERN STATES 1882-1930

State Whites Blacks Total The chilling resemblance between the two forms of killing by popular demand continues in the racial characteristics of Ala. 46 296 342 the victims. Seventy percent of the victims of lynching Ark. 64 230 294 between 1882 and 1930 in this country were black; in the Fla. 25 241 266 South, four out of five victims were black (chart 3). When Ga. 34 474 508 the Supreme Court abolished then-existing capital punish¬ ment laws in Ky. 62 151 213 1972, Justices Marshall and Douglas noted that the death La. 60 328 388 penalty was disproportionately imposed on minor¬ ities and the poor. Despite the claims that the new, improved Miss. 45 500 545 death laws safeguarded against racist application, blacks N.C. 14 85 99 today make up 43% of the condemned prisoners in the S.C. 5 154 159 United States as compared to 12% of the total population. Tenn. 44 196 240 In the South, blacks compose 20% of the total population Texas 143 349 492 and 45% of the death row population (chart 4). Va. 16 88 104 We affirm the cheapness of black life not only in our W.Va. 15 35 50 greater willingness to execute black criminals, but in our harsher, bloodier punishment of crimes against white victims. In 12 Southern South 573 3,127 3,700 states, 87% of the victims of crimes for which the defendant was sentenced to death were white. U.S. 1,375 3,386 4,761 Only 1% of the prisoners on death row in these Southern states are whites convicted of crimes against blacks (chart 5). Courtroom experience bears out the conventional wisdom that defendants who can afford a privately retained, high- CHART 4 priced lawyer stand a much better chance of being acquitted, or at least receiving a lighter sentence. Yet in this mostcrucial NUMBER OF DEATH ROW INMATES, BY RACE battle of their lives, the overwhelming majority of con¬ demned prisoners are represented by appointed lawyers who State Total Black White Spanish Native Un¬ % Non- are often Surname Amer. known White inexperienced or by public defenders who are typically burdened by heavy case loads.

- - - Chart 6 shows the distribution between Ala. 36 20 16 55% appointed, re¬ tained and Ark. 10 4 4 1 - 1 60 public counsel for death row prisoners in the seven states where figures were available. These numbers Fla. 113 49 60 2 2 1 48 refer to the lawyers currently representing condemned Ga. 72 35 37 - - - 49 prisoners and do not take into account prisoners who may 1 - - - - Ky. 1 100 have retained private counsel only after losing their trials. La. 9 4 5 - - - 44 Lynch mobs were ostensibly illegal, but the actions of Miss. 12 10 2 - - - 83 juries are legally recognized as the will of the community. N.C. 4 1 1 - 2 - 75 By their deliberations and selection of the proper victims for

S.C. 6 3 2 - - 1 66 official murder, modern juries — especially Southern juries —

Tenn. 6 1 5 - - - 17 echo a familiar message: white skin and wealth are still the

- best Texas 74 27 32 10 5 57 tools for beating the death lottery.□

Va. 2 2 - - - - 100

W.Va. ------

South 345 157 163 13 4 8 53

US 395 169 195 13 5 13 51

78 The Great Invention

A MAN NAMED BENJAMIN TIED A KEY TO A KITE AND FLEW IT IN THE AIR tain THEN State CAME A MONSTER Prison, WHO TOOK THE GIFT Tennessee AND PUT IT IN A CHAIR

— H. B. Johnson Yanceyville Prison Yanceyville, NC

CHART 5(a) CHART 5(b) VICTIMS IN DEATH PENALTY CASES, BY RACE RACE OF DEFENDANT MATCHED TO RACE OF VICTIM FEBRUARY, 1978 State White White Black Black Unknown State White Black Other Unknown % White Defendant/ Def./ Def./ Def./ White Black White Black

Ala. 34 4 - 2 89% Victim Victim Victim Victim

Ark. 2 - - 8 100 Ala. 16 . 4 14 2 Fla. 119 15 3 4 87 Ark. 1 - - 3 8 Ga. 63 13 - - 83 Fla. 62 - 9 34 - Ky. 1 - - - 100 Ga. 39 2 8 27 - La. 11 2 - - 85 Ky. - - • - 1 - Miss. 9 - - 3 100 La. 4 - 1 3 - N.C. 4 - - 1 100 Miss. 1 - - 8 3 S.C. 4 - - - 100 N.C. 1 - - 1 2 Tenn. 4 2 - - 67 S.C. 2 - - 3 1 Texas not available Tenn. 4 1 1 - - Va. 2 - - - 100 Texas not available W.Va. - - - - - Va. 2

W.Va. - ■ - - - South 253 36 3 18 87

South 130 3 23 96 16

SOURCES

Most of the statistics used in this article were compiled by Alan McGregor of the Southern Death Penalty Information Center, to whom we extend our warmest thanks. Other sources are:

Georgia Committee Against the Death Penalty Louisiana Committee Against the Death Penalty NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Monroe Work, ed., The Negro Year Booh: An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1931-1932 (Tuskegee: Negro Year Book Publishing Co., 1931), p. 293 United States Bureau of the Census, Current Population Report: Population Estimates by Race for the States, July 1, 1973 and 1975; Series P. 23 No. 67, released Feb. 1978

Clare Jupiter is on the staff of the Institute for Southern Studies.

79 Johnny Harris The high price ofjustice

by Greg McDonald

johnny Harris walks into the window- encased visiting room of Holman prison, Alabama’s maximum security facility. He is a strong-looking man about six-one, 175 pounds and wears blue jeans, a dark blue polo shirt, light-weight jacket byphoto and tennis shoes. His hands are cuffed Brad but he is smiling. “He’s always smiling,” Fisher a guard standing nearby says. “If I was in his shoes nothing would ever crack

my face ... I’d be just like stone.” The 33-year-old black inmate greets his attorney with a hard handshake and stares into his eyes. They sit down to¬ gether on a church-like wooden bench and talk about how things are going. “My blanket got here just in time,” Harris says, referring to a blanket his lawyer’s wife sent him. “It was getting cold. Sometimes the guards on the night shift turn the heat off on segregation . .. the water too.” Harris cracks a laugh. “Just depends on how they feel. Guys in population don’t have that problem. “That judge couldn’t have considered all the evidence in my case,” Harris says about his last appeal. “He only took two weeks to make a decision.” Then he asks, looking down at the floor: “What we gonna do now?” Johnny Harris faces a death sentence for his involvement in the January 18, 1974, inmate rebellion at Alabama’s Fountain Correctional Center, in which a white prison guard was killed. His story is similar to that of hundreds of other inmates incarcerated in American prisons and facing the death penalty. Many share a common bond: because they are poor they cannot afford to buy quality legal representation, which is many times the only factor determining whether a defendant will live or die. They simply cannot afford the high price ofjustice. Harris began his life in the heart of the Black Belt region, near York, Ala¬ bama, a small rural community located about halfway up the state just a few 80 “For me it was a time of craziness and

frustration like you wouldn’t believe. But I ain’t bitter... I mean who am I supposed to be bitter against?”

miles from the Mississippi line. His Judge Frank M. Johnson of Montgom¬ ed them stated that they were subjected mother and father managed to squeeze ery to take control of Alabama’s prisons, to constant racial harassment and abuse. out an existence by taking on odd jobs describing them as “barbaric and inhu¬ It got to the point, she said, that the for the local white population, and, mane” and so overcrowded that they local Ku Klux Klan members would though poor, they managed to get along created a “jungle atmosphere.” hold meetings in the neighborhood well in the rural community. But John¬ “It was simple to accept it,” Harris Baptist Church to discuss ways of mak¬ ny’s life changed abruptly when his recalls of his first confinement in prison. ing them move. Some whites, she said, mother died and his father was killed on “I even went so far as to mean, I wasn’t going anywhere . . . try to persuade a construction job where he was work¬ and surviving is the best incentive for neighborhood kids to firebomb and ing. It was then that Harris moved to learning to live with it.” vandalize Harris’ home and property. Birmingham to stay with his aunt and Out of prison in 1969, he was again The woman herself was later the victim uncle. faced with poverty and this time the of vandalism and harassment from many Away from the secure and stable odds were slimmer than ever that he of her neighbors because of her efforts rural life that he had known, Harris had could make it on the “outside.” He now to make Harris and his family welcome trouble in making it in this highly compet¬ had a criminal record which would the neighborhood. itive, industrialized deep South city; it weigh heavily against his attempts to For months Harris and his family was the withstood the abuse and early 1960s when racial tension find work and begin a new life. But he harassment, was approaching its breakpoint. He was married a childhood friend, moved into believing that eventually the white in and out of school for a while and folks would come to her family’s home, and found a suc¬ accept them or at then to least overlook their finally dropped out search for cession of temporary jobs — as a janitor presence. Then on work before reaching the ninth grade. in a bus station, a laborer in a steel August 11, 1970, as Harris was riding to He found work with his wife’s nothing steady, and in 1962, fabrications plant, and a laborer for an parents, the police at the age of 16, he was arrested and industry producing target ammunition stopped the car and picked up Harris charged with two counts of Second for the military. For the first time, and his wife’s father. The Birmingham Degree Burglary — one for stealing Harris began to feel that things were police had a well-known sympathy for the shoes, the other for stealing a small turning around for him. It was a feeling Klan, so Harris had cause for concern. amount of He was con¬ The cash. tried and that was enhanced with the birth of questioning was all routine, the victed as an adult in Jefferson County his first child about a year after his policemen assured him, but Harris soon and sentenced to four years in prison release. learned otherwise. for two petty crimes that more affluent Though no warrants for their arrest teenagers would have probably gotten had been issued, they were taken to the off with no more than a caution from Jefferson County Jail, fingerprinted, and police and a slap on the hands from placed in a line-up. After the line-up, Harris learned that he had been identi¬ their parents. Harris would later be fied as a sentenced to an additional three years rapist by an eighteen-year-old an white woman. Unable to believe what for attempted escape. By the time he was released — seven years later, in he was hearing, Harris told the detective 1969 — he had served his full sentence. ^n March of 1970, Harris and his where he had been on the night of the Behind bars for the first time, Harris family decided to move from then- alleged rape, but his alibi was rejected was exposed to a system in which, crowded apartment to the Ensley area and he was repeatedly pressured to sign according to court reports, there was no of Birmingham, giving little thought to a statement admitting to the rape. When effort on the part of the state to separate the fact that the neighborhood they had he refused, Harris was thrown in jail. violent from non-violent prisoners, chosen to settle in was predominately His present attorneys say that the youthful and impressionable offenders white. White residents, however, were woman’s original description of her from older, habitual criminals — where outraged to have blacks moving into attacker came nowhere close to resem¬ the young were often raped and then their community; fearing that to allow bling Harris. The following day he was sold as prostitutes to the highest bidder. one black family to stay would lead to charged with four counts of robbery These were the same conditions that an influx of others, many of the whites involving money in the amount of $11, eventually led to the 1974 rebellion at launched a concerted effort to drive $67, $90 and $205, stolen from a service Fountain Corrections Center, and that Harris and his family out. station and a drive-in theater. in 1976 would prompt Federal District One white woman who had befriend¬ Harris sat in jail for eight months

81 of to between August 12, 1970, when he was proper representation to worry about Corrections be militant radicals actually charged with the crimes, and and I didn’t have it,” he said. determined to undermine the prison April 6, 1971, when he was sentenced Harris was sentenced that same day officials’ authoritative hold over inmates. to five life terms. During this period to five life terms. The four robberies But Harris wasn’t considered to be one the court appointed three attorneys to were not dropped. Apparently, five of the radicals. As one guard said: defend him. The first one waived “papers” he signed for his “deal” were “Harris was mostly quiet. He was one of admissions of Harris’ right to a preliminary hearing; guilt for each crime. He them, but he didn’t cause no trouble.” remembers none of the three lawyers ever filed a signing only one paper. And despite pressure from IFA mem¬ bond motion on his behalf, nor did they bers to take stronger stands and become do much to ensure that Harris had an more outspoken against the system, adequate defense when he went to trial. Harris’ involvement with the IFA re¬ One attorney did interview alibi wit¬ mained relatively low-key. nesses, finding several who were willing The conditions alone at Fountain to swear that Harris was somewhere else were bad enough to strain the patience at the time the rape occurred; but none of most inmates, but when prison offi¬ of those were ever witnesses subpoenaed U cials stepped up their efforts to break to appear in court. One attorney even JL JLarris lost everything in his life when up the IFA, the increased pressure and showed his apparent lack of concern he was sentenced in Birmingham that harassment finally reached breakpoint for Harris by having himself subpoenaed day and denied the right to prove his on the afternoon of January 18, 1974. to appear in court for the trial. He did innocence because of ineffective repre¬ IFA members in segregation units 1 it, he said, to make sure he would sentation by his attorneys. His family, and 2 at Fountain received word that remember to be there. under the pressure of continued harass¬ another IFA member at Holman, locat¬ So on April 6, 1971, Johnny Harris ment and worried that what happened ed just two miles from Fountain, had appeared in court to face the death to him might also happen to another been beaten and possibly killed by member of the penalty with virtually no defense at all. family, finally moved prison guards there. According to from the white accounts of the Each of Harris’ charges carried the max¬ neighborhood a few witnesses, Harris was imum penalty of death; the district months after Harris was arrested. But one of two inmates ordered by IFA attorney offered to reduce these to life worst of all, he lost contact with his leader George Dobbins to take two imprisonment if Harris would plead wife and baby in December, 1970. He guards hostage. Harris and another has not heard from them since nor does guilty. Just before the jury was brought inmate, Oscar Johnson, were “cell in and the trial was to begin, he recalls he know what became of them. It is a flunkies,” or cellblock trustees, who one of his attorneys “told me he didn’t subject he does not like to talk about had access to the control lobby at the see how he was going to win the case and he gives little response when asked front of the segregation cellblock where when the court was going to take the why. two guards were stationed. When Harris white woman’s word over mine because He recalls that period of his life: and Johnson returned food trays to the I was black, and he didn’t have no inten¬ “For me it was a time of craziness and lobby that afternoon, they jumped the tion of bucking the system. The he ad¬ frustration like you wouldn’t believe. two guards and took them hostage. me to was vised go ahead and take theD.A.’s But I ain’t bitter ... I mean who am I After Dobbins released from his cell offer because if I didn’t I would other¬ supposed to be bitter against?” he made several demands of prison wise get the chair.” Harris entered prison for the second officials, but none were ever met. Then Harris’ “deal” was that if he would later that time with little hope of ever getting out. afternoon, Fountain’s warden, plead guilty to the rape charge, then the But he was wiser this time around and Marion Harding, led his riot squad into four robbery charges would be dropped. with nothing left to lose, he began the cellblock. What followed was a short He refused and told his attorneys that working with other inmates for improved but bloody confrontation which left he wanted to take the stand and one of the give his conditions in Alabama’s prisons — hostages, Luell W. Barrow, testimony. especially the two Atmore facilities, dead from stab wounds and a number of The court proceeding went on, but Holman maximum security prison and other guards and inmates suffering from following qualification of the jury Harris Fountain Correctional Center, where he injuries. Dobbins was also injured, had a talk with his other attorney, who was serving his time. reportedly from a gunshot wound, and also tried to persuade him to take the He adopted the name Imani and he was found kneeling over the body of deal. Harris said was he told then for the joined a prison activist organization Barrow with a knife in his hand. Later first time that no alibi witnesses had consisting of both black and white Dobbins died, but according to an au¬ been members who were determined to see subpoenaed, and the attorney told topsy report, not from a gunshot wound, that the him bluntly that he wasn’t prepared to people of Alabama and the but stab wounds to the head and face — go to trial. lawmakers became aware of the deteri¬ wounds Dobbins received either imme¬ Though adamant about his innocence, orating conditions in the state’s prisons. diately following the riot or while en Harris realized then that he had little The organization was called Inmates for route to a Mobile, Alabama, hospital. choice: it was either the death penalty Action and, among other things, taught Although the Alabama Attorney Gen¬ or one life term for the rape. “I changed basic education to inmates who could eral’s office has investigated Dobbins’ the plea on the rape case in order to get neither read nor write. death to some degree, no attempt has the other four dismissed and to get Many IFA members were outspoken been made to prosecute anyone in around the death and considered connection with it. penalty ... I had by the Alabama Board 82 Despite the lack of substantial evidence, Harris was convicted by an all-white, all-male, all-over-40-years-old jury and sentenced to die in the electric chair.

Harris was indicted on April 2, 1974, trial for his life and charged with first and order to woo voters in his bid to along with four other inmates, for Bar¬ degree murder, incredibly the state replace George Wallace. row’s murder, despite the fact that he never contended that he killed Barrow. Harris’ new attorneys, Clint Brown was never implicated in the murder In a pretrial hearing, Assistant Attorney and Diana Hicks of Mobile and William during the state’s first investigation. General George Van Tassell told the Allison of Louisville, Kentucky, are now The Attorney General’s office discov¬ court: “It is not our position that the challenging his 1971 sentences on the ered that Harris was was serving life, and defendant actually holding the grounds of ineffective representation as knife or as Attorney General Bill Baxley made anything else. We don’t con¬ well continuing to fight for a new the decision to prosecute him personally tend that this defendant stabbed the trial over his 1975 conviction and death under the only death penalty statute guard.” What the state did contend was sentence. on the books in Alabama at the time: that Johnny Harris could still be con¬ In the meantime, Harris spends his an 1862 statute, Title 14, Section 319, victed under Section 319 as an accessory time in a small cell on Death Row at to murder which calls for the death of any inmate because he took part in the Holman Prison. What he thinks of now convicted of first degree murder while rebellion. At the same time, the state is not what happened to him in Bir¬ chose not to serving a life sentence. prosecute a number of mingham or what it’s like to face death other inmates who were also in the He watched the year between the involved in electric chair, but what he must the rebellion. time he was indicted and finally went to confront everyday in a system which erodes a trial go by in a flurry of motions and Despite the lack of substantial evi¬ man’s dignity and self-worth. dence Somehow he to a hearings that, at one point, saw him linking Harris to Barrow’s murder, continues exude quiet subjected to the worst kind of racial on February 28, after a four-day trial calm and inner control from which discrimination: he was called a “nigger” which took place under heavy security, springs an optimism and hope that leaves in a courtroom hearing by the presiding Harris was convicted by an all-white, all¬ those who know him, or who come in contact with judge, who later claimed he said “nigra” male, all-over-40-years-old jury and sen¬ him, wondering how he and not “nigger.” The judge followed tenced to die in the electric chair by does it. his statement with another blunder, presiding Judge Leigh Clark of Birming¬ Recently, the story of Johnny Harris declaring that despite what he said it ham. has become a celebrated case — at least should not be taken seriously because in the Soviet Union. Few people outside he was only joking when he said it. Not Alabama had ever heard of Harris until long after the incident occurred, the the Soviets, in retaliation for President Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals Carter’s attacks on their own human ordered the judge to recuse himself rights violations, began promoting Har¬ from the case. ris as a political prisoner of the United When Harris went to trial on February States and a victim of a racist and in¬ 24, 1975, in the Baldwin County Court equitable judicial system. Since the House of Bay Minette, Alabama, one VJLollowing his conviction, Harris be¬ Soviet Union’s “Free Johnny Harris” reporter stated that the trial would be came more outspoken about the type of campaign started in early 1978, the nothing more than a rehearsal for Attor¬ criminal justice system which he felt had American press has begun reporting on ney General Baxley’s campaign to re¬ unfairly and discriminatingly brought his case. But too often the accounts establish the death penalty in Alabama. him to trial to face the death penalty have accepted as fact the portrayal of Baxley knew that a conviction, even for the second time in his life. He called Johnny Harris as a rapist, robber and under the rarely used Section 319, it “a system that robs poor people of murderer. □ would prove to be instrumental in the their very existence by leaving them passage of a new Alabama death penalty little room to fight for their freedom.” law which he had written. Baxley’s law He took to calling himself “Baxley’s Greg McDonald is a free-lance was passed in 1975 and by mid-1978 political scapegoat,” saying that the at¬ journalist who has been following the had resulted in the addition of 36 more torney general’s personal prosecution of Harris case for the past three years. He inmates to Death Row. his case was being used by Baxley as a was a member of the team which Baxley and the State of Alabama catalyst to further his political career. worked on the federal court-ordered failed to provide enough evidence dur¬ And indeed Baxley used the Harris Alabama Prison Classification Project of ing the trial to prove Harris was involved case and his death penalty law as 1976, and has written numerous articles in Barrow’s stabbing. Though he was on examples of his tough stand on law on the state’s prisons.

83 What ifit was my boy? Virginia Foster interviewed by Candy Culin

body murders a person, then I can’t see taking that person’s life. I would call it revenge, and to me that’s just two murders, two guilty people, and two wrongs altogether. I just can’t see taking another person’s life because he took one. Not that murder is not wrong, but I’ve always felt that taking another life is the wrong thing to do even in punishment. That’s not punishment. In my opinion, that is not punishment because if you take their life, they know you’re gonna take it. This may sound silly to most people, but to me it means a whole lot. If they’re a believer in God, then all they have to do is just ask their Maker to forgive ’em for what they’ve done. And they know that they’re gonna be forgiven, and every¬ thing’s gonna be okay. But if they’re sent to prison

for a reasonable amount of time — and that’s what I think should be done because they should pay for any kind of crime they do — then they have a lot of time, and especially the long nights, to lay and worry about what they’ve done and see what they’ve done. And if they’re human at all, then that has to hurt ’em. To me that’s My name is Virginia Foster. I’m a widow and a punishment. It’s punishment for mother of five. I live in the 4th and Gill neighbor¬ people to hurt within their self for things that hood. It’s a community of poor and working class they’ve done. I don’t know if people, and it is very special to me because the you know or not, but I have a son that was killed. people here work together to make our community Just murdered outright by a a better place to live and a better place for our man. He was found guilty of first degree murder. children. But I just can’t see taking his life. If they had asked All my life I’ve known, and my mother’s always for the electric chair for him, I’d have had to ask taught me, that killing in general is wrong. Not only them not to do this, but to give him a reasonable amount time in that, but we have always been strong believers in of prison. As much as I hate him — God and the Bible and what it says. We think that I stood there looking at him, and I really did; I the Bible didn’t have says killing is wrong. But other than that, any good feelings for him — I just after I growed up and became old enough to know, couldn’t bear the thought of knowing one day he it’s common sense to know, I mean to know in your was gonna be murdered or put in the electric chair. heart, that it’s wrong. What I’m saying is, if some¬ It would really bother me. It would bother me a 84 whole lot because I just can’t see taking anybody’s life, in any way. Of course, people have to fight in wars, but I just can’t stand to see people suffer¬ Reach Out, Over and Behind ing. It’s just bad, and I don’t believe in it. I would like to see the death penalty abolished altogether. I hope most people feel this way. I always felt, what if that was my boy, or my girl, or Without rain, sunshine and care, flowers somebody real close to me that was being put in And other plants could never grow, And without that chair? I think people would think twice if love, care and understanding — A human dies so painfully slow . . . it was happening to them. They would have a differ¬ Reach out, over and behind ent opinion about the death penalty. The prison walls and take a A boy in our neighborhood was given the death Hand — “of some lost sister penalty. He was sentenced to die in the electric Or some lonely brother Man.” chair for the murder of a young girl. He lives direct¬ ly behind us, and we’re not real good friends, but — Henry I. Powell I did see enough of him to know that even though aka Isaac Strawberry Jones they had him for murder, there was a lot of good Florida State Prison in him. He was always nice to people; he had a wife Raiford, Fla. and children. To us in the neighborhood, he was a real good person. And if in fact he did kill this girl, and I’m not too sure, I just believe he had to be really doped up. And then, too, I think that when people kill, the biggest majority of them, it’s not something they really mean to do or plan. I’ve always felt that there has to be something Absence wrong right at that minute. Everything completely leaves them. I don’t believe that 90 percent of them knows at the time what they’re doing. I was glad Like so and she there. when they commuted his sentence to life in prison. Work pulls the chest like old gin. I believe that 90 percent of the people in this No rest from the 8-track quad neighborhood wouldn’t believe in the death penalty. packed between two wisps ofstrawberry incense, They’re humans, and they know what it is to be only expensive ash remains. treated bad. This is their feeling, just because When he they’ve been harassed and roughed up. They’d be sits, nose a chipped duplex, against the death penalty — they wouldn’t be for her face outdistances his breath. He remembers and it — because they understand. I know this. hates Raines Road. At the rear, I’ve felt for many a year that there’s been people beneath the steps, sent to the electric chair or the gas chamber that was a dirty rug and shoelace harden. really innocent of the crime they’ve been accused of And her vacancy still drips like a Harlem faucet, doing. And another thing — and this is not some¬ thing I’ve knowed all my life, it’s something I’ve While in his ghetto cell a voice breaks learned from reading the papers and being involved the howl ofJames Brown, in jail stuff — but most of the people sentenced to a voice that announces Open House die are poor people or black people. They don’t and Bring-Your-Own-Plates. A voice he have no money on ’em.Q vaguely recalls as his, projected from, the empty bottle in his hands.

Virginia Foster has taken part in numerous com¬ munity projects including “Citizens for Better Jails,” — Calvin Murry which she helped to found. She now supervises Fort Pillow Farm VISTA volunteers assigned to her neighborhood. Fort Pillow, Tenn. Candy A. Culin, a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee Law School, now resides in New York.

85 Looking Ahead

If we were to “tear down the prisons,” what would we do with criminals? There are alternatives to locking people away that, in the long run, may prove less costly and almost certainly be more effective in reducing crime. We suggest some of them in this final section. All require a greater willingness by the community to deal with its problems and offenders locally, for it is in the community that the convict must learn to live after his sentence is done. We do not wish to overlook the fact that there are also countless ways that individuals, upon their own initiative, can breathe life into the deadening institutions now in exist¬ ence; in the interview with Joseph Ingle, we find emphasized a long list of “things people can do.” According to Murray Henderson, Commis¬ sioner of Corrections in Tennessee (where all of the existing penal facilities were declared unconstitutional by a state court in the summer of 1978): “We develop alternatives to imprisonment for middle-class people. Prisons are essentially for low-income groups. The middle-class people manipulate the environment. They send a troublesome family member to live with an aunt in Connecticut, or he’s referred to a mental health clinic: he has emotional problems if he does something. But when a poor kid does something, maybe he’s just a thief. So I’m all for alternatives to prison, properly supervised and extended to everybody.”

86 photo by Jackson Hill 87 by Bill Finger

byDougphoto Interview Magee with Joe Ingle

What You

Can Do Joe Ingle

Joe Ingle directs the Southern Coalition on Jails and Prisons, a federation of prison reform organizations in 11 Chances Are You’ll Be Angry Southern states. A North Carolina native, Ingle confronted the problems of the criminal justice system while attending An individual step is crucial. It is something anyone can Union Theological Seminary in New York and serving his do and it is a direct challenge to the system as it is. You field work at the Bronx House ofDetention. The experience decide to walk behind the walls, to break down.the isolation of visiting prisoners challenged many of his assumptions between the prisoner and the rest of the community; you about who’s guilty and dangerous in our society, and he make a visit, to see someone, to become their friend, to see found himself going back to the Bible. “I began rethinking what someone has to put up with inside. Once you do that, the Gospel,” he recalls, “like the message of Luke 4:18 chances are you’ll be angry and you’ll want to do something where Jesus talks about freeing the captives. The more I read, more. the more it seemed that a mandate on prisons was clear. ” Visitation, of course, is not always peaches and cream. By 1972, following Attica and a burst of media attention When we set up a project, we try to get a group, maybe six on conditions in the prisons, a number of Christian organiza¬ people, to visit six different prisoners, and we match them tions were sponsoring prison reform programs. In Nashville, up. Orientation sessions are important — I remember how the Committee of Southern Churchmen headed by Will scared I was the first time that door shut behind me. All the Campbell, focused an issue of its magazine, Katallagette, on fears from being socialized a certain way rushed through my prisons and set up the Southern Prisons Ministries. Tony whole being. “Oh, my God,” I was thinking, “what’s going Dunbar began directing that group in 1972 and Ingle joined to happen with ‘these people!’” Meanwhile, this guy looked the staff in January, 1974. Together with Michael Raff of the up from his bunk in the first cell and said, “What are YOU Mississippi Council on Human Relations and Andy Lipscomb doing here?” So I told him, and we sat down and talked. of the Georgia CHR, they launched the Southern Coalition Our philosophy is that ordinary citizens make the best on Jails and Prisons in 1974. Joe became director in 1977. visitors, not prison professionals. You visit somebody, sup¬ “Alternatives to incarceration and abolition of the death port them, and try to build a friendship. That means you run penalty are what holds us together,” explains Ingle. “We into difficulty sometimes. People try to get money out of work with anyone who shares these concerns. The Coalition you, stuff like that. But we stress from the beginning to be is a secular organization; it just happens to have a director up front, direct. That you’re just a friend. That circumvents who’s a Christian. We need the help of everybody, but per¬ a lot of problems that crop up otherwise. We have about sonally, the only thing I have confidence in is the grace of three orientation sessions so that people will know exactly what to God. We’re in the process of murdering people. Murder — expect, what the prison rules are, answering any another word for execution. When we realize this, maybe questions before visits begin. we’ll try to stop it.” There are so many ways that individuals have made a Joe Ingle and many others in the Southern Coalition have difference. About a year ago, a group of women who had committed their lives to stopping state-sanctioned murder husbands in prison came to us. They wanted to set up some¬ and to finding alternatives to the caging of humans. They thing called the Prison Widows Project. We helped them get have a lot to say about what we can do to help, individually it off the ground through a local Methodist church near and collectively. Bill Finger is a writer in Raleigh, NC. the prison. The church became very active, getting space 88 “Incarceration should be a last

resort, not a first response. And prisoners know that better than anybody.” for the Prison Widows to operate out of, allowing people population. Florida has 17-18,000; Georgia, 14-15,000; visiting their families to stay there when they needed a place North Carolina, around 15,000. Tennessee has 5,000; Ala¬ to get out of the heat and get some refreshments on Saturday bama, 6,000; Misissippi has 3,000. North Carolina has 79 afternoon. prisons, every one full. Mississippi has one. The common Harmon Wray and David Rainey are two people who got denominator is that prisoners are poor; they are predominantly involved in the fight against the death penalty. Harmon is a black, but white or black, they are all poor. Incarceration Methodist layman in Nashville and David is a worker-priest, should be a last resort, not a first response. And prisoners which means he has a full-time carpenter job and participates know that better than anybody. as a minister in Edgehill Methodist Church, a small local congregation. In the spring of 1973, the North Carolina Prisoners After talking with us, they began a series of mailings to Union got off the ground, an organization of individual every pastor in the Middle Tennessee Conference of the prisoners joining together to get more freedom in dealing United Methodist Church. The packet included a letter with with the prison authorities. They voiced individual grievances, information about the death penalty and a return coupon, like inadequate recreation and limited access to law libraries, where the and pastor could indicate if he wanted more informa¬ they sought concrete goals — having meetings on the tion, literature, a visiting speaker, or whatever. After the inside, electing governing bodies, meeting with corrections mailing came back, Harmon and David set up speaking en¬ officials, circulating a newsletter. gagements throughout middle Tennessee where they talk Wayne Brooks and other key people were signing up in the afternoons or evenings, sometimes adults, sometimes hundreds throughout the state system. The prisoners just youth groups. organized themselves. But it took outside supporters to lend Harmon and David are good examples of how ordinary it legitimacy. Rev. W. W. Finlator, a prominent Baptist citizens can get involved — in this case, how Christians in pastor in Raleigh, began corresponding and visiting the their individual churches can contact folks in a presbytery leaders inside, and speaking publicly about his experiences. conference, or bring the whole death penalty issue to the Wilbur Hobby, the state AFL-CIO president, sought support fore and make people deal with it. in the legislature. ACLU attorneys got involved, attorneys Deborah Mailman and Norman Smith providing legal counsel “If You Want to Murder Us, You Murder Us” and an outside civil liberty base for dealing with state of¬ ficials and the public. Staff from the California Prisoners Once you have just a few people interested, you can Union came to North Carolina offering support and helped create a structure to work with prisoners on the outside or establish a full-time person in Raleigh, Chuck Eppinette, who participate in one that’s already going. At that level, it’s coordinated the outside activities. [Editor’s note: The very exciting — there are so many things to do. Supreme Court has since decided that prisoners do not have Prison reform movements, by necessity, have to be rooted the right to associate freely without the permission of their in what prisoners want done. We always try to build that department of corrections.] presupposition into our work. After Attica, and after riots In Tennessee, we had a similar experience. We found ^in the South, like Central Prison in Raleigh where six people we were working with a lot of guys who had a long time in were killed in 1968, the importance of organizing outside prison, people over twenty years. But ironically, there were support groups became very clear to prisoners. We have no programs for them. They were just expected to sit there focused in on the state prisons because the federal system is and rot. There were other organizations at the Tennessee controlled by the federal government and there’s very little State Prison for Men, like the Jaycees and Seventh Step, we can but no one was do about it; but we can have a great deal of impact working with the long-timers — what one on the state prisons. We live in the community, can go see chaplain called psychosociopaths, a euphemism for people the commissioner and get inside the prisons; we can push the the prison administration can’t control, or are afraid of. The bureaucracies and get things done. irony is though, that usually the people with a lot of time The Southern states that have the most serious problems are the best prisoners.. We thought we might be able to work are not Mississippi and Alabama, but your more “progressive” with them. states — Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. More people We talked with the prisoners and asked, “What would are in prison in these states. And in Georgia and Florida, you like to see happen?” They said, “We’d like to set some¬ large numbers are on death row. Moreover, the corrections thing up just for people who have a lot of time.” So I made bureaucracies are intent on expansion, and to an alarming contact with people on the outside, local ministers, busi¬ degree, they’ve succeeded. Florida, Georgia and North Caro¬ nessmen, and others, a vice-president of a prominent food lina are usually three of the top states in the country in terms distribution company, a lot of Catholics. Most of them had of incarceration rates, locking up more people per capita. been touched somewhere before, in Seventh Step maybe, but And the US leads the western world in per capita prison not all of them. We started meeting with the Department of 89 March, Witness Against Execution, Atlanta, 1977.

photo by were Doug but there plenty on the other side. We were talking Magee a screen. up through The prisoners just backed against Operations, and the warden was trying to get them to go back into the cells. The mood was tense but could’ve been dealt with. Then the warden fired his rifle into the air. When the shot went off, the prisoners called his bluff. They just said,

“Okay, motherfucker, go ahead and gun us down .... If you want to murder us, you murder us. We’re not going back to those cells if you’re going to start shooting guns.” He just lost control of the situation. He pulled off his riot squad, which left the yard in the hands of the prisoners. Then I heard some shots go off from the tower. The prisoners were asking me to come out. Here were my friends, men who I knew through the Lifers Club, asking me to go into the yard. What was I going to say? “No, I’m going to stay in Operations where it’s safe.” I figured I’d be better off in the yard because they’re less likely to shoot into a crowd of prisoners if someone from the free world is there. So I went out. For the next few hours, I was out there with the prisoners. I felt relatively safe because I was with two or three prisoners all the time. I never felt any danger from the prisoners, but I wasn’t sure what the guards were going to do. We went into the blocks with a bullhorn, trying to keep folks relatively calm. They articulated their grievances to me. Corrections people. I made the initial decision not to call We agreed on a committee who would meet with the admini¬ our organization a prisoners union, but the Lifers Club. stration, which is what we did starting around 9 or 9:30 that This turned out to be crucial. We needed an aura of respecta¬ night. Most of the men exercising a stabilizing influence in the bility, and you know the history of unions in the South. yard and participating in the negotiations sessions were So we began talking about it in September, 1974, and got leaders in the Lifers Club. the thing approved, through three sets of commissioners, by The tension had just built up all summer. It was like some¬ June, 1975. one popped a balloon, a big release of hot air. It had started We started out with weekly meetings, and our outside in the cafeteria. Back then, they fed the guys by unit, unit support group would come inside every week. You couldn’t 2, 3, 4, etc. Unit 2 had been feeding last. On September 11, be in the Lifers Club unless you had at least a 20-year sen¬ they ran out of meat for them, pork chops. One of the guys tence. About one-third of the system statewide is lifers, said, “Look, I’ve had enough. This is like the fifth time in probably 500 or more at the Tennessee State Prison for Men, two weeks. This isn’t fair. I want my pork chop.” “We don’t have where we started. We went out of our way to involve your any pork chops. We’ll bring you some bologna hard-core convicts, people who would not kowtow to the or something.” “Hell, I don’t want any bologna. I want my administration, because the organization had to have respect pork chop.” A guard came over. Blows were exchanged, and in the eyes of the other prisoners. About 60 lifers came to all hell broke loose. Somebody threw a punch first, it’s not the first meeting. clear who. We got organized just in time. A lot of hot air had been let off. It was like the Day of On September 11, 1975, the associate warden called me Jubilee. We were up ’til about 5:30 in the morning in negoti¬ up and said I better get out there. About 50 prisoners were ations, very tense, but we finally agreed on everything. While outside of Operations, the center of the prison where all the this was going on, I found out later, Nashville’s Metro police decisions are made. They hadn’t taken over the prison, but came in and just started beating the hell out of prisoners, they were not cooperating and it was a tricky and volatile shooting, just completely out of hand, supposedly to situation. The warden called me up because I was one of the “restore order.” What we had really was a police riot, not a outside people that the prisoners would trust. I got there prison riot. about 5:30 p.m. and went inside Operations. Two days later, on Saturday, I came back out, saw what The warden had a riot squad in full gear; he was holding had happened to some of the guys. Broken arms, black and a .30-.30 rifle about 20 feet from me. The prisoners were blue, blood all over the place, bullet holes in the wall. Some yelling at me, asking for help. They didn’t have any weapons, were seriously wounded, none were killed. Our lawyers are

90 “It’s just muddying the waters to think that there is a humane way to kill a human being.” still representing 10 of them. After many delays, it’s coming 700 folks showed up. The black community really came to trial this September. together and stood up and was counted. They started pack¬ Lifers Clubs have spread to the Women’s Prison and Fort ing the courtroom every day. The publicity spread. The boys’ Pillow in Memphis, and we’ll soon have one at Brushy Moun¬ confession had been obtained at gunpoint, and this fact was tain. An outside group of citizens go out there every week made public. PBS came down and did a documentary. It and meet was a with the guys, and we have outside meetings. herculean effort, but eventually the state gave up and We try to let the thing run itself. Our staff person’s only the Dawson Five were freed. The community and the pub¬ made a few trips to Memphis. That club’s completely held licity beat them. The state was looking real bad. together by volunteers. We’re trying to bring all the resources we can to stop the The Lifers Club has sponsored several conferences inside death penalty at the trial level. We’re in the process of setting Women’s Prison. About 100 people from the outside have up what we call capital defense teams, groups of lawyers, come — church women, League of Women Voters, students, around the South. In Kentucky, we held a conference to legislators (we made a special effort to get them there), organize a nucleus of lawyers as backup support for attor¬ women and men, a real cross section. We had a top notch neys assigned death penalty cases. Most lawyers have never panel of local people. For many, it was their first experience done a death penalty case before, so they’re really at a loss with prisons. They were shocked to see that the women to know what to do. A capital defense team provides more aren’t any different from anybody else. experience and support than a defense lawyer would usually have. Since Kentucky, we’ve had similar conferences in Fighting the Death Penalty Memphis, where we got lawyers from Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, and in Florida with Millard Farmer and Tony Unlike the lifers, it’s almost impossible for people on Amsterdam and other top-notch death penalty defense death row to organize in any way. They’re in a maximum lawyers. security situation, cut off from everything. But sometimes We’re also working through the political system. This past they can help. Earl Charles faced the death penalty for four winter, two Tennessee legislators introduced a lethal injec¬ years in Georgia, but finally his innocence was established tion bill. We completely opposed it because we’re opposed to and he got out. Now he plays a leading role with the Georgia any capital punishment. It’s just muddying the waters Committee Against the Death Penalty. This past July, during to think that there is a humane way to kill human beings. We the racial violence and trouble at the state prison in Reids- contacted several doctors, foremost was Dr. Robert Metcalf, ville, several Georgia groups working on prison reform a respected Nashville physician in his sixties who works at sponsored a Human Rights for Prisoners rally in Atlanta. Vanderbilt. We had a press conference protesting the bill Earl Charles and his mother were featured speakers, and at a black church in town, where Dr. Metcalf gave a speech. their we a story got out through the media coverage of the event. Then sent letter to every senator in the state — the bill That’s one way people come to understand that there are had already blitzed through the House — in which Dr. Met¬ innocent folks on death row who might be murdered, to hear calf explained why he was opposed to lethal injection as a the truth directly from one of the victims. It personalizes the doctor. He talked very movingly about the Hippocratic whole controversy and dramatizes the need for alternatives oath and what that meant. It had a real impact, was crucial to the present system. in defeating the bill. Bringing the medical profession into the Another way to fight the death penalty is organizing fight can be crucial. at the trial level. About 150 miles south of Atlanta, a stone’s The fight against the death penalty is especially crucial in throw from Plains, Georgia, is a little town called Dawson. Florida, where there are 110 people on death row, more Right in the black belt, in a county called “Terrible Terrell,” than anywhere in the country. That’s where the next execu¬ a place where the civil rights movement couldn’t make any tion will probably occur. We work there through the Florida headway — just terrible conditions and repression of any Clearinghouse, trying to provide a visitor to every person assertion from the black wants one. community. who Going into that prison — that’s what makes In 1977, five kids were charged with a murder they didn’t this thing more than an issue or cause. These people become commit. They were going to the chair. Then Millard Farmer, friends, people we’re talking about murdering. There are Scharlette Holman, Derek Alphran and volunteers from constant fund-raising events, keeping people involved, speak¬ Atlanta got involved. Millard was an attorney with the ers going to civic clubs and schools and churches to talk Southern Poverty Law Center’s Team Defense Group, about the death penalty. Scharlette was on our staff, and Derek was with the We’re up against a formidable opponent there — Robert Georgia ACLU. They’d pack their bags and go down for Shevin, the Florida Attorney General. Shevin is articulate, days, sometimes weeks. They’d live over at Koinonia and go smart, a supporter of the ERA and other liberal causes. He’s over to Dawson which was nearby. Next thing I knew, they’d also running for governor. We have the irony of feminist put on a big barbecue and rally for the Dawson Five; 600- groups embracing Robert Shevin — who will certainly kill 91 “If someone steals your stereo, what you want is your stereo back. You want restitution, not revenge.”

100 Prison people if he’s elected governor — because he’s for the Project out of Washington, some of whom were ERA. Last April, I saw Shevin in action. John Spenkelink, involved in the Alabama suit, helped us. Judge Johnson who may be the first person executed since Gary Gilmore, ruled that prisoners in Alabama were denied their constitu¬ had his appeal argued before the Fifth Circuit Court of tional rights, that they were confined under conditions that Appeals. Tony Amsterdam, the most renowned lawyer in amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. He set up his the country against the death penalty, represented Spenke¬ own oversight commission which resulted in a lot of changes. link. Shevin represented the State of Florida. Shevin was One major result was a total reclassification procedure good, but the thing that carried through was his personal where something like 80 percent of the prisoners got re¬ belief that John Spenkelink must be killed. His fervor was classified to a lower security status, going down from maxi¬ frightening. He presented John as an animal, subhuman. mum to medium to minimum. That means more on work John Spenkelink wants to live and he’s fighting for his release, educational release, and outside the prisons, which life. It causes me a lot of personal grief and anguish to face is where they should be. Often a person ends up in maximum the fact that a friend of mine, someone I’ve met and corre¬ because of politics, because a warden or guard doesn’t like sponded with for a couple years, someone I happen to care him, not because he’s a threat to anybody. Besides a great deal about, will probably be executed. Strapped in giving relief to prisoners, we view lawsuits as an and murdered. Does it require that kind of ultimate sacri¬ organizing vehicle, ah important education process for real fice for folks to wake up to what is going on? Will they prison reform. First, the media is immediately interested in wake up, or will there be a bloodbath after the first execu¬ lawsuits, and hence we reach the public. Then, we often run into tion? Seventy to 75 percent of the Florida people are for the unexpected allies. In Alabama, for example, we found death penalty. We’re organizing in all the major cities in ourselves working with what some folks call reactionaries, in communities where Florida to try to slow the flood that’s going to come there in they want to put new prisons. Nobody wants new terms of human beings killed. But it’s an uphill fight. prisons in their communities. We don’t want new prisons because we got enough. So it’s an interesting alliance. Prisons Have a Way of Filling We’re trying to educate the Alabama public about the enormous financial waste, the taxpayer dollars in initial con¬ struction and We need to get away from incarceration. We use it as a $10,000 a year for one prisoner — more than a first response. But it wasn’t always that way. We have to de¬ year at Harvard. velop alternatives and be careful in the process, to be sure we And the human waste. We’re destroying prisoners, 70-75 don’t end up with more penitentiaries. Penitentiaries started as percent go back to prison. Our penitentiary system is a fail¬ a reform, as an experiment. We invented them, Ben Franklin ure. We have got to keep saying over and over again that and the Quakers, and they soon spread throughout the there are alternatives to prison. Groups or individuals need to Western world. They looked to the Middle Ages, put some¬ say it as they are in Alabama through letters to the editor, one in a solitary cell and let them serve penitence, like the talk shows, demanding studies of the alternatives. The monks, a pure, ritual life. But instead of an experiment, we Scandinavian countries are very advanced in this notion. have a way of life, a custom. Take Holland — a very interesting example. A lot of the In the South, departments of corrections are becoming people running the government in Holland now were in more “professional,” which is not necessarily good. Southern prison camps. They know what it’s like to be in prison. And corrections administrators bill themselves as humane, want¬ they use prison as a last resort. They use everything from ing good conditions. This usually translates into new facilities, educational and work programs to restitution. Minnesota is an expanded system, and more people in it. a prime example of what we should be doing here. Under One of the Southern Coalition’s main goals is a morator¬ their system, you keep a person in the community and work ium on prison and jail construction. It’s hard to sell this to with them, reintegrating them into the community. On a some of our liberal friends because they think it’s progressive purely pragmatic level, they’re saving lots of money. to build prisons — get the convicts out of an old prison and But we don’t know much about alternatives in this into a new one. That’s not progressive. In 10 years, we’ll country, and our Departments of Corrections certainly don’t be stuck right where we were before. Only, the new prisons want us to think about alternatives because that takes away are bigger, hold more people, and the bureaucracy and from their business. Most prisoners — 80 percent in Tennes¬ budget get bigger. More people’s lives are controlled by see — are what we call a property crime prisoner. They’ve a department of corrections. Prisons have a way of always stolen property. States are very vindictive about a property filling to capacity and overfilling. crime. In Louisiana, for example, there is an Habitual Criminal We’ve recently filed a suit in Tennessee, Trigg v. Blanton, Act, which means if you commit a third felony you are which is a constitutional lawsuit against the state prison eligible to be locked up for life. Now a murder is a felony but system, modeled on the Alabama lawsuit that Federal so is stealing a car. If a person is faced with three counts of Judge Frank Johnson ruled on. Lawyers from the National stereo stealing, which is a major theft, you can get life. But 92 if someone steals your stereo, what you want is your stereo back. You want restitution, not revenge. That’s the way we should deal with property offenders, make them repay the victim. Our present system has absolutely nothing to do with helping out the victim. Let’s help out the victim, get your stereo back. Let’s implement some restitution programs, where this person works and pays you back for your stereo. Better yet, avoid going through the whole criminal justice system at all. What we should be doing is holding hearings, say a monthly hearing by a citizen group from a neighbor¬ hood, and deal with the offender in the community. Instead of going to court or paying a fine, you’re brought before a hearing before your peers. This is really effective in dealing with juveniles. They’re doing this in San Francisco now for juveniles. We lock up so many kids in this country for nothing, and that’s where they learn to be criminals, in juvenile training schools. For a neighborhood hearing con¬ cept to work, you have to have the cooperation of the police. And it’s in their interest to cooperate, because the police have to waste so much time in dealing with victimless crimes and also property crimes. A local ACLU chapter or League of Women Voters or church group could try to establish this system in a model to neighborhood show the legislature and Isom W. Gray, III the police it would work. Someone takes the time to go Parchman Prison, Mississippi around to and talk the police chief and the sheriff, the mayor and the city council. Now take your murderers. By and large — not in every case, and the bizarre cases are the ones that scare us to death in the media — a person who commits a murder has done it to someone who they know and care for. A crime of passion, Untitled a fight or some spontaneous event. A knife or gun was handy. There’s simply no reason for locking someone up for twenty years. More than likely, the murderer is rehabilitated within the first few days after the event, after he’s had a chance to realize that he’s killed somebody he’s loved. Murderers are See all the people gettin’ off the bus your best prisoners and have the best record in not return¬ All the bastards come just to look at us ing to prison. What we need to do is be sure this person I can’t help but think it’s a crime won’t do it again. And that doesn’t mean you lock them up. They’ve better things to do with their time You could leave them in the community and have them in a situation where they’re working with people and are super¬ A sixteen vised. year old girl says what did you do I was caught raping a little moron like you Corrections programs are going to succeed only when And when the preacher asks how’d you break the law ordinary people get involved in them. Not professionals — we I was robbing Peter to take care of Paul don’t need a bureaucratic establishment. We do need neigh¬ bors. That’s what we need and that’s what it all comes down There’s not much of a lesson here to be taught to. Involve people in the community in the process of deal¬ We are just like you, except we got caught ing with people who offend them. It’s the complete opposite of the philosophy of isolation and putting people behind bars. Jesus said love thy neighbor as thyself. It’s very simple. If we can begin to incorporate this on a community level and translate this through the democratic process rather — Mark Rahschulte than ship people off to various dungeons that we’ve con¬ Inside Out structed, I think we’re going to have a much more effective Blackburn Correctional Complex and helpful system for surviving together in this country. □ Lexington, Ky. 93 What the Experts Say

If I were in a position where I could who have to be removed from society WILLIAM LEEKE sit and hypothesize about great socie¬ can retain as much dignity as they can, ties, I would probably be in agreement where they can remain in contact with with those who would say, “Let’s tear their loved ones and where they can all the prisons down.” The reality of it not be further damaged by having to is the country is not in a position to be locked up. We’re all pretty much let us tear down prisons, even if we aware of the fact that, with the massive wanted to. I think we are always going overcrowding that exists now, we can’t to have a society that has a need to lock in all cases provide safety to the degree up dangerous people for simple social we would like to in our institutions. control, social order and protection of In many ways the federal district courts the public. But the idea that “people have been the salvation for state prison are sick; send them to prison and we systems. While it’s not pleasant to be can cure them” has no merit. It’s rather ordered by a federal court to do things, bizarre to think you can take a junkie if the legislative branch of government and shove him into prison for two or fails to act, then the judicial branch three years, into a tremendously over¬ must bring about change. crowded area, and think you’re going I hope the days of these big Bastilles to heal him. We can hardly even find are gone. When we have to build pris¬ doctors to work in large prisons because ons, as a last alternative, we must make of salary schedules and because of the them smaller. The larger the number of sheer threat to them just being in there. people who reside in a prison, the larger There’s no question, I think, that we the number of people working there, now lock up way too many people, but the more callous everyone becomes. the rhetoric we hear is that we could Of course, we hear objections to tear down all the prisons and everything using any land anywhere to develop would be better. That is not going to a new prison. It’s pretty ironic, though, happen in our society. that when people are yelling, “Lock But I would look for every possible everybody up, lock ’em all up, we've safe way not to resort totally to locking got to reduce crime,” and you try to find a site — no matter where — there’s people up to carry out what we call our system of criminal justice. That would going to be public opposition. The most obviously involve ensuring that we had progressive thing we’ve adequate probation and parole services gotten in South Carolina is a new and alternative programs that would program called “extended work release.” prevent people from coming to prison. That’s where an individual who’s been in two The thrust would then be, as far as work release for months and institutional design, to learn from the meets certain criteria can live in a home mistakes that we have made in the past environment with a sponsor while he and to ensure, if nothing else, the safety serves out the balance of his sentence. of those people who have to be removed We require the participants in this from society for a period of time. program to pay $5 a day for their own We would want to ensure that we do supervision. This decompression cham¬ not let prison get so overcrowded that ber approach has given us a lot more people have no identity whatsoever, flexibility in taking people from con¬ where they can be raped or assaulted finement and helping them to work by their fellow man. their way back into the community. We want a safe place where people continued on page 96 94 Two leading authorities speak out on our "corrections" system and options for the future.

Risons fail because of our multi¬ understanding gap is far wider than the directional expectations of them. No miles which separate city dwellers from WILLIAM NAGEL cloistered institution can segregate, farmers. Surely Attica, and more recent¬ punish, deter, rehabilitate and re¬ ly Pontiac, have made this abundantly integrate any individual or group of clear. Prisons fail because individuals. Yet these are the tasks they are places where the to demanded of prison by judges, legis¬ few have control the lators and segments of the public. To many. In the outside society unity and a sense of narrow these purposes, as many people community contribute to are now proposing, will not make the personal growth. In the society of pris¬ prison more successful — only less oners, unity and community must be hypocritical. Imagine, if you will, a discouraged lest the many overwhelm prison with the singular purpose of the few. In the world outside, leadership “punishment.” What kind of staff is an ultimate virtue. In the world would work in such a place? The very inside, leadership must be identified, thought is frightening. isolated and blunted. In the compet¬ Prisons fail because the sentencing itiveness of everyday living, assertiveness policies and practices which lead to is a characteristic to be encouraged. imprisonment are unjust and stupid. In the reality of the prison, assertiveness Anyone who has visited prisons recog¬ is equated with aggression and repressed. nizes the racial injustices represented Other qualities considered good on the byphoto by the gross overrepresentation of outside — self-confidence, pride, individ¬ Calvin blacks and other minorities. Anyone uality — are eroded by the prison Solliday who has looked at the vast disparities experience into self-doubts, obsequious¬ in lengths of sentences senses the class ness and lethargy. injustices. Anyone who has observed Prisons fail because we as a people use them as our that 90 percent of those in prisons are non-solutions to most nonviolent first offenders recoils at the sophisticated problems. Monumental injustice and futility of that incar¬ revolutions have changed the nature of ceration. life in our country — the automobile Prisons fail because of their locations. with instant mobility; television with its The Olympic prison is the most current glorification of material things, of crime example. The Federal Bureau of Prisons and of violence; the racial and sexual has exchanged principle for expediency revolutions that brought unfulfilled by capitalizing on the popularity of the hopes; Vietnam and Watergate which infected a whole Winter Olympics, the high rate of white generation of young Americans with unemployment in remote, rural north¬ alienation and despair; the ern New York state, and the power of a pill with the resulting changes to sexual mores and even to pork-barrel Congressman to build one marriage and the more remote prison. Urban blacks will family; chronic and massive unem¬ be exiled to it, far from their friends ployment and underemployment which and loved ones, and be guarded by rural have become a way of life. All these and whites. America is predominantly urban. other forces have hit this society with the So are its prisoners. The lifestyles and impact of an atom bomb. Individually, values born of the cultural, ethnic and in combination, they contribute and racial aspects of city life are often to the great increase in crime — an incomprehensible to the white, rural, increase to which we have responded by protestant-ethic guard. The resulting locking people up as never before in our 95 NAGEL LEEKE history. No other Western industrial I think from sheer economics it’s a nation comes close to us in its use of savings of a considerable amount of the prison as a method of social control. money in not having to construct a This “land of the free’’ has, as a result, number of new beds for them, and at developed Western civilization’s highest the same time requiring them to pay for rate of imprisonment. And while Amer¬ a portion of their confinement. ica leads the world in this unworthy There’s no question that — especially statistic, the South leads America. where property crimes are concerned — Prisons fail because they are based on restitution is also a very viablealternative. Me and My Necklace the assumption that behavior can be I think many average people obviously controlled by sufficiently raising the would rather have their property back, I lay down on the locker cost of misbehavior. -That assumption or replacement of their property, than I have a necklace around my neck holds, in cost-benefit terms, that repres¬ see their insurance rates go up because And when I lie down sion is cheaper than opportunity. Any of theft. They’d probably rather have The necklace gently makes a clink institution so conceived and so dedicated their property back than get a pound of On the locker I’m laying on should not — must not — endure. flesh by locking somebody up for a It is my view, frequently expressed, period of years. I’m a strong believer in I think to myself that this nation’s principal commitments restitution programs. But I don’t think Now the necklace during the rest of this century should they’re a total panacea. For property Didn’t sound right be toward reducing crime by correcting crimes it has great potential. But it will the crime-producing conditions in our be some time, I think, before people I ease my head up economic, racial and social structures. are willing to accept a restitution system Slam my head back down again At the same time, the various states for crimes involving bodily injury or And at the process I listen for the sound must revise their criminal codes by assaultive behavior. Of my necklace when it hits the locker removing sanctions against a whole I’m really enthusiastic about the And again, range of behavior which causes injuries future of our criminal justice system. the necklace Makes a I see a gentle tap only to persons so behaving — the period of a lot brighter and more “victimless” crimes. Sentences must be intelligent people making a career of Now I’m furious at myself made more corrections — both men and women. equitable and shorter, with For not being able to make imprisonment viewed as the sanction I can understand how some of the new The necklace sound louder when of very last resort rather than the sanc¬ people coming into the prison system It hits the locker tion of first resort. All of this will might think some of our institutions require the development of a national are still in the dark ages, but looking Rage in me at its height “mind-set” which permits us to aban¬ back on it, I can see a great deal of I quickly raise my head don, or greatly limit, our raw punitive progress. □ And quickly again, I slam my head impulses. □ The preceding essay is excerpted Down on the locker William Nagel has been the executive from an interview with Mr. Leeke con¬ And again, the necklace makes vice president of the American Founda¬ ducted by free-lance journalist Mark Only a gentle thump tion, incorporated, and director of its Pinsky. Institute of Corrections since 1969. He William Leeke has been working in My God, I can’t make also served as vice chairman of the Gov¬ corrections since 1956 as a teacher, A very small necklace ernor’s Justice Commission, Pennsyl¬ warden, deputy and commissioner. He Make a loud thump vania 's criminal justice planning agency. has served in his present position of On the locker He began his career as a case worker Director of South Carolina’s Depart¬ I cannot hold the for the Pennsylvania Prison Society. ment of Corrections since 1968. rage within me I Nagel then served as the assistant super¬ Currently president of the American jump off the locker intendent of a New Jersey correctional Correctional Association, Mr. Leeke has Rip the necklace from my neck I slam the necklace institution from 1949 to 1960; director also presided over the National Associa¬ against the locker of the Pennsylvania Council on Crime tion ofState Correctional Administrators Resulting in nothing and and the Southern States Correctional Delinquency from 1960 to 1964; and — Danny Ray Thomas executive secretary of the Council for Association. South Carolina prison Human Services in the Pennsylvania Considered a liberal among Southern governor’s office from 1964 to 1969. prison commissioners, Mr. Leeke is A resident of Yard/ey, Pennsylvania, credited for his leadership in a nation¬ Mr. Nagel has served on numerous state wide study ofcourt decisions concerning and national councils on crime and cor¬ inmates’ rights and has pursued an ac¬ rections and has written many articles tive policy of equal employment in his for professional journals. His book, The agency. New Red Barn: A Critical Look at the Commissioner Leeke is responsible Modern Prison System, was published for 31 institutions, 1,600 employees by Walker in 1973. and 7,700 inmates. 96 Family Plaque

prison, the system is aimed at minimiz¬ United States, although Holland’s rate HOLLAND ing the number of people who become of serious crimes is only half that of our further involved in the justice system country. The philosophy that prisons are and ultimately reach prison. As a result, The Dutch keep few people in jail harmful institutions and should not be Holland has the lowest incarceration for several reasons. First, no official in heavily relied upon pervades the proce¬ rate — 24 prisoners per 100,000 inhab¬ its crime control system has to cam¬ dures and practices of the Dutch crim¬ itants — of all industrialized Western paign for office. Thus, the business of inal justice system. From the police to nations, a rate one-tenth that of the “repression,” as the Dutch police so

97 candidly call it, is not highly politicized. the people placed inside, they choose world, but they demand that prisoners Lawyers, judges and other functionaries to incarcerate as few offenders as pos¬ take considerable responsibility for their deal only with the most serious crimes, sible for as short a time as possible. own lives. leaving others to be resolved by social In 1975, for example, out of 14,474 There are no guards at Ringe in the service agencies, churches and other Dutch prison sentences, three-quarters traditional sense. “Standard officers” community controls. Then, of those were imprisoned for three months or of both sexes were hired to fulfill people slapped into jail, only about less. Only about five percent are serving the duties of work supervisors, social four percent are sentenced to terms terms longer than a year; average time worker and guard. All of them are car¬ longer than one year; the average sen¬ served in American state prisons is over penters because the major occupation tence comes to about three months. one year. of the inmates is work in the prison’s Finally, if there is no room in prison, In Holland, a prison bed must be furniture factory. Only a few guards the prospective prisoner will simply vacant before a convict is imprisoned. had had previous correctional expe¬ “take a ticket” to report later. To accommodate everyone, the Ministry rience. This break from tradition, both One Dutch prosecutor recently told a of Justice has developed a practice in roles and in qualifications for em¬ group of American corrections special¬ called “walking convicts,” which grants ployment, has opened communication ists, “Almost everyone in Holland at least a four week delay between the between prisoners and guards that knows that prison has mainly, or only, time of sentencing and imprisonment. usually eludes those behind bars. negative effects. Some may think it is Consequently, the Ministry develops a The Ringe experiment is too new necessary, but they too know it is waiting list to regulate the flow of for anyone to predict how it will affect negative.” An offical spokesperson for people into the prisons. Some people inmates after release. But the Ringe the Dutch Ministry of Justice concurred, argue that the “walking convicts” prison at least proves it is possible to saying, “It is almost hypocritical to practice shows that these offenders combine the temporary deprivation of think a person in prison can be made need not go to prison at all because a convict’s freedom with the recognition better... so we try to limit the dam¬ they can be punished in less costly, and maintenance of many individual age.” less destructive ways without threat¬ rights and responsibilities. All procedures in the Dutch justice ening public safety. Whether or not this system are expected to comply with argument is accepted, the practice the “subsidiary principle.” This means functions in a useful, immediate way to ENGLAND that criminal proceedings and sen¬ relieve or prevent overcrowding. tencing should only be used when it In conclusion, the Dutch have devel¬ In England, judges may use “com¬ is clear such a disposition is more effec¬ oped procedures through their justice munity service orders” as an alternative tive than a noncriminal process or a less system consistent with their often to sending a person to prison. These severe sentencing option. In support of repeated assertion that prisons are harm¬ court orders require the offender to this principle, the police are encouraged ful institutions, to be used sparingly work a certain number of hours without by the prosecutors and Ministry of and as a last resort. pay in the service of the community. Justice to arrange fines at the site of Public and private (non-profit) organ¬ most crimes or negotiate a settlement izations may use community service between involved parties. Only prose¬ DENMARK workers, and those administering the cutors are authorized to bring a criminal programs may form work groups to charge into court. Therefore, they must Ringe, Denmark’s experimental pris¬ do special projects for members of the decide which cases they or another on, was built on the principle that “the community. agency can resolve to the satisfaction of purpose of imprisonment is punishment, Faced with crowded prisons and the parties involved. Because prosecu¬ but the loss of liberty should be the dissatisfied with the costs of imprison¬ tors adhere to the subsidiary principle, only punishment.” Built in 1973, ment, the English Parliament established more than half the cases referred to Ringe differs from most prisons in this sentencing option in the 1972 them are screened away from the court, Denmark in that it is a maximum Criminal Justice Act. The Act applied regardless of the likelihood that the security institution with a wall around initially to six court jurisdictions. accused will be found guilty. Judges it. However, while Ringe is one of After several years of positive experi¬ play their part by heavy use of fines, Denmark’s most secure prisons, it is ence, it was extended to the whole even in serious property or person quite relaxed on the inside. country. This legislation authorizes offenses. In 1975 (latest figures), The 50 inmates, 40 men and 10 magistrates, the British equivalent to our almost two out of every three convic¬ women, live together in housing units county court judges, to use com¬ tions for serious crimes resulted in of 16. Men and women work together munity service sentences only in cases impositions of fines. and have rooms side-by-side in the for which a prison sentence is being considered. The Dutch use prisons more to mark housing units. They must buy and cook The law also stipulates that the limits of social tolerance than as their own food, work a full week (for sentences may range from 40 to 240 incapacitation or deterrence. Because which they are paid between $17 and hours but must be completed within most Dutch officials say it cannot be $43) and manage their own money. one year. proven that prisons protect the public Not only do these arrangements create Work assignments now include mak¬ in the long run or that prisons improve an atmosphere much like the real ing equipment for youth clubs, clearing

98 walks in parks, renovating community centers, gardening for senior citizens and establishing adventure playgrounds with recylced materials. The best A , placements are those in which the offenders have an opportunity to expe¬ X*" l . 72-O'd- rience directly the impact of their help ///Ji£K£- X G& upon the problems of others. Commu¬ 1)# fa nity service is a punishment because offenders lose their leisure time, but the jr /?/*> ,*/ /P 777//?t/7 /??£ fa/SONc^ /?*/ Has type of work done is not meant to be /*.0ua distasteful. kT fa** /)/ecn t~oR. Xfxosc Most community service participants, tj-AS F/f/ltJ /W£ T/Z/c/^Jf/rs /^y?/ /7su service was first used as an alternative 6A While national statistics are unavail¬ GoX able, the 1977 annual report of the /Sj, /-oc fed U)/i\ Inner London Community Service Pro¬ <^cs/Zu 77/e K 'A SQu kj gram claims that a total of 1,787 T/bfc vSq u J) [ 77/reAy J77, A!£ <6ry o /9lw X C, k offenders serving 130,000 hours have RS urvfoVj, l^Ru 5 F (A* H tinghamshire reported a similar success fert+s &o rvx,, rate in 1975. Criminal justice system -f-fv/ C/yapA/ltUrfeflbfe X<*7 *)K officials estimate that 60 percent of /fcs'^/s T/iefis ^Sr/r*7 7rf7n/ /~/V F7 Ca77 his $Ddl 7?a/J TAli J\ 'S' overwhelmingly supportive. Some vol¬ unteers have continued their service //oO££ ? oh "/Yo77/rvo As Tbe Afw*;77G'j work beyond the required hours, X/l ///7/AS 7kr^b'7)/ FnT~,L*st]\ if 7° /77k ? either in paid or volunteer status. As,// jo Szr/r 'd/fa i/o /?//r?*//y*. FK'dth&s. X7u Program staffs are now resisting pressure to expand the use of community service 77/^av 7 77c /'6/iz ca l/cX To 7X/e/s s? for those failing to pay fines. Such an /fy/t az sa/ /7 /7/z 7/Aey/£/iL /?as h /$ r7 kc stitute for imprisonment.□ /jfts n F/hfivCl. & Lioirfa 6JdsA<*miL

J7f7Zr/C - C.B.S\,AanU,U^ 7o 7/d.

* Information on crime and punishment in these countries was supplied by Polly Smith and Becki Ney, Assistant to the Director and Research Assistant, respectively, at the American Founda¬ tion.

99 From Where byphoto HillJackson I Stand

By Wayne Brooks

The key to keeping people from committing crimes is correcting the economic system that leaves unfulfilled the real and psychological needs of the poor class. Society would be better off to kill for crime, violence and homosexuality. and convicts should be paid the prevail¬ every one of us than do what they are Every man in here believes he has been ing wage. Require us to pay room and doing now: keeping men and women in treated unfairly by the courts, so how board; require us to support our families; these hellholes for unrealistic periods can society expect him to respect the require us to compensate the victim; of time. I’m not advocating this, because law when he gets out? give us training in marketable skills. life is precious, but keeping people for One solution would be mandatory Allow us to bring our girlfriends, wives years and years in this abnormal, love¬ sentencing: make the punishment fit the and children in here. The long prison less environment and then expecting crime and not the individual. If the sentences imposed on me have caused them to cope with living in society is ruling class wants to make a certain act my wife to divorce me and cost me the ridiculous. The majority of prisoners a crime, then everyone convicted of it loss of her love, and also that of my are set free some should receive same day. A man will con¬ the punishment. daughter. . . . trol his rage in here because he has got a All discretion should be taken away Make social services available on a .30-.30 cocked at his head, but when from the courts, the corrections people a par with the free world. For instance, if we were you release him into society, you’re and the parole boards, because so long earning a wage, we could pay releasing a human explosive. as they have discretionary power, the a qualified doctor when we needed one. A British study has indicated that influential and the affluent will escape And we could maintain our dignity and nine years is the maximum time a per¬ equal punishment. pride. It is punishment enough just to son can spend in prison without it The poorer and darker the offender deprive a person of his freedom, unless causing him permanent physical or is, the harsher his or her punishment society just wants to put a bullet psychological harm, and I would agree will be. These people are the product of through our heads. with that. In the old days, all the prison an oppressive environment which the The key to keeping people from system wanted out of you was to make state and federal governments permit to committing crimes is correcting the you work till you dropped. The human exist to maintain the dominance of the economic system that leaves unfulfilled body can take that, but now they have ruling, wealthy class. Prisons are simply the real and psychological needs of the brought in psychologists and psychi¬ an instrument of class and ethnic op¬ poor class, and causes people to commit atrists who do nothing but keep you pression designed to make poor and violent and sexual crimes. The next locked up all the time, and keep you uneducated folks go along with the best deterrent is swift and sure justice, knocked out with drugs. I personally status quo. Imagine a prison system not the threat of unimaginable prison have never had prison psychologists inhabited by people convicted of crimes terms or the death penalty. I also believe prescribe me tranquilizers; in fact, I peculiar to the affluent, such as price¬ that property crimes should be handled have filed numerous civil rights com¬ fixing, buying political influence, vio¬ in civil courts and the offender re¬ plaints seeking a ban on the use of such lating minimum wage laws and safety quired to make restitution. drugs except for mentally ill persons. standards, and you will see how distant Each judicial district should have a But this here there is nothing to keep a fantasy is from the prisons we have restitution center. Anyone who com¬ man’s mind occupied, and the monotony today. mits a crime where there is a property makes you worse when you leave than Since it is obvious that we will have loss should fully compensate the victim, you were when you entered. prisons for some years to come, I would and possibly make double compensa¬ It would be better to do a away with suggest that they be run like a city. Free tion. If this offender has family and a prisons altogether than to operate them enterprise, that is, free industry, should job in the community, I think it would this way. They are nothing but colleges be encouraged to come into the prison, do more harm than good to take him

100 Have-ah-good Days

(In remembrance of Michael Krauss, a revolutionary, who really cared about people, 9/24/76)

sing us no have-ah-good days, child while out there beyond our steeled-off world hungry people wilt and scream pain

sing us no have-ah-good days, child while in the midst of silver-blue aloneness love-deserted people shuffle down angry streets

sing us no have-ah-good days, child while in this enserfed society men are murderously hated for tenderly touchin in public parks away from his wife and family and put sing us no have-ah-good days, child him in the restitution center, but he while human beings isolated years upon years should be required to make restitution away from human kindness and come to the center for counseling. bitterly crawl into themselves and rage People without community roots should be housed in the center and be helped singggGGG!! to locate a suitable job, make restitution no have-ah-good days sing us, child and pay room and board. Georgia now until blazin with courage in the has two victim restitution centers, and pathway of Michael Krauss commieIfag/ and proud North Carolina has a small program of you the same kind. Minnesota has for six have created some have-ah-good days, child. years experimented with a program in — which non-dangerous offenders with Henry N. Lucas Florida State Prison fewer than three convictions sign con¬ Starke, Fla. tracts with their victims and, after a brief stay in jail, begin working to make restitution. This type of program will work and should be expanded, rather than build more costly prisons. The way things are now, not only does the victim lose his property, but he also must pay for the offender’s upkeep in prison, and this is big money now. The offender also becomes bitter and gets an education in how to commit Dream every crime in the book.D

The last dream I had was about my future. I dreamed I was a rich man. Wayne Brooks, a 40-year-old native of Gaston County, North Carolina, and a US Coast Guard Veteran, has served — Charles Massey, 18 South 20 years in prison. He is currently in¬ Carolina prison carcerated at Central Prison in Raleigh, NC, and helped organize the NC Prison¬ ers’ Union there in 1973. The Union dis¬ banded after the Supreme Court upheld prison regulations forbidding the group to hold meetings and forbidding inmates from soliciting membership.

101 Book Reviews

This Grotesqe Essence: Plays from minstrel routine. In 1769 in New York he played the role of a black slave in a the American Minstrel Stage production of Isaac Bickerstaff's The Padlock. It was left to Thomas D. Rice and Daniel Decatur Emmett in the By Gary D. Engle. Louisiana State University Press 1978. 204 pp. $14.95. nineteenth century, however, to raise the blackface clown to national prom¬ inence. In 1828, somewhere along the eventually tragic happenstance of nature Ohio River, T. D. Rice began to imitate that the Negro's homeland was the habi¬ the singing and shuffling of a black tat of the animal which in appearance hostler. His skit was received with By Floyd Barbour most resembles man." Similarly, it is enthusiasm and American minstrelsy probably a tragic happenstance that the was on its way. This Grotesque Essence: Plays from most persistent and influential image Rice is generally regarded as the the American Minstrel Stage, is a look of blacks came from the minstrel tra¬ father of the form. He established the at mirrors and an examination of what dition and its blackface clown. Engle epic figure of Jim Crow, a theatrical they mean in terms of public art and emphasizes that it is false to believe darky whose childish ways and foolish private pain. Gary D. Engle has com¬ that minstrelsy developed from planta¬ posturings went straight to the psyche piled 22 plays from minstrelsy's heaven, tion entertainments among black slaves of America. Rice had many imitators the 1830s to 1870s. These afterpieces, in the South. There was little Afro- and in 1843 The Virginia Minstrels was as they were called, afford an excellent American influence on the music, dance formed. Many bands followed, including opportunity to experience one of the or inspiration. The language derived the famous Christy's Minstrels and most popular forms in American enter¬ from white entertainment conventions, White's Kitchen Minstrels. Engle's intro¬ tainment history. not as a reflection of black speech duction gives a fine and fluid accounting Kent Walker in his 1931 Staging the patterns. The minstrel clown evolved of this early period. Amateur Minstrel Show tells us that out of the racial fantasies of northern A full evening of minstrel perfor¬ "the first minstrels were an order of urban whites. The minstrel show mir¬ mance consisted of three parts: "The men in the Middle Ages who united the rored a reality which existed mainly in First Part," the "Olio" and the "After- arts of poetry and music and sang to the the imagination of whites. In his essay piece." The First Part was an entertain¬ harp verses of their own composing, "The Negro in the American Theatre," ment complete in itself. Loften Mitchell who appear to have accompanied their Sterling Brown wrote: describes the structure of the perfor¬ songs with mimicry and action, and to mance in Black Drama: It must be remembered that have practiced such various means of Ethiopian minstrelsy was white masquerade; diverting as were much admired in those Minstrelsy had a definite form. The Negro performers were not allowed to first half of the performance had a rude times, and supplied the want of appear in it until after the Civil War; it group of at least seventeen men, all more refined entertainments." The same was composed by whites, acted and elaborately costumed, their faces black¬ sung could be said about the rise of minstrel by whites in burnt cork for white ened with burnt cork. These men sat audiences. It succeeded in fixing one art in this country. However, the most in a half-circle. At the center was the stereotype in the American conscious¬ interlocutor, or master of ceremonies, significant feature of American minstrel¬ ness: the shiftless, lazy, improvident, a "straight man" who fed jokes to the sy was the creation of the blackface loud-mouthed, flashily dressed Negro, comedians and was the butt of their with clown. kinky-hair and large lips, over¬ replies. On the other side of the inter¬ addicted to the eating of watermelon Winthrop D. Jordan in White Over locutor were at least seven singers, and chicken (almost always purloined), Black states that "it was a strange and dancers, monologuists or other fea¬ the drinking of gin, the shooting of tured performers. At the end of each dice and the twisting of language into line were the "end men," Mr. Bones Floyd Barbour is a recent recipient ludicrous malformations. Life was a and Tambo, so named for the instru¬ of a Massachusetts Arts and Humanities perennial joke or "breakdown." ments they played. Mr. Bones and Foundation fellowship in playwrighting. Tambo were the leading comics. He teaches at Simmons College and the Lewis Hallam, a white actor, is

Afro-American Studies Institute at credited with having given the first The Afterpieces — whether short

Boston University. performance of what could be called a farces, political satires or pantomimes —

102 climaxed the shows. They achieved their success by combining the various theat¬ OLD ZIP COON An Ethiopian Eccentricity, In One Scene rical forms that constituted the first SCENE: The common room of part of the show. This Grotesque Essence Zip Coon's house on the Old Plantation, opening on the verandah — the cotton and cane fields makes it possible for us to encounter beyond — the Mississippi in the distance. their lacerating humor. For instance, a wonderful Shakespearean burlesque en¬ (Zip, elegantly dressed, reading a newspaper and smoking a cigar, with his titled "Desdemonum" is included in this feet on a table on which are decanters and glasses. White boy presenting a collection. huge mintjulip.)

The minstrel clown, Engle says, "was Zip: Dere, clar you'self! (drinks) Dis brandy isn't so good as de last; (smack¬ a grotesque and cruel caricature of ing his Ups) Shall hab to discharge my wine merchant if he don't improve, American blacks. He was intended by for sartin. Maybe it's my taste, but somehow 'taint half so good as de ole Jamai¬ the white mentality that created him ca massa used to gib us to wash de hoe cake down with. It's mighty comfortable to serve as a comic representation of to be rich, to be sure, but it's debbelish tiresome to hab to keep up de dignity all the racial minority which was forced de time. 0, for one good old-fashioned breakdown, like we used to hab when to occupy the lowest class in American massa run de old plantation for us, and all we had to do was play de banjo and society." The sad thing is that those loaf, (looking right and left) Nobody looking! Maybe 'taint genteel, but here very people were also seen as the safety goes for a try. (Walks around and sings) valve for that society's fears and projec¬ Long time ago we hoe de cotton. tions. The minstrel did not mirror the Grub among de canebrake, munch de sugar cane, life of blacks, but the minstrel stereo¬ Hunt coon and possum by de ribber bottom. type was so pervasive that even blacks Past and gone de happy days — nebber come again! found it next to impossible to counter How de moments its force. The space between the lives of Ho, hi! fly! black Americans and the life of the Get up and do your duty While de time am theatrical blackface clown was real and passin' by! (breakdown, throws off his coat) touching — too often, however, America didn't observe this truth and began to Dere we knock de banjo, make de sheepskin talk, confuse the theatrical exaggeration with Shout until the rafters to de chorus ring; the human reality. This caused undue If de massa see us, make him walk his chalk, misconceptions and contributed to the Trabel libely o'er the boards, cut de pigeon wing. gulf between races which persists to this Ho, hi! etc. (Break.)

day. Cuff: ('Cuff Cudlip, with a small bundle on his shoulder and in a ragged suit, And blacks were not the only ones to peeps in and softly enters. Throws bundle down and joins in breakdown.) be lampooned in this way. This Gro¬ Hoe it down libely, dere's nobody to fear, tesque Essence makes it clear that other De gate am off de hinges, no oberseer dere; ethnic groups began to make their No one in de cornfield, all de coast is clear, appearances on the minstrel stage. Here de bell a-ringin', step up and pay your fare! Soon blackface Irishmen, Germans, Jews Both: and Orientals could be seen. As immigra¬ Ho, hi! etc. (break) tion began to widen its impact on Cuff: Hy'a! it's no use talking — nigger will be nigger! (Puts his bundle on table American culture, the minstrel show and takes chair).. .. continued to mirror American racism.

Engle provides us with a needed and authoritative collection. In his introduc¬ tion he states that "in a true democracy

the will of the majority rules. . . . For better or worse, the characteristic art of a democracy is shaped by the will of the audience, not of the artist." He provides excellent examples of this as well as insightful commentary. These plays probe the mentality of the com¬ mon man during the nineteenth century and suggest that in a democracy we are often victims of our own images.□

» 5cene5 From « 5 . The following is an excerpt from Old Zip Coon, a minstrel play typical of the (MOm/M OMSTTM/NSfmS post-Civil War era, contained in This Tat MECHANICS HALL, 472 BROADWAY H.Y in 1847 V Grotesque Essence.

103 period. Professor Lamon's volume is business" as one of the greatest "mock¬ based on a skillful blend of black Black eries to which . . . the American Negro Tennesseans, sources, including materials in the has been subjected." 1900-1930 Library of Congress and Fisk University, Lamon directly relates black business the booster-oriented Nashville Globe, inadequacies to the "half-a-loaf" philos¬ By Lester C. Lamon. The University of and a number of oral history interviews. ophy inherent in Tennessee's Jim Crow Tennessee Press, 1977. 320 pp. $13.50. Lamon's enthusiasm for his subject educational system of the day. Before permeates the entire book. 1900 only a handful of white Tennes¬ By David E. Aisobrook The author gives considerable atten¬ seans favored appropriations for black tion to black businessmen in Tennessee. education. Many whites, according to Lester C. Lamon's Black Tennesseans, In spite of an abundance of energy Lamon, believed that an educated black 1900-1930 is a coherent, forceful study and booster rhetoric, black businessmen was "a good plowhand spoiled." Grad¬ of the black experience during this frequently failed. Reasons for failure ually, white philanthropic organizations included: inadequate investment capital, such as the General Education Board, David E. Aisobrook, a native of inferior business education and voca¬ the Jeanes Foundation and the Slater Mobile, Alabama, is an archivist with tional training, limited clientele and and Rosenwald Funds, brought some the Office of Presidential Libraries of white competition. Lamon quotes one economic relief to black schools in the the National Archives and Records black entrepreneur who saw "the state. Whites grudgingly accepted the Service, Washington, DC. 'opportunity' to operate a separate work of these groups since state tax

were to Newman just so much malarkey. She herself attributed most of her A Return Visit: By Chris Mayfield enlightenment about the realities of slavery to her own mammy, Susan Frances Newman Long, a former slave. "If you grow up," wrote Newman, "hearing of mistress' sons who set dogs on a little girl three years old to see her run, who In 1926, a female librarian at Georgia Newman was a serious writer who also beat the slaves, and who didn't tell Tech published a novel which became enjoyed a considerable reputation in her them they were free, you can't admire an immediate and scandalous success day as an avant-garde thinker and liter¬ the antebellum South completely." across the country. Within six months ary critic much admired by literati such Slavery and black people do not play much of a after its first appearance, this novel as H. L. Mencken, Compton MacKenzie, part in Newman's fiction, however. She was much more concerned was banned in Boston, published in Thornton Wilder and James Branch with the London and had gone into five printings Cabell. Nevertheless, she was certainly experiences of women within her own small in the United States. Atlanta society in many ways a bona fide product of privileged class. Her one was in an uproar over the adventures of Atlanta's hidebound high society. published short story, "Rachel and Her Children" the heroine, a carefully brought-up Newman was born in Atlanta in (American Mercury, 1924), Atlanta socialite who traveled both sides 1888, the youngest and homeliest of centers on the true feelings of an old of the Atlantic hoping to be relieved of five children in a family noted for its lady who all her life has been squeezed her virginity. The book was The Hard- prestigious social standing and tradition¬ and squelched and silenced into other Boiled Virgin; and the author — that al good looks. From an early age she people's conceptions of her role as a well-bred Southern wife and mother. unlikely spinster librarian — was Frances accepted the fact that her stringy black Newman, who died two years afterwards. hair, sallow complexion and elongated Looking back on her youthful marriage A mere 50 years later both her name upper lip meant that she could never to an elderly tyrant, old Mrs. Overton and the book have sunk practically compete with her gorgeous sisters in reflects, "People hardly talked then of into oblivion, and copies of Frances the world of debutantes and Saint Cecilia the boredom of sitting at the other end Newman's books are mostly relics on Balls. Instead, the family library soon of the table from the wrong man every the back shelves of libraries. became a great source of consolation morning; certainly they never talked of Despite its title's brazen ring. The and amusement. Like Virginia Woolf, the occasions when there wasn't a table Hard-Boiled Virgin does not approach she was largely self-educated, and her between one and the wrong man." even the outer limits of pornography. lack of a university education became a The story is a masterpiece of irony and The subject of the novel is a woman's source of mingled embarassment and understatement, and is perhaps the angri¬ ideas and emotions, rather than a set stubborn pride. est piece of fiction she wrote. of actual lurid experiences. Frances Some of the white, rich South's Social truths were important to most treasured illusions about itself Newman, but she believed (somewhat Chris Mayfield is a free-lance writer and its past - the myth of the happy haughtily) that they must be explored with living in Durham, NC. slaves, the fiction of the superior male — elegance, wit and above all with

104 expenditures for black education could Napier and Richard Henry Boyd of pany. Lamon also devotes a chapter to remain low. Although philanthropy Nashville and Robert R. Church and black progressivism, which brought to¬ raised some black hopes, the majority Bert M. Roddy of Memphis. But while gether many urban, middle-class blacks expected little more than "half-a-loaf" these men prospered, black businessmen in a movement for better conditions. from their white overlords in the way of on the whole did not fare well. Lamon's In addition to these examples of educational opportunity. chapter on "Bootstrap Capitalism" is a black protestors, a number of Negroes There were notable exceptions to the poignant account of black bank failures worked effectively within the existing pattern of failure, such as A. N. Johnson, during these years. political structure, especially in the a wealthy black undertaker and business Lamon also focuses on black Tennes¬ cities. Hiram Tyree of Chattanooga booster in Nashville; however, Johnson seans who actively resisted the stric¬ served for 14 years on the city's board had acquired much of his wealth before tures of Jim Crow society. During of aldermen and for seven years on the moving from Mobile to Nashville in the early years of the twentieth century, city council. In essence Tyree became a 1907. Booker T. Washington's rigid streetcar boycotts erupted in several ward boss, dispensing patronage and supervision of the National Negro Tennessee cities as municipal authorities serving on municipal committees. When Business League stifled the creativity attempted to segregate mass transit Chattanooga switched to commission of many young black tradesmen, but systems. The Nashville boycott of 1905 government in 1911, Tyree lost much of the legendary Washington attracted was particularly significant because his political clout. Men such as Tyree, many prominent black Tennesseans to several black businessmen organized a Eugene L. Reid and Charles Griggsby in the League, including James Carroll short-lived, black-owned transit com¬ Chattanooga, Joseph Trigg in Knoxville

sophistication, a quality in which she being called on and praised by charming of the earliest American portraits of considered most American writers sadly men — these were all part of life's essen¬ feminine sexual desire. Newman herself lacking. Her own literary mentor was tial luxuries. took pride in the book because, she the eccentric and daring James Branch Newman herself realized the para¬ said, "I do think it is about the first Cabell, and her writing style (unfortu¬ doxes inherent in the psychology of novel in which a woman ever told the nately, in some ways) harkens back to an intellectually inclined Southern belle, truth about how women feel." that of those late Victorian dandies, and in fact this is what The Hard-Boiled In 1928 Newman published her Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde. As a Virgin is really about. Katharine Faraday second novel, Dead Lovers are Faithful reviewer and critic with an increasingly is an attractive, brilliant and extremely Lovers, a very ambitious and obscure wide audience, she blasted realistic socially sophisticated young woman. exploration of the psychology of a American writers such as Theodore She chooses to expend a great deal of menage a trois. In The Hard-Boiled Dreiser, Eugene O'Neill, Sinclair Lewis energy looking for the right man, a man Virgin, Newman's long involved sen¬ and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was who can swing open the magic doors of tences and montonous paragraphs were so deeply incensed by her comments on sexual experience. But the old Southern kept in balance by a lively movement of This Side of Paradise that he wrote to mores which theoretically she despises the plot and a clear focus on the heroine. her saying, "This is the first letter of any still have their grip on her. Near the end But in this work there is little move¬ ment of kind I have ever written to a critic of of the book, when six or seven delight¬ any kind; a gorgeous spectacle is presented, but my book .. . but there are comparisons ful gentlemen have failed to measure everything in it is as dead as the title itself. you brought up which make me as up, Katharine begins to worry that angry as my book evidently made you." perhaps "she really was a Southern lady Soon after the publication of Dead are .. . Lovers Faithful Typically, Newman was delighted with and would never be swept off her Lovers, Newman this letter; she liked shocking people feet." At last she allows herself to be developed a mysterious and agonizing and relished her reputation as a wicked¬ seduced by a fourth-rate playwright. eye ailment, which eventually prevented ly strong-minded critic. But the experience turns out a great her from writing or reading anything at Despite her intellectual bravado, disappointment and leaves her feeling, all. Finally she was discovered lying in a Frances Newman was still a member of strangely enough, even more "hopeless¬ coma near her New York hotel room, Atlanta's highest society, and many of ly virginal" than before. and she died three days later without her pleasures and preoccupations were The Hard-Boiled Virgin is by no regaining consciousness. She was 40 those to which she had been brought means a sad book, though, as Katharine years old. It is useless, of course, to up. Like her fictional creation, Katharine Faraday is one of those people who speculate on what her later novels and Faraday, she could not bear to walk enjoys the chase rather than the reward stories might have been like, though down Peachtree Street in any other than anyway. And what the reader enjoys there's little doubt that more would her best hat. Beautiful clothes were an are Katharine's deliciously witty obser¬ have been written. But as the first obsession, one which practically suffo¬ vations on the foibles of mankind, and Southern novelist to write seriously cated her second novel under a superflu¬ on the many delights and absurdities of about the true lives of Southern ladies, ity of yellow crepe de Chine negligees its relation to womankind. Katharine Frances Newman deserves the attention and perfect little blue felt hats. Clothes, is also an unabashedly sensual being, of readers today, and rewards that and flowers, and exquisite meals, and and through her Newman gives us one attention well.D

105 and Solomon Parker Harris in Nashville exemplified those urban blacks who manipulated the political system to Wklter Hines Page: their advantage. Lamon argues that even though Tennessee stopped short of legis¬ The Southerner lative disfranchisement, by 1913 poll as American taxes, white primaries, splits within the Republican Party and the commission form of local government had "sealed By John Milton Cooper, Jr. The Univer¬ off the ballot box from black politicians sity of North Carolina Press, 1977. 457 as well as a large number of Negro pp. $15.95. voters." Professor Lamon's book is a signifi¬ By Jerrold Hirsch cant contribution to black historical literature and should rank with similar At the time of his death, Walter state studies such as David Gerber's Hines Page's reputation and fame Black Ohio and the Color Line, 1880- seemed secure. He had been the inno¬ 1915 and John Dittmer's Black Georgia, vative editor of Forum, Atlantic Month¬ 1900-1920. Still, it has shortcomings. ly and World's Work, and a partner in His topical arrangement assists readers the publishing house of Doubleday and who are concerned with specific sub¬ Page. As a Southerner and American he Walter Hines Page jects, and for the most part, the chapters had worked for sectional reconciliation, are linked by adequate transition. Southern economic regeneration and American identities. With each advance But the final chapter, dealing with the racial harmony. He preached a gospel in his career he moved further and Fisk University student strike of 1925, of universal education, industrial train¬ further away from his native North seems out of place. A more incisive ing, farm ownership and the develop¬ Carolina — most of his adult life he lived

concluding chapter is badly needed. ment of natural resources as the road to in Boston and New York — yet he con¬ Lamon could also have strengthened Southern salvation. He played an active tinued to think of himself as a South¬ his work by summarizing the careers of role in such Northern-financed philan¬ erner. Throughout his life Page argued some of the black leaders appearing thropic organizations as the Southern that sectional hostility was needless: throughout the narrative, with com¬ Education Board. Page promoted the one could be both a Southerner and ments about accomplishments and 1912 campaign of fellow Southerner an American, and go beyond the choice failures. Without such assistance, the Woodrow Wilson for the presidency; between remaining loyal to the myths reader must piece together information in return, Wilson made Page the Amer¬ of a glorious old South or accepting the about these men from the entire book. ican ambassador to London, where he values of the urban-industrial North. Lamon admits in his preface that he served during the critical years from In trying to expand Southern cultural was torn between writing a study of 1913 to 1918. horizons. Page was also hoping to make a specific black community and a his¬ Yet few today remember Page. And a career for himself in the South. He tory of blacks in the entire state. In this is true despite the fact that a high always argued that his efforts as editor actuality. Black Tennesseans is weighted school in Cary, North Carolina, a of the Raleigh State Chronicle had met heavily toward black urban centers. library at Randolph-Macon College a hostile reception and that he had had Lamon deals with some fresh topics, and a school of international relations to leave North Carolina and the South such as black unionism, but more is at Johns Hopkins University are named because he was a prophet without honor needed about specifics of the black after him, and that he is one of only in his own country. He saw himself as a urban experience. For example, are three Americans honored at Westmin¬ heretic driven into exile for arguing that there identifiable generic patterns of ster Abbey. Cooper's study, however, the Civil War should be forgotten, black demography and residential settle¬ shows that an examination of Page's Negroes educated and the authority of ment in Tennessee cities? Also, more life can be useful not only to specialists the church and the Democratic Party details are needed about the develop¬ in Southern and American history, but questioned. Cooper does not agree and ment of black business districts. also to those who ponder the dilemmas points out that Page had carefully Although the author gives a detailed and responsibilities of being Southerners avoided offensive criticism throughout view of key individuals' lives in the and Americans. In his examination of his personal tenure with the Chronicle. cities, too much is left unsaid about Page's response to the problems of the According to Cooper, Page left the black social structure — in particular, post-reconstruction years. Cooper fuses South because he had outgrown it, the family unit. personal, regional and national history. professionally and culturally. Neverthe¬ One of Lamon's stated purposes was The way to understand Page, Cooper less, the South remained his spiritual to provide "a broad historical frame¬ argues, is to see him as an individual home and was constantly on his mind. work of institutional and political events trying to reconcile his Southern and As a publisher and reformer, he and attitudes," which could be "the often played the role of an ambassador essential background for more specific trying to explain the North and South efforts." In this goal, he has succeeded.□ Jerrold Hirsch is co-editor of Such to one another. He argued that the ante¬ As Us: Southern Voices of the Thirties. bellum South, with its plantations and 106 aristocracy, was a perversion of an ear¬ economic collapse: "The years have lier democratic South that had not only gone by, and the tomorrow Page longed resembled the rest of the nation, but for has come. It is not as bright as Page Nothing Could had provided it with great democratic thought it would be; it is not a millen- thinkers and leaders. Indeed, the South ium." Some historians have criticized Be Finer could once the again play a role in national inadequacy of Page's program and By Michael Myerson. International life if Southerners would focus on their what they considered his unrealistic Publishers, 1978. 245 pp. $3.95. true history. Thus Page could work for optimism. Even Page admitted that change and still claim to be a loyal blacks had not received anywhere near Southerner. an equal share of the funds spent for By Bob McMahon Other Southerners, like Atlanta news¬ public education; educational reform paperman Henry Grady, worked for a and white supremacy had proved com¬ Within many a fat book there is New South while romanticizing the Lost patible. And Page's equation of material trapped a thin book screaming to get Cause; Page could not do this. Like progress and cultural achievement cries out. Nothing Could Be Finer, Michael Grady, he thought he was working to out for serious qualification. Prosperity Myerson's expose of the repressive lay the basis for a prosperous Southern alone cannot change undemocratic reality underneath North Carolina's future; but Page differed in placing social arrangements, nor can it create a progressive mask suffers at times from primary emphasis on agricultural im¬ democratic culture. the author's inability to leave things provement rather than industrial devel¬ While Page's view of Southern history out or to fully organize what he has opment. Nevertheless, he was totally might be useful to a moderate white included. unsympathetic towards the radical Pop¬ Southern reformer, it denies significant Despite these flaws, and despite ulists who sought dramatic changes in aspects of the past and offers little to bludgeoning the reader with an un¬ their society's economic, political and those who envision an egalitarian future remitting, heavy-handed sarcasm, social arrangements. He accepted the in which the contributions of blacks Myerson has written a worthwhile book. white South's rationalizations for the and women to Southern life and history This is particularly true as he follows abandonment of Reconstruction and are acknowledged. In rejecting the the case of Ben Chavis and the Wilm¬ did nothing to challenge Jim Crow or world the slaveholders made, he ignored ington 10, the central thread which ties other inequities. the world the slaves made. his material together. Much of the According to Page, education was the Southern reformers still have to face material on Chavis' activities and the panacea, the key to Southern progress. the questions Page addressed. What is background to the Wilmington 10 Eventually it would solve the problem the relation of the South to the rest of trials is not readily accessible any¬ of race relations. Through education, the nation? What are the solutions to where else. he thought, whites and blacks would Southern problems? Can the South In January, 1971, black students acquire the skills that would lead to change and still remain the South? in Wilmington, NC, walked out of their individual and regional uplift and the Page talked about selective adaptation schools. The boycott was one of a wave material progress which would ultimate¬ of Northern ways, yet he never made of student protests in North Carolina ly produce racial harmony, justice and clear what he wanted to preserve. aimed at the abuses of Nixon-style cultural achievement. The ultimate That challenge remains for those who public school desegregation. Ben Chavis, target of Page's reform efforts was wish to maintain a distinctive Southern a community organizer on the staff of neither political nor economic, but identity. Finally they face a question the United Church of Christ Commis¬ cultural. that Page no doubt never considered: sion for Racial Justice, had provided Cooper provides the reader with a Can the term Southerner refer to blacks important organizing and leadership basic framework for examining Page's as well as whites? The answers to these skills in a number of these protests. life and aspects of the Southern liberal questions are important to Americans, Church leaders in Wilmington asked tradition, but he offers no assessment North and South. They are especially that he come to help the students of Page's ideas. Instead, Cooper chooses important to those seeking to define there. to paraphrase them, thus missing the and identify a Southern liberal tradi¬ The pattern for racial relations in chance to reassess their strengths and tion. Page, however his views are finally Wilmington had been set in 1898. weaknesses and the tradition of which assessed, is part of that tradition. In that year a mob organized by white they are part. Nor does he indicate their Page knew what it meant to be crit¬ Democrats forced a city council run relationship to such later developments ical of one's own — the ambivalence, by a coalition of Negro Republicans as the business progressivism of the the doubt, the loneliness. In his 1909 and white Populists out of office, 1920s. Ignoring the rhetoric, what novel The Autobiography of a South¬ then went on to burn the black section actually was accomplished by the erner, Page admitted his ambivalent of the city. The bodies of many black Gradys and Pages? feelings about the South: "If those that residents were left floating in the Cape Page's views have not gone uncon¬ I loved did not live here, would I ever Fear River. tested elsewhere. For example, the dream of coming back?" But he also In February, 1971, in the wake of Agrarian critic Donald Davidson, writing knew that he was "a part of this land, a black student march on the board of during the Great Depression, argued had roots in it, felt it, knew it, under¬ that Page represented a bankrupt stood it, believed in it as men who had Bob McMahon is a free-lance philosophy. Instead of a future of come into life somewhere else could writer living in Chapel Hill, North material plenty, there had been a total not."D Carolina.

107 education, vigilantes again descended on account of these events a wide-ranging with Morgan: the latter had gone over the black community while local look at the underside of North Carolina's to the "enemy" by soliciting black authorities stood aside. For four days, history, politics and criminal justice support at a state NAACP convention. gun battles continued between black system. His portrait of the state will Myerson has missed the determina¬ residents and night-riding whites. The not be recognized by those familiar tion of white North Carolina political National Guard was finally sent in to only with the state's self-laudatory leaders in the past few years to seek seize the black protest headquarters official image of "progressivism." Pre¬ accommodation with moderate black after a white was killed. For the next cisely because he sets out to hold up leadership around a business-oriented year, sporadic violence by white vigi¬ a mirror to a state which has avoided economic development program. Such lantes continued in Wilmington. looking at itself squarely, Myerson's state leaders as Gov. Jim Hunt want to Meanwhile, Chavis and his political own errors damage his case. put racial confrontations behind them ally, Dr. James Grant, had come to the Exploring the ties of contemporary — and are willing to make limited attention of federal and state authorities North Carolina political leaders to the concessions to accomplish that end as two of the leading "black militants" segregationist leaderships of the 1950s — in order to get on with the serious in North Carolina. Arrested numerous and 1960s, Myerson tends to lump them business of making money. times, Chavis was acquitted or had all together rather than deal with how The historical accounts in the book charges dropped in all of the cases some may have changed positions or also suffer from odd quirks. In re¬ against him until September, 1972. At even strategies in the intervening years. peated references to "reconstruction that time, along with nine others active For example, he cites former Justice democracy," Myerson confuses the in the Wilmington movement, he was I. Beverly Lake, hard-line segregationist Populist-Republican coalition of the convicted of firebombing a grocery leader of the early '60s, as the "God¬ 1890s with the Reconstruction Era store. The three key prosecution wit¬ father of the Morgan wing of the Demo¬ 20 years earlier. The Democrats' Red- nesses later admitted they had lied at cratic Party" in 1974. In fact, that shirt thugs in 1898 are repeatedly called the trial, and then turned around and year Lake — as unabashed a racial the Klan, an organization that ceased recanted their admissions of lying. reactionary as graced any state supreme to exist 20 years before and would not

Myerson has woven around his court in the country — broke publicly be revived for another 20. His discussion

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108 of the period is even more confused be¬ Herbert Gutman's Slavery and the Num¬ Operating in areas where banks were cause he almost totally avoids mention¬ bers Game proved that the cliometricians unknown, he was the ultimate agent of ing the white Populists. were not mathematician-gods. Trained Northern goods and credit; he alone could Myerson's effort to link North in both conventional and quantitative supply equipment, seeds and Carolina developments in the early history, Gutman uncovered statistical foodstuffs to a spreading economy of small farms. 1970s with national policies set by errors in Time on the Cross and revealed the Nixon administration is also ob¬ that its authors had based many interpre¬ Profit maximizers extraordinary, the scure at points. The discussion of tations upon "soft” (i.e., non-statistical) country merchants carved out what school desegregation policies and the evidence. More importantly, he made Ransom and Sutch call "territorial federal role in the Wilmington 10 the point that when the computers monopolies": areas large enough to case is adequate, but other material are switched off, biased humanity must produce a steady profit but small — such as a section on behavior modi¬ decide what the figures mean. Never enough to fall under the intimate

fication — has an air of having been again will the results of a cliometric supervision of one man. Within each thrown in with the hope the reader study be taken so widely upon faith. of these small dominions, the merchant- will find some linkage. Roger L. Ransom and Richard monopolist was able to set interest rates Perhaps Nothing Could Be Finer Sutch's One Kind of Freedom: The as high as 60 to 75 percent, and deter¬ would have been less uneven had the Economic Consequences of Emancipa¬ mine what combination of crops would author undertaken a less wide-ranging tion goes far toward redeeming the be planted. Considering the steady survey. While it is one of the best quantitative genre. General and techni¬ decline in the price of cotton during the accounts available of the civil rights cal points are together in one generously decades following emancipation, it is no struggle in North Carolina in the 1970s, documented volume, written with the wonder that landowners and tenants it still leaves much room for more to comprehension of the lay reader in alike fell into the trap of those unrelent¬ be said on that topic. □ mind. The authors were likewise for¬ ing and unavoidable interest rates. tunate in picking an uncontroversial Because it was in the interest of the topic. C. Vann Woodward drew the merchant to keep his customers de¬ general outlines of the post-bellum pendent, farm improvements were usu¬ Southern economy in The Origins of the ally neglected or discouraged within One Kind New South (1951); One Kind of Free¬ the sharecropping arrangement, with the of Freedom dom expands and elaborates upon result that millions of acres were ex¬ Woodward's standard account of the hausted by over-planting with cotton By Roger L. Ransom and Richard Sutch. rise of sharecropping. Any native of the and corn. Cambridge University Press, 1977. 409 Deep South can verify the descent of Ransom and Sutch maintain that the pp. $19.95. small farmers into debt peonage by system was most destructive where rac¬ examining the probate records of his ism and profit-maximizing operated most By Paul M. Pruitt, Jr. or her home county. Yet Ransom and closely. In the Black Belts, all of the Sutch have, by their statistical approach, tools of advancement were denied to Four years have passed since cliome- achieved insights which make One Kind sharecroppers — good schools, political tricians Robert Fogel and Stanley of Freedom well worth reading. rights, land ownership — by terrorism Engerman published their two-volume Utilizing census schedules and the if need be. And, though the same laws study of slavery, Time on the Cross. archives of the Dun and Bradstreet of debt and dependency operated upon Cliometrics is the study of history (Clio Companies, Ransom and Sutch have the small farmers of the hill country, being the muse of history) by means of traced a transformation in the Southern the white "yeomanry" were prevented computers and mathematical formulae; economy. Antebellum cotton produc¬ from making common cause with their such scholars spend years marshalling tion was attuned to the plantation black fellow-sufferers by that racism statistics and running programs. Time system; credit was obtained through which had shaped the economic and on the Cross was greeted by the news "factors" who lived in urban centers political institutions of the New South. media as evidence that "scientific" (Charleston, New Orleans) and managed Readers of C. Vann Woodward will note

history had come into its own, though — large geographical areas. With the loss of One Kind of Freedom confirms one of favorable publicity notwithstanding — the slave wealth upon which credit had the chief arguments of the Independents the work touched off an academic been based, the focal point of business and Populists of the 1880s and 1890s: furor. activity shifted to local arenas where a combination of local oligarchies ruled Humanists were at a loss to challenge relatively small-time merchants were the South. In the light shed by Ransom the abstruse computations which proved, best able to assess the risks of a given and Sutch, the interracial "class" union according to Fogel and Engerman, that neighborhood. At the same time thou¬ promoted by the Populist radicals seems the slaves had internalized the work sands of freedmen, anxious to avoid as far-sighted and courageous as it ethic and ambitions of the masterclass. plantation-style gang labor, began to indeed was. After a year of controversy, however, negotiate renting and sharecropping For all the valuable information it agreements as a compromise between contains, however, One Kind of Free¬ the close supervision desired by the dom is not without defects. The authors Paul M. Pruitt, Jr., teaches high landowners and the freedom desired have chosen to use 27 widely separated school in Coosa County, Alabama, by a landless peasantry. By the 1870s, counties to represent what they call and is a graduate student at William the country merchant had assumed a "the Cotton South." They exclude such and Mary. central role in cotton production. extensively sharecropped cotton lands

109 as the Tennessee Valley in north Ala¬ Arbor, Mi 48106. The cost is $7.50 for Press, 1978. $22.50. "The United Mine Workers of America bama. By focusing so closely upon microfilm and $15 for xerographic. and the Coal Operators: The Political Econ¬ black farmers, Ransom and Sutch have ECONOMICS. HISTORY AND POLITICS omy of Coal in Appalachia," by Curtis I. to some degree slighted the class- Seltzer. Dissertation. Columbia University. exploitation theory of Southern poverty "Careers of Lawyers in Politics: The Case "Window on Freedom: The South's Re¬ which their work clearly implies. of the Georgia General Assembly," by Charles sponse to the Emancipation of the Slaves in M. Moon, Jr. Dissertation. Georgia State the British West Indies, 1833-1861," by Joe Other problems are endemic to University. B. Wilkins. Dissertation. University of South cliometric history. As Herbert Gutman "Confederate Monetary Policy," by James Carolina. pointed out, "the profit motive" F. Morgan. Dissertation. Oklahoma State Women Power in Textile and Apparel cannot be equated with the complexity University. Sales, by Eric Hertz and Jerry Sherman. of human motives; but the economists Credit and Borrowing in Texas: Consum¬ Fairchild Books, 1978. $7.95. er's Rights and Duties, by William R. Wishard persist in treating us as profit-maxi¬ and Frederick E. Felder. Cragmont Publica¬ BLACK EXPERIENCES IN THE SOUTH mizers. Even the country merchants tions, 1978. $5.95. deserve better — not to mention the "An Empirical Analysis of Multibank Afro-American Literature and Culture, freedmen. The height of ridiculousness Holding Company Performance in Texas," 1945-1975: A Guide to Information Sources, by Frederick H. Hays. Dissertation. Louisiana Volume 6, ed. by Charles D. Peavy. Gale must surely be Ransom and Sutch's State University. Research Co., 1978. $18.00. effort to "prove" that freedom was Federal Courts in the Early Republic: Afro-American Poetry and Drama, 1760- more profitable than slavery for the Kentucky, 1789-1816, by Mary K. Tachau. 1975: A Guide to Information Sources, ed. average black. In order to make the Princeton University Press, 1978. $16.50. by Genevieve E. Fabre et al. Gale Research point, One Kind of Freedom solemnly "Fifteen Southern Blue Collar Workers: Co., 1978. $18.00. The Potential for Populist Politics," by Robert The Black Almanac, by Alton Hornsby, Jr. places an economic value upon the E. Botsch. Dissertation. University of North Barron's Educational Series, 1978. $5.95. leisure and self-determination which Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Black Colleges as Social Intervention: seemed as precious as heaven to the "Florida Gold: The Emergence of the The Development of Higher Education within freedmen themselves. Florida Citrus Industry, 1865-1895," by the African Methodist Episcopal Church," by Juanita J. Fortunately, the authors realize the Jerry W. Weeks. Dissertation. University of High. Dissertation. State University North Carolina at Chapel Hill. of New Jersey at New Brunswick. limitations of computerized history. In "The Great Southern Drought of 1930-31: "The Black Laborer, the Black Legal Ex¬ the general introduction they modestly A Study in Rural Relief," by Nan E. Wood¬ perience and the United States Supreme state: "Ultimately, it is impossible to ruff. Dissertation. University of Tennessee. Court, with Emphasis on the Neo-Concept of "Historical Studies of Western North obtain the insight which comes with Equal Employment," by Malik Simba. Disser¬ Carolina: An Annotated Bibliography," by tation. University of Minnesota. abstraction and simultaneously retain Nancy K. Rorie. Dissertation. Duke Uni¬ Black Religions in the New World, by the full richness of detail and variety versity. George E. Simpson. Columbia University that is the reality of human experience." "The History of the Textile Workers Press, 1978. $22.50. Union of Black Violence: So long as the aims of historical studies America, CIO, in the South, 1937 to Political Significance of 1945," by Paul D. Richards. Dissertation. the 1960s Riots, by James W. Button. Prince¬ include the capturing of past "reality" University of Wisconsin at Madison. ton University Press, 1978. $16.00. as well as present "insight," cliometrics "Just Lookin' for a Home: The Cotton "The Development of Black Education in will remain a fascinating tool — not a Boll Weevil and the South," by John D. Tennessee, 1865-1920," by Cynthia G. Helms. replacement — of the humanistic Dissertation. Florida State University. Fleming. Dissertation. Duke University. The Dred Scott Case: Its approach. □ "Legislative Turnovers and Political Ca¬ Significance in reers: A Study of Texas State Legislators, American Law and Politics, by Don E. Feh- 1969-1975," by Lawrence W. Miller. Disser¬ renbacher. Oxford University Press, 1978. tation. Texas Tech University. $15.95. "The Louisiana Scalawags," by Francis "The Education of the Slave-Quarter J. Wetta. Dissertation. Louisiana State Univer¬ Community: White Teaching and Black sity. Learning on the Antebellum Plantation," by Books "Matronage: Patterns in Women's Organ¬ Thomas L. Webber. Dissertation. Columbia izations, Atlanta, Georgia, 1890-1940," by University. on Darlene R. Roth. Dissertation. George Wash¬ "The Federal Courts and the Black Man in the South ington University. America, 1800-1883: A Study of Judicial The New River Controversy, by Thomas J. Policy-Making," by Jordan M. Smith. Dis¬ Schoenbaum. John F. Blair, Pubs., 1978. sertation. University of North Carolina at This list consists of books published $10.95. Chapel Hill. since August, 1978. Book entries include "Race and Politics: The Evolution of the "The Free Negro in the Antebellum New Orleans works up to November, 1978. Disserta¬ White Supremacy Campaign of 1898 in North Press," by William J. Nelson, Jr. Dissertation. Duke University. tions appeared in the Dissertation Carolina," by Robert H. Wooley. Dissertation. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Freedmen's Schools and Textbooks: Black Abstracts Index during June-July, 1978. "Racial Violence in the South During Education in the South, 1861-1870, ed. by The entries are grouped under several World War II," by James A. Burran, III. Robert C. Morris. AMS Press, 1978. Reprint broad categories for your convenience. Dissertation. University of Tennessee. of 1870 edition. 6 volumes: vols. I & II, The Social Bases of City Politics: Atlanta, $27.50; vols. 11 l-V, $18.00; vol. VI, $11.00. Mention of a book here does not pre¬ 1865-1903, by Eugene J. West. Greenwood Hard Trials on My Way: Slavery and the clude its being reviewed in a future issue. Press, 1978. $17.95. Struggle Against It, 1800-1860, by John A. Unsolicited reviews of publications of "The Social Mobility of New Orleans Scott. New American Library, 1978. $1.95. general interest to our readers are wel¬ Laborers, 1870-1900," by David T. Kearns. "The Human Side of Black Political Dissertation. Tulane University. come. Recent works are preferred. Experience," by Cecile E. Harrison. Disserta¬ The South Since 1865, by John S. Ezell. tion. University of Texas at Austin. are Copies of the dissertations avail¬ University of Oklahoma Press, 1978. $14.95. "The Indigenous Civil Rights Movement able from Xerox University Microfilms, Southern Federalists, 1800-1816, by James and Cultural Change in North Carolina: Dissertation Copies, PO Box 1764, Ann H. Broussard. Louisiana State University Weldon, Chapel Hill and Monroe: 1946-1965,"

110 by Marcellus C. Barksdale. Dissertation. Duke Gandy. University of Mississippi Press, 1978. History of Butts County, Georgia, 1825- University. $25.00. 1976, compiled by Lois McMichael. Cherokee "Making Their Own Way: Southern A Radical Life, by Vera Buch Weisbord. Publishing Co., 1978. $25.00. Blacks' Migration to Pittsburgh, 1916-1930," Indiana University Press, 1977. $15.00. I Heard the Old Fisherman Say, by Patrick by Peter Gottlieb. Dissertation. University of William Berry Hartsfield, Mayor of Atlanta, B. Mullen. University of Texas Press, 1978. Pittsburgh. by Harold Martin. University of Georgia Press, $15.00. "The Necessity of Myth: A History of the 1978. Price not set. A Journey Through Texas: A Saddle Trip National Negro Business League," by John H. on the Southwestern Frontier, by Frederick Burrows. Dissertation. Auburn University. EDUCATION L. Olmstead. University of Texas Press, 1978. A New Deal for Blacks: The Emergence of $12.00. Civil Rights as a National Issue: The Depres¬ "An Analysis of a Curriculum Supplement My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnight, by sion Era, by Harvard Sitkoff. Oxford Univer¬ Especially Designed for Tucker Prison In¬ Mary A. Kelly. Exposition Press, 1978. sity Press, 1978. $14.95. mates, Arkansas Department of Corrections," $15.00. "Perceptions of Florida Educators and by Robert J. Grissom. Dissertation. University "The Printing Firm of Robert Wells with a School Board Members Regarding the Impact of Florida. Descriptive Bibliography of its Imprints," by of School Integration on the Academic Gains "The Gaston County Schools: The Merger Christopher J. Gould. Dissertation. University and Social Acceptance of Negro Children," by of Three Administrative Units, 1965-1975," of South Carolina. Paul Edwin Belvadi. Dissertation. Florida by Jimmie E. Martin. Dissertation. Duke Selma: Her Institutions and Her Men, by Atlantic University. University. John Hardy. Reprint Co., 1978. Reprint of Production Relations, Class and Black 'The Growth of Private Schools and Their 1879 edition. $15.00. Liberation: A Marxist Perspective in Afro- Impact on the Public Schools of Alabama "Social Organization and the Sea: A Gulf American Studies, by Clarence J. Munford. (1955-1975)," by William John Heron. Disser¬ Coast Shrimp Fishery," by David M. White. Humanities Press, 1978. Price not set. tation. University of Alabama. Dissertation. Southern Methodist University. "Race and Politics in North Carolina, "An Historical Perspective: The History of Sullivan's Hollow, by Chester Sullivan. 1872-1901: The 'Black Second' Congressional the Kate Duncan Smith, Daughters of the University of Mississippi Press, 1978. $5.00. District," by Eric D. Anderson. Dissertation. American Revolution School, Grant, Ala¬ "Tejanos and Texas: The Native Mexicans University of Chicago. bama," by Charles H. Edmonds. Dissertation. of Texas, 1820-1850," by Andrew A. Tijer¬ Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" University of Alabama. ina. Dissertation. University of Texas at in the Antebellum South, by Albert J. Rabo- "A History of Louisiana State University Austin. teau. Oxford University Press, 1978. $14.95. Division of Continuing Education, 1924- "Traditional Louisiana-French Folk Music: A Stranger in the House, by Robert 1973," by John B. Powell, III. Dissertation. An Argument for its Preservation and Utiliza¬ Hamburger and Susan Fowler-Gallagher. Mac¬ Louisiana State University. tion as a State Cultural Heritage," by Mary Millan Publishing Co., 1978. $6.95. "The Impact of Alien Immigration on Louise Lewis Wilson. Dissertation. University "Tar Heel Blacks and the New South Public Policy and Educational Services on of Pittsburgh. Dream: The Coleman Manufacturing Com¬ Selected Districts in the Texas Educational pany, 1896-1904," by Allen E. Burgess. System," by Amado Robledo. Dissertation. LITERATURE Dissertation. Duke University. University of Houston. They Was Just Niggers, by Michael Fedo. "A State of the Art of Community Educa¬ "The Artist in Shadow: Quentin Comp- Brasch and Brasch Pubs., 1978. Price not set. tion in South Carolina: The Historical Basis son in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Trabelin' On: The Slave Journey to an and Current Status," by Nancy C. Cook. Fury," by Jimmie Lee Kelly. Dissertation. Afro-Baptist Faith, by Mechal Sobel. Green¬ Dissertation. University of South Carolina. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. wood Press, 1978. $25.00. "A Study of the Atlanta Public Schools "Faulkner's Sartoris: A Comprehensive Ethnic Heritage Studies Project's Multiethnic Study," by Merle W. Kaiser. Dissertation. BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY Student Resources, Staff Development Proc¬ New York University. esses and Multicultural Press," by Arnold H. "George Washington Cable: The Marriage "C. Vann Woodward: American Educator," Heller. Dissertation. Georgia State University. of Romance and Realism," by Pauline E. by Julia Ann Oxner Hall. Dissertation. Uni¬ "A Study of the Newport News Pupil Scheve. Dissertation. University of Kansas. versity of Mississippi. Desegregation Process," by Guy H. Quesen- "A Living Minstrelsy: The Poetry and A Calhoun County Mississippi Boy, by berry. Dissertation. VPI. Music of Sidney Lanier," by Jane S. Gabin. Glover Moore. University of Mississippi "A Study of the Techniques Involved in Dissertation. University of North Carolina Press, 1978. $5.00. Developing a Campaign for a Local Bond at Chapel Hill. A Disciple in Blue Suede Shoes, by Carl Referendum for School Construction in The Living Female Writers of the South, Perkins. Zondervan Publishing House, 1978. North Carolina," by Lester J. Propst, Jr. ed. by Mary T. Tardy. Gale Research Co., $6.95. Dissertation. Duke University. 1978. Reprint of 1872 edition. $35.00. Far West of Lambarene: Memoirs of a "Vocational Rehabilitation of Youthful "The Mind and the Heart of Love: Eros Medical Practice in Rural Texas, by Gene Offenders in the State of Florida," by Jesse and Agape in the Fiction of Flannery O'Con¬ Schulze. Hawthorn Books, 1978. $10.95. B. Taintor. Dissertation. Florida State Uni¬ nor," by Suzanne T. Allen. Dissertation. Frank Porter Graham: The Biography versity. University of Detroit. of a Southern Liberal, by Warren Ashby. "The Short Fiction of Eudora Welty," John F. Blair, Pubs., 1978. $12.95. CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES by Bernard D. Fedd, III. Dissertation. Colum¬ Irony in the Mind's Life, by Robert Coles. bia University. New Directions Publishing Corp., 1978. $4.95. Bead land to Barrow: A History of Barrow A Still Moment: Essays on the Art of "John C. Calhoun as Secretary of War, County, Georgia, from the Earliest Days to Eudora Welty, ed. by John F. Desmond. 1817-1825," by Roger J. Spider. Dissertation. the Present, ed. by Fred C. Ingram. Cherokee Scarecrow Press, 1978. $6.50. Louisiana State University. Publishing Co., 1978. $25.00. Tennessee Studies in Literature, Vol. "John George Jackson: A Biography," The Cherokee Indian Nation: A Troubled XXIII, by Allison Ensor and Thomas Heffer- by Stephen W. Brown. Dissertation. West Nation, by Duane H. King. University of nan. University of Tennessee Press, 1978. Viriginia University. Tennessee Press, 1978. Price not set. Price not set. Leaders in the Textile Industry. Textile Creole Gumbo and All That Jazz: A New "Tomorrow is Another Day': Women, World, 1978. $35.00. Orleans Cookbook, by Howard Mitcham. Men and Society in Selected Fiction of Seven "Moncure Daniel Conway: The Develop¬ Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1978. $10.00. Southern Women Writers," by Anne G. Jones. ment and Career of a Southern Abolitionist," Coca-Cola, by Pat Watters. Doubleday & Dissertation. University of North Carolina at by Ursula Wall Pitman. Dissertation. Boston Co., 1978. $12.95. Chapel Hill. College. Georgia from Rabun Gap to Tyree Light, Walker Percy: An American Search, by Norman's Natchez: An Early Photogra¬ by E. J. Kahn, Jr. Cherokee Publishing Co., Robert Coles. Little, Brown & Co., 1978. pher and His Town, by Joan and Thomas 1978. $4.95. $12.50.

Ill INDEX FOR VOLUMES V & VI Hog Heaven: Barbecue in the South. Kathleen Zobel. V, 2 & 3, pp. Pure Country: Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper. Interview by Sue 58-61. Thrasher. V, 2 & 3, pp. 90-96. All Back Issues of Southern Exposure Hog Killing at the Rowlands'. Photographic essay by Jackson Hill. Railroad Fever. Steve Hoffius. V, 1, pp. 47-58. Are VI, 3, pp. 50-52. Reading the Hops: Recollections of Lorenzo Piper Davis and the Available, Single Issue: $3, Double: $4.50 The Howard-Baker Feud. Poem by Lee Howard. V, 2 & 3, p. 114. Negro Baseball League. Interview by Theodore Rosengarten. "I Am Joan." Joan Little with Rebecca Ranson. Adams’ VI, 1, pp. 42-47. V, 2 & 3, pp. 62-79. Journey. Frank Adams. VI, 3, pp. 18-25. In the Good Old Way: Primitive Baptist Traditions. Brett Sutton. "A Redhot Poker and Rattlesnake Juice": A Profile ofErnest Seem an. The After Watch. Rod Stipe. VI, 1, pp. 28-29. V, 2 & 3, pp. 97-104. Mimi Conway. VI, 2, pp. 117-121. Alabama After Wallace. Randall Williams. VI, 1, pp. 8-10. In Lure of the Tropics. Poem by Jack Nocentelli. V, 2 & 3, p. 159. A Return Visit: Charles Waddell Chesnutt. Bob Brinkmeyer. VI, 3, Alternatives That Work. Polly Smith and Becky Ney. VI, 4, pp. 97-99. In the Shadow of Southern History. Eli Evans. V, 4, p. 32. pp. 102-103. Amerikan Bandstand. Poem by Jack Boozer. V, 1, p. 96. The Innocence of James Reston. Mark Pinsky. VI, 1, pp. 39-41. A Return Visit: Erskine Caldwell. Bob Brinkmeyer. VI, 1, pp. 100- "And None of Them Left-Handed": Midwife from Plains. Georgia. The Innocence of Joan Little. James Reston, Jr. VI, 1, pp. 30-38. Id. Interview by Christopher Walters-Bugbee. V. 1, pp. 4-12. Interview with Wayne Brooks. Clare Jupiter. VI, 4, pp. 100-102. A Return Visit: Frances Newman. Chris Mayfield. VI, 4. pp. Another Day. William Causse. VI, 4, pp. 52-55. Jass. Poem by Julia Fields. VI, 3, p. 49. A Return Visit: Joel Chandler Harris. Bob Brinkmeyer. V, 2 & 3, Appalshop. Marty Newell. V, 2 & 3, pp. 190-191. Jazz Literature. Jason Berry. VI, 3, pp. 40-49. pp. 214-215. The Archive of the Festival of American Folklife. Frank Proschan. Jesse Helms vs. John Ingram. Bob McMahon. VI, 3, pp. 14-17. A Return Visit: Lillian Smith. Bob Brinkmeyer. VI, 2, pp. 122-123. V, 2&3,pp. 199-200. Jimmy Carter and "Populism." Lawrence Goodwyn. V, 1, pp. 4546. The Rise and Fall of the UMW Fund. Barbara Berney. VI, 2, pp. The Archive of Folksong in the Library of Congress. V, 2 & 3, p. 200. Jimmy Carter: Master Magician. Bob Hall. V, 1, pp. 4344. 95-102. Archives of Southern Folklore and Folklife. Laurel Horton. V, 2 & 3, to Die. Jimmy's Main Man Falls. . . . Richard J. Margolis. V. 4, pp. 14-15. Scheduled Dudley Clendenin. VI, 4, pp. 74-75. pp. 200-202. John Henry Memorial Foundation. Ed Cabell. V, 2 & 3, p. 192. Scientific Penology Comes to Georgia. Gene Guerrero. VI, 4, pp. The Ballad of Jack Nocentelli: Poet Laureate of Elysian Fields. Jason John Tower vs. Bob Krueger. Pat Black. VI, 3, pp. 9-14. 4247. Berry. V, 2 & 3, pp. 156-160. Johnny Harris: The High Price of Justice. Greg McDonald. VI, 4, Self-Help Fights Back. Linda Thalman and Bob Broedel. VI, 2, pp. Beale Street Blues. David Bowman. V, 1,pp. 75-79. pp. 80-83. 80-82. Blue Ridge Institute of Ferrum College. Roddy Moore. V, 2 & 3, Journey to the White House: The Story of Coca-Cola. Bob Hall. Sensational Relatives. Poem by Alexis Krasilovsky. VI, 3, p. 53. pp. 191-192. V, 1, pp. 3242. Sick for Clinics. Interview with Eula Hall and Pat Little by Richard The Blues Family. William R. Ferris. V, 2 & 3, pp. 21-25. Just As I Am: Growing Up Gay. Louie Crew. V, 1, pp. 59-65. Couto. VI, 2, pp. 77-79. . . . But Don't Count Him Out. David Nordan. V, 4, p. 16. "King Cotton": The Federal Theatre Project. Introduction by John Sick for Justice. Interview with Square Mormon by Richard Couto. Cajuns and Creoles: The French Gulf Coast. Nicholas Spitzer. V, 2 & O'Connor. VI, 1,pp. 74-81. VI. 2. pp. 73-76. 3, pp. 140-155. The Legacy of Legalized Murder. Randall Williams. VI, 4, pp. 70-73. Sick for Justice: An Introduction. Chip Hughes. VI, 2, pp. 2-3. Celebrate Freedom: Juneteenth. Wendy Watriss. V, 1, pp. 80-87. Lessons From the Fund: Band-Aids Don’t Cure. Matt Witt. VI, 2, Smells Like Money. Kingsport Study Group. VI, 2, pp. 59-67. Center for Southern Folklore. William Ferris and Judy Peiser. V, 2 & pp. 103 104. The South: A Market for Shoes. Poem by Stephen March. V, 1, 3, p. 186. Letters From the Great Depression. Julia Kirk Blackwelder. VI, 3, p. 103. Charleston. South Carolina. Communications Center. Charles Brown. pp. 73-77. The South Rises Again on Capitol Hill. Norman J. Ornstein. V, 4, V, 2 & 3, pp. 196-198. Listening to James "Son" Thomas Sing Delta Blues. Poem by Carol pp. 12-13. "Chase That Rabbit": Clog Dancing in the South. Stephen March and Cox. V. 2&3, p. 210. Southern Culture Exchange Center. Judy McLaughlin. V, 2 & 3, David Holt. V, 2 & 3, pp. 44-47. Living Off the Sea. Jennifer Miller. V, 1, pp. 88-91. p. 199. Child of the Lord. Interview with Bill Livers by Nathalie Andrews and Long Journey Home: An Introduction. Allen Tullos. V, 2& 3,pp. 6-10. Southern Folk Music on Records. W. K. McNeil. V, 2 & 3, pp. 178- Eric Larson. VI, 1, pp. 14-19. Louisiana Down Home. Poem by Garland Strother. V, 1, p. 104. 186. "Cold Frosty Morning." Photographic Portrait by Carl Fleischhauer. Louisiana: New Orleans Elects Black Mayor. Bill Rushton. V,4,pp. 34. Southern Lawyers Battle Electric Chair. V, 4, p. 26. V, 2 & 3, pp. 54-57. LSU Press: Books and the Bottom Line. Les Landon. V, 4, p. 21. Standing Up to Fear with the United League. Fredric Tulsky. VI, 3, Collecting Gullah Folklore. Interviews by Genevieve Chandler. V, 2 & Making of a Conscious Warrior: Interview with Nzinga Njeri. Clare pp. 68-72. 3, pp. 119-121. Jupiter. VI, 4, pp. 18-24. Story of Fate is Story of Post Office. V, 4, p. 30. Up Photographic essay by Bob Herbert. V, 1, pp. 13- Coming Southern. The A 18. Making of a Health Care Professional. VI, 2. pp. 4-11. Stranger in the House. Robert Hamburger. V, 1, pp. 22-31. Meharry Medical College: A Century of Service. Leslie A. Falk. VI, 2, Strom Thurmond vs. Pug Ravenel. Jan Collins Stucker. VI, 3, pp. 5-9. Conflict and Democracy: Lessons from Clinics. M. H. Ross. VI, 2, p. 94. pp. 14-17. The Struggle. Michael Freemark. VI, 2, pp. 12-13. Cotton Dust Kills and It's Killing Me. Mimi Conway; photographs by The Men at the Top: The Story of J. P. Stevens. Jim Overton, Bob The Student Health Coalition: Outreach and Outrage. Kevin McDon¬ Earl Dotter.VI, 2, pp. 29-39. Arnold and Bob Hall. VI, 1, pp. 52-63. ald. VI, 2, pp. 18-23. Daily Justice. Harriott Quin. VI, 4, pp. 12-14. Nat D. on the Jamboree. Mark Newman and Bill Couturie. V, 2 & 3, "Such As Us": Federal Writers Project. Tom Terrill and Jerrold Death in the Caledonia Prison. Jim Lee. VI, 3, pp. 88-90. pp. 25-29. Hirsch. VI. 1,pp. 67-73. Death Row: A Population Profile. Clare Jupiter. VI, 4, pp. 76-79. New Face at TVA. Jim Branscome. V, 4, pp. 24-25. The Sunbelt Pulls Them In. Gurney Breckenfeld. V, 4, pp. 8-11. Dixie Rock: The Fusion's Still Burning. Courtney Haden. V, 2 & 3, Nine Generations of Potters: The Cole Family. Dorothy Cole Auman Tennessee Folk Arts Program. Linda White. V, 2 & 3, pp. 193-194. pp. 36-43. and Charles G. Zug. III. V. 2 & 3. pp. 166-174. Texas Gulf Coast Fishing Lore. Patrick Mullen. V, 2 & 3, pp. 134- Dragging Main. Photographic essay by David Rolfe. VI, 1 p.. 64-66. No Time Off: A Family Practitioner in South Texas. Roy Appleton 139. report Dying for Dollars. Research by Marc Miller. VI, 2, pp. 105-114. A and Hilary Hylton. VI, 2, pp. 68-71. Texas Suburb Hits the Brakes. Mark Addicks. V, 4, pp. 17-18. Family Portraits. Photographs by George Mitchell. VI, 3, pp. 54-58. North Carolina Faces Timber To Claudia, Second Poem. Manning Marable. V, 1, p. 105. Fasola Shortage. V, 4, p. 28. Folk: Sacred Harp Singing. Buell E.Cobb, Jr. V, 2 & 3, pp. 48-53. North Carolina Office of Folklife. George Holt. V, 2 & 3, p. 196. Tracking the Lost String Bands. Charles Wolfe. V, 2 & 3, pp. 11-20. Fighting the Blight of Big Buildings. Neal R. Peirce. V, 4, pp. 19-20. North vs. South: New War Between the States. Charlie Jean. V, 4, The Trial of Highlander. Jon Egerton. VI, 1, pp. 82-89. The First Year's Sowing. Fiction by Dale Short. V, 1, pp. 19-21. pp. 6-7. Twisted Laurel. Song by Tommy Thompson. V, 2 & 3, p. 3. Flood Without Relief: The Story of the Tug Valley Disaster. Deborah Numbers Are Power at Carolina Action. Malcolm Jones. VI, 3, pp. Untitled. Poem by Steven Ward. V, 1, p. 99. M. Baker. VI, 1, pp. 20-27. 63-67. Virginia Foster. Candy A. Culin. VI, 4, pp. 84-86. Folklife and Photography: Bringing the FSA Home. Commentary and The Numbers Game. A special report by Marc Miller. VI, 4, pp. 25-29. Virginia: New Life in the Country. Nancy Finch. V, 4, p. 5. photographs by Jack Delano. Introduction by Greg Day. V, 2 & 3 Oliver Harvey: "Got to Take Some Risks." Ed McConville. VI, 2, Visit to the White House. Michael Bert McCarthy. VI, 1, pp. 48-51. pp. 122-133. A pp. 24-28. Visitor’s Recollection. John Cohen. V, 2 & 3, pp. 115-118. Folklife Bibliography. V, 2 & 3, pp. 202-207. One Teacher's Journal. Harriet McLeod. VI, 1, pp. 90-94. A Voice From Home: Southern Mountain Musicians on the Maryland- Folkroots: Images of Mississippi Black Folklife. Photographic essay An Open Letter: Jerry Paul on Trial. Anne Braden. VI, 1, pp. 38-39. Pennsylvania Border. Charles Camp and David Whisnant. V, 2 & 3, by Roland Freeman. V, 2 & 3, pp. 29-35. The Original Invisible Man. Interview by Ralph Ellison. VI, 3, p. 45. pp. 80-89. Foreign Banks Flock to the South. B. Drummond Jr. V, 4,p. 7. Ayres, "Our Place Was Beale Street. " Andrew Vale. VI, 3. pp. 26-39. A Way of Saying. Poem by Sarah Gordon. VI, 1, p. 4. Foxfire. Eliot Wigginton. V, 2 & 3, pp. 187-189. People, Place, Persistence: A Victory for Neighborhoods. Malcolm What the Experts Say: William Leeke and William Nagel. VI, 4, pp. Free Men. Ray March. VI, 4, pp. 60-67. Jones. V, 1, pp. 66-74. 94-96. Furniture Workers Organize. V, 4. p. 20. People's Medicine in the Early South. Peter Wood. VI, 2, pp. 50-53. When the Preacher Carries the Keys. Tony Sayer. VI, 4, pp. 56-58 Goldenseal: A State Folklife Magazine. Tom Screven. V, 2 & 3 pp A Populist in South Carolina? John Norton. VI, 1, pp. 10-13. Who Will Pay the Bill? Joyce Goldstein. VI, 2, pp. 89-92. 195-196. Portraits from Craggy. Jimmy Stowe. VI, 4, pp. 3941. Who's Getting Rich in the New South. Special report by Bob Hall and Good News and Bad News: Lessons from Clinics. Helen M. Lewis A Power Playground for the ERA. Patricia W. Goodman. VI, 3, pp. Bob Williams. VI, 3, pp. 91-95. VI, 2, p. 93. 59-62. A Woman of the Hills: Maude Minish Sutton. Daniel W. Patterson. Graveyards and Afro-American Art. John Vlach. V, 2 & 3, pp. 161-165. The Prison Experiment: A Circular History. Michael Kroll. VI, 4, pp. V, 2 & 3, pp. 105-113. The Great Hookworm Crusade. Allen Tullos. pp. VI, 2, 40-49. 6-11. The Wonderful World of Rectum Inspection. Tom Warren. VI, 4, p. The Greensboro Sit-Ins. William Chafe. VI, 3, pp 78-87 Prison Plantation: The Story of Angola. John Vodicka. VI, 4, pp. 32- 59. Healing Waters. Steve Hoffius. VI, 2, pp. 54-58. 38. Yesterday: Mother of Good Roads. Jeffrey J. Crow. V, 4, pp. 22-23. "Hey. My Mom's in Prison." An interview by Andrew Griffin. VI, 4 Prison Portfolio. A photographic essay by Sean Kernan. VI, 4, pp. 15- You Can Do Something. Interview with Joe Ingle by Bill Finger. pp. 48-51. 17. VI, 4, pp. 88-93. Highlander Research and Education Center. Guy and Candy Carawan. Prophets in Health Care. Introduction by Richard Couto. VI, 2. Zedith Teague Garner. Photographic Portrait by Jan Schochet. V, V, 2 & 3, pp. 192-193. pp. 72-73. 2& 3, pp. 175-177.

NOTES TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS WHILE THERE IS A SOUL IN PRISON If you are moving, please let us 1979 Peace Calendar and Appointment Book know 60 days in advance, if possible. Print your old and new addresses, The War Resisters League has a handsome, spiral-bound calendar book available for 1979 which features: with the numbers on the top line of • a page for each week in the year your subscription label and send to: Address • quotations from prisoners or ex-prisoners, including Eugene V. Debs, Change Emma Goldman, Rosa Luxemburg, Jill Raymond, Ethel & Julius Rosenberg P.O. Box 230 • brief sketches of some political prisoners such as Sacco & Vanzetti, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514 and Ammon Hennacy; and descriptions of the prison reform movement • poetry by prisoners Some upcoming issues feature • photography, drawings, sketches specials on Sports; Education; Build¬ • prison resource list of organizations and periodicals, and a selected reading ing & Architecture; The Civil Rights list. Movement; Literature; The Family. The calendar is titled While There Is a Soul in Prison and is available at $3.50 If you'd like to contribute some¬ per copy (four for $12) from War Resisters League/Southeast, 108 Purefoy Road, thing to any of these issues, please Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514. drop us a note and we’ll send infor¬ mation on deadlines, themes, etc.

112 Ifyou are seeking ways to become person¬ ally involved in the movement to change our criminal justice system for the better, we may be able to direct you to a prisoner who would like a visitor or to an organization which would value your talents and time. Please write to Tony Dunbar, c/o Southern Exposure, PO Box 230, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

If you or your group would like a study guide to use while reading this book and becoming more familiar with the prison system in your community, write to: Prison Study Guide P.O. Box 230 Chape! Hill, NC 27514

We wish to extend our thanks to the following persons who, in addition to those appearing in Still Life, made this issue pos¬ sible: Edith Alston, Susan Cary, Ellen Clarke, Claire Cosner, Ken Denberg, L.C. Dorsey, John Egerton, Robert Tommy Fields, Kenny Foscue, Andy Hall, Jacqueline Hall, Susie Hamrick, Chris Harris, Jennifer Johnson, Chan Kendrick, Cliff Kuhn, Hastie E. Love, John Lozier, Michael McCallum, Page McCul¬ lough, Alan McGregor, John Natkie, Bob Powell, Rabbit, Rebecca Ranson, Amanda Ray, Rick Reed, T.J. Reddy, Susan Seigel, Susan Snider, Diane Wood, Jim Wooten, and W.H. and Carol Ferry and the Day Foundation. 4

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