U.S.'POSTAGE PAID !\ ;Ll)flENC( t,,l.. 85232 '"'~'ERMIT NO~ !/ I 1992 WIOTER ISSUE ADMINISTRATORS JANUARY - FEBRUARY -MARCH Honorable Fife Symington 111 llOtll 'f-~1/ National Award Winning Prison Magazine CoveI'nDr a Arizona State Prison I Florence Complex VOLUME 18 ISSUE 3 Saruel A. Le.-v.i.s Director of CoI'I'eCtions Line-Up J.C. Keeney Assistant Director Roger W. Crist EDITORIAL // Overcrowded-Overflowing .................. 1 Warden/Florence Cariplex PRIME TIME // Mesa Po l ice Cover up ..................... 4 Michael Schallrrann Assistant Deputy Warden THE LEGAL SCENE / / It 's The Law . ....................... 6 North Unit, Flor ence SPOn.IGHT // How An Arizona "Bill"Becomes Law ......... 9 Jack Boes CoYTectional Prrgrrons FORUM / / Going Home . 11 Supervisor, and, INSIDERS OUTLOOK // Isolation ........................... 13 La RO<Xl Supervisor VOICE IN THE CROWD // I n Pursuit Of Excellence .......... 14 LA ROCA STAFF II A Brief History of Picac ho ... ..... 15 N.L. " jjm" ~ t h FICTION // S helter Skelter II ........................... 17 Editor II Th e Fina l Con flict ........................... 19 lxmld E. Yrung LOOKING BACK // Arizona State Prison .................... 20 Assistant Editor Typographer HUMOR // Ari z ona Politics .. ........................... 21 jjm Tanlin LA ROCA SPECIAL // Mandatory Sentencing : Darrell 1 M3c" rvteullcugh Graphic Artist & Layout The Wrong Decision . ................ 22 11 11 Rotert lbb Irving Doing Time In Denmark ... ........... 24 Photographer & Darkroom LA ROCA SPECIAL // '~ley' ~tntgarery HUMOR // The Lineman. 26 Bindery & Distribution The Dark Side Of The Sun ........ 27 LEn Reger WOMEN'S PERSPECTIVE // Cartoonist If I Had My Life To Live Over Shari Ransey Contributing Editor My Mommy ' s In Prison Women ' s Division FAITH/RELIGION // A World Without Tears ..... .......... 29 Ot:ler 0:ntrihrt:ors ............ HEALTH & FITNESS // Just The Facts ..... ............. 31 Joe C. Smith,Jr.,John Sellers, SPORTS & RECREATION // Florence Update . ... ............ 33 J. "Rick"Ricker, Rick L. Bmnning, Robert D. Alverson, Thaws S. POETRY // The Wall In My Cell .... .. ... .. .. ........... 35 Clayton, Chris Zetterlof, John P. Escape From Florence Switzer, Duiley Scruggs, John Mivelaz, Cindy Lukens, Barl:xrm PROSE // Mai l Call ....................... .............. 37 Cru.x1.er, Mercaks fvkrr>tinez - I II, LA ROCA SPECIAL // Superstitions .. ...... ............. 38 Harold F. Mohn, Rax:ie Lusk Smith, Robert Harvey, Tan Nickens, Bru.ce PICTORIAL II I nmates In The Flow ........ .. ............. 40 V. Wing, Michael Byrun, Abrrmam ART GALLERY // Inmates Masterworks ..................... 42 Dela-Cruz, Wayne Pilla», TimothiJ P. Quinton, John Smeffer, Ken CHRISTMAS PHOTOS· // I nmates & Families ................. 58 Lcmberton, Patrick Kent, Karen J. By Len Reger. 59 Myers , Richard McBride, John R. CARTOONS // Williams, Ibvid Detrich, M. Hall, TIER DROPS // JJ Excuses ............................... 63 vhde Swisher, Ruben Gerard PUZZLE PAGE // Cr os s word Puzzle ........................ 64 Martinez ........... LA~ magazine i s pu blished quarterly by and for the inmates of the Ar izona State Prison Complex/ Florence . The reasons tor publication include (but are not limited to) : l)be informative ot the activities and prog r ams involving the inmate population , the administration , and concerned individuals throughout Arizona and the nation; 2)act in part as an intermediary between the inmate population and the administration of the Arizona Department of Co r rections; and , 3)encou rage growth and self-development through an exchange of ideas , art , and writing . LA fOCA is distributed at no cost to each inmate at t he Ar izona State Prison Complex in Florence . All correspondence should be addressed to: LA ROCA Magaz ine, P.O. Box 6 29, Florence, AZ 85232. The opinions expressed he rein do not necessarily reflect the attitudes and/or opinions of the LA RCCA S taff, the Institutional Adminis tration, or the Arizona Depart..ent of Corrections. Permission to reprint any part of this maga z ine is granted provided proper credit is given to the a uthor and to LA RX:A. Each print run ot LA ROCA is 4 , 500 copies . In addition , LA J;U::A invites your submittals . .. which wi ll be returned only if accompanied by a written request and a self -addressed and stamped envelope . PlBLISt-EO BY: LA ROCA Magazine , Arizona State Prison Complex, No r th Unit Minimum , Florence, AZ 85232 . PRINTED BY: Arizona Correctional Industries Print Shop, Arizona State Prison / Perryville Complex , Goodyear , AZ 85338 . , " .Ar.c1-11v:s & t ,;-11 """ ,:) APR 2 9 199' •use1ess Laws Weaken The Necessary Laws" N.L. "John" Smith Overcrowding - Overflowing Contrary to Pulp Writer Fiction, originally the old Yuma Prison was the most Modern set of Buildings in Arizona Territory. Indoor plumbing, electricity and forced air ventilation. It then turned into the snake pit that history has documented. What ruined it all? Overcrowding. In 1909 a Model Prison was opened here in Florence. It had an honor system, ex­ tensive visitation privileges, inmate operated businesses from behind the wa11s and a private school taught i11iterate inmates to read and write. A showcase, humane prison. By 1920 the prison began to fail. All inmate privileges were revoked because the prison Staff could not cope with the deluge of prisoners. In the year 1933 the prison population was 630, with bed space for 250. 315 in­ mates escaped that same year. Health conditions were abominable, buildings were di­ lapidated, riots broke out and management was left to Polictical whims. What ruined it all? Overcrowding. Today the prison system is Per Capita-vs-Bed Space more overcrowded than all of Arizona prison history combined. In fact this is a crisis unprecedented in our prison history. With todays tougher Law Enforcement and higher unemployment plus Mandatory Sentencing, prepare for thousands and thousands of new inmates. When people are crammed onto more people, now you get an instant negative psy­ chological and physiologic a1 effect. More, (extra), do1lars are instantly needed for i1lness complaints. You get a higher death and suicide rate. You have more frequent disciplinary infractions which lead to c ountless extra dollars being spent on inmates having to serve extra time because of their being forced to live in cord wood stack­ ing conditions. When we were all in school our history teacher pounded into our heads the fact that we studied history for two reasons. #1. To learn how and why our Forefathers did things. #2. To learn from our Forefathers mistakes so that we would not let history repeat itself. Sometimes history is repetitive, however only when a specific instance is proven to be of social benefit. That, that is not beneficial, is either changed for the bet- tennent of mankind, or, if allowed to propagate itself, turns into a major disaster. Change mandates change, example; crimes that 20 years ago were drawing 30/60/90 day County Jail time are today drawing 2/5/ 10 year State Prison time. How did this sentencing evolution come about? Through past Legislative Members like Jim Skelly, and particularly him as an individual. Look at the mess he left in his wake. He created such mass confusion with the Judicial System, that he got to the point whereas he did'nt know what his initial motive was, if he ever had one. Understandably, it is going to take current Legislative Members sometime to undo what Mr. Skelly spent years in doing. He truly, in the broad context of common sense, was a one man maze builder with no perception of a way through his bumblings. He simply set in motion blockage after dead end till all the players were hopelessly lost, then LA ROCA 1 quit and went fishing. Thank God he left before he really got started on Women's Rights because he was headed to the same maze making graphics he used to totally throw the State Prison system into its current chaos. Upon his first Public utterings against Women's Rights, the Women of Arizona united in force against him and told him to hit the road or else. He chose to hit the road. He could get by with make believe scenarios to lock up prisoners who could not demonstrate on his doorstep, but lacked the foresight to realize that Modern Woman, not only was not locked up, but could and would make his bumblings his very own undo­ ing. Proof positive the man had the foresight of a blind jailer. Just keep cramming the cells full with no thought of the future. Arrested Citizens have no rights and women in general have no rights. Take every law on the books, from the lowest misde­ meanor and make them mandatory prison time. Results? Over-Crowded prisons, over-spent State/County/City Budgets, overtime pay for thousands of Law Enforcement Personnel, and then everyone involved on one fine day suddenly came to an unanimous decision. Wait a Legislative minute. Somethings wrong. What happened? We're broke. Sort of like Mr. Skelly pre-programming a massive computer to fail after he ex­ its stage left. He built his house of cards, then when he slammed the door on his way out the house collapsed. He built a fake Judicial bomb set to detonate upon his de­ parture, it did, and a big jack-in-the-box popped out, in sync with a huge volume of smoke to portray an anonymous smoking gun. The gun turned out to be a huge smoking cannon, foddered by the Citizens of Arizona, primed and fired by one James Skelly. All the time Skelly was dreaming new ways up to over-stuff our current over­ crowded, chewing gum & bailing wire prisons, did he ever for one second consider alloting funds for Modern Class Rooms and Job Skill Cell Blocks/Units? Of course not. Just keep inmates at their same mental level, same employment level, run them through the prison turn-stile over & over, and let the Citizens keep paying through their nose.