, Guilty
Research
LTS!
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7

25274 86601

4

Announcing PRISON LIFE S
Second Annual Art
Behind Bars Contest
PRIZES
1st Prize-$250 and two subscriptions to Prison Life
2nd Prize-$150 and two subscriptions to Prison Life
3rd Prize-$50 and two subscriptions to Prison Life
WRITING CATEGORIES
Fiction: short stories or excerpts from longer works, up to 15 pages
Nonfiction: essays or articles, up to 15 pages
Poetry: no more than two poems, up to 5 pages
Drama (1st place only): scenes, excerpts from plays or screenplays, up to 30 pages
VISUAL ARTS CATEGORIES
Paintings, drawings, collage, sculpture-any medium.
Con test Rules: Entries accepted o n ly from incarcerated contesta nts. YOU MUST BE I JAIL OR I PRISO TO
E TER TH IS CO TEST. Ma nuscripts must be typewritte n or legibly handwritten in English. Name, pr ison ID
num ber, name and address of institution must be on front page o f all entries. Contestan ts may subm it o n ly o ne
enuy in each category . Entries will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stam ped e nvelope.
On ly unpublished manuscripts and art wi ll be considered , with th e exception of pieces that have appeared in
prison publicatio ns. All emries become th e property o f Prison Life, a nd the winners will be published in Prison Life
magazine . Send entries to An Behi nd Bars Contest, Prison Life m agazine, 505 8th Aven ue, New York, NY l 0018.
Con test Deadline : O ctober 15, 1995.

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July-August 1995

FEATURES
22 Jimmy Santiago BacaUn Vato Con Chingo De Vision
Jimmy Santiago Boca went into prison a vato
loco who couldn't read or write. He left Florence,
Arizona' s hellhole a nationally known poet. He
went on to win awards, write novels and make
movies. After six-and-a-half years of Ia pinta,
Boca learned how to create soul and rad iance
from dark shadows.

30 Challenging the Convict Code
The Convict Code is an unwritten law. No convict can recite
it, but all hardcore cons claim to follow it. We examine the code
through the eyes of two men, one a seasoned convict doing time
in Texas, the other a world-respected prison activist. Both ag ree
it is time to revamp the most rigid rules of prisoner conduct.
Ask yourself: Is it ever right to rat?

34 Lies About "Resort" Prisons
The mainstream media , in Reader's Digest
and other biased but widely circulated publications, has been calling our prisons resorts. What
do they know?
Three prisoners-who do know wha t life is
like behind bars-debunk the myth of so-called
country club prisons.

Pri~on Life maga1int· i~ publi!)lu::d bimonthly by PRI Ll FE. h1 c., 505 8 th J\ n·nuc, New York, N\' lOOt B. P1i"o11 Lift· magatint• j,. pritHt•d in tlu.: USA and all riglu;; arc
n:scn•cd. © 199:) by .Joint Vcntun: ~1cdia . Inc. :"Jo pan uf this book may bt· n·p1 m lurt·d or tran ~ mitted in any form o r hr all\' nu.::nl' wi t iHHII wri11t'H pt·nniv"~ion of
the p u blisher. Un~ol icitcd lllOIIIU:\Clipb and photogr.tp hs arc thl· n .· sponsi hilit)' ur \t..' l l(lt• J'~. All ll'tlt'P'I \(.,'Ill to Pri..,O II l.ik mag:uint.• will bt• tn·ah:d :I 'I IIIICOIHiiti u nallr assig ned for public ation or broc hu re . a nd arc ~ubjcc t to l , ri~o 11 Lif'-· magatint·'s unrl''\tric tc.:d rig-lu to edit and COII II IH'IIt. Sing-It- t'opil'' in 1hl· US 3.~)!).
Su bscrip tion ra tes o ne year in L'S. ~:t70 ff.w 6 is~ u cs: in Canada, :S!l: all add itional l :l t.'l'\l'Whl'rl': all paya hlt· in L1S fund' o11 ly. Plca'l' 111:1il :111 suh'\crip tion
o rd ers and c hanges to Prison Life maga£i n c . Su bsc.:rip1ion Oc part nu: 11t. 11200 \o\'cstlu·inlcr, S u ite ll)O. l lt.ll l'lton. TX 77U~7-4 LI ~G.

4

PRISON LIFE

COVER STORY
44 A Legal LynchingThe Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Black Panther at 14, acclaimed print and
radio journalist by his twenties, Mumia Abu Jamal is being held incommunicado on
Pennsylvania ' s Death Row. Brutally beaten ,
threatened and railroaded by th e cops , AbuJamal still speaks his truth.
Novelist Kim Wozencraft tells w hy the authorities are so anxious to kill this man .

52 FICTION
The Cats of Savone
When cats creep into the yard of the Savone
prison- and into the cold hearts of cons-the
unexpected occurs, and then tragedy sets in.
This issue' s short story, by David -Michael
Harding, won 3rd place in our Art Behind Bars
Contest.

VVord
Voice of the Convict

6
7

Mail Call
9
Guest Editorial :
12
Predictions for Prisons in the 21st Century
Callouts
Block Beat

16
17

DEPARTMENTS
Insider Outlook
In Their Own VVords:
H onor is Everything, b)l a t-rue jJmduct
of the prison en.vimnment
Bubba
Crimejacker
Smart Time:
How to Rehabilitate YoU?-self at
TaxfJayer ExfJense
In-House Counsel:
The Lazy, Stupid, Guilty Guide
to Legal R.esean h
Just In Case:
United States v. Stratton
In-Cell Cooking
Iron Pile
Ask Da Nurses
Tattoo of the Month
Classifieds
Resources
Pen Pals

20

60

63
64
66

71

75
78
78
80
81
83
85
86

55
PRISON LIFE

5

Thomas Falater, author of "FuturePen," became a contrib-

by Chris Cozzone, Executive Edit or
P eople always ask me how much time I did. They ask if I was in
a sta te or federal j o int. vVhe n I tell the m I never we nt to prison,
they look confused.
"You loo/( as if you 've been to prison," they say.
"Must be th e job," I reply, "the long ho urs and all."
Peo ple associated with the magazine, those l inte rvie w o r photograph, the prisone rs I correspond with, they usua lly leave it a t
that. But freeworlders just don't get it. "How can you work fo r a
prison magazine if you h aven 't bee n there? "
Easy. Than ks to prisoncra ts and politicia ns, Am e rica ns live in
the midst of a prison culture without spe ndin g a day in the slamme r. We've e nte red an e ra whe n prisons ca n no lo nge r be tucked
away and fo rgotte n.
Turn o n the news o r check out yo ur d aily paper. What do you
see? Priso n. Crime. Prison. Crim e. So a nd so got executed in whatever state. So and so got busted. So and so politician wants to build
mo re prisons, get to ugher on crime, kill this kille r.
It's about time that people realize h ow fa r this prison culture
stretc hes. It's no lo nger just about the 1.5 millio n locked up. It's
about the tho usands o f ex-cons struggling to shed the stigma a nd
the kids who are headed su·aightto th e juveys and pens.
It's also about th e growing n umber of freeworlde rs who know
so mebody in th e joint, a brother, sister , uncl e or frie nd be hind
bars. Hmv man y of us kn ow an ex-con on the stree ts, someone
who's either made it back into society or who can ' t find a job a nd
returned to crime because he o r she lacked the skills to compete
in a job marke t that's more competitive th an eve r?
One dickhead asked me, "Why do you support those lowlife
bastards?"
Aga in , th e answer is easy. It's li ke this: r'm human, the y' re
human. Ge t it? As [or "lowlife rs," wha t does tha t te rm really mean
to freewo rl de rs? Eco nomically d e prived? Enviro nme ntally influe nced? Unlucky? O r a re th ey hinting at some mutan t crimin al
ge ne?
I try not to judge ha rdheaded idiots so much. I figu re th ey' re
just pa rt of the un info rm ed p ubli c wh o think all crimin als a re
rapists, baby kille rs and se rial murdere rs.
These are the same peo ple who think priso ners o ughtta be
deprived of TVs, weights and wi ndows in their cells. T h is issue's
piece on "resort" prisons, byJ on Marc Taylor, explores that lunacy.
Our cove r sto ry, "A Legal Lynching-The Case of Mum ia
Abu:Jamal," by Kim Wozencraft, also lends credence to the sadly
misinformed public.
Brutal kille rs a nd rapists?
Think again . Check out 'Jimmy Santiago Baca- Un Vato con
Chingo de Vision" a nd read a stot-y of personal u·ansformation from
so mebody who spent seven years in th e can o nly to e merge as o ne
of America's greatest poets.
If that doesn 't co nvince you, read "Challe nging th e Convict
Code," by J orge Antonio Re na ud and Bo Lozoff, and find out why
eve n th e ha rdest con s are questio ning the untouchable code.
Stand be hind these lowlife bastards?
You bet. I guess I'm just a traitor to socie ty. Hope I do n ' t lose
too much slee p.

utor to Prison life while incarcerated at the federal complex in
Colorado. "Prisons these days ore so out of control," he writes. "I feel
so ashamed and pissed off that! spent over o year in o shithole for
something that years ago, Iwould've gotten probation for." Now
released and living in California, he's working a "crummy" sales job.
Ed Thompson, theartist for "FuturePen," had his own sign
company before he got locked up five years ago. He spends his time of
the Delaware Correctional Center doing his artwork and trying to
reverse the decision in his case, which he feels was one of ineffective
counsel.
jorge Renaud, author of "Challenging the Convict Code," was
the 3rd place poetry winner and the 2nd place nonfiction co-winner in
our Art Behind Bars Contest. He writes for The Echo, o Texas prison
paper. Many of his essays, he says, ore rejected because they focus too
much on "those who wield power."
Gary Harger is our first published photographer behind bars.
While producer More levin was at Joe Harp Correctional Facility in
Oklahoma, filming our HBO special, Prisoners of the Drug Wars, he
came across Gory who showed himhis collectionof prison photography. His print, "Face of o Convict," is featured with the article
"Challenging the Convict Code."
Ray Fernan dez, artist for "Challenging the Convict Code,"
is confined ol Pelican Boy SHU. "My outlet to the world," he writes,
"is my self-taught art."
jon Marc Taylor, locked up at Jefferson City in Missouri, is
on impassioned speaker against the injustices of the American penal
system. One of his op-ed pieces was published in The New York Times.
In this issue, he turns his rage toward Reader's Digest.
Karl C. johnson is incarcerated in Boise, Idaho. His essay
"Doing Time" first appeared in the Oregonian prison newspaper in
response to on Ann landers column.
Kenneth Z. Taylor, D.D.S., also known as "Doc Taylor,"
wrote oresponse to "some asinine talk show aired on o NJ radio station" where the topicof discussion was prison "resorts." He's since been
thrown in the hole for on unrelated "but equal~ stupid" reason.
David-Michael Harding, locked up at Clinton
Correctional Facility in New York, is o first-time contributor to Prison life.
'1he Cots of Sovone" won 3rd place in our Art Behind Bars contest.
Greg Waleski is ot Arizona State in Florence. His "Honor is
Everything" won3rd place nonfiction in Art Behind Bars. "I suppose I
could write some nice things," he says, "bull prefer the hordcore,
militant attitude."
Bruce D. Hill, artist for "Honor is Everything," works his
croft of Huntsville, TX, where he's serving o 30-yeor sentence.
C. W. Pyle, author of "Self-Rehab," is locked up in California. His
"Surrendering of Spirits," which tied for 3rd place fiction in Art Behind
Bars, was featured in our March 1995 issue.
joseph Hernandez, the artist for this month's Iron Pile, is
ol Green Haven in New York. His work has appeared in previous issues
of Prison life.
Alex Friedmann, our Resource Editor, spends much of his
lime of SCCC in Clifton, TN gathering information on agencies and
resources. "It's hard to lind agencies willing to support prisoners," he
writes, "but those that do ore invaluable."
Robert R. Reldan is o jailhouse lawyer ol New JerseyStole
Prison. His article, "How to do legal Research," marks his debut in

Prison Life.

6

PRISON LIFE

. viet
UPPING THE STAKES
by Richard Stratton
Editor & Publisher
'vVeek one o f t h e revo lution.
America is shocked; America is horrified. America is te rrorized.
This does not hajJjJPn in the good old
U. S. of A. is th e commo n re fra in . We
arc used to hearing o f acL~ of political
te rrorism a broad. Pa n Am Oig h t 103;
t h e hijacking of th e Ach ill e La uro
cruise ship; the murde r of athletes at
th e O lymp ic Gam es in Germany, to
men tion but a few. And we are accustomed to seei ng th e blac k-ma sked
races o r the perpetrators. We ex pec t
t he m to be revea led as Palestinian s,
Arabs, bearded a nd mustac hi oecl fo re ign types. Even th e bo mbing of the
World Trade Center in 1 ew York City
was u n ders tandab le in these
terms: it was fore igne rs, a liens,
guys with na m es li ke Ibrahi m
and Moh am mad.
And New York, we ll , t hat 's
not really America a n yway. \11/e
can dea l with terrorism wh en
the threat co mes from o u tside
o ur hall owed nation. All we have
to do is ro und up a ll t h e bad
g uys, th ose foreigners wh o hate
A m e ri ca, a nd kill t h em. vVe
need no t both er o urselves with
su c h questions as why oth ers
hate America so much as to ki ll
innocent civilians and children. Fo r,
make no mista ke, most fore ign acts of
te rrorism a re directed a t Am eri ca.
ow I look a t th e p h oto on the
cover or ou r local paper. Unde r th e
headline, Suspects NnbbPd, I see a face
not unlike the faces or the cops an d
agenL~ who surround the suspect. An
American face, if there is such a th ing.
Thi s guy has a crew rut, th a t m ost
Ameri ca n of ha ircuts. His skin is as
whi te as Bill Clin to n's. He even looks
a bi t like o ur Pres ident with th e
p ro mine nt nose, the lo ng face . H e's
c lean-shaven , maybe blue -eye d . But
his mo uth is et in a Light-lipped gash,
his cou nte nance pinched and focused
with stony resoh·e as cri es of "baby
killer " and "bastard" arc h urle d at him
from a n en raged crowd o f h is fe llo w

American s. He makes no attem p t to
hide his face.
Th in k of the shock and hoiTOr-thl'
tmw--many su·aig ht citizens fe lt upon
realizing that th is g uy is an Ame rican.
Ame ri ca n s d id thi s. White -skinn ed,
red-b looded A me r ica n s pla nte d a
bomb in fro11L of a fede ral buildi ng in
O kla homa City, blew to bits a full thi rd
o f th e huge fede ra l edi fi ce, killi ng
scores of other Am e rica ns, mostly federa l workers, yet among th em man yand he re is the wo rd aga in -innocen t
chi ldre n. I read rro m a published list
of the confirmed d ead: Baylee A lmon,
age o ne; Anth o ny C. Cooper II, aged
2; and a woman , aged 5 1, with my last

name- pe rhaps a re lative. I am saclclenccl, deep ly g rieved by the loss of
lives that sh ould never have been sacrificed in the violent political arena.
Who does not lament the death o f
innoce nt c hild ren? All childre n arc
innocent. We love t h e m for t heir
good ness, t he ir innocence, and o u r
hea rts a re ren t with grief whe n we see
a tin y body carrie d in a rescue worke r's arms. I have two lin le boys, o ne
just turn ed tJ1ree, the o the r not quite
o n e. T know how I wou ld feel if my
kids had been blown to smi the reens in
thi s catastrophic act o f h o megrown
poli tical terrorism. I wou ld want to kill
th e te rro r ists. I wou ld wan t to beat
th em to death with my bare ha nds.
My o ldest boy could see tl1at his dad
had been o bsessed with the news over

t11c past week. vVhcn he saw a p hoto of

the devastated Alfred P. Mun-ah federal building, he asked me what had happened to it. I told him someone blew it
up. Then he asked me a simple question, an in nocen t question most U1 reeyear--olcls ask thirty times a clay: Vlhy?
Th is is the only question that matters, particularly now that the damage
has been clone. Why? Why would
white-ski nn ed c rew-cut Americans
attack their own govern ment? I spoke
to a reti red federal agent with in hours
o r the bombing, before anyone knew
who the bombers might be, and he
called it: "BATF is in that building,"
he said. "It is two years to th e clay
sin ce the Waco debacle. lL could
h ave bee n anyone . Eve r yo n e
hates the federa l govern ment."
Everyone hates t h e fe d era l
government. Certain ly many of
th e people I know, not a ll of
them radica ls or ex-cons, hate
the government. Or if t h ey
don't hate the gove rnment
itself, they hate what the governm ent d oes with the mon ey it
extorts from taxpayers.
I said a loud, whe n I heard of'
a probable co nn ection to t h e
militia movement, "Tha n k God
it came from t he right. 1 ow maybe
they will payauention.''
T h en I saw our presiden t on 60
MinutPs. H e did the most ir respo nsible
th ing the p reside n t of a supposedl y
c ivilized nation could do: H e called
fo r more blood, more killi ng; expressed more a nger and hau-cd . H e said,
in so man y words, that the governmenL will find the people responsible,
hunt them clown a nd kill them. The
coun try has a federal d eath p ena lty
and the president vows he'll use it, as
though more death wi ll heal our critically wounded nation.
T he president said the governme nt
wou ld do exactly what I t hough t l
would want to do had my kids been
amo n g the victi ms . I 'm su r e the
c rowd that g reeted suspect Timoth y
PRISON LIFE

7

McVe ig h o uts id e t h e co urth o u se innoce nt childre n a nd civilians. It is
wou ld gladly have torn h im to pieces. an exa mpl e of wh y America ns have
But the purpose of civilization, a nd com e to fear and loathe the governth e ro le of government, is to protect m en t. I ca n g ive yo u m a n y b e tte r
us fro m our most primitive impulses. examples of why Ame ricans h ate the
We expect more fro m the head o f a fede ral governme nt. How about when
gove rnm e nt th at prides itself o n its th e FBI fi rebombed MOVE homes in
moral lead ership. We kn ow in o ur Philad e lphia, killing innocent c h ilhea rts tha t killing is n ever the enligh t- dr e n. Le t's ta l k about h ow m a n y
innoce nt childre n the AmeriC?'1 govened respo nse.
Wh e n Mike Wa ll ace mentio n e d e rnm en t has ki lled. How a bo ut t he
Waco, Clinto n got p issed off. His face th ousa nds o f Panaman ians sla ug hcontorted into a harsh glare re mi nis- tered by American troops sem in to
cent o f the loo k o n Tim McVe igh 's arrest CIA asset Ma nuel No riega for
face. Waco was no excuse, no reason. d ealing drugs? Who ca n forget th e
The Branc h Davidians ki ll ed th e m- im age o f a naked Vietnamese gi rl
selves, proclaimed the preside nt. I t runn in g from h e r village as it was
was their fault. It is all right whe n the razed and b urn ed by Am erica n govgovernmem kills becau e th e govern- e rnme n t u·oops? And I can tell yo u
true stories of innoce nt, law-abiding
me nt is always right.
Good Cod, I thought, doesn't/his man Americans who have h ad the ir ho mes
1·ealize what he's doing? He i upping the invaded b)' federal agents, been shot,
slalles. He is threate ning with violence b ee n a rres ted, h ad th e ir p roperty
m e n who thrive o n vio le n ce, men destroyed o r seized , a ll with th e OK
whose modus operandi is violence and of som e lying informant loo king to
destructio n. He is challe nging dedicat- curry favor with his fed e ral masters.
o o ne is eve r called to task for these
ed killers and urging them to kill more
Am e rican s. By declaring ye t anothe r acts of governm e ntal terrorism.
T han k Cod this guy McVeigh is not
overreaching war, war on domestic hate
groups by respo nd ing with threats of a n ex-con. Can you imagine the outvio le n ce, Clinwn is p laying in to th e cry? But no, he 's a n ex-soldie r. What
hands of righl-\,~ng milita nts and pre- does that te ll yo u?
Le t's get it right. No one condones
cipitating a crackdown that will cause
more Americans to hate the ir govern- th e ki ll ing of innocent childre n or
me nt. The government's response is to innocent people for that matter. It is
never ask why people abhor its tactics, not rig ht wh e n te rrorists do it a n y
never to adm it it might be wrong to kill more than it is right whe n age n ts of
and wage war o n wh oever disagrees the federal government do it. Take it
f urth e r. When age nts ac t in g on
\~th its mandates.
Preside m Clinton would call me a behalf of th e government kill chil"pro mo ter of paranoia.,. Yet a re we dren or ci tizens-wh e ther innocem
paranoid wh en our own governme nt o r not-it is gove rnment-spo nso red
declares bloody war upon vast segmen ts terrorism . The death penalty is govof the people? And not ju t criminals ernme nt-san ctio ned murder. By vowor drug d ealers, b ut ma ny innoce n t ing to hunt down and kill the pe rpepeople whose rights are u-ampled and trato rs of th e Oklahoma City bombwhose homes are invaded, whose prop- in g, C linton d egrad es himse lf and
erty is se ized, whose lives are desu·oyed lowers th e gove rnm e nt h e h eads to
the level of the te rrorists. It is gangby the actions of fede ral agen ts.
Newt G in g ri c h fl ew into a rage land logic. You ki ll o ne of ours, we 'll
wh e n a re poner suggested th at th e kill o ne of yours. The situation pe rpeople accused of blowing up th e fed- petuates itself an d escalates. Where
e ral building in Okla ho ma espo use we need ed dign ity, restraint and measured leadersh ip, we got bloodthirsty
'~ews similar to those mo uthed by him
and his boys. Get the govemment off our ange r an d mo re ha te.
Clinton and o the rs in Washington
baclls. Of course h e got pissed . Newt
d oes n ' t be l ieve hi s own rh e tori c. are cla mo ring fo r increased fed eral
Tha t's just politics. Lies. Like Clinton . powers to counteract domestic terrorClinton lies. He tells us it's okay when ism. As if this weren ' t the problem to
the federal governmem kill American begin with. Wa ke up , Bill, ewt and
citizen an d inn oce nt chi ld ren. H e the rest of you fools d own there in t.he
te lls us t h e ch ildren of th e Branc h Capitol. There are tho usands, pe rh aps
David ia ns burned the mselves to death hun dreds o f th o usa nds, maybe milbecause the ir paren ts weren 't ready to lions of good Americans o ut h ere who
ha te ou r governm e nt. And for good
knuckle unde r to th e government.
Waco is not an excuse, not a rea- reason. They are a bunch of terro rists.
so n. Th e re is no exc use fo r kill ing

un

8 PRISON LIFE

PRisoNLin:
July-August 1995

EDITOR & PUBLISHER

Richard Stratton
EXECUTIVE EDITOR & ART DIRECTOR

Chris Cozzone
EDITOR·AT·LARGE

Kim Wozencroft
MANAGING EDITOR

Jennifer Wynn
DESIGN & LAYOUT

Bobo Willkie
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: BEHIND BARS

Ray Fernandez, Joseph Hernandez,
Bruce D. Hill, Ed Thompson
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: FREEWORLD

Steve Gressok, Rob Sulo, Marty Voelker
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Gory Horger, Lou Jones,
Coral Kuron, Manual Machuca
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
BEHIND BARS

Alex Friedmann, Dovid·Michoel Harding,
Karl Johnson, C.W. Pyle, Robert Reldon,
Jorge Renaud, Jon More Taylor,
Kenneth Z. Toylor, Greg Woleski
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: FREEWORLD

Thomas Falater, Sharon Goldfarb,
Pam Ryder
PRISON LIFE EDITORIAL OFFICE

505 8th Ave
New York, NY 10018
Tel: (212)967·9760
Fox: (212)967·7101
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Robert Rowbotham,
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Ken Bean, Assistant
253 College St., Suite 444
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Tel: (905) 773· 1746
Fox: (905) 773·8088

JOINT VENTURE
MEDIA, INC.
PRESIDENT & CIRCULATION MANAGER

Gory Tustison
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
A Richard de Antoni
ASSISTANT CIRCULATION MANAGER

Lewis Groce
OPERATIONS ASSISTANT

Janette Sherlock
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
& INQUIRIES

4200 Westheimer, Suite 160
Houston, TX 77027·4426

CALL: 1-800-207-2659
PRINTED IN U.S.A.

[~~UUII[IJ~UU

ART BEHIND BARS WINNER
DENIED OWN STORY
Last week, I wrote you and told you
t hat nobody he re at J e fferso n City
Con-ectiona l Center had received Lh e
March iss ue of Prison Life. I was
wrong. I did find someo ne who had

Money Back
Satisfaction
Guaranteed!

received a co py, a nd I was able to
trade him o ut of it-at a hig h cost.
lL LOo k my September 1994, 25 th
A n niversary Penthouse, Novem b er
1993 21st Annive rsary Callery and
OctOber 1992 Fox, featurin g ac tress
T ay lor Wa n e, to get it. I fee l I

Optical, Inc.

P.O. Box 680030, Dept PL53
North Miami, FL 33168

Prism Optical has been selling prescription eyeglasses to inmates across the
nation for over 34 years. You may select from a full line of eyeglass frames for
men and women, including designer styles, metal frames, and sports g lasses,
discounted 30-50%. You can have your prescription lenses ground by Prism
Optical, and choose from a number of lens options, including photochromic
lenses, ultra-thin lenses, fashion tinting, and UV-filtering and scratch-resistant
coating. Single vision, bifocals, trifocals and invisible bifocals are available.
Prism gua rantees that the glasses will fit correctly, and the catalog provides
guides to ga uging the correct size of the temple and bridge.

rece ived the better e nd of the deal,
thoug h I'm real ly go nn a mi ss ol'
Taylor Wane. O h well ...
Seeing my short story, "The Shot,"
was wo rth it, not to mention all th e
o th er great stuff in the March issue.
I suspect, though , that a lo t of peop le d id rece ive th ei r March iss u e,
only th ey are keeping them hidden
for themselves, the greedy bastards.
As for the copies you sent me, I have
been ad\~sed by a caseworker that 1 \~II
not be a ble to receive them until 1 get
prior approval th ro ugh the insti tutional
in vestigator . See m s like we a r en't
allowed to just receive magazi nes anymore. We have to actually order them
from o ur inmate accoum by filling out
a voucher, green check, and getting it
pre-a pproved through a caseworke r. 1
certai nly hope that you can understand
what I have written here because after
reread ing it, I' m not real sure th a t I
understand it myself.
The bottom line is that I will have
LO ge t some type of adm in istrative
approval be fore I can receive your, 1
mean "our" magazi ne. Don 't trip; I'll
get it approved.
Thanks again !
Chester Cornrnan
]CCC, MO
FORMER TEXAS SYNDICATE
MEMBER SPEAKS OUT
My name is Robe rt "Rove" Leos and
I was a made Texas Syndicate member for 16 years. I am now a former
membe r (FGM) .
I grew up in Nucas (New Braunfels,
T exas) a nd I'm from the same bmrio
seco where Robert "Y!alo " Delgado
(see "Ga n g la nd USA," May 1995
issue) grew up.
Back in the '70s whe n Ma lo joined
the clique (el syndicato tejano), I and a
few other barrio homilos followed su it.
We believed it was the rig h t thing to
do at the tim e because th e inmate
g u ards, th e Bui ld ing Tende rs, had
gone unchallenged for too long.
l became a ma de member in 1979
wh en I stabbed a BT a t th e El lis I
Uni t. T hen I stabbed a nother at the
Ramsey II Un it. Back in Lhose days, I
honestly be lieved and felt that I was a
ded icated Syndicate soldier fJor vida.
Bac k in Septe mber of '85, when war
broke loose con La Eme ( Mexican
Malia) for power and control of the
drugs, o ne of my ho11litos, "E I Buga"
De lgado (Malo 's cousin), was kil led.
We retalia ted.
An other gang brother and I were
charged with the stabbing of o ne of
th e assassins (the only o ne we could
get at the time) . I was transferred to
PRISON LIFE

9

th e Wynne n1t 111 Hunts\•ille a nd a willing to di e fo r the gang, but now l
couple years late r, l was released o n know tha t it's no t wonh anyt.hing .
Pe rha ps Ma lo's message, and even
parole a ft e r d o ing eve n yea rs, two
mo nths on nw c ight-vcar te rm. I was my o wn , wil l m a ke a diffe re n ce in
omcbody' life. It may c,·c n save a life.
free for four r~ars, dt;ring whic h I " ·a
blessed with a bcamiful daug h te r.
A m essage fo r my n e phew liul e
But I contin u ed gang acti,·ity ' til I Ruben Pina and my d aug l1le r I love
was bus te d and co n victed with my a nd miss: Lialo nnie Leos.
Robe11 Leos
cur re nt sen tence: 50 years fo r aggraDarrington Unit, Texas
vated ro bb("ry a nd 25 fo r su pectcd
murd e r in '9 1.
DON'T TELL MY BOSS
Back in th e syste m , doing my time
at th e Da rrington Uni t, I was to ld on e
I' m a su pe rviso r in a fed e ral correcclay that my home boy Ma lo had bee n tional in sti tutio n- f' m not going to
ay whe re for o bvious reasons- a nd I
h it beca use he'd le ft th e Syndi cate.
really like yo ur magaz ine. At first, I
Fortuna te ly, it was u nsuccessful.
This was one of th e re<tsons I d ecid- th o ugh t it would piss me o n·, but after
ed to step o ut of the gang for good. I re ad i ng a liul e, I co uldn ' t pu t i t
could sec a nd feel in my heart th at the clown . I read it cove r to cover.
lt gave me a good pers pective on
o ld finnf' ynd ica t c h ad c rumbl e d .
Wh en \ lalo quit, I and cvc•ybody from th e inmate side and made me think
our tango quit, lOO. I knew in mr heart o f the m as human again. I know the
I had noth ing in commo n with these pe rception we have of them, and they
ha,·c o f us. It ' no t really rig h t.
new wm·c wannabe gangstas.
\Ve have a job to d o. And if it is
Back in th e o ld dars. I had been a
yo un g barrio jJa rhuro. I had known d o ne professionally, th e re sho uld be
Malo sin ce Lo n e t ar e le m e n ta r y no proble ms. On the o the r side, some
school in Nums. li e would always speak co nvic ts wa nt to fuc k wi t.h staff a nd
up wh e n some thing came up inside cause pro ble ms. T he staff didn 't. put
the gang and l wou ld sec h e was always cons in j ail , th ey did it to the mselves.
I've been in this business for 10 year
rig ht. For this reason, a lo t of the new
wave gangstas would fa lsely accuse him a n d I ' ve see n a big c h an ge in th e
of things and try to vote him out. Then in mate popu latio n. A lot of you nge r
it starte d h appe ning to me, too . On convicts have no respect fo r staff and
this sentence alo ne, the Syndicate false- fe llow inma tes. They ca use pro ble ms
ly charged me and gave me court three fo r eveq •bocly. I'd li ke to ·ce some of
di!Terem times when never before had these u·o ublcmaker "get it" from their
l been before the Syndicate court sys- fellow cons. The re mig ht be a few left
tem. T he o ld Synd icate is gone.
who ' d take m a uc rs in to th e ir ow n
I a m in my "40s a nd I'm ti red o f han ds, but l kinda doubt it. ~o t a nycrimina l acti,•ity. ,·io lc ncc an d drugs. I more.
[,·en if th ey did, so mebod r wo ul d
a m ti red of innocent people being
hun o r killed. It' d es troyi ng mo re s nitc h o n th e m a nd we ' d h a ve t o
than me: it's destroying PI bmrios. ow investigate and lock somebody up. It's
with a you ng daughte r a nd neph ews just not li ke it used to be.
and ni eces to think abo ut, I feel it'
An yway. I just wa nt to say tha t I'm
tim e I speak o ut agains t a ll t h ese goin g to sta n a subsc riptio n-on e I
wannabe gangstas.
su re ly won ' t be able to sha re with my
Like my ho meboy, I' m also do ing a ll cowo rke rs!
this time with a hit o n my back. But I
Nanw & Lomtion withdon' t worry: As o f 10/ 17/ 94 , I have
hrld
z..1'1..
1
ckdicatcd my life to th e Lord j esu s
-t.o It:-~~~<.-)
Christ. At o ne ti me I was ready and ~!.:'~
ntt ~ .., ~,o
J~

\

to PRISON

•tiC~' ~"""-·

17~(11)~~~..

YOU STINK BUT
HERE'S MY MONEY
re ce ntly h ad th e m i ·fortune o f
receiving a compl ementary issue or
your magazi ne. I have read it cover LO
cover and have ye t to fin d a n yth in g
wi th wh ich I can agree. Q ui te fra nkly,
I find most of it just plain o bnoxiou .
H owever, I subsc ribe to th e loca l
n ewspape rs a nd I don ' t n ecessa rily
bu y a ll th e ir sLU ff e ithe r . What th e
heck , s ig n m e u p . My c h ec k is
e nclosed .
By the W<l)', I'd like to say keep up
the good work, but you r wo rk stinks.
D. L. Wigginton

StofJ Turning Out

l~risoners­

A Citizens' Activist Organizalion

Brandon, Fl ,
PART OF SOCIETY
"Ameri ca 's Obsessio n wi th Pu n ishm e n t," by Troy Ch apman (Ma rch
i sue) is the kind o f writing we need
mo1·e of. It was full o f th o ug htful.
insig htful ideas tha t address the reality of prison and the wh ole cul ture we
find ourse lves ca ug ht u p in . It.'s n o
lo nger a matter o f how we got whe re
we arc , it's abou t wh ere we ' re go in g
from he re.
Th e p o liti c ian s and ivo ry towe r
dwellers have n ' t got a clue as to what
is reallr going on. If th e re is to be a
real ch ange in the approach to crim e
a nd c riminal . th e n we must ma ke
o ur ,·oices heard a nd be a co nstru ctive pan o f the dialog. After all , who
be tte r understand s th e syste m th an
those or us wh o've lived in it fo r 10.
15, 20 year o r mo re?
We need to be real about the problems and o ur responsibilities, and just
as rea l abou t o fferin g solutions. Aft e r

"$~-~"

-

MAN .. .

Si n ce Octobe r 1994, I

...,J"lllllll~~,.lllo..,-_-_~. ...,_,~a~nd o th er prisoners h e re h ave n o t

all, we are fJart of socie ty, not e ne m ies
o f it. vVe're j u st opposed to th e gove rnm e nt and the corrupt, n earsighted po li tic ian s who comprise it.
No one ca n say with any ce rtain ty
who will or will not be back: not the
parole board, civilians or even fellow
convicts. But if we d on 't come together to provide support systems, to actua lly ca re a bout o ne ano th e r, and socie ty at large, as well as our place in it,
no one e lse will do it fo r us.
T eny Dyer

F. C.I. Bradford, PA
A NEW AGE OF PRISON RIOTS?

T h i le tter comes to you rega rding
my subscri ptio n to yo ur magazine, as
well as o ther prison e rs' su bs h e re in
Cali fornia. It seems that th e magazine
is not be ing received h e re a nymore.
In December, I rece ived a m e mo
f r om the d e puty dir ec tor of
Corrections stating that the Octobe r
1994 iss ue was being co n f isca ted
because of an a rticle tha t had som eth ing about escape.
lL' s a mazing to m e tha t a huge,
secure prison syste m would go to so
much u·ouble as to fax memos to all
the prisons and censor/ confiscate a
magazine because one article allegedly spoke about escape . If a priso ne r
wan ted to esca p e, h e or she wou ld
urely not base such a decision o n a
magazin e article.
It is obvious that CDC has stre tched
the Califo rni a Code of Reg ulations,
Sec tion #3136 (d), whi c h r eads,
"Inma tes may no t receive corresp ondence which concerns plans to escape
or assist in an escap e from lawful custody. " This rule is be ing used as a n
excuse not on ly to co nfisca te tha t on e
iss ue bu t also to ban t h e m agaz ine
en ti re ly.

received any more issues of P1ison Life
a nd I wonder how this ban affects the
balance of my subscription. It sho uld
also be noted that all sexu ally explici t
books a nd magaz i nes hav e b ee n
banned he re in California prisons as
ofj anuary 1995.
And again, this year the state legislature and CDC a r e a tte mptin g to
bring a n end to the fami ly visiting
program (conjugal visits), prohibiting
married priso n e rs fro m visiti ng privately wi th their sp o uses. Such programs shou ld be n ationwide!
As va lua ble a nd rehabi litative as
readi ng literature of o ne's cho ice and
fam ily togeth e rn ess a r e, th e priso n
system and the governme nt are ma king it perfectly clear that they do not
care about m a kin g priso n e rs bette r
human beings for ree n try into society. All that m a tte rs in th e '90s is
p olitical co rrectness, mo ral majority
values on everyone. It will not work!
These are no t the answe rs to crime.
Issues of ce nso rshi p , sex publicatio ns a nd visitation were all litigated
and fought over in tl1e '60s a nd '70s.
Many p risoners and CDC staff died or
we re hurt before the syste m realized
there was a be tter way to treat incarce rated h uma n be ings. However, th e
prison vio len ce sh ed in Attica, 1 ew
Mexico a nd California has a pparen tly
all been fo rgotten o r ignored now.
We live in a time when all people's
rights and liberties are being su-ipped
away. Even t h e state a nd U .S .
Constitution is being chi pped away a t
and c h a n ged . Su c h restrictio n s in
prison an d in society a re not making
America better or safer. It's only making America angrier. The result is yet
to be seen. Until tl1en , the e ndless lawsu its, hatred , violen ce a nd crime will
continue ... because they just don ' t
get it and they just don ' t care!
Eric M arlin
Pelican Bay, CA

Ma n , who in the he ll judged your
d a mn An Be h ind Bars contest? I
mean, the poetry mostly? The visual
an was great, so was the ficti on and
nonfiction, b u t whoeYer judged the
poetry needs to be checked !
l sen t you three of my best pieces of
poetry and d idn't get me n tioned at
a lii I may not be the g reat "Poe," but
my shit was a hell of a lot better than
the one tha t took first place! I put my
soul into the poems I sent you, man.
The judges need to be different nex t
yea r , ma n . I 'm not a lo ne on this
eith er!
I got anothe r beef with you guys,
too. I turned one of my o l' road dogs
o n to your rag and he really liked it.
H e asked me if I had an y problems
getting my rag o n tim e a n d I tO ld
him , " lo t since the new Ed ito r-inChief took over." So, h e had his o l'
lady se nd yo u the cash for a subscriptio n. We ll , he go t o n e rag three
months ago a nd noth i ng s ince!
What's up with that shi t, man ? Now
my buddy is giving me he ll for etl using h is ol' lady to waste his money!
You made me look bad, man , and l
don't take ki ndly to so mebody maki n ·
me look bad! It's a good th ing yo u
ain't in here with me!
You got a good rag, man, but you
need to ge t yo ur shit togethe r. And
change those dam n poetry judges!
Timothy "Gator" Dwiley
R aleigh, NC
We're gonna have to stand behind our
poetry judges, Gator, but the sub prob
oughtta be dealt with. You need to se11d a
kite down to ouT SubsCTiption depart men/
in Houston (4200 Westheime1~ Sle. 160,
H ouston, TX 77027), or give 'em a ring
on the lollfree number (800/207-2659).

Send your tellers to Prison Life Mail
Call, 505 8 th Avenu e, New York, NY
10018.

PRISON LIFE tt

FUTUREPEN:
THE:PRiSONS OF
TOMORROW
BY THOMAS FALA TER
iMAGiNE WAKiNG UP iN A GOLD BASEMENT. YOUR ARMS, LEGS AND
EVEN YOUR HEAD ARE FASTENED TO A STRETCHER BY Tt-liGK
LEA Tt-IER STRAPS. You HAVE BEEN t-IEAVil Y DRUGGED. YOU CANNOT
MOVE; YOUR ViSiON iS CLOUDY.
A SURGEON PLACES CLAMPS ON YOUR FOREHEAD TO t-IOLD OpEN
YOUR EYEliDS. HE pOURS A Tt-liGK, BLUE STERiliZiNG liQUiD DiRECTl Y iNTO YOUR EYE. You WA TGt-1 t-IELPLESSL Y Wt-lilE t-IE SLOWLY
iNSERTS A LONG, CURVED METAl TUBE GALLED A 'lEUGOTOME"
BETWEEN YOUR EYEBALL AND EYEliD AND ANGLES iT UPWARD
TOWARD YOUR BRAIN. WiTt-! A RAP FROM A SMALL HAMMER, THE
iNSTRUMENT pENETRATES THE Tt-liN BONE SEPARATiNG YOUR EYE
GA ViTY FROM YOUR BRAiN CASE.
THE RAZOR SHARP LEUGOTOME iS NOW iNSiDE YOUR SKULL,
TOUGHiNG THE FRONTAL LOBES OF YOUR BRAiN.
Tr!E SURGEON LEANS CLOSER, CRADLES YOUR HEAD iN t-liS HANDS
AND SLOWLY SWiNGS THE TUBE BACK AND FORTH iN FRONT OF
YOUR FACE AND BEGiNS TO SCRAPE AWAY THE FRONT pORTiON OF
YOUR BRAiN. ALL YOUR HOpES, LOVES, DREAMS AND REASONS FOR
liViNG ARE SWEPT AWAY WiTH EAGt-1 MOVEMENT OF THE iNSTRUMENT.
You FEEL YOURSELF SliPPiNG AWAY AND YOUR Tt-IOUGt-ITS GROW
DiM. E_VEN THE ABSOLUTE TERROR OF Wt-IA T iS HAPPENiNG TO YOU
DiMINiSHES.
YOU HAVE BECOME A ~UMAN ROBOT ... A liViNG ZOMBiE FROM A
GRADE "B HORROR FilM. YOU DON'T REGOQNiZE MEMBERS OF YOUR
FAMILY OR EVEN YOUR BEST FRiEND. YOUR MiND HAS BEEN
REDUCED TO Tt-IAT OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD. Tr!E SURGEON LEFT JUST
ENOUGH BRAiN MATTER FOR YOU TO FEED, WASH AND GL0Tt-IE
YOURSELF.
A METAL BRACELET DiSPLAYiNG A BAR CODE AND NUMBER IS
ATTACHED TO YOUR WRIST. YOU HAVE BEEN ASSiGNED A BUNK iN
UNiT S AND A JOB AT UNiCOR AS A SHiPPiNG CLERK FOR THE
REST OF YOUR liFE.
WELCOME TO PRiSON IN THE 21ST CENTURY.

PRISON LIFE

13

If vou th ink this scenario couldn ' t h appe n in t\nw rica, th ink again .
\\'c han· ah cad y no~st·d the thresho ld b t· twt'l' ll sanity and in san ity.
he t\\Ct'n trea tment and tortu re . In
p r is o n , ter m s s u c h as "ps\·dlosurgc r(' a nd ''se dation·· h ;w c
replaced tubber hosl' healings and
isola tion . T hl· h n un· of o u r criminal j usti n · s\ stl'lll has hl·t~ n plo ttt'd .
and o u r ck st in ation is a n c h ored
hack in tht· dar k agl·s.
StKil·l\· has alwavs hl't'll frustra ted
with its fnabili tv
d eal with cti m inals. l\: o ma tte;. how m a n) p r isons
art• built, no ma tt<.·r ho\\· m any rehabi li ta tio n p rogra m s ar c a ttempted ,
a nd no mattt·r how mam· new laws
an• passl·d, ninw n111 tinues to t(Trorizc us all. \\"e lin- in an era whe n
men o p t·n lin · on children in school
yard s. seria l killt·rs ti ~wd the highw ;l\·s u ndt•tt'ltt•d , a nd no o ne trusts
Ia,, l' nforn' llll'llt to JHOtect them .
bcrv d ay. Wl' a rc ddugcd with senS<Il io n a l n l'WS r e p o rt s of br ulal
n imcs: ~t ahhi ngs. shootings. rapes,
bombi n g~. ch ild a bd uct io n s a n d
t'\t'll ri tua listic· to rtures. There seems to be no ('lld in sigh t,
and no solution to the <Time proble m.
Si n ce I !IHO . t h e p ri so n po pul a ti on h as do u b le d .
Polit irians. catt•rin p; to the p u blic's fr ustratio n wilh cri m e ,
h;l\'c plcd~l· d to build more plisons. increase sen tences and
t·nact tww laws.. \t the n iiTl' nt rate o f im priso nm(·nt. we will
ha\'t• o wr six millio n people incarcerated by the ~ear 2015.
Pr ison budgets aH~ d ecreas in g. T h ere s imp ly is n ot
e nough m o ue\' le u· p risons to contin ue operating as th e)
a n · now. St·n..-c ru tb.tcks will occ ur in all gon.: rn mental
:a~enCil· s a~ our rt:pn~ st· ntati Ye s come to g• ips \Vith the
massin· ddlci t and pointless spendi n g. A ba la nced b udget
ame ndmt'Ill is a lrt·adv bl'ing co n sid ered, wh ich wi ll for ce
p rison admin istra tors to search for new cost d ticit·nt ways
of o pl·ra ting.
Till' boomi n g p ri ~o n pop u la ti o n , soari n g budget
de li cit~ a nd wick sprcad p ubl ic fear are acting upo n th e
wlll'els o f justice. Thost· wh eels arc large, slow, stubborn
a nd unll'd in g. but 0 11< l' st'l in motio n . the' an· impossible
tu st p. With the ren·nt t hn:e-s t rikt~s fren z\ . g uide line se ntl·n t:i n g. asset for fe ittut· and m a nda to ry r estit u ti on , t he
wheels haw aln·ach· ~ t a ned turning. Un d er the g uise o f
j usti ce, \\'l' haw uuwittingly begu n our horri b le jou rney
toward institutional sht\TI'\' a nd sta te-sancti oned slaughtet.

lt;

1995 TO 2010
ri H' B alann~d Bud get Amt·n dm c n t has a!Tt·c tcd a ll
a reas o f gmtTilllll' Jll . Bu rea u crat~ a re scram b li ng to c ut
cost~ . J>Ii~on ollidab llt'gi n to an:cpt the fact that rad ir.tl
c hangt· is neede d . ::-\l·w a sset fm leiLUre l aw~ a tl' pa~sed.
rt·quiring prisOill'rs to pay for a ll COSL~ Of thei r 111\"l'Stigations, prosl' l" lltio n and in ca rce r a tion . \'ictim s, fa mi h
mc:m hers a ncl l'Vl'n witnesses to <.. r im e will suC' the perpetrator not on h· fo r ;u tual losses but fo r pain a nd suffering.
As a re~ult . a lntosl all first-tim e ll'lo ns wi ll bl' '' ipcd out
lina nc iallv lor tlw rest o f their li\'(·s.
In an a ttt•mp t to o bta in m ore fun d ing, prison oflk ia ls
will ust· t·n ·n· oppo n u n it \ to pon ra\ p ri sone r~ as violen t,
J.1 PRISON LIFE

u n co n tro llabk savages. This will
conduce the public of the mer its of
p~vchosmgen and drug "therap y.,.
. \m ac t of prisoner ,·iolcuce will be
e nco urag ed b\ prison ollicials a nd
~ensationa l ized bv the media.
Sh ock incarce ration . co lllm o n ly
k n own a !. hoot camps. wil l close.
\ linimnm-sel Ut it\ ramps and facilities will b e replaced b\ home conliuement a nd in tensive pmbation.
Electronic an kle bracele ts worn b y
priso ners on probation will sound
an a larm at tlw local police ~tati o n
i f t h e p ri so n e r lca\'CS h is h ome .
'1 he ir residences will display large
s igns readi n g "\'\'arttin g: Fcckral
I n 111 a I e i ll l h c c u s I 0 ch () r th e
Bure ,lll o f Pr is o n s. Do \lot
\ p p mac h o t Comm u nica te wi t h
this Household .,.
Work progra ms wi ll ('Xpand s o
that prisom become seii-Mtfli cie nt.
f hc laws re~ t ric t ing prison good s
from being sold in rhe p ri\ate sector will case , <l nd all priso n e rs wil l
be requi r e d ll> work ten hours a
da\. li\e da\s a week. Psychologists
will identil\ a specific r r iminalmind ~t· t : imp n ls i H~. nnrea lb tic, unable to detar gratifica tion , gn·edy a nd m anipulative. T hese lraits wi ll he co nsidered heredi ta ry, a nd scientists wi ll attempt to lo catl' a "crimi nal gene." T a lk of ste rili;ing prisoners h as begun.

2010 TO 2030
Publi c news reports of crimi n al s a n d ' io lc n cc wi ll
T h e rmmu-:··s "war on trimt:" will be ta ken literaltv and become a n ational prio r it\ . 1 o fund th e ''·" , total
asset forft:i turC' will b<' required of e ach comi ctl' cl crimin al, regardless of whether or not he obtained the assets
th rough crime. A perc<'ntage of the assets will go to th e
ar resting o flicer, lead in g to abuse o f po lice pmH·r, se t-ups
a nd Gesta po-like tactic\.
A crim ina l gene is lo ca ted a nd f01 the first ti m e , scie nce
li n ks crime to heredity. All two-time felo ns arc steri lize d.
Th is marks a n<"W mile~to ne for .\ mc rican justice : The lirst
medical m u tilations ,,·ill lw pnfo tt m·d u pon in take into
priso n .
Exec u tio ns will surge. \ 'ictim s' fa lll ilies will h ave th e
optio n of pulling th<" switch , a nd m an y actuall y do. Cable'
teledsion fcatmes live broadcasts of exec11 tions. There is
no,,· d i scu~sio n of execu ti ng all th n't:-time felons.
Ext re ml'I Y ,·iolcnt rriminal s " ·ill be lo boto mi; e d in
p rison, as it is m o re cost e ffi cieu t to lo botom it.e a sct·io us
o n ende t tha n to keep him in soli tary and po st guards on
him for the rest of h is life.
Ru le infr <tct tons will be pun ished b' e lectro-sh uck the t·•l))\ a nd hean d m gging. lhe specte r o f d ill<'cl prisoners
\\<tll clcting a imlessly throug h the p riso n rarcl will be common .
\\'ork progra m s h ;l\ e g reat!} expa nde d , a nd prison
produ cts sue h as shirts, socks, s hoe~ and underwear n ow
.tppear at lo cal retail outlets. Pri ~O I1l.T ~ must work a m inill llllll of l 0 hours a d ar. () clavs a wel'k.
Priso ners can rece ive m ail only from fam ily m e mbers.
Contact wi th the med ia is h<111 ned .
~ pr(·ad .

Due to lm H·r pav a nd poore r wo rking condi tio ns, the
ca liber of pr ison g uards has dro pped c\·cn lowe r. leading
to more p r i ~o t t cr a buse.

2030
Public acrq>tan ce o f P~' c hosurg e rv, electro-sho ck therand sterili1ation o f comicted cr iminals will spur otliri als to expa nd th ese m easures. Max imum se curity priso n s, o nc e ex p e ns ive a nd diffi cu lt t o o pe r ate , wil l b e
re placed by in cap<H imtion techn iques, su ch as pre frontal
lo botomies a nd sterilitation . These operatio ns wi ll be pcrfo tm e cl in a n a ~se mb l v-l i kc pro cess in the p r ison bascllll' ll t. ,\ll lirst-time o ffc ncln s \\'ill b e ste rilited a n d the
dorsal ne rve o f their pe nis wi ll be severed.
Priso n e rs will be considned mor e and n ron· subh ulll<\11. Scie ntisL~ will u sc th e m fo r medical experime nta tio n
a nd resear c h : t he ir "spare" h o d~ pa n s wi ll be so ld lO
organ tran spla nt htnories.
Th e de fi n ition o f t r o u b lc:,;o m e priso n e r s will b e
e'pand l'd to incl ud e _ja ilh o use lmn ers, intclkcw als and
write rs. ,\ prison psych o logist m erely wr ites a re po rt sp rinkle d with s nch tl'nlls as in conig ible, anti-so cial and p sycho pa thi c a nd reco mme nds a "pS\chiatric neutralit.ati o n. ··
T rou blcsonH' pr isotH-rs will be drugged and lo botomized .
.\ Jail will bet o m e a priYi lege. limited to o n e lc u e r a
week. This reli nes the wo rl- loa d of m ailroom stal l'. who
now haYC fewer pieces to open . read a nd ce nsot. News p rogram s and n ewspapers are censo re d LO p tTYe nl priso n uprisings or sti r liP d bron te n t.
Priso n ri ots will be imm cd ialdv s nppre ~ st · d . Red p e ppe r
gas, mace: a nd o th t·r chemi cal
agc: n ts 11 ill be d ispe n se d
th ro ug h a tH'twot k of p ip es
con necting C'\ 1' 1'\ cell. corridor
or room acreo;sible to p riso nl.'rs. Tactil"al n·s p o n H' team s
will be in struc te d to s h oo t to
!-ill duri ng up ri ~in gs.
Prison industries will flourish.
All prison ers. en •tt lo bo to m ized
o nes, wi ll wo rk 12 hours a day.
six days a we~: I- . m aking j u s t
abou t a nvth ing that r an be purc h ased at majot depa rtm e nt
stores. High-ran ki11g administ ralo rs will rcr<·ivc a percentage of
th e pri so n e r~· anua l p rofit a s
hon us<'S and in rl'n ti,·e. T h eY "i ll
d rin· com pa m cars and li~ e in
large. cxpen ~i n· lto nH·s. Pri-,o n
se n ·a nt s \dll m ow thei r lawn s.
wash the ir cars and coo k the ir
m eals.
Pr isons wi ll b eco m e li tt le
m ore tha n p lan tattollS of wandcri n g 1om h it.:s, rlosed fr o m
publ ic vic\\.
a p~

T h e co n n·pt ol Fuw re Pcn
awaits unless a m o re thoug htt'n l a nd e nl ig lllc tll'd app roach
is con n·in•cl.
\\'e sh o uld n ·mcmhcr, h owc·vcr, tha t prisons have bC'come

m ulti-bi ll ion dollar indu:;tries. and a gn·;lt m a m fH'oplt·
and companies rely on them lor p m li t. ltnag itw what a n
econo mic catastro phe wou ld occu r if a ll 1 om·ins dt·citlt·d
nc\'Cr to commit another crime . .Just th ink of all till' pr ison
to wns. suppl} companies and sal arit ·~ tha t \nu rlcl hl' lost.
Rt'llabili tation program s thus I;u· h ;l\t' only bee n ;rinw d
at refo r mi ng th e pri ~on ra the r than tht· indi\iclu.tl. \\ u rip rograms a nd weig ht piles do lit tle rno n · than mal-t' tlw
prison easie r to o peratt· than cmn:t t the tTimina l. Since
the ovt ·rwh l:'lmin ~ m ;~jorit \' of p risonl'rs wi ll cwn tua llv ht·
rclcast'd back in to societ\ . this llll't hod of' operating platT'
us all at risk. Priso n o fficia ls haw t r.ukd proli t a nd si mp licit\ fo r the protccwn o f socit·t\ .
C c nttine self: imprmetnt'tll is actua lh n ·s i s ~t ·d lw tht' w sl<'!H . Programs in prisons arc li tt lt· nro re titan a ginu nirk
f'or increased profits. Worl and \·oht n tn·r p rog rams ltavt'
!ended themselves to abuse and proli t-sl-ittm ting.
Victims' rig h ts an· ignored. and tlt l' n wan ing of J>lllli, hm e nt has b ee n m a l i ~ twd LO m.rke p e npk lwli t'\ t' th a t
those rights are !wi ng scn ed 1)\ h !l ildin g- nwn· pt i"ms.
What exacth· a re Yictin ts' rights~ Tlw rig ht w he p rol!'t ~t · d
a nd n o t li\'t: u nd er a g m ernm ent that < t t•ates new n im ina ls a nd recha rges o ld o n e ~.
\ \"t· are all residenL'i of the same plam·1 and llll'lllht·r- of
the s.IITH.' ~ociet\·: white. black nmng. old . 11 imina! and nu ncrim inal. Ho\\' man' of us ha,.~, cm;tmittt·d ninw' th.ll lt.t\t'
gmte u nde tected ? RO pc:rn·n t? 90 pn t l' ll l? \\'ill \\"l ' n·;Hh a
situation where 10 percen t o f the popu b 1ion cages tl w li'SI
o f u s~ II Wt' placed a s ll!l tdt
e mp h ;~sis ott dealing wi th tlw
crim e p roblem as ,,·t· d o o n
cd tt C:ll ion and o th e r so d a!
p rog ratm. per haps \\l' wou ld
li nd m on · promising \\~ t\ ., o f
tn ·a t in g th t· nu m lw r n tH'
p rohlt-m in Arm·rica .
Id e a' ' !lrh a ' sentt' tll ing
dru g olfl·ttck r ' to wor l- a l
h ospit a l~ "' 1lwv c.tn willll'"
t iH' hot ru t ' n l d r u g ah ust·
<tnd \\ ithd r;m ;ll firs t h a nd .
recptiri ng 'ioll'n t ol li- ndn,
to g o <Ill p olin· rick-a lon g
p rog r·an t.s to \vit tH'" t h t·
d fi_·t ts o l \ iolt·n n· lirst lt;rnrl .
h ;wi ng '' hilt··n >lb t n itnin;tls
i n ~ t nwt cnmpa n it•s and inclividual s how h i prott·c 1 tiH·n tsclvc·s I ro m cons a nd rip-ntis
arc a ll g ood beginn ings.
Dri n·n In It ustra tion and
kar . o ut in ab ilit\ to dc ;tl
with nit n t· ,, ill k ad tt s o n a
s e ll~ tk~ tt ll ct i n· path to o!lt
d a r kes t n ·n ttl n '. If h is ton
d oes tT (H':tt i t ~e i L Wl' wi ll
rcu u n to thl' b ikd lmrt;tliti es ol 1he p;t' t. Sian· m' twrs
o f till' l'u tttn· wi ll nut \\ t·a r
whi~t · shl't' ts o t' g row cotto n.
The\ \\'i ll \\l':t r a s uit .tnd a
ti e a nd pn·sidt• owr s ix mi llion of' prisonn s.
OJ]

PRISON LIFE

t !'•

Federal
Appellate and
Post-Conviction
La\v
" .lla/du;.: . I D{tfereuce bi

Our Business"
• Direct Appeal from Trial
• Direct Appeal from Plea and
Sentencing - 18 USC 3742 Direct Appeal by Defendant on
Issues of Sentencing Hearings
• Post-Conviction Motions - 28
USC 2255 and 2241 - PostConviction Motion Based on an
Illegal Sentence and Habeas
Corpus Relief
• Modification of Term o
Imprisonment - 18 USC
3582 (c) Modification
Imposed Term of lmprisonment
• Motion for New T rial- Rule 33
• Motion for Reduction of
Sentence - Rule 35

Law Offices ~~r
Illiller & Shein
7 1o l.ak\.· \ "il' \ \

. \ ' ~:n u~:.

\: L

·\tlanlil. (ienrgia 3030X

( -1!1-l) X7-l- 1))()0
7XO N 1: (JlJth Street. Suite :'01
i\lia111i. Florida 33138
no5) 7:\Cl-O-W3

Hahla Lspanol
16 PRISON

LIFE

ca
APRISONUFE
READER WRITES:
"For those in prison who are
tired o f it and ""ho wan t to
grow, there's a book o ut
called "Core Transformatio ns" by Co nnirae and
Tamara Andreas. [t shows the
reade r how to get in touch
with his core beliefs and how
to change them. After the
core u·ansform ation process,
the reader will have higher
self-esteem and peace of
mind. The insu·uctions are
easy, the change i wift, powerful and lasti ng. If everyone
in prison was to do a core
change, then prison would
actual ly be a pleasant/lace
to be. Everyone woul
respect each oth er; fights
would be rare, if at al[ This is
not religious stuff.
You migh t thi nk I'm wack,
but [' m telli ng yo u it can
work for all cons regardless
of race, age, co lor or religion."
Core Transformations can
be ordered from: 'LP Comprehen ive, 4895 Riverbend Rd.,
Ste. A, Boulder, CO 803019815. 26.00.

outs
THE LffiRARY FOR
GROUPSTUDYAND
MEDITATION offers corresponde nce courses for prisoners motivated to live the
spiritual life- study, med itatio n and se rvice to h umanity.
U pon e nro ll me n t in a readin g program, participants
receive a paperback book
and a seri es of questions to
answer and return . Courses
of a mo re advanced nature
th a n the reading programs
are also available. "Each
course requires daily work of
an unselfish natu re, monthly
reports of your thoug h ts and
actions and the keep ing of a
spiri tual diary. As each lesson
is com p leted , a n ew lesson
will follow, alo ng with comm en ts and answers toquestio ns." Certifi cates of completion are offered. For more
informatio n , con tact T h e
Library fo r Group Study and
Meditation, P.O. Box 234,
Santa Margarita, CA 93453.

PUBLICACIONES LEGALES EN ESPANOL, INC. h elps
priso n e rs a nd d efendan ts of H isp a nic o rigin . Selecciones Del
Manual De Pautas de La Comision Federal De Senlencias is th e
Sp a ni s h trans latio n of se lected portions of t h e Federal
Sentencing Guideli'nes for the Span ish-sp eakin g d efe ndant.
T h e B .O.P. has mad e Manual De Pautas a requ ire d additi o n
to a ll fed eral prison er law libraries.
Titles in t h e works include th e Federal Rules of C1iminal
P rocedure an d t h e Federal R ules of Appellate P1·oceduTe in
Spa n ish . Al o coming up is a u·anslation of selected portions
of th e Fed e ra l Immigration and Forfeiture laws. In addition ,
the o rga n izatio n p u b lish es a monthly n ewsletter, Guideline
Alert, wh ich high ligh ts ap plicable excerpts fro m the Fed eral
Sente n cing G u id e li n es as well as proposals for a men dm ents
b e ing co n sid e red by th e Se nte n c ing Comm issio n . Con tac t:
Publicaciones Legales En nspaiiol, Inc. P.O. Box 623, Palisad es
Pa rk, N .J. 07650 . 1-800-432-0004.

BEAT
America's National Prison Newspaper

July-August 1995

KILLER FENCES AND STERILIZED CONS
Caught up in the get-to ugh-o n-crime
frenzy, Co ngress io na l represe ntatives
across the country are introducing some
pre tt y sadi stic bills. Re prese ntati ve
Wayne Crump (D - Potosi , MO), fo r
example, has found a way to keep convicts inside the state's two max imum
security prisons: surround them with a
high-voltage electric fence that kills anyone touching it.
Crump added the killer fence amendment to his multi-part prison bill during
recent House debate. He said the amendment was pro mpted by Percy Cooksey,
who last November became the ftrst prisoner to escape from Potosi Correctio nal
Ce nter in its six years of ope rati o n.
"The re wouldn't have been an escape
with a lethal electric fence," Crump said.
Under his proposal, the Department of
Correcti o ns mu st insta ll an e lectri cal
fence-between the pair of 12-foot nonlethal fences topped with razor wire-at
Po tosi and the state's other maximum
security prison, Jefferson City Correctional
Center. The amendment also requires hot
fences at any maximum security prison the
state builds, a nd gives the agency the
option of erecting lethal fences at any of
Missouri's seven medium facilities.
Crump estimated it would cost about
$ 1.5 milli o n to insta ll th e fe nce a t
Jefferson City, but that the fence would

pay for itself in one year because fewer
guards would be needed on wa lls surrounding the prison.
"The fence won' t attack the inmates. If
they stay in jail and don' t try to escape,
they won' t have any problems," replied
Rep. Quincy Troupe (D -St.Louis) to criticis m by Re p . J o n Be nn e tt (R-St.
Charles) that the killer fence was a rather
harsh form of punishment.
Mea nw hil e, the Senate Judi c iary
Committee is considering HB 1100, a
bill introduced by Colorado lawmakers

that a llows fo r prisoners to be voluntarily ste rili zed upo n re lease. It wo uld
authori ze the state to give prisoners free
s urg ical procedures to re nde r the m
childless.
"These id iots in Colorado believe that
cons breed cons," writes Dave Elliot, a
Colorado prisoner. "If thaf s the truth,
the n why am I in prison? My pare nts
never had a speeding ticket, let alone a
felony. My dad designs missiles for our
co untry 's pro tection. We chose to be
criminals. We weren' t bom that way."

FREEWORLDERS
FASCINATED BY PRISON
Get thi s: Ever sin ce West Virgini a
opened a new maximum securi ty prison
in Mount Oli ve earlier this year, people
have been gathering on a nearby ridge to
sit, gawk and con-watch. "Most people
dri ve up, stop, get out and then move on.
But some of the locals like to sit all day
long," state trooper T.C. Booth reported.
A prisoner said that he and his fellows
are worried. ''There's always the oddball
lunatic with a rifle who could decide to
mete out his own brand of frontier justice," the pri soner reported.
Meanwhile, a specialty shop in New

Hope, PA that sells plates and glassware
fro m country clubs, hospi.tals and other
institutions recently added the prison food
tray to its line of novelty hot plates. ''Take
home the diner experience," reads a card
that comes with the metal trays.
Eve n T he G ap ha s jumpe d on th e
band wagon . Baby Gap shops recentl y
added the convict s uit to the ir line of
toddl erwear. Tho ug h not marketed as
such, the black-and-white striped jumps uit closely resembl es the chain-gang
uniform that some lawmakers are sayi ng
should be re instituted.

Tyson Headed
for the Ring
For mer heavyweig ht boxin g cha mp
Mike Tyson, who was released from an
lndiana pr ison in March after serving
three years for rape, broke his silence to
make a bri e f a nno unceme nt: He w ill
return to box ing, and he' ll be doing it
under the auspices of his controversial
promoter, Don King.
" Don is the greatest pro mo ter in the
world. as we know," Tyson told a- mob
of reporters who turned out in Cleveland.
Ma ny have speculated that T yson had
had a rift with King, but the 28-year-old
boxer said he and King had sig ned a deal

(continued on next page)
PRISON LIFE

17

:with. th~ MGM Brand in Las Vegas
.
'
to host the upcoming boutS, which
Several women prisone~ at ~C-Lexing~on, .Kentucky' filed suit in 1993 cha)lengwill be broadcast on the 'Showtime
ing the B.O.P,' s installation ·of,the .Jnmate 'l'eleP,hmie Sys~m. 'IJte ITS. as proposed
preniium cable channel.
would have eliminated prisoners; :~biJity:fo:·J;riake-collect calls. -Al$Q,·prisoriers·wowtl
Tyson said be would be managed
have been limited to. making calls to: a ·very smail·-nuJ11ber of family and friends~ In
by longtime friends John ,Home· and
November 1993, .the action was. certified, a.& a n~tit>p.wide class action on.J?ehalfof all
federal prisoners. Si.Iice the.fillflg of the s]Jit, and ·probably .because ofj~ the B.O.P~
Rory Holloway, but he did not say·.
·when his first bout would be or·
decided to make FMC Lexington 11 male prison. ·
how._ much be :would be paid to
With the announcement that females. were being ,tt:ap~ferred from Lexington, the
return to the ring.
U.S. District Court issued a non.,¢taliation order· agai!lst the pamed plaintiffs and
"I want to associate myself with
ordered that the women be. among 't1;1e very last .to. be ·l!ansferr¢~· Tliis. was done to
the biggest and .the-best, and I look
ensure that the named plairttif:f~ w·ould lbe 'available forco\lrt hearings as)teeded. The
forward to working with them and
B.O.P. kept shipping women until·illost- wom:en; including the majority of named
seeing you soon," said Tyson, who
plaintiffs,· were transferred ~o other inst;itutic;lns. nt~B,.O.P .. then went to;court .seeking to transfer the. remaining. ~named plaintiffs. The. plamtiffs' attorney~ Dougl~ L.
was dressed in a black suit, topped
McSwain,· agreed th~t the women 'be transf~rted ft(}.·.other institupons, .but !aSked ·that
off with a straw bat.
he have access to th~ nrune.<J .plairjtiffs· via, conference· c.al\$ ,~clrequested cooperation _
Tyson's statement took only 76
in getting them baclc to court. The B.O~·P. flatly'tefused~ Cons·equently, the Court'
seconds to read, and he ·left without
ordered that the remaining named plaintiffs· stay at ·Lexington..
.
taking any questions. He avoided
Plaintiffs Norma 'I~aye Cook,. Conchita, W~hingtop. an4. ;A.ntoffi.~tte ~t Frinkre.-nain
the subject of his rape conviction,
at Lexington. They are coilfi.ne~Lin th~hospitai t.lndet'\'ecy bjZB.tre conditions. saying only, "For the past three
"Sirice the-inception of .the .suit and res.ultant litigation!. :we p~ve scored. a number
years·I've had a.chance to reflect
of victories," write~ Antoinette :Fririk.. ''How~ver; .the :B'~O~P •.npw seeRs to bypass
. on my life and to develop my min~,
the courts and have Congress abolish the Coltiiiiissacy Futtd-Tri.,I~t, which is mpney
and· l will continue my journey to
generated by inmates for tl,le benefit-.of :ininates.. The :~.O.P~ c~used. a: ·rider (Title . making myself a better person so· I
VII) to be attached 19 a bill (HR. 661)'. J'a~sage pfHR :667 wo~ld. wipe o~t all of the
can help others."
successes we have -ga~ed thus far. Readers shoul(l petition Congress to defeat HR Tyson, who converted to Islam
·6.67. It would be in the be~til)terest not qnly ofppsoners;- but -of the AJI1erican pubwhile in prison, closed by saying:
lic. Please help us." ·
·
-·
··
·
·
"May Allah bless you all."
·

Art, M.usie ;Bii~led· :in:. ·Massachusetts Prisons
Massachuset~' ·'Governor· W¢!d ~s :Year terminated all -ous puplic. recognition ·for their artwork, .and have a chance ·
to surVive when they get out. And for all incarcerated men
:and women, not neqessarily artists, who add a bit of color to
envelope they send home, or decorate their sneakers, this
system. Ko111feld-'·contilcred· the Mass:- :J)ept afCorrectiOQ.$,
which confitmed' that tlie' qnly-exceptiori.s u~- _Q.E.p. ··and - will close one of the: few remaining doors to experiencing
E.S.L. classes, and training for'.skills ·us~ful within, t11e· sys~ · · the qq3.Iity of being h~man~"
tern, such as barber ·schoi>l for cutting f.eUc;>W··piisonerst :hair;
and cooking, so .prismiers can prepar~ m_eals for staff.
· SHORTY - l WONDER 1F' THEY
·AA£ GaNG TO.LETU$ OUT.SO WE
Kornfeld. said- the :corrections· offiCial -believed· the cutS were
CAN· 00 WHAT EVER IAlE PlD 'flaX>
a result of the governor~§· reSponse ito 'the J.)ubiic"s fu:iy over .
MOR£ TIMlS•
. prisoners~- privlleg~s; :and that .he :h~~Lhis eye ·Qit the WhiteHouse.
·
Apparently, prisoners m:e also prevented ftom. pursuing:art.
on their·own. K.omf~ld con~cted a. Trea~ent and -Programs . ·
director, who said that. ~ccording to a. new· property policy,' ..
colored pencils are no ionger·.sold at the commi~sary. ''He
also told ~e ·that handk~rchief art 1s considered to· be ·gang. related, and that anyon~ ,found. drawing· o'n ·a handkerchief .
will be cli&ciplined and 'the handkerchief ·will,be confiscated," writes Kornfeld.
,
' 'The effect on prison:~r/artists. who,·bave been holdiDg .on
to their sanity' doing their time peacefully, remains to be
seen," continue~ K~rnfeld; ''M~y have been· rec~iving: s~riart, music, vocational training and college .co~tse8 from state
prisons, r~ports Phyllis I<:o:tnfeld, a.fOPI)~r,art·teacherjn .fu.e

18 PRISON. LIFE·

an

NEW INFO ON
INCARCERATED DADS
According to th e Department of
Ju s tice, the re were app roxim ately
690.000 fathers among the I ,200,000
men incarcerated in the U.S. at the end
of 1992. A majority of all male prisoners, whether they are married or single,
are fathers.
Dads in prison have complex family
networks. At least half of all incarcerated fathers with two or more chi ldren
have c hildre n by d ifferent mothers.
Most prisoners are not in volved in an
ongoing relationsh ip with the mothers
of the children. In fact, over half of the
fathers in recent studies reported that
their marriages ended whi le they were
servi ng the ir current sentences.
Incarcerated fathers, like incarcerated
mothers, are concerned with the well being of their children. However, unlike
women prisoners, jai led and imprisoned
dads identify ch ild discipline, lack of
gu idance or supervision, and the possibili ty that their children mjght "get in
trouble'· as their greatest concern. Many
me n are worried that their ch ildre n
might forget them , that they might be
rep laced in their c hildren' s liv es by
another father figure, and that their children might lose respect for them.
Dads behind bars report th at they
often feel powerless in their role as paren ts . Male pri so ners us ually do not
expect to be consulted about their children 's problems or participate in decisionmaking relating to the ir children.
This is consis ten t with th e fac t that
many prisoners did not live with their
children prior to arrest.
Many dads in jail or prison have no
contact with their children at a ll. One
recent study found that almost a third of
male prisoners had not seen their children since they entered prison and over
half had not seen their children in the
six months before the survey. Fathers
who do not receive visits say that getting transportation for the kids to the
prison and getting someone to accompany them are the biggest obstacles to
visitation. About one fifth of these dads
say they do not have parent-child visits
because the childre n' s mother d isapproves of visiti ng. This is not surprising
in light of the fact that most imprisoned
fathers do not have active re lationships
with the mothers of the ir children.
Some incarcerated fathers who have
litrle contact with their children claim

that they do not want their children to
visit them in jail or prison. One study of
fede ral prisoners found that 87% of
unvisited fathers c laim to have made the
decision to skip the father/chil d visits
themselves.
The typ.ical male prisoner comes from
a single parent home and has at least
one fam ily member who has been incarcerated. About one in seven men behind
bars was raised by someone other than
his parents, and about one in five spent
some time in foster care. About a third
have parents who abused a lco ho l or
drugs. One in e igh t report that they
experienced physical or sexual abuse as
a child.
The level of education among prisone rs has increased during the past six
years, but only about one third of all
incarcerated men have completed high
school. Nine out of 10 had an annual
income of less than $25,000 pri or to

arrest, and seven out of I 0 lived below
the povetty level.
- By Denise John s ton, Directo r,
Center for Children of Incarcerated
Fathers

LOOKING FOR
IN-HOUSE
REPORTERS
What's going on in your
prison? Be a Prison Life
correspondent and send
us your newsbits.
Send to:
Prison Life Block Beat
505 8th Ave
New York, NY 10018.

.,

"My husband's doing time.
He needs a 5-15 year battery."

Block Beat contributors: Dave Elliot, Brent A. Ellis,
Antionette Frink, Phyllis Kornfeld.
PRISON LIFE

19

So l 'm sitti ng o n th is freezing cold
vinyl seat, n ea rly bare-assed , with a
cold steel shackle around my swollen
ank le th at I ca n b arely fee l anyway
because I' m n ea rl y froze n to d eath ,
an d I kee p burping up the taste of
meatloaf grease an d warm skim milk.
At the same time, I'm liste ning to 23
other g uys p iss and moan about how
u ncomfortab le th ey are. But 1vh o
would believe it if someone said th e
fu n was only about to begin ?
Li ke I've said, I've been o n these
trips befo re a nd it's n o b ig surpr ise
wh e n the ro lle rs p u ll the b u s up
b eh ind t h e Ma and Pa's Gas-n-Co
do ugh nut shop to get some j elly's and
eclai rs a nd some thick mud .coffee to
kee p ' m awake so we can get th ere
al ive. So wh ile we're wai ting, l scrape
th e frost off my window for a peep o f
the freewo rld, thin kin ' maybe I can
get a good ti t shot fro m a biker mama.
Sudde nly I hear th e rolle r trying to
start the o ld bird: click clid{ click
Hoi damn, I' m thinking, the bus is
brohe down.

ilTJI#l§.JjWI.i'J#'I-ftil#l#~..:l
£mr._af1l&liU.&-J~

i~I.~
Alle n Correcti o n al Instilll ti o n , 4:30
a.m . The ro ll e r pops o pen my d oor
a n d throws a breakfas t ack a t m e .
"Transpon," she ye lls as th e sack hits
my foot. T he pain reminds me that I
just spe nt the night in the infirmat) ',
h avi n g bt·oke n m y foo t t h e cla y
be fore. Shit, I've o nly had a bout 25
minutes of sleep, between ha nd j o bs
and the pain in my leg.
I o p en m y brea kfast sac k-th e
dreaded transport meal: a cold mea tloaf sa ndwich , two ha rd-bo il ed eggs
and wa rm skim mi lk. Oh, good ie! The
sandwich has more grease on it tha n
meat. Before I get to finish my fourstar cu isine, two corn-fed rolle rs come
in , pick me up and stuff my big ass in
a wh eelcha ir fi t fo r a munchkin. Out
th e door we go . Th e Slin g ing co ld
numbs my body as th e ro lle rs make
sure we hit eve ry bump in the ya rd
between the infirma ry and transport.
Th e sa lly p o rt is fill e d with th e
20 PRISON

LIFE

same o ld faces and the same ol' bu llshit li nes, as if th is was a ll something
new. "I ain't goin ' .. . I' ll go to th e
ho le nex t ti m e ." "They be tter neve r
ge t me up this early again."
See, I go o n t h ese t rips a lo t
because I'm losin g m)' eyesig ht, but
tha t's a nother lawsuit.
"No underwear! No jewelly! No cigareftes!'' a roller yells as he passes o ut the

odd-fiLLin g, u n co mforta b le o r ange
jumpsuits a nd ge ts us in line fo r the
morning squat and coug h. Just th en ,
another ro ll er stomps in thro ugh th e
back doo r laughing his ass off as the
cold blast of morni ng a ir g ives new
mea ning to th e term blue balls. "The
old blue bird won 't be warm u ntil we
hit Marysville (an ho ur away) and we
still gotta go 'cross the stree t to Lima
and getl 2 of the ir inmates," he says.
Now, every prisoner in Oh io who's
bee n to C. M.C. (Correcti o nal Med ical
Ceme r, in Colum bus) knows how lo ng
that tri p is with 12 dudes, let a lo ne
another 12 fro m anothe r camp. What
else could go wrong? I think.

You should 've seen th e look on the
d river's face! He's got 24 fe lons o n a
m axim um security bus, fo ur officers
with 12 gauge, sawed-off rio t pump
shotguns hanging fro m the ir fat, powde red sugar-covered bellies, j elly d rippi ng from their finge rs, sitting out
back of Ma & Pa's Gas-n-Co doughnut sho p in Nowhere, USA.
"H ell to te ll th e captai n ," one of
the prisone rs ye lls. We sh o ut every
sarcastic insult we can think of (and
get away wi th ). We even offe r to get
out a nd push. Can yo u picture th a t
Cool Ha nd Luke shit?
I've always wante d something like
this to happe n , where the rollers get
caugh t with their hands in the do ughn ut box, pissing off ra.x dolla rs while
th ey get t ime-a nd-a-h a lf or d o u bletim e . But t h ey cou ld 've picke d a
warme r day.
Our "rescue," o r "reca p tu re," was
un forgettable . lt looked like eve ry
st atey in Ohio was th ere. Yo u
would've th ough t it was Lucasville all
ove r again. Of course, tl1 ey passed us
by twice befo re they fou nd our hideou t in the bac k of t h e Gas- n -Co,
because th e ro ll er fo rgot to tell the m
we were be h ind it.
They had so many g uns pointed at
u s, I tho ught I was in a Schwarzenegger flick. They were just waiti ng for
th e slig h tes t movemen t of a be lly
cha in, like we were a bu n c h of

Houdinis o r so me thin g. The d e puty
wardens were th e re, the m<Uors were
th e r e, eve rybody wh o was anybody
was th ere, poiming a gu n at us. Even
Ma and Pa fro m th e Gas-n-Co were
pointing o ut th e window from the
doughnut shop like we were involved
in some kind of Alamo stand-o ff.
If we were o dangerous , \\·h y in
h e ll were th ese ro lle rs getting way
with stop ping a t every greasy spoon
and c r ac kh o u se with a busload of
state prope rty?
H e r e's my po int: Wh y don't we
inves t so m e o f th e mi l lio n s that
C lin to n is g ivin g us o n ne w buses?
Maybe buses with new alarms th at go
o ff when the rolle rs are about to fa ll
asleep at the wheel?
vVha t ha ppened to me? We ll. I'm
still sitting in the infirmary with a broke n foo t a nd a sprained wrist, burpin g up m ea tloaf grease and warm
skim m il k, wa iting fo r th e n ex t bus
ride from hell.
J ames Goodall, J r.
A.C. I., Lima, OJ-/

•:Rilil#ltM~-J!Ir.~

'a.il.ii#I·":I--..UG
People sho uld know about Arizo na
prisons. I' m incarce ra ted a t East Un it
in Flo re n ce a n d th e m e d ical treatment he re is terrible. On October 11 ,
1994, I was bitte n by a brown recl use
s pid e r , wh ose b i te is man)' tim es
worse tha n a black widow's. I immediately went to the yard office to get a
pass for me dical a nd was told by the
o n-d uty cop LO "get the fuck out of my
face.·· h e sa id I was keeping h e r
from h e r job a nd she didn't want to
h ea r anythi ng abou t it. 1 eed less to
say, I received no medical a tte n t io n
th at day.
I was seen the next day, but it was
too la te by then. The nesh was infected. Th ey prescribed a n t ibi o tics but
th a t was a ll. Afte r t hree mon th s of
antibiotics, I was fina lly see n by a surgeo n . He suttecl that I sh ou ld h a,·e
b ee n see n and treated th e d ay th e
bite occurred.
A m onth late r , I was see n again
and th is sam e surgeo n t o ld m e I
needed to go to th e hospita l for Xrays to ee if the bone was infected.
He a lso said I'd be staying ;u the hosp i ta l so h e co uld cut o ut a ll th e
re ma in ing rotten n esh , and h e prescribed mo re an tibiotics.
\>\1e ll, it's a week la t e r a nd till.
no th in g. How am I supposed to get
treatment?
1 ow I wa n t co mpe n sa tion, b u t all
th e law)'ers around h e re see m to be
afra id o r the D.O.C. The surgeon says

if the infectio n is in the bone, I could
lose m)' leg.
So he re I sit, with under a year left,
a nd my leg is ro tti ng away.
T e ll eve r yone to stay o ut o f
Arizona. It's not nice.
David j o111•s
Arizona Stale Prison, Florence, Al

rmD~-m..Hi-~~
IIDI'-~
I' m closing in on my third month of
soli tary con fin emen t he re at S.C. I.
Pittsbu rg h . It's just a noth er clay witho u t e du ca ti o n , vocat io n a l tra in in g,
work and only limited recreation. T he
majority of us here sit idle in our cage .
A se nse of powe rlessness e me rges,
fol lowed by feel ings of h atred a nd
rese n tmcn t fo r th e people an d the
syste m re ·ponsible fo r th ese a bu es.
T he re's no t eve n a legal poi nt a prisone r can usc LO be removed to a less
sec ure and more productive priso n
enviro nm en t. Our feelings of rage
and personal imp otence only
in c t-ease as every petty ru le is
e n forced and any infraction, even the
slightest, is pun ished to th e max.
Wh at is the unde rl ying purpose of
such con fin c mem?
T he pu rpose of solitary is to co ntrol
those considered a threat to th e instillltio n . We arc loc ked down
23 o r more ho u rs a cia}·· o
one is a llowed to u sc t h e
ma in law library and we are
a llowed on ly limited legal
ma te ria ls. Span ish-spea kin g
prisoners arc deprived of the
law in thei r mother language.
T h et-e a rc n o religious services a n d outdoo r exercise
(which is requi red one hou r,
five d ay a week) i spe nt in a
cage n o t muc h large r th an
our cells.
Solitary ttscd to be fo r taming th e ntost vio le nt priso ne rs. Bu t prison rul es c hange
fro m da y to day a n d policy
e nforccmc lll is arb itra r)'. The
blood y history o f lockdown
has sh own us th a t iso latio n
and re pressio n provoke th e
verr be h avior th ey arc supposed to stem.
I 've never been o n e for
inaction. Everyth ing I've ever
fel t strongly about, I've done
so m et hin g a b o u t. I am
ex hau tin g myself trying to
change because the harder I
fi g h t th e sys t e m , th e m o re
fr ustrate d I ge t.
The authorities want total
co nt ro l. Th e}' have n o co n-

ce rn with the rehabilitatio n , wants or
n eeds o f priso n e rs. Alt hough som e
contro l ove r prisoners i · n ecessary,
to tal contro l is crue l.
I've een g u y in o lita ry who've
bee n d estroyed , bro ke n a n d wrn e d
into vegeta b les, a ll fo r th e sa ke or
contro l. We have no thing to look forward to but long weeks, months a nd
yea rs o f e nforced id le n ess a nd program designed to destroy our bodie ,
minds a nd spirit, rende ring us incapable o f be in g a ny fu tu re assistance
to our people.
What we need to do is o rgan ize the
col lec tive activitie among us. Our
obj ec ti ve in this a rea shou ld b e to
c h a n ge th e re la tion sh i p of forces
b e twee n th e priso n a dmin istration
and us by gaining con trol of a man y
a reas of pri ·on life as possible.
Comrol will a llow us to effectively
recr uit, organize and Utlin ourselves. It
is a n ecessary ste p in the struggle to
teach o ne a no the r. The more conu·ol
we d e,·elop over ourselve in solitary,
and th e more legal expertise we pick
up, the easie r it wi ll be to challenge the
legality of this prison with in a prison in
court.
Anthony l-Iar/man
S.C. !. Pillsbu rgh

PRISON LIFE

21

very once in a while, the
Correctional Monster Machine
screws up and spews out an
aberration from its normal stock of
ex-convicts. It's usually somebody
who is not only able to get past the
physical and psychological abuse,
solitary confinement and clockwatching, but who is also able to transform
all the muck and bullshit of prison
life into something beautiful.

22 PRISON LIFE

..

~ wo trainee guards s tood

'lf
~f

at atte ntion in th e back o f
~ th e classroom at Camden
County Pr iso n in New J ersey o ne
April day, the ir legs spread slig htly, th eir Nazi flat-topped, concre te
baby fa ces s taring mi li ta n tly
a head , th e ir ba ttl e-bl ack bato n s
sw in g in g n ow a nd th e n a s th ey
a lte r e d th e ir c r am p e d s ta n ces .
Be hind th e m , in a Plexiglas-safe
roo m , a real g uard , a rm ed with
firepower and videoscreens, mo nito re d the adjoining ha ll ways and
th e 20-p lu s priso n e rs in bri g ht
o ra nge ju mpsu its in the Rom per
Room-go ne-mad classroom . .Jim my
Sa ntiago Baca stood be fo re the
g ro up of cons, reading his poe ms
a nd talking about writing.
T he cramped classroom was six
Ooors up. Thro ugh a looped su·and
of barbed wire o n th e ledge o utside the Plexiglas window, the priso ners we re u·eated to a free look at
sky and unscenic Camde n , th e
e mployees' parking lot and beyond
that, th e cit:y's industrial barrios.
Walt Whiunan's old crib, an historic site now, lies just aro und the
corn er. In o the r parts of the
prison , men can look clown o n th e
dead poe t's g ray house, many
unaware of what they arc seeing.

Bu t today, th e cons who'd sig ned
up fo r this class were meetin g a live
poet. More than Whitman , who
sang of human spirit a centUiy
past, this valo loco turn ed vato de
vision had been rig ht whe re they
we re sitting: rock botto m be hind
bars.
.Jim my told th e cons abo ut going
into Florence, Arizo na 's hell ho le
prison a valo loco who couldn 't read
o r write, and abo ut how he had
go ne before the reclassificaLiOII
committee asking to go to G.E.D.
sc hool. "Work in th e ki tchen two
mo nths and we 'll see," they to ld
him, and he complied. After two
mo nths, he went befo re the m
aga in , but it was still a no go . .Ji mm )'
re fused to cooperate furth e r and
they threw him in th e ho le.

-

L

o ng b e fo r e th ere was
Hooked on Phonics, he was
.
~ l oc ked in a cel l, bo rrowing
bookSTro m his ho me boys, stea ling
textbooks from attendants. Page by
page, h e wo ul d e nu n c iate eac h
word unti l he had them clow n. The
wo rd s, music a nd d r e am sc a p e
images stood in star k contrast to
his prison existence and fill ed him
with power an d purpose, need a nd
vision . H e made a no tebook fro m a

c a r dboard b ox, b o un d it wi th
shoelace.
"Why did yo u stan wri ti ng?" a
priso ner asked after raising his
ha nd, his beef)' forearms stained
with th e ind ian ink ofjailhouse an.
'The th ing abo ut writing,".J im my
answe red, "is that un like most
othe r professions, you do not j ust
learn it. Yo u wri te from a sense of
need . You lwvt' to write . Li ke wri ting in a notebook aL the e nd of a
clay, o r writing about something
yo u can 't conLrol. Once you do
that, the momentum o f that drive
carri es you into the world of writing. It just takes yo u there."
His writing ange red the Man .
'"I would go to the reclassificatio n committee every mo nth.
They'd ask me if I was go ing to
work, T'd say no. They' d send me
back to my cell and I'd wait fo r
som eo ne to come fo r me. Whe n he
got th ere, I'd say, 'Don' t come in.
Please, go away.' They'd say, 'T he
warde n says . . . ' I'd say, ' I do n't
care what the warden says, leave
me alone.' T hey'd open the door,
there'd be a fight, l"cl go to sol itary
for a wee k. Then I'd go back to my
cell, go before reclass three weeks
later a nd sLart it a ll aga in the next
month . I guess th ey did n't like me.
PRISON LIFE 23

"The guns thought I was a
leader of a gang inside. I've done
some rea lly bad things, u·ue, but I
wasn ' t a leader becau e I wanted
to be a leader. I wa a leader
because somebody winked at me
and I ... y' kn ow, took care of
business. I went and got a pipe
and took care of what I had to
take care of. So everybody started
hanging with me. "
His writing alienated more than
just the Man .
'Just as I started to realize
how powerful and unbelievable language was, I also realized how much most o f the
other prisoners hated it. 95%
of the m could not read or
write. Whe n I told them that I
wanted to read and write, it
threatened who they we re.
"These same g uys who'd
been following me around
because I wa such a bad ass
and because l took care of
business, I told these guy I
wasn 't gonna work. All of 'em
turned on me. 'You're nuthin '
but a punk and a sissy.'
"I stood my gro und. "

A

s Jimm y ta lked, I
looked at the co n s'
!T
fa ces, th e n a t the
junior 'g uards in the back, trying so hard to be tough. My
eyes returned to the prisoners,
some buried inside thei r dayglo jumpsuits, o the rs busti n '
out o f 'em with brawn and jailhouse tats. Th e cons' eyes told
all: death and vio lence and suffe ri ng and, ye , buried wisdom
they had ye t to tap into.
They sat very sti ll in their
chairs the whole time, soaking
in wo rds from the poet. At first
you cou ld smell the sta le surre nde r in the air. I tho ught it
was poor ve milation o r
uncleaned vents, but Ely,
Jimmy's ese who was tagging
along and who'd done h is
share of time, assu red me it
was the sme ll of despair that
prisone rs e mit. If on ly for a
while, that would clear up.
J immy told stories o f how he
learned to read , of success and
hardshi p.
"I re member when 1 learned
what a noun was,"Jimmysaid,
and started to laugh. "I was in
a big cell block with 500 guys. I
freaked because th e word
' noun ' meant a perso n. So I

- - - 24 PRISON LIR

yelled to my frie nd down the tier,
'Hey ese, man, yo u ' re a noun . .. "
J immy reme mbe red what a verb
was by thinking of guys in his cellblock who were always act..ive, and
adjectives, by thinking of guys who
were really descriptive.
His self-taught English lessons
paid off.
"'H ey, can you write a letter to my
mom? Can you write a le tter to my
sister?' Pretty soon, all the toughest

guys in the joint were my buddies. I
was getting them all the fine
women outside. They'd come to
me, hey carnal, you got to write this
woman a letter ... They'd write
back, ' Oh, I love you forever.' I had
a lot of cigarettes and coffee."
One day, a fellow prisoner threw
a magazine into J im my's cell. The
mag was paying $100 for accepted
poen1'· Jimmy sent three of his
poems. A week later, he received

I Will Remain
I don't want to leave any more or get transferred
to another prison because this one is too tough.
I am after a path you cannot find by looking at green fields,
smelling high mountain air that is clear and sweetly
Odorous as when you fall in love again and again and again.
I am looking for a path that weaves through rock
and swims through despair with fins of wisdom.
A wisdom to see me through this nightmare,
not by running from it; by staying to deal blow for blow.
I will take the strength I need from me,
not from fields or new friends. With my old friends
fighting!
Bleeding! Calling me crazy! And never getting the respect I desire,
fighting for each inch of it . . .
I am not one of those beautiful people,
but one of the old ones, a commoner of the world
You can find in taverns, seaports carrying bamboo baskets with fish,
drinking coffee in a donut shop, weeping in the dark
In a two-for-five ramshackle hotel room,
dreaming and walking along a city street at dawn.
To move about more freely, to meet and talk with new people,
to have silence once in a while, to live in peace,
Without harassment of cops pulling you in as a suspect,
these are very beautiful thoughts.
But I will remain here where the air is old and heavy,
where life is grimy,
Full of hate at times, where opportunities are rare,
anger and frustration abundant,
Here in this wretched place I most wish to leave
I will remain.
I stay because I believe I will find something,
something beautiful and astounding awaits my pleasure,
Something in the air I breathe,
that will make all my terrors and pains seem raindrops
On a rose in summer, its head tilted in the heat
as I do mine.
Here on this island of death and violence,
I must find peace and love in myself, eventually freedom,
And if I am blessed, then perhaps a little wisdom.
I stay here searching for gold and ivory in the br east of each man.
I search for the tiny glimmering grains in smiles and words
of the dying, of the young so old old, of the broken ones.

$300, pan of which he used to buy
everyone in his cellblock ice cream.
T he poems we re seen by many
freeworlde rs. People would write
Jimmy, telling him how beautifu l
his words we re. Eve n wally, it led to
his first published collectio n:
Immigrants in Our Own Land, published in 1977.
Of course, no ne of that mattered
to the guns. Sti ll re fusing to work,
Jimmy endu red even m o re bullshit- like elecu·oshock therapy.
"Yo u' re a threat to security," the
wa rden to ld him.
"H ow could I be a threat?" J immy
asked. "I just wan t to write. "
Wh en Jimmy rece ived a le tte r
fro m a ChrisLian working for th e
Good Samarita n organ ization asking what he most wanted for
Christmas, instead of Playbo)'S a nd
mo ney, he asked for pape r and
pencils.
The act of kindn ess most sig nificant to Jimmy involved a sacrifice
by a close Chicano broth er. Jimmy
was up fo r parole fo r the
umpteenth ti me. U nable to face
rejectio n again, he told himself
that if he was de nied , he would
take h is frustratio n o ut o n a elude
who'd been jacking with him. After
the board said no, Jimmy went
back to his cell for h is piece. T hen
he went lookin g fo r the asshole
who was gonna get what was

comin ' LO him.
'T his ese of mine kn ew what I was
go nna do. And he kn ew it' d fuck
me up. H e wan ted me to make it
with my writing. So he hit this guy
first a nd got busted lor it.
''This valo d id it o ut of love. He
did for me. Eve ry time I win some
award o r do som e movie o r publish
some book, I think, th is is all
because of this g uy. I owe it all to
him ."

A

·· ~ fte r

six-a nd-a- h a lf yea rs,
Jim m y San tiago Baca was
~
released.
''!'11 ~ eve r fo rget when L walked
out of the dungeo n," says Baca. "It
was li ke a movie scene. All the bad
asses, th ey came up to me, LO shake
my hand, to hug me . Some of the
g uys were crying. It was a beautiful
thing.
'These we re th e same guys who'd
called me na mes. These same g uys,
they were waiting there when I
walked o ut th e ga te ... T hey didn ' t
know how to say thank you, but
they we re coming over.
"And I had this incredible power
LO speak LO them. I could see who
they were, and I just to ld them, 'I
love you. I wish the re was a way we
could stop this. L wish the re was a
way yo u could be with your wife,
your fam ilia, your girlfrie nd ... '
"After 1 walked o ut that gate,

that's when the real tro uble started. "
For a n ex-con, Jimmy had a lot
going fo r him . But he was too full
of rage to care. For the next two to
three years, Ji mmy wa nted to go
back in.
"People o u tside didn ' t kn ow
nothing abo ut nothing. They didn ' t
care about what was happening to
people. So I we nt back to crime
and sta rted moving stuff, a lot of
stuff ac ross country. The whole
time, I was almost begging ... I
felt better in.
"At the same time, I knew tha t
was the o ne th ing I'd fo ug h t
against all the time I'd been in
pr ison. I had fo ug h t to re tain my
sensibili ty as a social human be ing,
and to no t let myself fall below
th at. I didn ' t wan/ to thrive on viole nce. l was a good pe rson .
Basically."

I)

rison had do ne something
It had
. 11 • twisted it, saturated it with
hate a nd rage and pain .
"All those year of fighting and!
was gonna end up back inside
because I coulcln ' t live o ut here. I
was o n a downward spiral of destructio n. " ods of agreemem up and
down tJ1e rows in the classroom. A
guard in me back checked his watch:
Jimmy was riding o n overtime.

1/..'to Ji mmy ' s so ul.

PRISON LIFE

25 -~-.

--...l

When Life

Is cut close, blades and bones,
And the stench of sewers is everywhere,
Blood-sloshed floors ,
And guards count the dead
With the blink of a n eyelid, then hurry home
To supper and love, what saves us
From going mad is to carry a vacant sta r e,
And a quiet half-dead dream .

''You gon na read us some poetry?" a prison er ve nwred.
"Do we got time?"Jimmy asked
the priso n coordinator, who nodded. The irritable gua rds shifted
their rigid stances.
j immy pi cked up his firs! published collecti o n of poems. "I
wrote this one wh ile I was locked
up . ..
H e read th ree poems !'r o m
Immigrants in 011r Own Land &
Selr>rtnl l:arly Por>IIIS. a collectio n o f
poems main I)' about p riso n life
and 1hc C hica no experie nce.
"How do yo u pick your to pics?"
a dude asked. The poet answe red,
roundabout, "1 pick a th eme and
concen1rate on iL. "
jimmy writes the way any good
write r does. H e writes abou t what
he's been through , what he
knows, about wha t is dear to him:
the bar rio, love, his familia, the
land, being Ch ica no, being
Apache ... life.
Ange ls migh 1 have kept.J immy
from geLLing busted again, b ut the
clemons clidn '1 leave him. For
th ree yea rs afte r his re lease, he
·ust coul d n 't kill1he beast. He'd
had a book publi ·heel, b ut he was
still wa ist-high in crimin ali ty, an d
spaced o ut on va lium half the
time. Wo rking with th e Banditos
an d I-Ie ll 's Angels, packing a pistol
and calling the shots for 1wo
dozen workers beneath him ,
immy cominued LO li ve Ia vida
toea.
"l did n 't have th e courage to
face the pain or th e da mage that
had bee n done to me. l wa · doing
an yt hin g I could ji iSLto stop m e
from thi nkin g I co uld make it o ut
here.··
J immy we nt back to New
Mexico, his homeland.
26 PRISON

LIFE

l

ew Mexico: th e land o f
AzaLian , of sky and mo untai ns, g ree n ch ile, low-ride i·s and adobe. The last time
Jimm )' had tried to venture back,
he 'd been busted fo r be ing in
the wrong place at th e wrong
time, at a drug d eale r's ho use.
An FB I agent was plugged and
everyo ne in the ho use was a rrested. T he man respo nsible for the
cop's death o nl y se rved six
months. .Jim my got slapped with
a ten-yea r bid at Flo rence.
Th is time, t.h o ug h , he made it
back to l\'ew Mexico with o ut getting tagged by I he badges. f n
Al buq uerq ue, he resumed his
love/ hate relatio nship wiLI1 the
Muse and his struggles with the
clemo ns, d o ing the criminal
th ing un1 il he coul dn't take it
an y more.
"I wanted to write a story ... I
was sick o f th e cri mi nal life. I
wrote a book, d idn't think it was
worth anything and se nt it o ff. "
Jimmy we nt to Mexico to ha ng
o ut with [ndians in the mo unta ins ncar Chihuahua. A publishing ho use in New York
managed to u·ack hi m clown
and o ffered to publish his
book of poems and anothe r
book later. Soon after, Ji mmy
was nying all over th e g lo be,
selling books, speaking at Yale,
winning awards: the America n
Book Award ( 1988), the
Pushcart Prize ( J 989) and several others.
jimmy was em erg ing as a
major contempo ra•y poe t, yet
he was sti II just a vato from the
barrio trying to co pe with post-

p riso n shock. "All of a sudde n , l
had to deal with all th ese college
boys co min ' around afte r my ta lks,
asking me what I thoug h t of this
or that. ' I clu nn o,' I' d say. 'That's
so me heavy stu ff ... "'
In the m idst o f success, past the
thug life bu t still fig hting for possession o f his so ul, .Jimmy wrote
the scree nplay, Blood In . . . Blood
Out (Bound b)' f-l onOI) for
Hollywood Pictures. T he movie
po rtrays three Chica no bro's, all
blood kin a nd part o f th e Vato
Locos, an East L.A. barri o ga ng.
One is a pain ter ; another, a badass-turned-cop; and th e third , a
half-gringo who ends up getti ng
pin ched and se nt to the slammer
where he hoo ks u p with La Om/a,
a shot-call ing Chicano gang. The
movie is about Chi ca no life, about
cho ices, paths, life, fam ily a nd
honor.
The movie was film ed at San
Quentin and for a mo u th a nd a
half,Jimmy was back beh ind bars,
o nce again i1i banaroos (p r iso n
den ims) but this time, acting the
part of a La Onda warri o r. Th e
m ovie ma rked the final phase of
th e poet's inner war.
Ji mm y told th e co ns in the classroom abo ut it.
"T hey put me in this beautifu l
executive cond o. l had a limousine pickin g me up and driving
me everywhere. The n I'd go into a
cell, and a ll the rage wou ld come
back. All the rage and bigouy and
vio le nce and hatred. I was a convict again . l actually go t into a
lig ht with o ne o f the co ns. 1 was
standing in line a nd he said something. I sa id , ' H ey, what'd yo u
say?' f th ad lO sto p.
"About three weeks into th e
shooting, wh ich took $ 100,000 to
set u p, some thing happened, I
don 't know what. ! we nt rig h t in

Like an Animal

Behind the smooth texture
Of my eyes, way inside me,
A part of me has died:
I move my bloody finger nails
Across it, hard as a blackboard,
Run my fingers along it,
The chalk white scars
Tha t say I AM SCARED,
Scared of what might become
Of me, the real me,
Behind these prison walls.

front of th e came ra and I to ld th e
director, this guy who directed a ll
these big time movies, Officer and a
Gentleman and La Bamba and al l
those fil ms . .. I said, 'I'm getting
the fuck o u tta he re. '
"I was having a nervous breakdown . I co uldn 't slee p. lt did n ' t
matter th at I was ge tting paid
$2:"5,000 a week. I was forgetting th e
life I had made with my fa mily an d
children and friends ... sudde n ly I
was thrown back into priso n and I
co uld n 't believe that I'd spent
seven yea r in such a sm all cell,
whe re I co uld put my a rms o ut and
to uch bo th walls. It was unbelievable.
"I we nt LO a bar and just sat
the re. I wen t back th e next day and
fro m tha t point o n , I stopped taking paymen ts for the m ovie . I
do nated all o f it to prisone rs in
California to stan schools and
stuff. "

.A
l

fter the read ing, back o utside th e wa lls, I asked
~ • , J immy how he fe lt going
back in.
"You fee l the leash ," he said,
lig h ti ng up a smo ke. "You really do.
And the people who are ho lding
th e leash, nine times out of ten,
d o n ' t have the faintest idea what
it's like to be hu ma n. It's amazing
what that does to your sense of

powe r, to sit at a contro l pane l and
push buttons. You a re God. It's a
he ll of a power to have over a
human be ing. "
I told him I thought it had gone
ve ry we ll; th e prisoners had reall y
liked hi m. A couple of th e guys had
even read jimmy their own poe try,
stuff fu ll of guts and heart.
"It must make you feel good ," I
said, "inspiring these g uys."
Jimmy shrugged and took a lo ng
drag from his sm oke. "I dunno.
You start to disturb the complacency of prison. The n they go back to
th e ir bunks and th ey' re ri led up.
You do n't know if you 're doing
good or bad.
"I get th em thinking ... but a lot
of them are in that class because
they want to be th ere. I guess that's
one of the only reasons I allow
myself to talk to the m th e way I do.
If they were just cons, a lot of 'em
would shut down. Wouldn 't want to
hear it. They don ' t want to hear
abo ut possibilities and po tential.
It's painful-real painfu l-to go
back and think abo ut the kind or
man yo u could have been all your
life, the kind of man your daughte r
or son needs. And here you are,
do in ' time . .. "
J immy, his bro Ely and Lamont
Steptoe, th e li terary coordinato r
for the Walt WhiLman Cultural Arts
Center in Ca mde n and also a

natio nall y known poet, needed to
ge t to 1 ew York late r that night for
a poetry reading in Manhattan.
Most poets ofJimmy's cal ibe r
would have had age nts or travel
coordinators planning their ever)'
move. There'd be Evian in the ir
face every time they looked fo r a
water fo un Lain, ho t plates of food
every time the ir sto mac hs g rowled.
o t these guys.
"Vole can take a Greyhou nd or
something," Lamont suggested.
T his elude practi cally lived on the
damn buses: Eve ry time he does
o ne of h is poetry tours, he uses
G reyhound.
"You drove, no? " someone asked
me befo re I had a chance to offer.
"Yeah, c'mon .. . "and we finished the interview in myJeep.
"You fo ugh t the Beast in prison
and won," I said to jimmy on th e
way to ew York. ''You struggled
with making it once yo u were out,
and got through tha t. But then you
we re tossed into fame and fortune- how'd yo u dea l wi th that
de mon?"
"Fame is strange ... Yo u can lose
you r center. Pretty qu ick. It's no t
hard when you have a big
H o llywood picture, you stay in fourstar hote ls in eve1y city you go to.
Whe n you have beautiful wom en
a nd limousines and endless
amoun ts of money, yo u j ust lose it
PRISON LIFE

271!....---

no matter what kind of person
yo u are .
"But it's good, it's rea lly good
fo r conditio ning . When it happen s again , you ' re no t as ap t to
fall in to the same kind of p itfa lls.
Yo u learn abo ut the Teal stuff of
life. Knowing your ne ig hbor,
inviting him over, taking care of
your trees, wate ring them, th at'
the 1·eal stuff tha t co un ts.
"Fame and fo rtune changed
me, th en I put th e breaks o n it.
Half of it came befo re the movie,
half of it after it was o u t. I went
thro ugh a 15-m o n th slide downhill, then bo tto m ed o ut. ow I'm
back up again."
"Think you' ll go offu·ack
again?"
"Never again. I've been offered
so much, unbe lievable d eals and
mo re . Bu t I've said, 'No, no I
do n 't think so.' I just wa nt to
ta ke my kids to school in th e
mo rning. If I can write a good
book at ho me, and have tha t go
thro ug h the stages, foreig n
rig h ts, movie rig h ts, I can ma ke a
good Jiving li ke that. I can write
my scripts and do my poetry."
J immy has j ust finished two
novels, which will be o ut next
yea r. H is next ve nture is to write
ano th e r book of poeu)'- a collectio n of love poems. Wh ile he 's
wri ting that, he ' ll be kicking
back a t his fa rm o utside of
BuTque, hanging o u t with his ki ds
Anto nio a nd Gabriel, maybe
helping his neig hbo r build a
ho use. If he's not ther e, he ' ll be
in an office at the YMCA writing,
o r shooting hoops o n the basketball court o utsid e.
Whatever he' ll be doing, he' ll
be striving to un lock ...
"... the secre ts to life . T ha t's
what wr iting has done for me. It
unlocks secre ts that can 't be
kn own ra ti o nally but only
th ro ug h deep spiri tual instinct.
"Writing is inun dated with the
beauty of li fe . Yo u can ' t write
unless yo u parti cipate in th e
stream of life. That's the biggest
reason to write. "
lii1

j immy Santiago Baca is one of 18
coniempom1)' poets featuTed in The
Lang uage of Life with Bill
Moyers, a PBS documentm)' series
premimingj une 23Td. The series
exjJlores the renaissance in America
oftmblic

- - . . . 1 28

j immy Santiago Baca :S bool1s:
Im migra nts in O ur O wn Land &
Selected Early Poe ms, Black Mesa
Poems and Ma rtin & Med ita ti o ns
on the Sou th Valley.

Published by New Di1·ections, 80
Eighth Avenue, New YoTk, NY 10011.
His autobiograph)', Wo rking in the
Dark-Refl ectio ns of a Poet of the
Barrio, is published by Red Cmne
Books, 826 Camino de Monte Rey,
Santa Fe, NM 87505.

How We Carry Ourselves
To Others In Prisons
I am the broken reed in this deathly or gan ,
I am those mad glazed eyes s taring from bars,
the silent stone look
that knows like other stones the smell of working feet,
knows how long a nd wide a human can spread
over centuries,
each step, until we now step on dust
and rock of pr isons .
I could not throw my feelings away,
shoot them like wild horses,
stone them like weeping dirty pr ophets,
could not machete them pioneering a new path,
I sought not mountain, no brave deed,
I sou ght to remain human, to look and feel win d bless me ...
Chicanos, Blacks, Whites, Indians,
we are all here, our blood all r ed,
we are all filled with endurance
and have tasted the blade,
smelled the gun's oily smoke of death.
We are steel hunks of gears and frayed ropes,
our hands the toolsheds,
our heads th e incessant groan
of never ending revolv ing wheels
in an empty, gaunt warehouse,
our blood dripping from steel joints
like grease an d oil onto granite floors.
I meant to say, you can turn away from all this:
if you can take the hammering, they will give,
if you can hold on while they grip you
and hurl you ragefully at the ground,
if you can bite your teeth wh en they bend you,
and still, you do not fit,
you can be who you are.
You can see the morning and breathe in God's grace,
you can laugh at sparrows, and find love
in yourself for the sun, you can learn
what is inside you, you can know silence,
you can look at the dark gray machine ar ound you,
souls going up like billows of black smoke,
and decide what you will do next,
you who are t he main switch, who turns
everything off.
But you breathing, smiling, struggling,
turning yourself on . . . . .
All four poems printed with permission from Immigrants in Our Own
Land&> Selected Early Poems, New Directions Books, 1977, 1990 .

tJoel~1)~'·--------~~=====::::::::===::::===::======::::::::

PRISON LIFE

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CHALLENGING THE

by Jorge Renaud
Robertson Unit, Texas

The Convict Code is an unwritten law. No
convict can recite it, but all claim to follow
it. Strangely, the code is religiously adh ered
to by men who pride themselves on the ir
nonconformist past. The code is a see-noevil-speak-no-evil-hear-no-evil prohibition
against cooperating with officials. The consequence of breaking the code is violent
reprisal, no matter what the p ersonal cost.
It says that if you mind your business and
ride your heat-no matter who started the
fire-all debts will be paid.
Maybe, maybe nol. I' ve done 13 years in T exas prisons.
I've known hundreds of o ld er convicts, many of whom did
tim e in fed e ra l prisons. All spoke in hushed Lo nes of the
code and o f Lh e pa ri ah 's Sl<1 Lus awaiting those who vio lated it. T h ese me n we re th e e lite , and yo u kn ew yo u 'd
arr ived o n t h e yard wh en the qui et group squ attin g
a ro u nd the free weig hts, bandannas draped ove r t h e ir
shoulde rs, accepted you as "good people."
Recently l've read in Reel H og's Committing joumalism
an d in this magazine's J une 1994 profile of H erby Sperling,
about th e death of the cod e. Both Reel Hog an d Spe rling
bemoan th e birth o f "newvi cts," gan gstas who prey o n each
other without caring who geLS caught in the crossfire. Older
cons lamenL the passing of courtesy an d respect.
I agree with the concl usion but no t the premise. It is not
the new breed of inma te that killed the code, it's the code's
inllexibility that does not account fo r dishonorable men.

Photo: "Con11ict with an Attitude," by fJiwtog;rapher
Gary Hmge1; j oe HarjJ Co1Tectional Facility, 0/tlahorna.

The cod e assumed a solidarity among all convicts and
substitute d that fo r persona l ho n or. It d epended on peer
pressure fro m me n who d id not co nside r one another
peers. Worse, it de manded silence when it was clearly not
called fo r. It sacrificed uncounted convicts-good peoplewho killed and sufkred official retribution instead o f forcing official accou ntability o n those who abused Lhe code.
Paramo unt in the code was a refusal to talk to the Man
un less in direct response to a que t)'. Cooperating in any
investiga tion was Lo be bran ded a sni tch. A convict is
ex pected to face any sanctio n and accept any punish ment
ra th er than give info rma ti o n to o ffi cials. This insistencetha t unde r no circumstances does a convict g ive up a nother-does more to keep "good people" incarcerated tha n
a ny official scam could h ave hoped fo r. It a lso points to a
se ri o us, dead ly !law in the clearly held code.
It comes down to the snitch. Th e word iL~elf is loaded.
In my m ind, it de n otes tradi ng in formation [or favors. Not
a ll coope ra ting is sni tchi ng, bu t th e code is so rigid that
no middl e g ro un d is t·ecognizecl. But there is a m iddle
PRISON LIFE

31

IT IS NOT THE NEW BREED
OF INMATE THAT KILLED
THE CODE, IT'S THE
CODE'S INFLEXIBILITY
THAT DOES NOT ACCOU T
FOR DISHONORAB EME •
g round-o ne where perso nal honor
and accoumabi lity meet.
For exam ple: I am standing o n the
stree t corn er and I witness a drive-by.
A f our-year-old g irl is ki ll ed. The
police request my cooperation . l comply. Am I a snit ch ?
Example two: Same as above, but I
refusc. Two molllhs laLCr, I am arrested for deali ng. I offe r information of
t h e a s-yet.- un so l.ved dri ve-by in
exc h a n ge for proba ti on. Am I a
snitch?
T he code wo uld say coope rati o n in
ei the r instance is snitchi ng, because it
sees th e Man as th e enemy and

demands silence in every co nfromati on. I wou ld ay o nl y th e second
qualifies as snitc hing unde r the de finition: trad ing information for favors.
Exa mpl e three : It is yo ur fouryea r-old daug hte r who was kil led a nd
yo ur neighbor has witnessed it. Do
you go to him for assista nce? Do you
plead with him to ''sn itch them o ff?"
o. You wou ldn ' t. eve n LtsP the word
"sn itc h " in thi s sit uati o n b eca use
clearly, he 's no t snitchi ng. H e would
be he lping yo u, no t protecting murd e re rs.
We are convicts. We have devised a
cod e that d e mands so lidarity from

o n e anothe r in t.h e face of an
assumed e nemy, o ne that. humiliates
us, denies many o f us j ustice and brutalizes oth e rs. This solidarity is correct, if it is genu ine, but. it crumbles
when those withou t honor depend on
ou r silence t.o serve as cover fo r their
cowardi ce.
Re turn to t h e exa mpl es above.
Gang members accept the possibil ity
of death by drive-by. It is implicit in
t he ir code, a n d th ey lose no h onor
when th ey slaug hter eac h oth e r so.
You kil l me, I kill you, an d n o body
talks. But innocen t fam ily mem bers
and citizen bystande rs do no t ascribe
to that code, and wh e n a dri ve -by
cla ims th eir lives, ga n g membe rs
should not expect. silence. The only
h o no r left to them is to accept the
conseq uences of their actions. But t.he
same cowa rdi ce that's inh ere nt in
those actions prevc n L~ them from saying. "I did it.·· They depe n d o n th e
code of si lence, a nd on t.hc power of
t.he word "sni tch,"' to shield them, prefe rring to face a scalle r-sho t reu·ibuLion from the bereaved, with more loss
of in nocent life, to olncial accountability meted ou t as prison Lime.
The same app li es in priso n. If a
gang' me mbe r ki lls my cellic an d se ts
me up to La ke th e fal l , t.h c co d e
d e mands my sile n ce. I am su pposed
to Lake co m fort in th e what-goesaround. comes-around axio m. Wh a t
'·comes around" is s u pposed to be
me- shank in hand , exacting revenge
in the fas hio n prescribed by t.hc code.

REVISINO THE CO VICT CODEONE STEP FURTHER
by Bo Lozoff, director, Prison-Ashram Project
vising the convic t code is
omething I have been
restling with for many years.
However nobl e o r ignoble the cod e
may h ave been , it has become a cowardly rule of silence a nd violence that
hurt.s decent. co n victs t.h e most. A
small numbe r of total ly lost, vio le nL
people can se t. tJ1 e tone for an entire
instit.ution, relyin g o n the sacredness
of the cod e to prot.ect them from
be in g snitc hed out. or taken out by
the majo rity of "rig hteous cons."
I li ked Jorge Re naud's examples.
32 PRISON LIFE

Le t me add one more: What if the ISyea r-old so n of your best fri end was
shi pped to your wing, a nd you heard
that he was going to be raped by the
guy in th e ce ll next to you rs? The
code a} yo u don ' t me in anotJ1er
con's business if it doesn ' t dire ctly
invo lve you. or course, you might say
that a n auack on little j oh nn y Jr.,
whom yo u knew sin ce he was born,
does in voh•e you , so you could stand
up for him without violating th e code.
But wha t if it's five r..tp i sL~ instead
of one? Yo u r fr ie n d s don ' t kn ow
j ohnny J r., so would they be violati ng

th e code by hel ping you to sta nd up
to the five pitche rs. And wha t if it wasn ' tjohnn y Jr., but instead it was th e
son of a fr ie nd o f your sister , whom
you 've never met? Wo uld you sl.ill get
involved? Would your friends? Would
you be violaling the code?
The problem is, every young kid is
somebody's j o h n ny Jr. , and it is sheer
cowardice for you or me to allow an~
body's son (or daughter) to be brutalize d. There arc 70-year-o ld g ra ndmother in crack ne ighborhoods risking their lives to clean up their 'hood
and protect other people's c hi ldre n

rejec t that. Do ing m ore time
becau e a cowa rd wi ll not ride hi
own heat is not part o f a co d e I
accep t. The code of ilence needs a
corollary-ride you r own heat.
If my cell is searched and my shank
is fo und , do I re main silent, allowing
bo th m y ce llie and m e to be punished ? No. I accept the consequences
of my actio ns. So should all convicts.
If a convict kills a n othe r, th e o nly
honor left him is to accept the consequ e n ces. If I am pinn ed with th e
blame, I am not bound by any code to
accep t r esponsi bili ty. Th e re is n o
ho n or in do ing a life se nte nce for a
cowa rd. T h e re is no honor in taking
blood y r eve n ge a nd the time tha t
actio n wi ll carry.
I will get word to the killer: Rid e
you r own heat. Or, when asked , I will
tell what I know. o t more, not les ,
a nd not to curry favo r, but because
this was n ot of my doing, it was n ot
my busin ess, a n d you have vio lated
the first prece pt of th e code I live by:
A man of ho no r rides his own heat.
The only code that matters is o ne of
honor. I grant you all rights I expect to
be gram ed. l will act as I expect you to
act, given similar circumstances. I wi ll
acce pt re ponsibili ty fo r my actions,
never burde n ing another convict with
the consequences. And if you atte mpt
to burde n me with yours, you a re lvithout honor and unwortJ1y of my respect
or my silence.
011

who have mo re courage than that!
W h en we a r e in p ri so n , th e
prison is our n e ighborhood whether
we like it or no t (yo u know, a lot of
those grandmoth e rs a nd pare n ts a nd
kid s don ' t like Lhei1· n e ig hborhood s,
eithe r). Wh e rever we fi n d ourselves,
we have to be an h onorable huma n
bcing jiHt, and a convict or soldier or
bike r or busin ess m a n or wh a tever
else, ·econd. T hat's th e ba ic human
code wh ic h eve ryone from .J e u s to
tho e co nductin g t h e :1\ ure mberg
Trial · have affirmed.
\\'h en I was a t Lonon ( th e
Washington, D.C. prison) a few month
ago, I was discussing th ese very issues
with a brothe r wh o h ad bee n there
about a doze n years-a good , old-fashioned righteous con . \Vhcn I asked him

about rape and punks, he got this sad
look in hi eyes a nd then told me that
a year earlier, five g uys had raped tJ1is
young kid in the midd le of his dorm.
It's a 70-man d orm, a nd n early everybody was in mere, and t11ese five dudes
grabbed the kid and can; ed him to a
b unk , pu ll ed a co up le of s heets
around me outside, and had t11eir way
wim him. Most of me cons hated itthe screaming, the fear, the ho rrible
moaning and ctying for he lp-but no
one did anything to stop it, including
me bromer who was telling me about
it. I asked him how he felt about itdon·t forge t, this is a year later nowand he said "I feel ashamed. But what
was I supposed to do against five guys?
I didn 't know whether anyone would
stand with me , beca use, we ll , yo u

know-th e code." His eyes got real sad
now. Shame is a terrible tJ1ing to feel.
H e fe lt like he had not been a good
ma n , a d ecent huma n being. That's
part of his life now.
I said, "Wh a t you n eed to do is
talk with the cons in your donn today,
not whi le a rape is happe ning, a nd
say, "Hey, that really fe lt like sh it last
year, and it screwed tha t kid 's life up
forever. Let's not ever le t that happ e n aga in in our dorm , okay?" If
twenty or thirty cons decided it was
n ever going to happen again, m en it
could never happen aga in. o violence, just sh ee r num bers. Do you
think those fi ve roosters a rc going to
stand up to thirty cons? All it takes is
basic grassroots neighborhood organ(conlinued on jJage 69)
PRISON LIFE 33

·- --...___

A p1-isoner loclwl down 23 1/ 2 hours a day uses a sjJoon to catch a glimjJse of the outside w01·ld.
"Those who co1-rujJt the public mind
are just as evil as those who steal f rom lhe
public purse. "
Adlai Stevenson

ast year, th e Mississippi legislat u re met in special session lO
deal with the ove rcrowding o f its
p rison system . (The e n tire Mississippi
system is under federal court ord er to
improve conditio ns of confi ne me nt. )
Instead , the august assem bly d ecided
to confiscate prisoners' TV's, ba n airconditioning and weightlifti ng eq uipm e nt and dress t h eir p ri so n e r in
striped uniforms with CONVI.CT ste nciled across the back. Throughout the
country, politicians, such as New Yo rk
State Senat01· :Wichael 1 ozzo lio, pontifi cate that "we have too many benefi ts and too li ttle punishment" in o ur
priso ns.
Fue li n g the large ly o n e- id e d
e lection-yea r d ia t rib es we r e press
reports, suc h as Robe n Bid i nouo 's
e d itor ia lly t rump e te d "M u st O u r
Pri sons Be Reson s?" in the ove mbe r
1994 iss u e of R eader's Digest . Th e
auth o r c la im e d to ha ve visited J 4
institu tions and inte rviewed officia ls
a t doze ns of o the rs. Bid inotto wrote
of th e cu shy cond itions a nd th e mo l-

L

36

PRISON LIFE

lycoddling of priso ne rs in inflammatory la ng uage and LOok a n approach
th at was fa r fro m o bjective.
O verall, Bidino t to's a rti c le is a
piece of dange ro us disLOrtion , careful
o m iss io n a n d fal se info r m at ion,
re fl ecting a rigo rous o ne-dimensional
poin t of view. Except for th e ouu·ig ht
lies, whi ch the quote d expe r ts u tte red
fo r him, his article is a classic case of
Goebbelian propaganda, a pe rnic ious
nvist o n reality circu lated lO 28 millio n
homes. The articl e is a good example
of why only 13 pe rcem of the re pandents in a 1994 Harri s Poll aid they
had a "great dea l of co nfid e nce" in
the news repon ed by the press.
Bid in ouo beg in s the arti c le by
de scrib in g t h e goo d li fe at P en nylvani a 's Me rce r Regio na l Co rrectio nal Fac il ity. H e ex p resse amazem ent a nd disgust at the recrea tio n al
facili ties, the psychological counseli ng
a nd th e basicall y civiI treatmc n t priso n e rs th e re receive. Wha t Bidinotto
failed lO re po n was that t.h e facility was
o ne of t.h e newest in a sLate syste m th at
in 1990 was on t.he ve rge o f collapse.
In 1993, PaL Mc Ma nus, t.hen prison
comm issio ner, Lest.ifi ed in a stat.cwidc
tria l o n prison conditio ns t.hat "overc rowding, in co mbin a tio n wit.h idleness, is a fo rmula fo r d isaste r. "

That disaste r in progress in t.he
lat.e 1980s and ea rly 1990s, led lO riots
a nd pri son loc kdowns througho ut a
p rison syst.em that. is cramm ed to 170
percent capaci ty. Th e vio le nt a nd
expensive Ca mp H ill prison riot. o f
1989 exemplified t.he serious pro blems a nd inh umane co nditions found
in the Pennsylvan ia prison system.
Five week into a fede ral u·ial conve n ed aft.er t h e rio t., duri ng which
p risoner aft.c r priso n er testified to
inadequate ly investigated and rare ly
p uni shed g ua rd brutality and excessive force, th e stale of Pe n nsylvania
cmercd imo an 87-page settlemen t to
improve living cond itio ns, health care
a nd job a nd education opportunities.
All of these contex tu a l facto rs we re
co nvenie ntl y omitted in the Reade1·'s
Digest article.
The most d isto rte d al lega t ion
made in the article was th at the 160year-o ld Mi ssou ri State Priso n (rec hri tcned .Je fferson City CorrccLio nal
Cemer) is a resort. This is a sta te penal
system bulging a t 160 percent capacity,
wh ere prisoners a rc fo rced to sleep in
co n ve rted kitc h e n s an d where
port.able toi le ts are u·ucked in to meet
the dema n d, a sys te m wh ere ba re ly
one percen l o f the ove ra ll budget is
used fo r e du catio n a n d vocationa l

"If prisons are such
resorts, simply open
the gates ana see
how many run out
... and how many
walk in.''
tra mmg . Bidinotto's claim of c ushy
co ndi t ions ste mm ed from th e fac t
that the prison has an inmate-operated around-t.he-d ock closed-circuit TV
studi o that broadcasts "movies co ntai ning sex, horror and violence." But
to the prisone rs a tjefferson City, who
must e ndure roach-infes ted ce lls,
barely e dible food and a healt.h care
syste m so lacking th at. prisone rs like n
a serious illness to a drawn-out d eat.h
se nte nce, Bidinotto's focusing sole ly
on the p risoner broad cast syst.em
totally misses t.he mark.
"J effTo wn " (t.h e n a m e of th e
closed-circuit syste m ) is a comm unicatio n/ e nte rtainment nenvork com-

pl ete ly fund ed by th e profits from
ite ms p riso ners purchase from the
commissary. It. is watched o n prisoner-bough t TVs. T h e percentage of R,
PC a nd G-rated fi lms shown o n th e
system match th e ra ti o of si mila rl y
rated film s re leased each yea r by
Ho llywood, and arc no more viole nt
or sexua l tha n th ose available at. th e
neighbo rhood Blockbuste r.
In addition to fund ing the cable
syste m a nd user fees, J effTown weekly
rebroadcasts over a hundred ho u rs of
educatio na l, PBS and religious prog ra m s, a noth er key poin t om itted
fr om th e article. Periodi ca ll y, th e
sup e r intendent u ses the syste m t.o

talk di rectly to the 2,000-man populati o n , and on o ne occasion cred ited
J eflTown 's set·vice with he lping him
calm the insti tution after a major d isturbance, th e reby avo iding furthe r
cos tl y troubl e . Beyond the mere
e nte rtainme nt value, Earl Fleer, the
system's chief technician a nd newscas ter, comme n ts that 'j effTow n
serves a very n eeded and useful purpose."
Wit h the reco rd ing and stud io
e quipm e nt, the JeffTown staff has
p roduced several high-qua li ty video
progra ms. One video was a sales/ production tape on t.h e institution 's shoe
factory, which he lped secu re sales to
o th er co rrec ti onal sys tems. Oth er
shows have included p risone r-featured substance abuse/ recove ry stories, o ne of \Vh ich h as been copied
over 400 tim es a nd shown by many
public a nd private organ izat.ions in
Ad zona, Washi n gt.o n , Co lo rado,
Kansas and Missouri.
Moreove r , J effTow n provid es
p rod uction facili ties for oth e r state
agenc ies th at simply cannot. afford
Lhe I 0,000 productio n fee that th e
standard one-hour video costs on the
streets. J effTown 's additional benefit
is the certifi ed vocational training its
tech nicians receive.

PRISON LIFE 37

~A

nation-

wide
Reade r's
Digesl StLrvey shows
that f elons
have access
l o a startling
wray of crm tm·e com -

forts," /liP
magazi11e
refJorts.
Looks lilte
this guy is
living in lltP

lap of luxury.

by Karl C. Johnson
Boise, Idaho
t 's not easy doing time . The
mind- and soul-numbing hours
stretch out until time itself
becomes the be-all and end-all of
existence. Meals are milestones on
the road to another day's end. We
stare at the TV and only feel alive
when we 're pissed. With nothing to
look back on but failure and nothing
to look forward to but more time,
we 're trapped in a vacuum of meaningless, never-ending now.
We serve time to pay a debt.
Three years, the judge gave us, or
five or ten or life. Years are snipped
from the fabric of our lives so that
we may "do penance" in a penitentiary, "be corrected" at a correctional
facility. We pay our debt one day at
a time , blunting th e edges of our
self-pity with a rasp of apathy. On
some days a balloon payment
com es due - on ou r birthday , a
spouse's birthday, a child's birthday
or a holiday- while we sit here playing cards, watching Gilligan's Island.
So don't tell us we have it easy
because the commissary carries
candy bars. Don't tell us we have it
easy because we have a color TV in

I

~8

PRISON LIFE

our dayroom. We bought that TV with
money we earned and spent at the
commissary-not your tax dollars.
Don 't tel l us we have it easy
because we have on-cal l medi ca l
staff. Would you like to be treated by
undertrained physicians' assistants
masquerading as doctors? I think not.
We've seen the results of their butchery. We've seen our friend, in his midseventies and eight months from
release, go in to have an ingrown toenail removed. Six months later we
saw him lose a foot to gangrene
beca use our on-ca ll medica l staff
couldn't clip a toenail.
Time looms over us. The days,
months and years left to serve overpower our will to survive. Th e numbers in front of us never get smaller
while the numbers behind us pile up
faster than we can track . Missed
birthdays become missed graduations
become lost marriages become unattended funerals . Our families grow
away from us and all we can do is
play cards, watch Gilligan .
Don 't tell us we have it easy
because we get three meals a day. We
take no joy from soft potatoes rotted
black or stringy liver glazed green. We

take no joy from cold food on dirty trays
served with a scowl by our fellow prisoners . We eat three meals a day
because the trip to the messhall breaks
up the monotony and marks time.
Time that crawl s so slowly the
day never really begins, never ends.
We see the same faces , smell th e
same tarts, hear the same jokes, feel
the same sweat, taste the same bile
today as yesterday . Week day o r
week end , the days are only distinguishable one from another by the "X"
on the calendar. And when the day
finally ends we find the sum total of
our accomplishments has been cards
played, episodes of Gilligan watched.
Granted , we 're here to be punished. We accept that. We deserve to
be here. We accept that too, though
reluctantly. We'll do our time and mostly keep our complaints inside the walls.
But don't think it's easy. If you really
believe we have it so much easier than
you, let's trade. We'll step into your
whining, snivel ing, can't-find-a-job,
poor-me lives while you come take it
easy inside the joint.
If you're not willing to make that
trade, then do us a favor: Don't try to
tell us it's easy doing time.

The fi nal interestin g twist to the
J e f!Tow n sto ry is that no one, fro m
th e supe rintend e nt on down to th e
video techn icians, was ever contacted
by anyo n e from Reader's Digest. The
info rm atio n provided in the swry, as
br·ief as it was, must h ave come from
secondary so urces.

A SERIOUS OMISSION
or all th e selective examples, h alf~
truth s a nd g larin g om issions in th e
p iece, pe r haps th e most serious was
the citatio n rega rdin g th e corrections
budge t in California. Bidinotto intimated that th e $50 m illio n a llocate d
for educatio n and the $40 mi ll io n for
vocational training was a ridiculo usly
gene rous sum , a nd that the $57 millio n fo r prisoner e mployment was an
o uu·ig h t waste o f taxpaye rs' money.
What we we re not told was th a t
the 1993-'94 budge t for the California
De partm e nt of Correc ti o n s (CD C)
was nearly $3.2 billion . No r were we
to ld t h a t th e co mb in e d e du ca tion
expend itures acco unted for less than
three pe rce nt of the ove rall budget.
Furthe r, the article failed to men tion
tha t two-thirds of p riso ners have not
graduated fro m hi g h sch ool, nearl y
the sa m e number li ve d be low t h e
pove rty line befo re th e ir in carceratio n and a lmost h a lf we re e mp loyed
only pan -Lime be fo re their arrest.
With e ducation a nd tra ining, two
o f the few re h abil itative measures that
have proven successful , it is true, as
Bidino u o states, that "wh a t we have
b o rd e rs on th e absurd. " What is
absurd, th o ug h, is that of ever)' dollar
spe nt o n correctio ns, o n ly three cents
goes lO e du cation and tra ini ng. T he

a bsurdity is not th e a mou nt of money
spe n t o n suc h programs, but wh y so
littl e is investe d in Ll1e fi rst place.
The most co ntrived imp licat ion
in the article was that the $57 million
spent on California prisoner employme n t is a waste. Wha t most Ame rica ns
d o n ' t realize is that the vast majority
of prisoner labor is e ither for necessa ry instillltio na l se r-vices ( i.e . food
se rvice, laundr)', j a n itoria l work) o r
fac to ry wo r k th at produces a profit
fo r the state. At the average wage of
15 ce nts an ho ur, d ivided into $57
mill ion and mu ltip lied by the average
Ca lifo rnia C.O. wage of $16 an hour,
if pri sone r labo r was re p laced with
state e mp loyees, th e $5 7 mi ll io n
wo uld cost t..-'tX payers $6 billion.
Not o n ly does p ri son emp lo yment provide inma tes with someth ing

to do, and with some pocke t c ha nge
to bu y m e di ca t io n the pri son no
lo nge r provides free, it e nab les the
state to purc h ase labor at o n e o n eh undr edt h th e cos t o f freewo r ld
rates. How muc h slave r)' doe s it take
to please Bidi nouo and the editors at
Reader's Digest?

THE "EXPERTS"
Throughou t the article, two
expe r ts, professors j o h n D ilulio of
Prin ceton U ni ve rsity and Cha r les
Logan of the University of Connecticut,
were repeated ly c ited to le n d t heir
"expert analysis" of the luxu rious a nd
wasteful state of Ame rican prisons. T he
on ly problem was that their information was wro ng and tJ1eir political/professio na l agendas were hidden.
Pro fesso r Dil u lio, in la rge brush
st rokes, pa i nte d the evol ution of
priso n conditions from one of "discip line and forced labo r , wh e re wardens ru l[ed] cell blocks with an iro n
list" to th e easy and c u shy c ircumsta n ces priso ne rs find themselves in
today. He a ttributes this lO prisone r
lawsu its, misdirected court o rders a nd
libe ra l co n senl decrees. "At fi rst,"
reports Dilulio, "security-minded ward ens resiste d the n ew orders fro m
federa l judges. Bu t the ir res ista nce
was g rad ua lly unde rcut by case ma nage t·s and psyc hia tric social worke rs.
In time, tr eatme n t person nel becam e
top prison officials.
"Whe n ma ny prisons expe rienced
unpreced e n ted num be rs of escapes
and h ad hostage-ta king incidents,"
Dil u lio con ti nues, "th e rema ining
(continued on page 42)
PRISON LIFE 39

THE REAL DEAL ON PRISON LIFE
by Kenneth Z. Taylor, D.D.S.
Powh atan Correctional Center
Stat e Farm, Virginia
a m a prisoner aL a maximum security pen in Virg inia.
T he re is no way to portray priso n life verba lly o r in
writing. O n e has to li ve it to know the chaos, t h e
viciousness, th e wastefuln ess and the shee r fo lly of o ur
crimina l justice system to tru ly understand it.
For a taste or prison li fe, remove ever-ything except the
toile t from your bathroom. No rugs, no medi cine cabin e t,
towe ls, e tc. T um oil' th e hot water, as th e re is no ho t water
in prison cells. Use the bathtub as a bed , lock the door
and make yourself' com fonablc. Liste n to you r rad io o r
plug in a jivP-illl'h b lac k and white TV. Want a cu p o f col~
fee? Ask the guard to bring you a cup of hot water. Oh,
you ' re o ut of cofTce? Maybe the commissary wi ll be open
nex t week, maybe not. The next meal? It migh t be in a few
minutes or a fe w hours.
T od ay's brea kfast was two boiled egg , a banana, two
pieces of soft white bread and a glass of soajJ)' tasting milk.
It tastes soapy because there is soap in it. The kitchen sta!f
can't be bothered to rinse the dish ware.
For th e last three motllhs we han: been on lockdown
status, which means we spend 23 I / 2 hours in our cells.
There was a stabbi ng in Ott(' of the large cell houses here.
A love tri angle we nt sour and th e scorned lover stabbed
two people. We were put o n lockdo\\'n and a ll the ce lls
we re sea rched. Fifteen days later we were let out o f o ur
cages to rcs uml' tlt e nonnal routin e. At 12:30 p.m. th e
sam e day we we re lockt·d back in ou r cells. A knife was

l

•10 PRISON

LIFE

determined to have been stolen from the kitchen. Fo ur
ho urs la te r, knife still missing, we were released to once
agai n resume our usual activities. At 8:00 p.m. that same
day we were locked back in to o ur cells. T he kn if'e was sti ll
mi ssin g; n obod y had used it during the 3 1 / 2-hour
respi te, so th e adm inistrati o n decided to loc k us down
again. We remain in lockdown to this clay.
We do not leave o ur cells except to shower every two or
t hree clays. If we're lucky, we' re a ll owed to m ake a 15m inute pho ne call. Try living 23 I/ 2 hours a clay in your
bathroom, eating meals that arc always cold, food tha t is
of th e lowest quali ty. and you have a small taste of what
p rison life is like.
Yet, according to Reader:\ /JigPsl wri te r Robert Biclinotto,
"a nationwide Reader's Digest survey shows that in most prisons fe lo ns have access to a startling array of crealll re comforts." Thi could n't be further from the truth. I read that
pdsoncrs have cable TV. mm•ics and sports channels. To t
here. \t\1e're not e\'en perm itted to usc the washer and
dryct· in our cell house. \Vc wash our clothes in o ur sink in
our cells in cold wate r. Tt)' it, you 'll li ke it. Ha ng your wet
clothes on th e shower rod over your bathtub "bed."
Eighry-f'our men fi,·e in the cellblock I inhabit, which is
kn own as the "hono r bui lding." Apparently we get more
privileges. Take th e showers for example. There arc 2 showe r stalls with 3 shower heads in each. I had a shower yeste rday. I may have o ne tom orrow. Wlto knows? We don't.

Be twee n 150 a nd 160 me n live in each of the othe r two blan ke ts are confiscmed and a ch a rge fo r possession of co ncell ho uses. They have three sh ower h ead s in each house. Lraband is in the oHing. T his could lead you to isolatio n.
Now th e re's an experience! The isolation u ni t is, literaline me n a t a time ca n take a showe r wh ile 140 o r so wait
their LUrn.
ly, a dungeon. T he ru les a re diffe ren t in the re. It's in h uMedical and dental care? I broke a fi lling six months ago mane and insane. I've known me n who've spe m six years
and I'm still waiting to have it re placed. Quality med ical care in iso la tio n. I 've spe n t 10, 12 a n d 14 mon ths o n lo ng
just doesn ' t exist in pdson. Think about it. If you we re a re p- str etches, 2 a nd 3 mo nths on sh o rte r su·etches. l can not
utable doctor, wou ld you establish your practice in a prison?
begin to d escribe th e de privation, the h umil ia tio n a nd disVisits? Bid inotto writes with horro r a bout conjugal visits rega rd for life tha t exists in isolation. I get chills th inking
and "priva te fa m ily visits." We've had n o visitatio n privi- about it. T he expe rience changes you. It changed me. I' ll
leges wh a tsoever for th ree mo nth s. Wh y? J ust b ecause . say no mo re. Sign up and find out fo r you rself.
Who ca res? Obviously, t he De pa rtme nt o f Co rr ectio ns
Reh a bil itatio n? Wh at re habi li ta tion? But h ey, th e re's a
doesn 't, but we and o ur loved ones d o .
masonry schoo l he re. Education ? Guys who rea lly wam it
The light bulb in you r ce ll is busted ? We'll see if we ca n ca n get a G.E.O., bu t forget co llege. The college courses
get yo u on e in a couple of days. Need a stamp? Maybe th e we had we re te rm in ated by Virginia's new gove rno r, who
p rison sto re wi ll be ope n next wee k. J ust put your leue r also managed to abolish pa role.
Rape, murde r, beatings, robbery? It all happe ns here. Last
on your 2' x 3' me tal desk. Wa nt to work o ut? Go for it!
Have a ball trying to exercise in a 9'x 6' cell. T oile t pa pe r? year a convict killed d1e prisone r barber because he wou ldn 't give th e guy a hai rcut before the o tJ1e rs who had been
We'll see if we can fi nd so me to morrow or d1e next day.
J obs? O h sure, I have a j ob. I get paid 20 cents an ho ur to wailing. The barbe r was scheduled to go home in a mond1.
clean showe rs. I a m "allowed" to work eve ry o d1er day from
Rape occurs if the victi m is weak. So if you plan on com1 :30 to 3:00 p.m. I ge t a who ppe r of a payc hec k to buy ing to priso n, you 'd be tte r be strong. Expect to be tested
stamps, soap, tood1paste, shampoo, deodora nt, de n tal floss, from the ti me you walk in th e door. Be strong or be nd over.
T here is too much to say in an article. Maybe a book could
e nve lopes, pe ns, pape r and a ny food ite ms I migh t want.
Budget 20 cen ts an hour to buy those bare esse ntials. Yeah, do d1 e to pic justice. j ustice? J ust-us. Maybe the know-it-a ll
we have it made. It's a real picn ic in here. But tJ1is is on ly Reader's Digest writer should have come d own and jo ined us,
me tip of me icebe rg .
done some real research, before he wrote his piece.
Speaking o f icebergs .. . It's 52 degrees ou tside and 52
O h , by the way, tJ1e o the r two cell houses he re have j ust
degrees in he re. We don ' t ge t heat un til la te 1 ovember. vVe gone double-bunk. So bring a frien d in to your ba m room
wake up each mo rningwim stiff - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , "ce l l" a n d s p en d the weeke n d
Tod~'s breakfast was two
toge the L T e ll m e how yo u like it.
j oints. Go out and sleep in your
Using the toi let in a do uble-bunked
ga rage to nig ht if yo u wa n t to
kn o w wh a t I'm ta lking a bout.
boi e eggs, a anana, two
cell ma kes fo r a n unusually odife rOnly two sheets a nd one blanpieces of soft white bread and ous expe rie nce.

I

ke t, p lease . Ex tra sh eets a nd

b

a glass of soapy tasting milk.
It tastes soapy because the
kitchen staff can't be bothered
to rinse the dishware.

PRISON LIFE

41

"I have visited some of the best and the worst prisons and
have never seen signs of coddling, but I have seen the
terrible results of tfi.e boredom and frustration of empty
hours and pointless existence."
-former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger
g ua rds from th e o ld sch ool arg ue d
tha t discipline h ad become too lax.
But n obody li stened , p r e fe rring
instead lO h e ar acade mi c 'ex pe rts'
proc lai m that priso n vio le n ce an d
o the r problems we re caused by a lack
o f ad e qua te ly fund ed re ha b ilitati o n
programs. More programs, o f cou rse,
mean bigge r staffs, fatte r budgets and
more pe rks."
This is a distorted pic ture, drawn
from a few exu·cme cases, which in no
way reveal th e resul ts caused by overc r owding wit h out co rr es po ndin g
in creases in stalling. Mo reover, treatment sta ff did no t "gain contro l. " As
Dr. tvlan o uchche1· Khatibi , th e directo r
of th e Yo uthful Offe nd e r Prog ra m
Office for the Flo rida Departm e n t of
Correctio ns, commen ts: "Current correcti o nal practice often places e ducatio n (i.e. treatment) programs at th e
bo ttom o f the heap in terms of prio rity." And since the number o f successful escapes and priso n vio le nce h ave
42 PRISON

LIFE

d ecreased ove r th e past clccaclc, the
allegatio n that custody has lo ·t its gri p
is simply not mte.
The Rl'ndn·:5 Digest a rticle goes o n
lO s tate that co rrec tion s cos t th e
counll")' a ro und 20 billion in 1994.
Dilulio cla ims th at "at le ast 40 pe rce nt of prison expe nses go to re ha bilitatio n programs and inmate a me niti es tha t have little bearing o n instituti o nal sec urity, an d th a t fa r exceed
basic stan da rds of h uman d ig nity."
1 o ti cc, th o ug h , how Bidin ot to
fa iled to menti o n that the U.S. spe nt
upwa rds of 25 billio n o n prison constructio n and o peratio ns, a nd the way
he defi nes ame nities: ''Those small but
\raluccl things one docs no t expect but
is plea ·eel to discover in prison, such as
hot coffee, tasty food or clean ·heeL~."'
\Yith ed uca ti o n , vocational trai nin g, dntg tn:aune nt a nd coun seling
ta kin g up a m e re seve n percen t o f
penal ex pe nditures, arc we to be li eve
tha t such precio us f"ew "amen ities" as

hot java and ed ible meal · (real luxuries, those) consu me a th ird of the
mtLiona l correctional budget?
Since the publicatio n o f h is 1987
book, Governing Prisons: A ComfJarative
Study of Corri'Ctiona/ Ma nagement,
Diluli o ha ·advocated a "contro l-orie nted" priso n regime o f strict ord e r,
with some services an d earned ame nit ies. Arguab ly, then, if one doesn't
fo ll ow the ru les, n o hot co ffee o r
clean bedding. One can su nni e that
the fi lm "Shawsh ank Rede mpti o n "
depicts wh at th e professor believes
prison sho u ld be.
Look ing mor e c lose ly a t th is
ex pe rt, we learn tha t Di lu lio's mentor
is Dr. J a mes Q. Wi l on, th e godfath er
o f the get-to ug h movement ad vocatingjudicia l restraint, mandatory incarcerations, longer sen tences and the
abol ishm ent or parole boards, to me ntion j u t a rew or the princ iples that
have gove rn ed criminal justice policy
in America fo r th e past 20 years. '"'ith

teac h e rs like th a t , n o wo nd e r th e
Pri n ce ton p ro fessor sees th e wor ld
throug h concre te and barbed wire.
Th e o th e r ex p e rt, Pro fesso r
Charle Logan , did not la m ent plush
p ri so n cond i t io n s. I nstead , h e
slammed correctional programming as
a waste of tim e and m o ney, and as an
o ppo rtuni ty fo r con-wise prisoners to
manipulate the system . "Despite claims
lO the contrary," Logan observes, "no
type o f u·eaLillen t has been effective in
re habili tating crimina ls o r preventing
fu ture criminal behavior."
Th is claim is most certainly false.
In fact, in a no the r of Dil ulio's tomes,

NO ESCAPE: The Failme of American
CO?Tections ( 1991 ), th e a uth o r concludes after reviewing the compe ndium of research (presumably the sa m e
reports L oga n swd ied) t h a t "th e
facile notion that ' notl1 ing works' [i n
rehabil itatio n programming] is ready
for the garbage he ap o f correctiona l
history." We ll s truc tured, ad e qua te ly
supported progra ms, fro m education
to vocational u·ain ing to counse li ng,
ca n a n d d o he lp reduce cri m e a nd
reincarce rati on rates.
Loga n , on th e o th er h and , has
built his acade mi c re puta tio n o n his
ge t- tough th eo ry o f c rim e co ntro l.
Afte r two d ecades o f the imple mentatio n o f th a t co n ce pt a nd its di sm a l
failure, o ne concludes tl1a t the a uth or

must be professio n a lly d espera te to
try to sa lvage some th ing fro m t h is
o bvio u fall acy.
Ca n adian c rimin o log ists P a u l
Gendreau and Robe rt Ross reviewed
two d ecad es of research rega rd in g
deter rence th e ory po li cies a nd programs. They cou ld no t unci "a single
s tudy in th e who le d e te rre n ce literaLUre wh ich co uld upp o n a ca useeffect co nclusion." Whe reas Ross, in
r e vi ewin g the effective ness of just
pri so n co ll ege progr a mmin g, co ncluded that "nowhe re in the literature
ca n o n e find suc h impressive results
with the recidivistic adult o ffe nde r. "
Yet, we a lrea d y know, a fte r
Con g ress expelled prison ers from th e
Pe ll Grant progra m , th at no m a u e r
h ow effective hi g h e r e du ca t io n
opponun itie ultimately a re for society in gene ra l, they a re just too damn
luxu rio us for prisone rs.

IN THE END
A d ecade ago, fo rm e r U.S.
Supreme Court C hief jus tice Warren
Burger said: "If anyo n e is tempted to
r ega rd hum a ne priso n refo rm as
'coddling' c rimin a ls, le t him visit a
priso n a nd ta lk with inmates and
staff. l h ave visited so m e of the best
a nd so m e o f th e wo rs t p ri so ns a nd
have never seen signs o f coddling, but

I have een th e te rribl e results o f th e
bo redo m an d fr u stratio n of e mpty
hours and poi n tless existence."
Since the n, conditions h ave on ly
g rown worse, no t better. As a whole,
th e U.S. p rison syste m is in vio lation
o f t h e Un iversa l Dec la r at io n of
Huma n Rig h ts a nd the lmernational
Co n ve nti o n o n Civil a n d Po litica l
Ri g hts. Rece ntl y, a Sca nd a n av ian
co mm iss io n fo und th e Am e ri can
priso n sys tem to be "th e m ost barba rous" a mo ng t.h c Weste rn industrialized coumri es.
No, the nation' s priso ns a re fa r
fr om r eso rts. C la ims th a t th ey a r e
r c ons a r e n o thin g m o r e th an
a u e mp ts to mislead th e public from
the real ills troublin g society. V\'hy, if
p e r capita crim e is the lowest it has
b ee n in 20 yea r s, a re prison s s till
expanding? "Why, if u ne mploym ent is
at a re latively low level Uob security
not with t a nding ), are rea l fa mil y
in com es still shrinking? Why a re we
bei ng to ld that if we just ha d to ug he r
priso ns in stead o f m o r e e qui table
economic o ppo rtunities, cr ime wou ld
a ll but di sap pea r? An swe rs to th ese
questio ns would reveal a crim ina l philosop hy m aLdwarfs all the explo itation
fo und in o ur prisons.
lf our prisons arc such resorts, simply open tl1e gates and sec how many
run out. ... and how many walk in. Ill]

"Weight-liflingequipment, all but universal in prisons, is far more e:~jJensivt' than most lctxjJa)'t' I'S susjJecl, "Sa)'S Reade r's Digest.
77wy must have missed m.osljJrisons, including Eastj ersey Stale Prison, shown above.
PRISON LIFE 4 3

THE CASE OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
by Kim Wozencraft
There is no little enemy.
- Benjamin Franklin

0

n Interstate 78, just after you cross the
state line separating New Jersey from
Pennsyl vania, there i s a huge red,
white and blue billbo ard that proclaims ,
"Welcome to Pennsylvania! America begins
here." I thought I might see that sign when I
drove to SCI Greene in Waynesburg to interview Mumia Abu-Jamal, who' s been on death
row in the Pennsylvania system since his conviction in 1983 for killin g a Philadelphi a
police officer.
But I didn ' t make the drive because I was
denied permission to speak with Mr. AbuJamal. T he Pennsylvani a prison authorities
are h oldi ng him in communicado. He i s
allowed no visits other than with family members and approved lawyers . Paralegals are
denied access . Journalists from around the
world want to talk to this man, but cannot.
PRISON

LIFE

45

"Many are scared of what Abu-J
frightened that here is a man w
experienced the worst that Ame
and has been raising his eloque
the status quo since 1968."
In response to my req uest for an interview. I received a letter from James S.
Price, Superi nte nden t of SC I Greene,
which stated in part: " Mr. Mumia AbuJamal current ly is the subject of an internal in vestigation for possible violation of
department or correctio ns pol icy. For
that reason, he is not eligible for news
media interviews at this time."
I called to ask what the violation was.
The press secretary for the Department
of Corrections. a ma n with the rather
Dickensia n name of Ben Livingood,
answered the phone in the clipped tone I
associate wi th military drill sergeants.
After replying several times to my various questi ons with the same phrase" it's an internal in vestigation by the
department of corrections"-he finall y
confirmed that the actua l offe nse was
either (a) entering into a contract, or (b)
conducting a business, both verboren by
the department of corrections.
Anyone who's done time knows th at
once you're inside, yo u fa ll und er the
rule of administrative policies created by
those who run the prison. an enti re set of
regulations that have nothing to do with
any rul e of law or justice. In fractions
against those policie subject you to misconduct hearings presided over by prison
administrators who often act as prosecutor, judge and jury at once.
Within death row, Abu-Jamal is held in
disciplinary confi nement.- the hole-for
refusing to cut his hair, an act which would
violate his religious beliefs. Abu-Jamal
adheres to the teachings of John Africa, the
man who founded MOVE in the early
'70s. The religion espouses respect for all
living things: soil , water, air, plants, animals, humans. "We arc all connected,"
says MOVE member Ramona Africa, "and
to allow for the poisoning or murder of any
living thi ng is to hurt oneself. The system
is hell bent on stopping us so it can continue iL'i pre ent course of pollution, destruction and death, and MOVE is committed to
come at that system without compromise."
The name itself was c hosen because it
means to generate. to be acti ve, the opposite of to stagnate. Movement is life; stagnation the first step toward death.
Though the authorities' use of di sciplinary confinement. coupled with the internal in vesti gati on, places Abu-Jamal in
the netherworld of administrative policy
46

PRISON LIFE

and effectively shuts off contact with the
outside world, he still speaks his truth.
Live f rom Dearh Row, a collection of
Abu-Jamal's essays and commentaries,
was publ ished in May by Addi so nWesley over vehement protests from the
Phi ladelphia Fraternal Order of Police
and other right-wing groups. (See Prison
Life's review in Prison Papers, May-June
'95 iss ue.) Many are sca red of what
Abu-Jamal has to say, fri ghtened that
here is a man who has seen or experienced the worst that America has to offer
and has been raising his eloquent voice
against the status quo since 1968. What
he has to say has everything to do with
how he wound up on death row.
Some Americans are unable to grasp that
there are political prisoners right here in
our very own country. Political prisoners
exist in places like South Africa, the former Soviet Union, or Chi le. Our nation
was founded on the tenets that free speech,
freedom of religion and the ri ght to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness are
basic human rights that no government can
deny. Our Constitutional right to speak our
beliefs without fear of retaliation from our
government is one of the things most of us
hold dear about democracy.

Early to Rise
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Wes
Coo k was thirt een w he n he went to
protest with three friends at a presidential
rally in his hometown for then Alabama
Governor George Wallace. Things got
ug ly fast, and he and his friends were
beaten brutall y. By cops. Cook was beaten so badly that at the hospital his mother
walked past him, unable to recognize her
own son. That beating by cops knocked
wide open what had been a budding political consciousness. Wes Cook emerged
fro m it as a man who had experienced
firs thand the brutal fist of state racism in
America. He would dedicate his li fe to
fighting the oppression of his race.
Mumia Abu-Jamal sits behind Plexiglas e mbedded wi th wire, h is hands
cuffed, his voice a reso nant baritone,
definit ely a radio voice. His almondshaped eyes are deep brown ; his dark
hair falls in long dreadlocks.
"As a youth, in the '60s," he says in a
videotape shot before the administrators

locked him away from the media, ··1 was
impressed by the Black Power movement
that was sweeping Black America and the
Black world in Africa and the Caribbean."
Even at the remove created by a camera
le ns, this man rad iates warmth, intell igence and, against all odds, a sense of
humor. Though they've had him caged for
13 years, threatened him with execution
every minute of that time, they have not
crushed his ense of self. They have not
robbed him of his dignity; they have not
destroyed or even bent his will.
At Benjamin Franklin Hi gh School.
young Cook fought to change the chool's
name to honor Mal com X, and was
expelled for distribut ing pamphlets calling
for ''black revolutionary tudent power."
·'From those experience ,'' Abu-Jamal
says , " I wa s attrac ted to the Bla c k
Pan th er Party. l was beat e n into th e
Black Panther Pany."
Revolution is a word that scares a lot of
people. They forget the United States of
America was born not out of revolution.

there are political prisoners right here in our
but o ut of v io le nt rev olution- armed Panthe r headquarters. His troops dragged own country."
rebell ion agai nst an oppressive, unju st Panthers onto the stree t, put them against
power. But revolution need not always be
violent. " Revolution means change," says
Abu-Jamal " It means total c hange." He
speaks o f " people w ho can' t have bas ic
needs fulfilled. They can ' t eat. They can' t
have shelter. They can' t have clothes."
In 1968, at the age of 14 , Abu-Jamal
co-founded and became Li e ute na nt o f
In formation fo r the Phi lade lphia chapter
of the Black Panther Party. " I believe it
is a natural right and principle of life for
all people to defe nd the m se l ves. I
believed th a t years ago w he n l was a
Panther, I believed it when I got ex posed
to the MOVE peo ple, and I believe it
now. Self-defense is a natural right, and
no one can take that away from you."
In September o f 1969, Frank Rizzo,
then po lice c hi ef a nd late r mayor of
Ph ilade lphia, pe rsonall y led a ra id o n

a wall and stripped them.
"They would have shot us the n," AbuJ ama l said, "exce pt for the communit y
presence." Office files were carried off
by the cops; the mimeograph mac hine
disappeared.
In Dece mb e r o f th at sa me year,
Panthe r s Fred Hampton and Bobby
Hutton were shot by police in Chicago.
"The govern me nt tried very vic iously to
wipe out the Black Panther Party," AbuJa mal recall s. "They s hot , they sent in
gre nades, they bombed ... "
T he raids and kill ings were part of the
CO INTELPRO operation, an illegal federal campaign waged against political dissidents, which hit the Panthers with a total of
768 an·ests and almost fi ve mill ion in bail
bonds between May, 1967 and December,
1969. Thirty-eight Panthers were ki lled.

"The CO !NTELPRO program was a
terroristic program," Abu-Jamal recall s.
" Its func tion was to terrorize rad ica ls,
revolutionaries, oppone nts o f government
programs, and to stigmatize and iso late
them from the general populati on."
Ab u -Ja mal , as spokes man fo r the
Phi lad e lp h ia BPP, was feat ured in a
Philadelphia Inquirer story about the party
in January, 1970. He was quoted as sayi ng
that the BPP was "doing what the c hurches
are supposed to do." (The Panthers were
operating a free breakfast program for chi ldren.) "Ge nocide is coming to the forefront
under Lthel Nixon, Agnew and Mi tchell
reg ime," Abu-J ama l sa id, "and th at's
exactly what it is. The Panther Party is an
uncompromising party that faces reality."
During the su mmer of that year, AbuJ ama l joined the s taff of the National
PRISON LIFE 47

"It didn't matter whether a
man was innocent or guilty. It
didn't matter what the law
says your rights were."
Office of the Panther Party in California
and began writing for the party paper.
Back in Philadelphia, Rizzo continued his
assaults against the Panthers, staging multiple raids on locations throughout the city
during August. A week later, the Panther
Revolutionary People's Constituti onal
Convention convened at Te mpl e
Uni vers ity in Philadelphia. Ab u-Jamal
served on the security team. He was later
listed in a congressional committee report
on internal security in the United States.
The authorities-local , state, federalwere aware of him and suspicious of his
acti vities . He was doing thin gs a nd
endorsing ideas that they didn' t like.
The federal government' s COLNTELPRO operation took a devastating toll on
th e B lack Panther party , effect ive ly
destroying it through the use of terrorism
and by creating internal strife through
subterfuge. Abu -Jam al returned to
Philadelphia and turned his fu ll efforts to
journalism. He became a n acc lai med
rad io journali st, heard on the National
Black Network, Mutual Black Network,
NPR and Radio Informati on Central for
the Blind. His interviews included Julius
Irvi ng, Bob Marley, Alex Haley a nd
Puerto Rican independence fighters.
In 1978, Frank Rizzo, with hundreds
of cops at his command, laid siege to the
Powelton Village home of MOVE. Prior
to the raid, Rizzo was asked by a te levision reporter how he would handl e the
event. "Deh p' lice will be in dere ta drag
'em out by de h backs a' dere nec ks,"
Rizzo replies. The reporter says, "There
wi ll be a confrontation this time?'' "It's
up ta dem," Rizzo says, " Dey' re going to
be taken by force if dey resist. No question about dat. Children or not."
Cops move in with bulldozers to raze the
home. Former Panther Delbert Africa is
beaten mercilessly by police; all of this is
captured on video. One of the cops actually
stops to tuck his shirt back in before continuing to kick and punch. The video of the
beating, which predated the Rodney King
incident by some 13 years, is all the more
vivid in that it was shot in broad daylight,
in color. The cops delivering this beati ng
weren' t concerned in the least that they
might face prosecution for the brutal assault
they were committing for all the world to
see. The MOVE home was surrounded and
cops fired at wi ll. A police officer was
48

PRISON LIFE

killed in the crossfire. At a press conference
afterward, Rizzo said to the gathered journalists, "The press has to take a little of the
blame here. They' ve glorified a bunch of
criminals .. . The press is responsible for
what's happening in this city."
In 1980, at the age of 26, Abu-Jamal was
elected President of the Phi ladelphia chapter of the Association of Black Journali ts.
Philadelphia Ma gazine named him in
198 1 as one of its "people to watch" and
said his "eloquent, often passionate, and
always insightful interviews bring a special
dimension to radio reporting."
Abu-J amal brought that same insight
to his coverage of the MOVE organizati on. " I becam e e xposed to th e m as
opposed to read ing about them," he says,
"and fo und out that what I read about
them had no relationship to the kind of
people they were, and what they were
about. Every published report was ti nged
with prejudice and hatred. MOVE members have been active and above-ground
in Philadelp hi a since 1973 . They've
been through every jail in Philade lphia;
they' ve been beaten in every police di strict all over Philadelphia for standi ng up
for their beliefs: to defend life."
Nine MOVE members were brought to
tri al fo r the police officer's death. " I was
. . . enraged," Abu-Jamal says, "sitting in
a tri al in an offi cial capacity, objecti ve,
as a journalist, and seeing th at the law
real ly didn ' t matte r. 1t didh' t matte r
whether a man was innocent or guilty. It
didn ' t matte r what the la w says your
rights are. You j ust had nine members of
the MOVE organization being sentenced
to thirty-to-a-hundred years for a cri me
th at everybody knew they didn ' t co mmit. Nine people can' t kil l one man.
"What you had in Philadelphia in '8 1
was the naked state j udicial terrori sm of
the Phil ad e lphi a judiciary agai nst the
MOVE orga nization. It was li ke, let 's
wipe 'em out. lt' s impossible for me to
say what my feelings were at that time.
Sitt ing in a courtroom seeing that kind of
injustice, it rankled me to the core."
Abu- Jamal cove red the side of the
story no main strea m wh ite j ournali st
wo uld touc h . " I beca me a wid e ly known, and among the cops, a widelyhated MOVE supporter who went into
the j ai Is to get the A fricas' side of the
August 8, 1978 confrontati on," he says.

"I did human. warm pieces on some of
the most beautiful folks I ever met."
Without Justice, Courage is Weak
-Benjamin Franklin

On Dece mbe r 9, 198 1, in the earl y
hours of morning, Abu-Jamal was moonlighti ng as a cab dri ver in Phill y's red
light di strict. He had been robbed before
whi le dri ving a cab, and had in his possession a legally-registered handgun. He
saw that his brother's blue Volkswagen
had been stopped by the police; he saw a
cop beati ng his brot her with a billy club.
Accordin g to the governme nt, AbuJama l ran up and shot office r Danie l
Faulkner in the back and the n emptied
his pistol into the fallen officer, tak ing a
bullet in the stomach himself as he did.
When backup officers arrived. Faulkner
lay fatally wounded; Abu-Jamal sat on a
c urb nearby, bleeding profusely.
Mum ia Abu-Jamal was put on trial in
the courtroom of th e notori ous judge
Albe rt Sabo, a man who has put more
people on death row than any other sitting judge in the Un ited States. Of the
12 1 people on death row in Pennsylvania
in Jan uary of 1991. 26, full y one-fifth,
were sent there by Albert Sabo. Prior to
becoming the Honorable Albert Sabo,
the judge served for 16 years as undersheriff in Philadelphia.
During voir dire, Sabo allowed a white
man who admi tt ed he co uld not be
imparti al to re main o n the jury whil e
permitting the D.A. to strike II qualitied
prospecti ve jurors who were black. AbuJamal requested to have MOVE leader
John Africa as his defense cou nsel. The
co urt deni ed thi s request and forced
court-appoi nted coun sel, a lawyer who
had never before tried a ca pital case.
Abu-Jama l also at tempted to exercise his
co ns ti tuti o nall y guara nteed ri ght to
defend hi mself. Denied.
The state's star witness was Cynthi a
White, a prostitute who had been arrested
more than 30 times in the two years previous to the trial. She was taken into custody
twice in within two weeks after the shooting. There were three charges pending
against White at the time of the trail. At
her various pol ice interrogations and
appeara nces on the witness stand, she
placed herself 7 feet from the shooting,
then 24 feet from the shooting. She said
he saw the gun in the hooter's left hand.
Jamal is right-handed. She said the shooter
was short. Jamal is 6' I". She said she saw
the flash of the first shots, that she didn' t
see any flashes, that she couldn ' t remember what hand the gun was in, that there
was no strugg le between police officer
Daniel Faulkner and Abu-Jamal's brother,
Wi lliam Cook; she said that Cook struck

Faulkner in the face and Faulkner grabbed
Cook and spun him around to c uff him:
she said the shooter fired the shots all at
once: she sa id that there were two shots,
a pause, a nd then three more shots. The
on ly thing surprising about the inconsistency o f her accounts is that she had private meetings with the pro ecu10r to prepare he r testimony. M aybe she wasn 't
pay ing atte ntion.
A second witness. Veronica Jones, also
arrested for prostitution within weeks of
the shooting, testified that the cops told
her that if she would support White's testimony, she would be allowed to work the
street. "They were gett ing on me telling
me I was in the area and I seen Mumia,
you know. do it, you know, intentionally.
They were trying to get me to say something that the other girl said." Sabo cut the
testi mony off as irrelevant. Though Jones
had signed a sworn state ment that she saw
two men running from the shooting, she
denied this on the witness stand and Sabo
refused to le t the defe nse call the cops
who took her statement. A third witness, a
cab driver who had been previously convicted of throwi ng a Molotov cocktai l into
a public school for pay and had two recent
drunk driving arrests, also suffe red from
confus ion. He said the guy was heavy,

220 pounds. dressed in a tan shirt and ned
down Locust Street. Later, he said the guy
was in a gray dress hirt with a red and
green picture on the back. At the trial , the
cabbie denied seeing a nyone run away,
though three additional witne ses had seen
someone lleeing the scene.
Police officer Gary Wakshul, the ofiicer
who was with Abu-Jamal from the time he
a rrested him , re ported that Abu-Ja mal
made no stateme nt w hile in custody. Yet
p o lice ins pec to r A lfo nzo Giorda no
c laimed that Abu-Ja ma l had admitted to
shooting Fau lkner. Wakshul was away at
the time o f the tria l, and Sabo refused to
adj ou rn for a few days until the officer
re turned from vacation. Odd ly, the prosec ution did not call Giordano. T hey did call
Faulkner's fonner partne r, Gary Bell, who
admi ued that he to ld the bad ly-wounded
Abu-J ama l at th e hospi ta l, " If he
lfaulknerl dies, you die." When Internal
Affairs began inves tigat ing officers for
bruta lity against Abu-Jamal. two months
after the inc ident. Bell said his threat was
in response to Abu-Jamal te lling him, " I
shot that motherfueke r a nd I hope that
motherfucker dies.'' If that doesn' t sound
like a white guy trying to sound like he's
quoting a black guy. I don' t know what
does. A securi ty guard from the hospital,

Prisc illa Durham, also testified she ' d
heard Abu-Jamal make the statement, but
like Bell, she didn't bother to come forth
wit h th at in fo rm a ti o n until after th e
Interna l Affa irs inves ti gat ion began.
Ballistics could match neither the bullets
that hit Faulkner nor the others recovered
from the scene to Abu-Jamal's gun. They
could not match fi ngerprints on the gun to
Abu-Jamal. They could not say when or
where the gun was fired.
Abu-Jamal did not take the stand during
the gui lt-or-innocence phase of the trial. It
was during the penalty phase of the trial,
when the defendant exercised his right to
speak to the jury before sentenc ing, that
Sabo and the prosecution moved in for the
kill. Abu-J ama l rose, cla imed hi s innocence and called the proceeding unfair.
Sabo ruled that Abu-Jamal had become a
w itness and should be cross-examined.
The prosecuto r jumped. He asked AbuJamal why he didn ' t stand when the j udge
e nte red th e courtroom, w hy he didn ' t
accept the court's rulings, why he shouted
in anger a t an appellate j udge, why he
engaged in a hostile exchange with the
court during pretrial heari ngs. Then he produced the 1970 Philadelphia Inquirer article and proceeded to question Abu-Jamal
about his membership in the Black Panther

"I believe it is a natural right and principle of life
h m lv

-

Party some twel ve years previ ous. The
prosecutor took quotations--completely
out of context- al!ributed to A bu-Jamal
from a time when he was sixteen years old.
Q: Do you recall saying, 'All power 10
/he people?'"
A: Yes.
Q: Do you believe your ac/ions as well
as your philosophy are consisfellf wilh
/h e quo/e, " Poli1ical power g rows ow of
/h e barrel of a gun ? "
A: I believe 1ha1 America has p roven
/hal qu01e fo be /rue.
Q: Do y ou reca ll saying flw1, '7he
Pan/her Par1y is an un compromising
party, if races realify?"
A: (Nods affirmclfively) Yes.
" When they brought out my Panther
history," Abu-Jamal says, " it was like a
j olt of electricity to the jury-pow! The
prosecutor had already referred to one of
Abu -J amal 's 15 character w itnesses,
renowned poet and T emple Uni versity
professor, Sonia Sanchez, as a " friend of
cop kil lers." [n insi sting on the death
penalty for Abu-Jamal , the D. A . to ld
j urors the defendant would have " appeal
after appeal and perhaps there could be a
reversal of the case, or whatever. so that
may not be final," effecti vely assuri ng
the juror s that even i f they voted to kill
the defendant, they weren' t really sentencing him to die, they were merely initiating a series of court proceedings.
•

Pennsylvania Supreme Colll1 had reversed
a conviction based on a summation by the
same prosecutor using the same argument- a vote for the death penalty isn't
rea ll y final bec au se of the appea l s
process-in Abu-Jamal 's case they denied
all relief. Only four of seven sitting justices signed the opinion, but four was the
number needed to uphold the convicti on
and punishment. One justice who should
have disq uali fi ed himself bec ause of a
per sonal exc han ge w ith A bu -Jam al
declined to do so. Recently, an investigation of the court has resulted in the indictment of one of the justices.

Lost time is never found again
-Benjamin Franklin
Organi zed by th e Part i sa n Defense
Committee, peaceful rallies i n support of
M umia Abu-Jamal have been held in cities
around the world- Paris. London, Berlin ,
Hamburg, Toronto, Sydney--calling for
an end to the racist U.S. death penalty and
urging that Abu-Jamal be released from
Death Row, Pennsylvani a. A t a July 14,
1994 rally in Philadelphia, state representative David Richardson called Abu-Jamal's
trial " a farce. a fake and a phony."
But across town, the Fraternal Order of
Police were gathered at a rally of their
own . FOP President Ri chard Cos tell o
called for Abu-Jamal' s immediate execution and said. " If you don' t like it. you can

ning the fight for their very lives against
the massive weight of state or federal governments. The death penalty, in study after
study, has been shown 1101 to work as a
deterrent. It has been shown. ti me after
time. to be perpetrated in a wholly racist
manner. It has been shown, in at least 350
instances. to have been cmTicd out against
people who were not gui lty of the cri mes
for which they were killed. That ' s more
than the number of innocent people killed
in the Oklahoma City bombing. a horrible
cri me that frightened and enraged most of
America and the world.
M ost o f those i nnocen ts who were
murdered by the state were convicted on
the basis of perjured test imony . Th i nk
back to the "confusion" of the witnesses
in Mu mia Abu-Jamars case. to the police
officer who was away on vacation, to the
words of the fallen officer's partner: If he
d ies, you die ... Th ink back to t he
Honorable A lbert Sabo·s record number
of death pronouncements.
" I want to be there when he's exccuteel," says M aureen Faulkner. " I want to
look straight into his face when justice is
carried out.'' Anyone who has lost a loved
one can understand her grief. and w ish for
her to heal, to understand and overcome
and go on to fi nd love again. But if the
state does succeed in ki lling Abu-Jamal. a
man convicted. but not by any sane, reasonable standard proven gui lty. I hope
M aureen Faulkner gets her wish. Perhaps
•
she w i ll come away

Pennsylvania State Representatlve~~~: ~~~u:,~;,~:;.st:.~~~
David Richardson called Abu-Jamal' s :,~~ur~fo~.~~:n~~~~~:~:ous
trial "a farce, a fake and a phony."
Leonard Weinglass, a New York attorney hand I i ng A bu-Jam al 's appea I.
describes what happened next in his afterward to Live from De(l{fl Row: " Having
thus elicited a portrai t of Mumia as a radical Black militant, the prosecutor argued
in summation that Mumia's political history and anger against the system caused
him to shoot the officer on the night in
question. In returning a verdict of death,
the jury overlooked the fact that the quoted words were those of a 16-ycar-old who
had since miraculously grown into manhood without a single arrest or conviction
on his record, with a college education, a
family, and the abiding respect and admiration of the community."
Sabo took a year to formall y pronounce
the sentence of death. The appellate attorney assigned to the case did nothing and
was removed from the case by the appellate court a year later. The next attorney
took an additional year to gather infonmtti on and fil e paperwork. Thou gh th e
50 PRISON LIFE

j oin him. We' ll take out the electric chair,
we' ll make it an electri c co uch!" The
widow of the slain pol.icc officer, Maureen
Faulkner. seems similarly vengeful. In a
crusade to prevent publication of A buJamars book, she wrote in an editorial letter callin g fo r a boyco t t , " Addi sonWesley, in publishing this book, is glamorizing and financiall y reward ing the
behavior of a convicted murderer... I have
read the book, and there is nothing glamorous in it. There is nothing glamorous
about its publication. A nd it seems to me
that Addison-Wesley is doing what book
publishers do-paying a writer for his
writing. not for any ki nd of murderous
behavior. Abu-Jamal's book gi ves voice
to those in A merica who most desperately
need it- the men and women that various
state governments across the land have
locked in cages and vowed to kill in the
name of justi ce. M ost of them are poor.
M ost of them are people of color. M ost of
them haven't got a chance in hell of win-

Over the years, while
Abu-Jamal has continued to sit on death row,
the antagon ism between M OVE and the
city fathers of Philadelphia continued to
escalate. May. 1985: We see a rather ordinary- looking house on a rather ord inary
sunny day in The City of Brotherly Love.
A helicopter zooms into view. halts. hovers above the house. A package falls out of
the open helicopter door and onto the roof
of the house. The helicopter zooms out of
view. Seconds pass. The house explodes
into a mass of flame: debris hurls skyward:
women scream. A male voice says. "They
won't call the police commissioner motherfuckcr anymore... Ctude laughter.
Democratic Mayor Wi lson Goode had
o r de red t he bomb i ng of t he M OV E
home. and the FB I carried out his order.
T hey ki ll ed II people: five o f w hom
were children. '' It was the Phi ladelphia
Police Department. it was the state government of Pennsylvania. it was the FBI.
the AT F of the U .S . Government w ho
bombed MOVE peopl e o n May 13 .
1985." says Ab u-Jam al. "bu t no o ne

would call any of those organizations, or
their employer-the U.S. Governmentte rrorists. But why weren ' t they? T hey
crea ted ma ss murd e r, ho locaust, in a
major c ity in Ameri ca, and not one of
them have ever been c ha rged with a ny
crime at all."
T he list of o rganizat.ions and attorn e ys wor ki ng to fre e Mumia Ab uJ a mal is stagge ring, a nd the numbers
are g rowi ng. Artists and write rs a rc
e n li st i ng in t h e ca u se: Ed Asne r ,
Noam C ho msky, Ossie Davis, Wh oopi
Go ldbe rg, Ba rba ra Ko pp le, Ali ce
Wa lker.
T he Pa rtisan Defe nse Comm ittee
Equa l .J ustic e USA o f t h e Qu ixo td
Cen ter, a nationa l rei ig io us-based
peace and j ust.ice cen te r in Maryla nd,
the Inte rnational Concern ed Frie nd s
and Family of Mu mia Abu:Jamal a nd
t h e Coal it io n to Free Mumi a AbuJ a ma l are all working ha rd to figh t the
inj us ti ce Ab u-Jama l ha s s u f fered .
Safiya Bukhari-Aiston, a legal assistant
to lawyer Steve Hawkins a t the AACP
Legal Defense a n d Education Fund
who works at Brooklyn Legal Services
Corporat.ion A, knew Abu:Jamal when
th e two were in the Black Pa n th e r
Pany back in th e seve n tics. "I' m getting mo re optimi stic eve ry da y," she
says, "because mo re and more people
are involved in th is work. When I started actively worki ng on this case, [th e n
Pen nsylvan ia governor] Casey said he
did n' t even know who Mu mia was, you
know, a n d knew n othing a bo ut the
case. We b r o ug h t Mumi a to h im
stra ig ht u p, h ead u p. We 've ha d an
impact. More a nd more peo p le a re
speaking o ut about Mu mi a Abu:Ja mal.
It gives me hope."
Meanwh ile, Abu:Ja mal exercises the
o nly free dom they ca nn o t ta ke away
fro m him: the freedom to usc his mind.
H e writes: "O rdet·cd by bruta l bo redom , entombed in ennui, imprisoned
in a cage of uuer id leness, some 100
men across Pen nsylvan ia await dea th .
That these conditions obtain in th e cradle of the U.S. Constitut.ion is perhaps
fitting. For sure ly, Pe nn ylva nia is fas t
becoming the grave o f that lofty and
un realized document.··
cwly-e lec ted Gove rn o r Th o m as
Ridge, wh ose ca m pa ig n platfor m
incl uded a vow to start sig ning death
war ran ts, has in fact sig ned five as of
th is writing . H e's alleged to be moving down t h e list c hro n o logicall y
a cco rding to d a te of a ffirmatio n of
se n tence b y th e Pe nn sylva n ia
Supreme Coun, skipping over those
who c urre n t ly h ave co u rt actio n s
pe nd ing. Abu:Ja mal is in the to p fo rty
n ames , b ut m a n y of those hav e

appeals in process. In actua li ty, his is
p r obab ly a m ong t h e n ex t five t o
seve n death warrants Ridge may sig n.
Rac hel Wolke nstein, legal cou n sel
to the Pa rtisan Defense Co mmiuee "a
legal an d socia l d e fense organization
which cham pio ns cases and causes in
the in terest of the wh ole of the wo rking people, .. is assisting in 1he fi li ng a
mo tio n o n beha lf of Abu:Jamal under
th e Pe nn sylva n ia Post Co nvi c tion

climate o f death , with me as a mu te
bystander."
"We 're seeing additional support
every day," says Wolkenste in, "i ncl uding fifty-o ne membe rs of Parliament
in Engla nd a nd trad e un io ns in Sou th
Afri ca , politic ia n s who a re o bjec ting
to the death pe n a lty, but also, mo re
i t~po_naml y, worki ng peop le in organt zau o ns that have th e so cia l we ig ht
and power to make their voice heard.

"I want to be there when he's
executed," says Maureen
Faulkner. "I want to look
straight into his face when
justice is carried out."
Rel ief Ac t (Pennsylvan ia 's eq uiva le nt
of ta te habeas corpus), wh ic h must
be heard before Abu:Ja mal can enter
the fede ra l are na. T he state court proceeding puts de fendants back in to th e
co urt of t h e j u dge wh o o ri gina ll y
h eard t h e ir cases, whi c h i n Ab u Ja mal's case means Albert Sabo. AbuJa ma l's lawyers wi ll file a motion asking for Sabo to be recused based o n
hi s pro-prosec u tion poswre, listing
va ri o us specifics of h ow he handled
the tria l which make h im inca pable of
remai n ing impa rt.ial.
Pittsburgh lawye r J e ri Kra ko lT, a n
expert o n prison law, has taken on the
fight to resto re Abu:Jamal's fi rst a mendment righ ts. fili ng sui t April 25 in fede ral dis11ict court fo r the Weste rn District
of Pe nnsylva nia. The sui t cha lle nges, on
First and ixth Amendment grounds, a
series of prison administrative policies
wh ich obstr uct Abu:Jamal's access to
court a nd proh ibit him fro m speaking
to th e press. Says Wolke nste in, whose
auorney papers have on occasion been
confiscated by p rison a utho riti es and
who is part of the suit, "The ptison has
even de n ied Mu mia access to pa ralegals. Policies hm·e been fashio ned as a
means of re ta li a ti n g aga in s t hi m
because he is abom to p ublish a book
wh ich criticizes racially d iscrimi na tory
a nd d e hum a ni zing co ndi t io n s in
prison. •· Acco rd ing to the suit, med ia
organizations d e n ied access to Ab uJ amal include Pf'ojJ/e magazine, Connie
Chung, and Plison Life Magazine. AbuJ amal, in response to the authorities'
tac t ic as well as those of Ma u reen
Faul kne r a nd the Fratern al O rder of
Po lice , says, "They' re trying to bu ild a

Un io ns worldwid e have sen t le ue rs to
Ridge, mo ney LO the legal defe n se.
But th e re needs to be ever more support for him fro m mot·e and more
groups. Mumia's case to uch es on hu ndred s of legal issues regarding racially
discr iminatOry legal procedu res a nd
priso n syste m treatm e n t in general.
His case is renect.ive not on ly symbol ically, but actua lly, of what eve t)' dea th
row prisoner faces. On top of that,
Mumia's case is symbolic in that he is
a voca l, a rti cu la te, compassionate
j o urn a l ist s p ea k ing o u t fo r t he
o p p r essed-be in g pun ish ed to the
ult.i mate fo r be ing an activist."
Ul]

Contriblllions fo r Mumia Abu-Jamal's
defense flmd may be sent to:
Equal Justice USAlMAJ-LDF
P.O. Box 5206
Hyattsville, MD 20782
(30 I ) 699-0042
or
Black United Fu nd/MAJ
4 19 South 15th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19 146
(2 15)732-9266
Letters of protest may be sent to:
Governor Thomas Ridge
Main Capital Bui lding, Room 225
Harrisburg, PA 17 120
ph: (7 17)783- 1198
Fax: (7 17)783-1396
For more information:
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition
P.O. Box 650
New York, NY 10009
(212)330-8029

PRISON LIFE

51

IIIIIDIIIID

he wall is 30 feet high and 5 feet thick. It surrounds
Savone Correctional Facility, a 150-year-old maximum
security pri son where I am locked up. It is said that the
wall goes 15 feet into the ground to discourage prisoners from
tunneling their way out. This is onl y one of the many rumors
that surround the prison.
One such rumor concerns the ghosts of a thousand prisoners.
and at least one guard, who have died on this side of the wall.
These ghosts prowl the halls day and night, serving a sentence
beyond life, looking for the front gate or perhaps a different
type of release.
There is a cell in D Block no one wants. Too many have died
there and some remain; they noat through U1e bars at night like
they w ished they could have done in life. These ghosts are real.
Even the cats that wander the hallways arch their backs and
screech when they approach Deadman's Curve, frightened by
the unseen dead who linger there. I myself have felt a chill as
I 've walked al ong th at long, curved hallway, invisible at
points, to the officers stationed at either end. Somewhere in the
middle, where the chill comes on, blood has covered the floor
more times than anyone can remember.
W hile the ghosts can be dismissed as rumor s, the cats of
Savone and how U1ey came to be cannot. It has nothing to do
w ith legend and everything to do with legacy, a legacy that
began in 197 1, when something tried to get in the prison rather
than out.
On the prison side of Savone's wall is a mammoth recreation
area known as " the yard ." Along its furthest edge are small
courts that belong to groups of pri soners. The courts are tiny
areas on a small hill where men congregate for conversati on
and cooking. The mell of fried chicken and ribs fi ll the air and
coax men onto the courts for the food and safety found in numbers. Back in 197 1, that same temptation drifted over the wall
and caught the sensiti ve nose of another drifter- a pregnant cat.

T

52

PRISON LIFE

ack on the court, where the ribs were sizzling, a
steady hand tended the stove. Charlie Dennis had been
on thi s court from the begi nning. For 19 years, he had
watched the fires as the names of those around him slowly
changed. Some had been paroled, others became ghosts in the
halls. Even though the names changed. the faces always held
the same look that comes when liberty goes. Charl ie' s eyes
were the same as the others·. but in the corner there was a
spark of kindness. He kept it hidden. for in prison kindness is
taken as weakness.
Above his drab prison green, he always wore a knit wool hat.
It was worn in place of hair. which had receded over the years
until onl y a few white tufts remained over his weathered ears.
The sigh t of Mickey ambling across the yard under his long
hair made Charlie reach up and tug his few strands and shake
his head at w hat once had been.
Mickey was everything Charlie was not. He was young, tall
and power fu lly bui lt. His blackish hair hung in a tangled mane
around hi s shoulder . He alwa ys wore a pair of old woo l
gloves, the fingers of which had been worn away over his six
yea r s in pri son. Wh y he wore th em was a mys ter y. but
Mickey's gloves were never challenged. He took them off
when he ate and kept them clean.
Mickey walked up the hill to the court. His step was hindered
by a bad hip, the result of a stab wou nd three years before. As
he moved. Mickey thought of little. There were no plans in his
head today or ever. The ribs were as far as he could see. His
shortsightedness had caused him to be the subject of several
criminal in ves ti gations. The last one had deposited him in
Savone. where, according to legal papers he never full y understood, he would li ve for the next 15 years. Whenever Mickey
told anyone how much time he had to do, he always said, "15

B

by David-Michael Harding
Clinton Corr ectional Facility, NY

years to life, or whi chever comes tirst." Wi th his quick temper
and strong anns, it was easy to see that " life'' might indeed win
out before the state could get its min imum out of Mickey.
Charlie stood over the makeshift gri ll and prodded the ribs as
th ough they needed it. M ickey ste ppe d onto the court a nd
turned to the ribs.
" Let's go boys," Charlie said. "Get 'em while they' re hot! ' '
As the me n ate, the sme ll of beef drifted up and over the wal l
and down to a cat pacing be low. Despite her diste nded stomach , she moved with the light gait un ique to cats. She paused
and put a foot on the wall as if to test it. He r nails came our and
bristl ed at the hard concrete. Even if it had been a carpeted
plank she would have had trouble ascending the 30 feet w ith
the extra we ight of he r unborn babies.
"ATTEN TIO N IN THE Y A RD. ATT ENTIO N I N TH E
YARD THEY ARD IS CLOSED. LlNE IT UP.''
Charl ie, Mickey and coun tless others trudged a long reluctantly, funnel ing into a single li ne before disappeari ng into the
dark brick building that housed the ir cages. As the men. heads
bowed fro m worn des pai r, stepped into the block, the cat
slipped beneath the north gate, through the fence and into the
yard .
n the cellblocks beyond Deadman' s Curve , gates
c rashed shut, s ignal ing the end of another day in an e ndless
blur. Frankie tried yet again to write a le tter, a kite as they' re
called in pri son. But agai n the atte mpt e nded in a crumpled
paper thrown across hi s cell. He pulled out the plastic jug. The
peach sli ces, c hunks of apple, ra isin s and sugar had settl ed
nicely. Frankie drai ned off a g lass and waited fo r sleep to overtake him. Several cel ls away, Uncle G was knee ling o n his
prayer rug, deep in conversation with A llah. After several min-

tiles, he c rept up off aching knees, so lemn ly rolled up his rug
and went to sleep.
Mi ckey's cell was spa rtan. The toile t bowl was rusty and
dust ball s jumped into the corners as he whipped back the single tattered bla nket of his bed. He stretc hed out, quickly masturbated and, wi th nothing on his mind to hinder the descent,
dropped off to sleep.
Charlie's sleep wouldn' t come so readily. Following a traditio n he had sta rted years before. he sat on the edge of his s mall
metal bed a nd reached for his diary. He reviewed the day 's
events in hi s head. lowered himself onto his beat-up mattress
and after half and hour, he stood up and scribbled brie tl y in the
book: ''Ribs sme lled good today. Nothing else." Then he slept,
surrounded by the uneasy breathing of the rest of the prison.
O utside, the cat found the court whe re the sme ll of barbecued
ribs still lingered. She crept into a crev ice between the box and
a stone chair a nd waited. It was only a few minutes until the
firs t hard pains came.
ith t he morning light, hundre ds o f me n and four
kitte ns came into the yard . While the me n, some of
the most violent in the state, moved all around the m,
the kitl e ns so ug ht out their mothe r's milk w ith blind eyes.
The ir tomachs were full and the day was warm when Mickey
stepped onto the court. He plopped down on a stone seat and
pulled out hi s package o f tobacco. As he c reased hi s paper and
started tapping the cheap tobacco into it. a s light hiss brought
his atte ntion to the edge o f the bo x. The s mokey gray car
looked like a huge rat. Another hi ss caused Mickey to jump
and spill his smoke. Stil l holding hi s now e mpty rolling paper,
Mi ckey leaned toward the car's nursery. The cat, peering back,
spit at the interloper. Mic key jumped again and quickly made

W

PRISON LIFE

53

his way down the hill. After each few steps, he looked back at
the court, the box and the cat.
Charlie was walking the worn path of the perimeter, head
down as usual. In front and behind, prisoner s were stretched
out like an uncoordinated freight train. Mickey caught up to his
fri end and g rabbed hi s arm . " Charli e!'' Mic key nearl y
screamed. Then he collected himself and spoke in a whisper.
·'Charlie, something 's wrong on the court."
"What, somebody steal something again?"
"No. Charlie. There ain' t nothin' mi ssin' . Something's been
added."
Charlie l ooked annoyed. " What' s up, Mi ck ? Somebody
throw their garbage on it or what?"
"No, Charli e. Li sten. Th ere's a ca t nex t to the box. It's
makin' stupi d noises."
''A cat?"
..A cat," M ickey said w ith pride.
Charlie was already pacing off toward the court. " L et's see .. . "
A the two fri ends neared the court, they unintentionall y
pi cked up Uncle G and Frankie. " M ornin g, gentlemen," G
began. " It's a beauti ful day to-"
Mickey cut him off. " No time, G. There' s a cat on the court."
Charlie said a curt good morni ng and moved on his way with
M ickey hobbling along behind. Frankie and G fell into place,
staring at each other and mu11ering, "A cat?"

As the men, heads
bowed from worn
despair, stepped
into the block,
the cat slipped
beneath the north
gate, through the
fence and into
the yard.
When they hit the coun they approached the box with caution.
They heard the hiss of the cat. "See. I told ya," Mickey said.
Charlie motioned for him to be quiet and then crouched down and
looked into the shadow. A paw, with claws showing, struck at him
in front of bared fangs. He backed up and the cat retreated.
·'Wow, some pissed, huh, Charlie?" Frankie said.
·'Perhaps it's ill, Charles," G said, trying to pierce the shadows with hi s aging eyes.
·'No, I don't think so,.. Charl ie said.
.. What 's wrong w ith him':>" Mickey asked.
"Nothing. M ick. And it's not a him. It's a her."
·'How do you know thatT
·'She has kittens in there with her."
G relaxed w hile Mickey look ed puzzled. Frankie allowed
himsel f to smile. '·Cool. man. Very cool."
The small group watched the anxious cat for a l ong ti me.
Occasionally one of the killens would cry, and with its whine
bring contented, almost fatherly smiles to the faces of the men on
the COUit .
·Tvc got a tuna fi sh sandwich here," G said. " Perhaps she's
hungry." He slipped carefully toward the cat, pulling out his
sandwich as he did. "Take it easy my lillie friend.''
The cat spit until her nose caught the smell of the fish. Her
54

PRISON LIFE

instinct to protect, and hunger. waged a short bailie as G tossed
a chunk of tuna into the shadow. Her razor sharp claws cut into
the fish and held it whi le needle sharp teeth bit deep. The men
took turn s throwing pieces of G's snack. It was Mickey's mi sguided effort that brought the cat into the open. The group
stood slowly to block the view from the others in the yard.
From his vantage point, Charlie could see into the eat' s lair.
There were three little bodies piled haphazardly atop on another. A fourth, clearly dead. lay off to the side. Charlie held up
three fingers to his friends. The cat picked up the morsel and
returned to her ki11ens.
" How do they look, Charles?" G asked.
" Well, one's dead, but there's two tiger-colored ones and a
third one that's mostly white. sorta calico. It looks prelly tiny
nex t to the tigers."
" Awww, shit," Mickey said. ··one·s dead already?"
" Yeah, Mick. M ighta been born dead ...
"Can we bury it later?"
"No way, man," Frankie said. " The mothers eat ·em.''
" I don' t believe she'd eat the dead killen. When she allows us,
we' ll slip it away from her and bury it here on the court."
The remaining hours were consumed by the men and the cat
eyeing each other amid talk of how to keep her hidden from the
cops. After a quick day, the yard was closed. Once back in their
cells, the evening 1ituals began. Uncle G found himself saying a
prayer for the kittens' safety. Frankie wrote a leiter and shared the
news of the find. Mickey had trouble falling asleep for the first
time in years as he fretted over the ki ttens and wondered why the
one had died. Charlie's pen labored furiously at his diary. When
he tired, he looked back at his work and was surprised to count
five fu ll pages. He click ed ofT his bare bulb and went to sleep.
Like the others, he was th inking of the kittens and smili ng.

t the lineup for yard the next morning, Charlie had a
towel, an intended bed for the kittens. wrapped secreti vely around his wai st under his shirt. G and Frankie
brought f ood. Mickey had carried his last gulp o f milk back
from chow in his mouth and spit it into a small plastic bag.
When he hit the yard , the others were some distance in front of
him. By the time he arrived, they were staring blankly at the
dirt floor of the court. " They' re gone. man.'· Franki e sa id .
" They' re all gone 'cept the dead one.''
M i c ke y we nt to t he box and loo k ed for him se lf.
"Sonofabitch ! W here'd they go?"
"She probably didn' t think they' d be sa fe here. They do that
sometimes, Mick," Charli e said.
" Bullshit ! We weren' t gonna hurt ·em! I'd kill the first sonofabitch who touched them!''
Mickey sat down and dug a small hole with the heel of his
boot. He watched as Uncle G laid the dead killen in the shallow grave. It wasn' t much of a ceremony. Mickey said he was
a good kitten and Frankie started to snicker.
A fter the funeral , it occurred to Charlie th at maybe the cat
had kept the kittens in the yard. They began searching. Mickey
held his little bag of milk as if it were a talisman as he poked
through the islands of weed .
It was Charlie w ho di scovered the calico kitten. He bent as if
to tie his shoe so no one noticed him slip the limp white ball
into his pocket. He sauntered back to the court. motioning for
the rest of the searchers. As they collected, Charlie laid the kitten by the fresh grave of the other. M ickey looked down as he
walked onto the court. ·'Damn it ! W hy they all dyin' . man?"
"1 dunno, Mick;· Charlie said as he toed out another new grave.
A s he dug, a tiny sneeze came from the white killen. Charlie
dropped down and cuddled it. Uncle G said a prayer and Frankie
stomped the new grave closed. He pinched a small hole in his bag
of milk and held it as Charlie fed the newest member of the colll1.

A

Charlie took the killen into the block that night and wasn' t
seen for the next several clays. He stayed in his cell to nurse the
baby w ith milk smuggled from chow. Within a week, the kitten's health was restored and she was l iving comfortably in a
cardboard box beneath Charlie's bed . W ithin three weeks.
Gretchen, named after Charlie's mother, outgrew the box and
was pirated back to the yard.

t the only door from the prison to the yard stood a
shack that housed the guards' coffee pot, raincoats and
riot gear. For fi ve days out of seven, Officer Johns stood
in the doorway as the prisoners filed by. Johns was a big, barrel-chested man with the beginnings of a paunch hanging over
his tight belt. On his hip swung a bauered nightstick. Accord ing
to the rumor of Savonc. he had put several wayward cons in
the ground beneath the new gym back in the days when such
th ings were done. Now Johns was older. and looking forward to
the cushy j ob in the tower to finish his career as gatekeeper.
Besides his nightstick. Johns always had a cup of bullermilk
w ith him. T wenty-three years of voluntar y confinement had
given him a sour stomach that the bullermil k soothed. A s he
walked th rough the yard, he sipped his tonic and paced the same
eroded trail as the prisoners. On this particular day. Johns was
circling Charlie's court. Wi th each pass, he drew the ci rcl e
tighter. like a hark circling its victim. Johns stepped uninvited
onto the court. " What's goin' on fcllasT
Charlie spoke up. "Not a thing, Officer Johns.''
Johns drew his nightstick and walked around the court, using
th e sti ck to flip over the stones and part clum ps of weeds.
"Something's goin' on. I don' t know what yet. But I' m gonna

A

find out. guaran-fuckin' -tced.'' The members of
the courr traded worried looks as Johns jammed
his stick under the lid of the box and pried it open.
He held the top up with the nightstick and leaned
over to see inside. Following a few tense seconds.
he stepped back and lowered the lid. Johns made
one more sweep around the court then stepped off.
'Til figure it out all right . .. .,
M ickey was anxious to see into the box himself. wondering. like the others. i f Gretchen had
hidden or escaped. When he opened it, Gretchen
looked back. M ickey gently set the lid down and
retumed to his seat w ith a blank look on his l~1ce.
··well?" Frankie questi oned. "She there?"
·· Hell yes, she· s there. I don ' t see how he
coulda missed her."
"Perhaps she was under a pan or something.'' G
suggested.
Charlie stood up anxiously. ·'Thi s isn't gonna work,
boys. Our luck and Gretchen' s isn' t gonna last."
"Any suggestions, Charles?''
''Not a damn one."
" Well. we bellcr think of something. Johns is headed back thi s way."
Sure enough, John s was wa lking toward th em.
Mick ey got up from his chair and sal on the box.
Charli e return ed to his stone seat to wai t o ut the
inevi tab le. As Johns came to th e court. he spoke to
Charl ie. " Request pem1ission to come aboard. captain."
" It's your world. Oflicer Johns.''
Johns grunted over a sip of bullermilk , drew his nightstick
again, and sat on the stone bench nex t to Charlie. The buttermilk sat on the stone between them as Johns doodled in the
dirt w ith his sti ck. ··You know, Dennis, not much can go on in
a place like this that a couple of old timers like us don' t know
about. is there?"
.. o sir. I don' t imagine not."
Johns softly echoed Charl ie's an wer. •· o. sir, I don't imagine not . .. •·
The men sat in silence for another minute. Johns then rose
and started to leave. Charli e noticed the cup of butterm ilk and
held it out. ''Officer Johns? You forgot your buttermil k."
Johns never stopped walki ng. ··No I didn' t. Your friend in the
box looks a lillie thirsty.'·
About a month later. when Gretchen had become impo. sible
to concea l. Johns returned to the court. Without a word . he
opened the box and picked her up. He petted her and then set
her on the ground. As Johns walked away, he left half a cup of
bullermilk on the box as he would five out of seven days thereafter. That night Frankie wrote another letter. G gave thanks
for an answered prayer, Mickey couldn't sleep and Charlie
filled six pages in his diary.

ith her freedom assured by Officer Joh ns,
Gretchen quickly conquered the yard and everyone in
it. everyone. that is. except one. While the hardest
cri minal would smile w hen Gretchen came near, A lej undro
Bencrizc would clench his decaying teeth at the sight of her.
Benerize didn't hate her for something as simple as being a cat,
he hated her becau se everyone else l oved her. Th ough his
scarred knuckles and prison talloos made him look formidable.
his resentment of Gretchen was no match for th e j oy she
brought the other men, so he kept quiet. biding his time.
A s w inter approached. Gretchen became acquainted with
snow. Soon she was frolicking abou t. playing with the other
residents of Savonc, several of whom had built a mini ature ski
jump down the middle of a small hill. Gretchen sat on the pri s-

W

PRISON LIFE

55

oners' laps and, with a constantly twitching calico tail , watched
the skiers. Mickey carri ed her down on one j ump. much to
Charlie's chagrin , but a few yards from takeoff she abandoned
him with a powerful leap of her own. Her jump upset M ickey's
balance. He tumbled out of control and crashed into a snowbank. For her part in the wreck, Gretchen wa rewarded with
an avalanche of pats, rubs and ear scratches.
Off to the side of the ski jump, Benerize dipped his hand into
the snow. A s he packed it tight, Gretchen strode defiantly to
the center of the takeoff ramp. It was apparent that she knew
the next jumper would wait for her t move despi te his shouts
and flai l ing arms. The men laughed and looked back and forth
from Gretchen to the skier. No one saw the incoming iceball.
With a resounding thud it crashed into Gretchen's hip and
blasted her off the ramp. Her instincts caug ht her and, as
expected, she landed on all four feet. Those same instincts told
her to run , but she had to do it on three legs. The fourth, badly
bru ised, skimmed along on the snow. Benerize gave himself
away with a broad smile and a w icked cackle. Mickey didn' t
have the i ntellect for words. A hard right hook hit its target
flush on the jaw w ith a crack that was still echoing across the
yard when Benerize slumped to the snow. As Mickey cocked
his shabby boots for the kicks that would keep Benerize down,
Officer Johns grabbed him from behind. Johns knew whom he
had collared, but never looked at Mickey. Instead, he jerked
him backward into the crowd. By the time Johns looked at
Benerize then turned to the group of agitated cons, Mickey had
been successfully swallowed up.
"Break it up! The show' s over! " Johns barked.
The crowd broke up as Benerize stumbled through the snow,
touching his aching jaw as Gretchen tested her hip. She wasn' t
hurt badl y, but for the rest of the winter she limped slightly,
which ser ved as a constant rem inder to the others.

he cat brought changes to Johns' yard, the most noticeable of wh ich came in M ickey. He became Gretchen's
guardian. As she moved from court to court and danced
across the yard in search of food or fun, Mickey was always
nearby. She would limp along l ightly on her rounds w hile
M ickey sluggishly followed on his own injured hip. Their common handicap formed an unbreakable bond between them.
l n the spring, Gretchen disappeared for two days. Benerize
would have been severely questioned, or beaten, had he not
been serving 30 days in the box at the ti me. Then, as uddenly
as she had disappeared, she was back on the court. Several
weeks later, it became clear that Gretchen was pregnant.
" Pregnant, huh?" Uncle G said, w ith the look of a disapproving father. " You certain, Charles?''
" Yeah, I ' m sure. L ook at her. She's gettin ' wider than the
broadside of a barn."
Gretchen pranced around on the box as i f on stage.
" Damn!" Frankie said excitedly. " Gretch partied, man! "
M ickey petted her affectionately, but had a cross look on his
face as he spoke. "Where the hel l's the father?"
Frankie laughed. "Damn, M ickey! That boy is GONE! Done
did the deed and split, man!"
" Well, whatever happened, I th ink we can take care of her:·
Charlie said, and smiled. "Even w ithout a husband:'

T

M ickey gently lifted Gretchen off the box and handed her to
Uncle G who took her carefull y and examined her. " We' ll take
care of you." Mickey said as he gruffly opened a can of tuna
fish. Each stab of the can opener punctuated the words of his
next sentence. .. And i f I ever catch that guy cat. I' ll take care ..
. of ... him .. . too !"

T

he following weeks saw Gretchen grow bigger. Officer
Johns brought out a aw one day and cut a hole in the box
so Gretchen could come and go as she pleased. Extra
blankets also materialized on the coun along with the cup of
butterm il k. By the ti me the second litter of four kitten was
born on the court, Gretchen's box had become a cozy nursery.
Though everyone tried not to disturb the new famil y, the lid of
the box was l ifted and lowered countless ti mes a day. M en who
were paroled came to say goodbye as often as the new jacks
came to say hello.
Johns watched all of this from his new post in the tower over
the north gate. When things were quiet. he canned the yard
through his binoculars until he located Gretchen and her playful
of fspring. Sometimes he watched the yard through the powerful
rifle cope attached to his Springfield. This practice had no effect
on the cats. but served to keep the lid down tight on the yard.
someth ing the cats seemed to be able to do from inside the box.
hen summer was in full swing, an innocent act of
clumsiness led to two ki ll ings. Frankie had j ust sat
down in th e chow ha ll nex t to a new jack. T he
inmate, wi th his freshly shaved head and new, green clothes,
was nervous. As he ate, he accidentally tipped over his mi lk.
The splash landed on Frankie's pants.
" Yo, Man!'. Frankie hollered as he j umped up. '"What the
fuck are you doin'?"
In an instant, the new inmate had to decide which way to fall: be
apologetic and run the risk of being taken for weak, or be a tough
guy and deal with the consequences. He looked at the diminutive
Frankie and opted for the latter. "Shut the fuck up. man."
Frankie noticed the guards starting to close in. He sat down
and whi spered his fi nal remark. ··see you in the yard, bitch:'
'·Whatever:·
As the chow crowd fi led out toward the yard, Charlie and
Mickey slid i n behind the new j ack. ··son,"' Charli e began .
..Generally when there's an accident like that back there. you'd
offer to wash the man's pants for him. Saves a lot of problems."
'That 's real sweet. but I don ' t wash nobody's clothes, man.'·
.. Have it your way, son. Big mistake, though.''
The new man spun around. ·'Look, old man. It don' t cost you
a dime to stay ou tta mine. So back off! "
Mickey put his hand on Charlie's shoulder and leaned his hulking frame toward the new j ack. " Hey! " he said w ith a snarl.

W

"Benerize would have
been severely beaten
had he not been servin~
30 days in the hole.'
56

PRISON LIFE

'·Don ' t let
your mouth
write a check
your ass can ' t
cash. Know what
I meanT
The prisoner si lently turned around
and continued on hi way to the
yard. Charl ie shook h i s head
approvingly. ··well put. Miek.""
As soon as the new jack's untried boots hit the sand. Frankie
cornered him. "'Yo! Fuckin" nice haircut ! Now. you wanna do
my wash or do you wanna get your ass kicked?""
'"You want a wash woman. go find a bitch ...
" I got one-You! You wanna do the right thing or do I bust
your fuckin · ass oulla the frame?'"
M ickey was confused by all the ta lking. ··set it off. Fran kie!
Crash the sonofabitch!""
From the other side of the growing crowd someone yelled.
·'Frankie ain "t crash in· nothin ·! He couldn "t crash a car if he
was drunk r·
The combination of encouragement and embarrassment ent
Franki e into the other man. Everyone. including the tower
guards. was watch ing as the pair exchanged punches. The offi cers moved slowly. comcnt to let the bad bl ood be cleared.
From everywhere in the yard. cons were running to the light.
Benerize was no exception. As he trolled along the base of the
hill. a movement out or the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was Gretchen coming down from the court. Benerizc
slowed and let other men pass him as he neared the spot where
Gretchen's path wou ld cross his. He thought about the shank in
his boot. but there wasn' t time. Instead. he knelt down swiftly
as the two paths intersected. Gretchen saw him onl y as another
man in green. By the time Benerize" s hands ti ghtened around
her face and throat. it was too late. Instinct drove her claws into
his hands as she struggled to break free. but her allacker was too
stron g. A s Benerize violent ly twis ted her head in a sing le
vicious snap. Gretchen' s body went limp. The killer stood up
quick ly and tossed her into the tall weeds and continued up the
hill to the fight. It had only taken a few seconds. M eanwhile.
Frankie was still swinging. Officer Johns was watching the
fight through his rille scope and the killens were still playing. In
her grave of weeds. Gretchen's body twitched a few times then
stopped. Her muscles relaxed and death tightened its grip.
he fight ended with both men leaning on their knees.
exhausted. The cops descended and led the tired fighters
inside where a lacklu ster inquiry was conducted by disinterested offi cers. The fi ght was also the topi c of discussion
around the yard, so no one noticed that Gretchen was missing.

T

It wasn't until the third day that her absence became an issue
and then it happened only because of the evidence Gretchen
had left behind.
···c use me. Meester Dennis?'"
Charlie. Mickey and Uncle G looked up from their gril l" to
see Jose standing nervously at the edge of the court. Jose was a
small-time burglar w ith no auachment to any court. He would
sometimes get a pi ece of chicken or a rib by carrying firewood
for the stoves. but when he'd been paid. he was told to leave
the court in no uncertain terms.
Mickey ignored him and looked back to the grill. G nodded
hello. but didn ' t speak. Charlie, however, spoke graciously.
"'Good morning, Jo. e. Come on in. How are you today?"
"Not so good today. M eester Dennis."
"' What" s the trouble?" Charlie asked.
Jose stepped onto the cou rt , but continued to stare at his dirty
sneakers.
"Come on. now:· Charlie said. "'Spit it out."
Mickey looked from the chicken to Uncle G and rolled his
eyes. which caused Jose to speak tentatively. "Someone ez
missing from ch-your court."
M ickey mo ved m enacin g ly around G and Charlie and
rammed a pointed fi nger in Jose's chest. " Look. shithead! Just
because Frankie's locked up for a couple a days. don' t think
you can just show up and make off with his chicken!"'
Jo~c was backing up under pressure from Mickey's index. " I
no want Meester Frankie' s cheekins! It ez ch-your friend, dee
cat. ez meesi ng! ..
M ickey stomped back to the grill. " She' ll be back in a couple
a days. too. So you ain't geuin' her ·chcekins' neither!"
Charl ie couldn' t conceal a smile at Mickey's comments and
busied himsel f with the chickens, quietly dismi ssing the beggar. Uncle G had heard somethi ng different in Jose's voice and
moved toward him. '"Jose,.. G began, ··what do you mean, the
cat is missing?'"
··She ez gone, sf?"
"Yes. but there is every indication she' ll return soon."
·· 1 hope you are right. Meester G."'
"What make. you believe I may not be?"
··w ell. Meester G .. l saw something yesterday that made me
wo rry for ch-your friend. dee ca t. I saw scratches, deep
scratches. on Benerize...
Mickey set down the killen he was holding and turned to
Charlie.
"Come sit down. Jose ... Charlie said . "Tell us w hat you saw."

J

ose related his story anxiously . " I was going by hez
house yesterday and he was leaning on dee bars. When I
pass. I see big scratches on hez hands. Like dez."' Jose
made a claw out of one hand.
The men were quiet as Jose's news sellled in. '"Mickey, give
Jose here a good big chu nk when the chicken is clone," Charlie
said. "'G. come wit h me."'
As the two elder statesmen of the yard walked down the hill,
Uncle G spoke. ··Jt occurs to me, Charles, that Mr. Beneri ze
has not been in the yard for several days. Nor. as I consider it,
has he been seen in the chow hall."
" ) was thinkin· the same thing. We'd beuer send someone to
give Benerize a look-see."'
The men walked across the yard hatching a plan that wou ld
confirm or lay waste to Jose's story. Uncle G talked brieny
w ith a trusted confidan te and proposed a visit to Benerize's
cell w hile Charlie considered the options. He decided it wou ld
all swing on the clandestin e peek at Beneri ze and w hether
Gretchen could be found. As G relllrned, it was decided that a
covert search of the yard wou ld have to be done. They picked
up Mickey and began their search. but not without lirst agreePRISON LIFE 57

ing that should they find Gretchen, and if she were dead. they
wou ld leave her where she was. If Benerize was responsible,
the uproar created by fi nding her wou ld prevent him from ever
leaving his cell again. Charlie was already th inking how to pull
Benerize to the yard i f it came to that.
Mickey quickly paced the yard. As he walked. he carried a
killen and spoke to it constantly. G meandered around the outer
edge of the yard looking carefully and quietly through the
weed s. Charli e was ca nvass i ng th e bottom of the hi ll. He
thought back to when he searched in simi lar fashion and had
found the nearly dead calico kitten. And, as before, first there
was a hint of something, a spl ash of white fur, then the recognition of a cat laying in the tall grass. Thi s time there would be
no l as t minute mirac les. The hoverin g fli es, as we ll as
Gretchen's open mouth between her shoulder blades, was
proof enough. He struggled back to the court where he sat
undisturbed until G and Mickey saw him there and j oi ned him.
" What's up, Charlie? We done? I knew she wasn' t here. Old
Gretch is just off somewhere. I' II bet she ... •·
A wave o f G 's hand stopped Mickey in mid-sentence.
Charlie' s face showed the bad news. " Where is she, ChariesT
" At the bonom of the hill ... ·· His words were weak and
trailed off. G sat beside his friend and patted him on the knees.
Mickey stood before them w ith clenched fists and veins that
showed in his neck. " Maybe she ain't dead! Remember? She
done that when she was a baby, remember?""
" Mickey," Charlie said softly. " She' s dead. Her head is twisted completel y around. Somebody snapped her neck."'
"Somebody? Weren't no somebody at all ! It was tl1at fuckin'
Benerizc! That 's who done it. That's w ho ki lled her."' Mickey
bent down and scooped up one of the kittens. As he petted it, he
scanned the yard. " OK, Benerize. Now let's see how you look
with your head on backwards!"
"Take it easy, Mickey," G said. " We don' t know for sure yet
if ... "
"Fuck you," Mickey shouted as he stormed off the court and
headed up the hi l l. " I know plenty !"
"Charles," G said. ·'You' ll have to talk to him. He's goi ng to
ki ll Benerize."
"Urn hmm."
"Well. you just can' t sit there while he does."
" Why?"
" Why? Because Mickey is ready to murder a man over a cat!
That' s w hy."
" Right now, G, that sounds like reason enough to me. In fact.
if Mickey don' t kill Bcnerizc, I wil l."
"Charles! Li sten to what you' re saying! You ' re talking about
ki lling a man because he ki lled an animal, maybe! There arc a
thousand cats just like Gretchen outside the wa ll. For God's
sake, Charlie! What are you thin king?"

"I saw something
yesterday that made
me worry for your
friend, dee cat.
I saw scratches,
deep scratches,
on Benerize."
58 PRISON LIFE

" You wanna know what I' m thi nkin'? I'm thinking you' re
right. There arc a thousand other cat out there. But guess what?
There's also a million men like Bcncrizc out there. too. Hell.
there arc two thousand of them on this side of the wall alone ...
··y cs, Charles, but Gretchen was just a cat. ..
Charlie looked up. Hi s checks were stained w ith tears. ·'Oh,
so because Gretchen was j ust a stupid cat. she don' t coun t for
shit. Is that what you' re saying?"
" Well, not exactl y, Charles. but ... •·
" Well. docs. he cou nt or not. damn it?"
''No, she doesn' t count! Not against the life a human being!"
" That cat never hurt anyone. And more than that, she made
people happy. She made us happy. Two thousand pieces of shit
co nvict s and she made th em happy. And if Bencrizc has
Gretchen's claw marks on 'im."' Charl ie contin ued. "come this
time tomorrow. he' ll be dead. You in or out. G?"
Uncle G got up and looked out over the yard. " I guess I' m
out, Charles. I guess l' m out." G 's hand slid along the box as
he shuffled off the court for what he knew would be his last
time. Charlie kept his eyes on the dirt and contemplated the
loss of two friends in one day.
espite his heavy losses, Charlie real ized there was a
great deal to be done before the sun came over the wall
the nex t morning. First. he sent a kite to Frankie, saying
simply that he should be prepared to light the new jack again .
He was to look for Charlie as soon as he hit the yard. Next.
Charlie used the in formation that came to him from the prison.
He knew. for instance. that a prisoner named Rico was deep
into Bencri zc for cigarettes. Through an untraceable line of
cons, word was sent to Benerizc that Rico was prepared to pay
the ncx1 morning. This would lure Bcncri ze i nto the open.
Word was al so passed to Rico not to come to the yard.
Last, there was Mickey. He was stil l sitting on the hill with
the kitten. Charlie walked up and stood beside him. "Bencrizc
wi ll be out in the morning. You be close to me." Mickey never
looked up as Charlie returned to the cou rt where he watched the
yard until it closed. Then he. like all the other in green and blue.
filed into the building for the night.

D

he next morning, the men reclaimed the yard. Charlie
came out with Mickey as usual, but Mick went directly to
the court while Charl ie waited on the other players. He
saw the new jack step cauti ously into the yard for his second
time. Frankie was right behind him. looking for Charlie. When
their eyes met. Charli e motioned for him to be patient.
Charlie was still watchi ng for the young Muslim who was to
have checked on Bencrize. As he wai ted. Mickey came up
beside him holding a kitten. Bcncrizc was some distance away,
look ing through th e crowd for Rico. Charlie l ooked at th e
crowd behind Bencrize, search ing for the messenger. Not seeing him. Charl ie shifted his gaze back to the gate. Off to one
side he saw Uncle G standing alone. As Charl ie watched. G"s
left hand slipped from its pocket and moved up to his chest. It
lay n at w hile his right became a tight claw. G pulled his curled
lingers across the back of his left hand and nodded a prolonged
yes. Once the message had been relayed. G's arms dropped
limpl y to his sides and he walked away. Charlie turned to
Mickey. but he had already moved off. He. the kitten and the
shank were closing in on Bcncrizc.
Across the yard . Frankie was nervously watching Charl ie.
When the slow and deliberate nod came. Frankie knew it was
no mistake. He ran over to the new jack, traded obligatory
insults and started swinging. The crowd gathered as if i1 were
pari of the script. Bencrizc, 100. played his pan and was soon
absorbed by the cheering tide of green.

T

I

n the north tower, Johns' attention was drawn to the fight.
He grum~led as he slid an arm through his riOe's sl ing ; nd
pressed hiSeye to the scope. When Johns saw it was Frankie
again, he slipped his finger off the trigger and started to scan
the spectators. He soon found Beneri ze and centered the cross
hairs on his forehead. T he con's head and shoulders fi lled the
powerful lens. I n a voice that was barely audible, Johns spoke
to the pri soner, 150 yards away. ··why don ' 1 you try something, shithead? Give me half a reason and I' ll splatter what
brains you got all over my yard."" Beneri ze wrned his head to
the side and unknowi ngly lined up his temple under the cross
hairs. " Per fect," Johns said.
A rush of movement shot into Johns' field of vision. l t was a
shank ! Benerize abruptly tu rned and faced Johns again. His
eyes were w ide, but lifeless. Then he slumped to the ground.
Johns tried to see into the crowd, but it had become a mass of
scattering cons. Frankie and the new jack were running anywhere and everywhere as long as it was away from B enerize.
Charlie had gone to the court some time ago. On it he found
Uncle G. Neither had spoken. I nstead, G pl ayed w ith the kittens whi le Charlie started a fi re. In a moment, Mickey would
j oin them. Now he was merely part of the disbanding crowd.
Beneath the kitten, Mickey carried the w<Doden handle of the
shank. In one quick move, only second s before. he saw the
rusty nail vanish into the fleshy spot at the base of Benerize' s
skuU . T hen he snapped the handle off, leaving he spike buried
in the brain of Gretchen's killer.
M ickey stepped qui ckly onto the court and sat the kitten
down. Charlie held out his hand w ithout a word. As the broken
handle passed from Mickey through Charlie to the fire. G kept
his eyes focused on the kittens.
The prison siren began to scream while an army of blue-shined of ficers streamed into the yard. Officer Johns began his tour.
He went to the body, where a dozen guards had already gathered. One was squatting next to Benerize's head, pointing to the
spike. " Drove a nail right into the sonofabitch "s head."'
"Didn' t even need a hammer," someone chimed in.
" Yeah, I guess you could say somebody nailed him!"
" Awww, man. That's lame."
"I thought it was pretty funny."
"W ell," Johns said, "don' t quit your day j ob just yet. What
else you got?"
" There' s a little piece of wood left on the shank. Could
match it up, I bet."
" All right," Johns said. " L et's get on wi th this. Start pal! in·
the bastards down and runnin ' them inside." Johns spun around
and headed in to th e heart of the yard . As he wa lked he
replayed the murder he had w itnessed through his rifle scope.
"There was B enerize," he thought. ' "The shank. A nd the hand.
The hand . .. Somethin g about the hand ... It had a glove on
i t. Or did it? The fingers. I cou ld see the fingers, but not the
hand. Like half a glove ... Fingerless gloves! M ickey! " Johns
headed for the court.
From behind his fire, Charlie saw Johns com ing. He handed
Mickey his wooden poker. Charlie moved fast to the bonom of
the hill and into the yard as Johns approached.
" What's up, Dennis?"
" Don' t know, Officer Johns, sir."
" W ell, I figured that," John s said wi th a smile. '·Where"s
Mickey?"
Charlie didn ' t say anything, but he wrned and looked up to
the court.
"How long he been there, Charl ie?"
" Long time."
Johns stepped around Charlie and headed again toward the court.
Charlie was walking beside the officer w ith his head clown.
" He don' t know nothin' , Officer Johns."

"A rush of movement
shot into Johns'
field of vision.
It was a shank!"
'"No one ever does. But I do:·
The unlikely pair took a few more steps when Charlie realized they were next to the tall grass that held Gretchen's distoned body . '"O fficer Johns? Can I show you someth ing?"
·'You got piss poor ti ming. Later.··
Charlie reached out and cupped the guard's arm. Johns froze,
except for his free hand. which reached insti ncti vely for the
st ick. He d i dn' t pull it o ut. but i nstead stared col d ly at
Charl ie's hand as it held his sleeve. Charl ie let his trembling
hand fall away. "That could get you six months i n the box and
a helluva beat down. Dennis:·
" And I'll take it, if you just look at something first."
Johns never agreed. but as Charlie took a few sho11 steps to
th e tall grass, he fo llowed. The burly guard was looki ng at
Char lie firmly until the old man poimed into the weeds. Johns
gracefully slid his nightstick from its ring and parted the grass,
disturbing the flies that surrounded Gretchen. He stood for several minutes examining the dead cat. He could see her disj oimed neck clearl y . W hen he had seen enough. and tho ught
enough. he pul led his stick ou t of the grass and let the weeds
spring back to conceal Gretchen"s body. Then he looked long
and hard at Charl ie, who met his eyes stare for stare. Johns
broke it off and stepped once more in the direction of the court.
G was pe!ling the kittens and Mickey was stoking the fire
when Johns came onto the court. Frankie had arrived and was
sitting behind G, trying to look smal l. Johns walked to the fi re
and gently took the poker out of Mickey's gloved hand and
began turning over the burning pieces of wood. He took !Lirns
looki ng at the fire and reading the young man's face. " N ice
liule fire you got here, M ick. N ice little fire:· M ickey didn' t
look up until he felt Johns nudge him to take the poker back.
Then Johns wrned and looked at Uncle G, still caressing the
babies. "Been quite a day. ain't it G?"
"Can·! really say, ir.Jt" s just beginning."'
Johns motioned toward the so-etcher that was carrying Benerize
out of the yard. ·'Oh, I dunno. It already ended for some."
No one spoke. G absently petted the ki ttens. Joh ns knelt
down and stroked the kiuens for a minute then quickly stood.
"Frankie. that lillie fight of yours is gonna cost you 30 days in
the box. Let' s go."
"'Awww, man, Officer Johns:· Frankie whined. "You don' t
wanna go and do all that. It was just .. . ,. A piercing stare
from Charl ie cut him off.
"'There a problem with that, Frankie?'" Johns demanded.
" Uhh . . . no, sir."
" That 's good. Now get your ass down there by the gate."
Johns began to follow him, but stopped by Mickey and his
fire once agai n. He stood there qu ietly. looki ng out at the
prison complex . " Thi s is my yard, but I don' t have to l ive here,
you men do. Don' t you. Mickey?'"
Mickey continued looking into the fi re. ··Yes, sir, we do.''
Johns muttered as he stepped away from the crackling fi re.
·'Yes sir. we do . . . ·· He hesitated a moment more as he looked
down at the frolicking kil!ens. " Mickey?"
'·Yes, sir, Officer Johns?'"
"Go bury your cat."

lii1

PRISON LIFE

59

An b) Bruce D. Hill. llunL\\ illc. Tcxa.'
60

PRISON LIFE

Meet the kind of guy
society dreads most:
a true product of prison who's
madder than hell and getting out soon ...

HONOR IS EVERYTHING
by Greg Waleski
Arizona State Prison, Florence

I WAS BORN an

inco rrigible,
insubordinate, totally disobedient individual. Al l my life, I have defied authority. I would rathet- die £ighting than
bow down to another man an d be told
what to do. 1 do not accept human
law-[ am a Law Unto Myself. I can not
obey some oth er perso n just beca use
tha t's the way they say it has to be. Who
the fuck are they? They' re not runn ing
things h e re. They can n o t threaten ,
coe r ce or in t imidate m e b eca u se
unlike the m, I am not scared. I don ' t
give a fuck. It doesn 'tmatter what happe ns to me, as lo ng as I stand up to
them. Conseq uences do not intimidate
me. Threats a nd pun ishm e nt do no t
faze me. All it d oes is make me even
more determined to fig ht.
I de termine for myse lf what is right
and wrong based upon my principles
a nd my co n scie n ce. An ythin g less
than that is weak.
The a u thorities conte nd tha t th ey
ca n ' t h ave e veryone go ing a ro und
making up th e ir own rul es. I don ' t
want to h ear it. l can ' t live in a world
where od1er people make up rules for
me, as if to say that I'm just a nobody and
I'm not about shit. I will not be disrespected li ke that. l will fight to the clead1
to get what I have coming: respect, self..
detenninat.ion and autonomy.
T his society is ass-backwards. It gives
respect and a uto nomy to scary liule
cowards who deserve it the least and
fuc k over peop le with th e balls who
stand up fo r themselves. Weak, impotent, wimpy o ld m e n (a nd women )
with a lot of money, social status and
influen ce are running things, deciding
how everyon e e lse is to live. These

wan na-be warriors do battle in offices
beh ind th e sa fety o f a desk, with a
fo untain pe n and a te lephon e, using
laws, a tto rn eys and police-ga ngs w
co nu-ol things. \tVimpy little sissies t-ise
to positions of authority and political
powe r by telling lies, being afflue nt
and having all the right connections.
Th e Es ta b l ishm e nt e n co u rages
everyon e e lse to be weak and cowardly. It discourages people from having
th e b alls to take ca r e of th e ir own
business a nd to be se l f~re liant. They
prefe r everyone to cry to d1 e auth orities for help and rat on d1 eir frie nds,
ne ig hbors a nd even th e ir own family.
The police coerce li ttle kids to u.trn in
th eir pa re nts j ust for smoking weed . If
so me elude mouths off a nd starts a
fight with you, and you whoop his ass,
like you' re supposed lO , th e police
end up ta king you to jail. Sometimes
it's good for a m a n to get sc uffed
up-it builds c hara c ter. But th e
amhori ties do not a llow me n to take
care o f the ir own business. lf you win
a fight, the police offe r the othe r guy
a way to get even , encouraging him to
press cha rges and testi fy against you
in co urt. Yo u ma y we ll e nd up in
prison fo r ten yea rs or so. Wh e re is
the hon or in this?
I will not se ule for a life witho ut
honor.

IF I ALLOW AUTHORITY
figlll-es w di c ta te tO me, th e n I a m
no tl1i ng, a nd I wi ll get whatever they
d ecide to d ish o ut to m e . Fuck that
sh it! I will not live in slavery and se rvitude to otlie rs who, whe n a ll is said
and clone, eat, slee p and bleed just

like everyone else. So who th e fuck
a t-e they to tell me anything? I'd like to
see just one of the m try to make me
obey them-a ll by the mselves, with
their bare hands. But they don ' t have
the balls to do battle like that.
Rank and offic ial status m ea n
a bsolmely nothing. It's j ust bullsh it to
g ive th e m con trol over everyone else.
Sin ce they insist o n e levating themse lves to such positions of a u th o ri ty,
they have become inhuma n, beca use
dece nt hum an b e in gs s hould n ot
d esire to have co ntro l ove r othe rs.
Only tyrants need such conu-ol. T hey
are mal icious, pe rnicious, power-mad
abo min atio n s out to deprive me o f
my life. They lie, cheat, steal, rob and
kill people "legitimately." Therefore,
none of the m can be u·usted. It is my
rig ht to defe nd myself from th e m.
S p e ndin g the res t of 111)' l ife in
priso n is n o t my idea of living . The
most impo rtant thing l have learned
is n ot tha t I'd be tter cha nge my ways
and go straig h t (on the contrary, they
ain ' t see n n o thin ' ye t!) b u t rather,
that I'd bette r start taking things very
se rio usly, that I'd be tter be absolutely
fu c kin g d e termin e d to protec t my
freedom wh e n 1 get out. So if they try
to put th eir ha nds on me, a rrest me
and put me back in prison , I had better defe nd myself as zealously as I possibly ca n, just as I wou ld against a ny
ordinary a ttacke r. I have seve n prior
fe lo ny co nvictions. If I ge t another,
they' ll probably put me away for 100
yea rs. So I 'd better ge t off whil e 1
have the c ha nce because in a cour t
room, the game is rigged against me
a nd my ass is out.

PRISON LIFE

61

sharper, h aving c\'olvcd into a mu ch
g reater human being. T h at is so meth ing I have to be very th ankfu l for. As
~ietzsche said, 'That wh ich docs not
desu·oy me . makes me stronger."
The au th orities are so ful l o f th c mse h·es th a t they mindless ! ~· belic\T
they ca n break a nyo ne. They're not
bre akin g nt e, th ey 're mah i11g m e .
Th e ir ar rogance mar wel l be th ei r
u ndoing. T h er a ren' t so sm art and
th ey' re n ot invi n c ibl e . Th e r e ar c
cove rt ways to ge t o,·c r on the m. I
in te nd to show them that thei r n arrow-minded. zero-tole ra n ce. no-comp r o mi se m e nt ality is a mi st ake.
Money is t h e o n e thin g t hey do
un d ersta nd-a nd if' it costs them a
hig h price to be un cool abo u t thi ngs ,
if it's bad busin ess to be ass ho les,
the n tha t just mig ht be th e th ing to
bring th em arou nd.
T h ey' ll di e \\'i t h t h e ir
mate riali st ic power. They're
going to ge t what th ey ha1·c
co min g to th e m soo n e r or
later. Bu t sin ce milli ons o f'
people are ach'crscly afTccted
in th e me an tim e, I' m ju st
goin g to have to see wh a t I
UJRill~~ ~~CBillA\.CBIE ~
can do abou t ca using th e m a
~&11 ~~CC.Ailll1'IT
\\'h o le lot of pro blems right
now. The longer it takes fo r
J:L&~o
bad ka r ma to ca tch up \\'ith
t h em, the m o r e fatheaded
Now, going to court can be a pleasant, fulfilling experience.
th ey ge t beca use th ey thi n k
getting away with it.
The Citebook is the only book written which they're
O n ly fools measure powe r
contains solely positive case law. It gives you a
dear and concise understand.i ng of what your i n a tota lly m a t eria l ist ic
constitutional rights really are, how to worl( se nse. That powe r is te mpoyour way through the legal system, then obtain r ary; i t can b e los t a t a n y
the relief you seek at a fraction of the normal tim e. You must strive fo r ll'llf'
cost. It is also the nations #1 legal assistance p o wer-the Power VVithi n.
That power is immo n a l an d
manual for both the layman and professional.
i ndestr u ct ib le . Th ry ca n ' t
{'\'C n IOIIC!J th at.
It is a G~uongu mCKE!l~ fB.~~~~~m. for
individual
oesn't matte r what th ey
considering involvement in our legal system .. do Ittod me
because I've ;tlread)'
------------~---- -------wo n. The more the\· trv to
keep me down, the st;·o nge r I
get. I a m in a priso n ce ll , ye t
Send us _ 'Cltabook$' at $24.95 each:
I am freer tha n I've ever fe lt
Postage al $2.50 each:
before. No,,·, I am at o n e
(No pc61;aa<> cr: or.:~· of t} or ::l<'f'O)
with
myse lf'. Th e h a lf-dead
:::c:t:o.-..
prir.:iX.: nr:U
n"KX\th
Florida residents
cf C:·c:1vt>v~. C~: ~ S:2? A!; ~%:4.n: · )2.50 ~$ct-:)
pigs a re noth in g co m pa red
odd
7%
soles
tax:
~MRT'{.~lY tlffi1Tf>..__
to th a t. Th PJ arc t h e o n es
<;.R.:a:t{J.!t{
l$so.J9d <.:o..:r1r:og 1nq
of
Total enclosed :
.>c:~!a:y. Apf;l. At( cm.1 O;;:oCw. C<.:St ~ $lCC.:.df; tc~ 4
who arc captive .
X:
..:;l X 0
So I say aga in : T h ey a in 't
0 Check fme ftJr {lufutcd!J Updtltllt
~
·ecn nothin ' yet. No\\' that ther
have given me o much time to
[j Check fme {t'r !'eariiJ Editions
S~:~tnd to:
ge
t my head together, I am a
Send my "Cit.ebook( s]" to:
Storllt4 ll\c.
lot
more discipl ined. focused
P.O. Box 20004 - De pt. 1!2
NP.m~---·-········ · ·············· ·························· D~~--and capable. And I am go ing
St. Peter$bllrg, Fl. 33742
to wreak some serio us damage
or coli
Ci;;y& o'!O»t.o_ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ Zip __.........
upo n th eir sys te m or greed,
(SB} 392· 2929
exploi tation. oppression and
Call i'<w 5pcc!5lt pricirtg ol'\ o :'de:·~ of 2B or m or~.
death when I get o ut.

BEING IN PRISON

is like

be ing
a clog in a pound. I am deprived a nd
denie d thi ngs I a m rightfully e ntitled
to, and these cowa rd-ass pigs play the ir
little chi cke nshi t games with me. ext
tim e, t hou g h , we' re go in g to hold
court rig ht there in the stree t. It would
be bc ue r to die in a shooto ut with tl1 e
police than to be ware hou sed in a
prison fo r the rest o f my life . Hope fu lly
this time wh e n I ge t o u t, I can avoid
eve r le tt ing it ge t to that point (by
be in g very care fu l a nd staying three
steps ahead of them.) T hat's a bou t the
o nly chance 1 have o f making it. Lying
clown is not an o ptio n fo r me.
In th e meantime. I awa it re lease. I
do n 't exactly like be ing he re in prison,
but my eyes have bee n o pene d by it. I
see a wh o le diffe re n t wo rld n ow. I

have changed so radically that I hardly
recognize th e person I used to be, like
J was just runnin g aro und acting Slllpicl back the n. ow I'm serio us abom
things. I' m no t sure I could 've reached
th e level I' m a t to d ay by a n y o th e r
means. It's like they say, " to pain, no
gain." I have truly gained. The state of
consciousness I have attai ne d is wonh
mo re than any creature comfort a nd
pani al fi·ecdom that law-abid ing, conformist citizens a re g iven in order to
placate, pacify and blind the m. Now I
am wide awake . I see right thro ugh the
b ull shit a nd hypocrisy dishe d o m by
th e Establishment. It is be uer to be
fu lly en lig htene d and in prison than to
be free and in a stupo r like th e masses
of sheep-free to eat, sleep , co nsume
and work for th e rul ing elites. H ere, I
h ave beco m e stro nger , h a rd e r a nd

10.

IFCII1R Tilm

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any

I

Y~a:t1

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tipd~:~ ~ro

t:p<.:CJt(~ I):

,v.~: t;(J l):d~(

g:;p;.:-~u <.1!.1:('1~ ::~

n')():ltr~~S

y~.:Jf:'v 00~

UI1

62

PRISON LIFE

BUBBA-EXPOSED!
Dear Bubba,
I just finished n•ading your m·ticlr
and kn~'lu immediately you must be one
of those know it all, seen it all, clone il
all convicts. I bet you even daim to
have tried one of those slttle-administered lethal injections.
I was compPlled to write to defend
the lwnor of all the Bubbas of Ihe world,
because you, sir, an• a fraud! By looking at youT addmss, New Y(Jih Sissy, I
mea 11 city, one realizes you m·r not a
tnw BORN and INBR.L'D Bubba like
ouT boys down South. I guess youT mal
name is Bernardo Venzetini Gnm.beio,
and you jus/ coJLlrl not resist the pojmlaTily of Bubba at this lime. He's an
icon, an idol, a mystny!
Bubbas are tntly good, old boys.
Thf!J' only eat fried foods, or foods /hal
cause gas. I grew up with many Bubbas,
I dated a Jew, and almosl manied one,
but I los/ him to one of his female Telalives. Real Bubbas love their bird-dogs
and MamrLS and in that order too! Tltf')'
have class. Why, thf!)' attend all of lhr
imfJOTtanl social evenls of the season,
surh as the animal and farm expo, the
lmclor fndl, and any sfJorlive event that
d-raws blood. Thry am edw:a/ed. Many
of them have seen the eighth grade, sc'Velc

al limes. TIIC)' are wealthy. You would
nevrr cat rh a tnw Bubba without
enough money in his overa lls for his
Redman, Pabst and pork 1inds.
Thf!J' are real men and I hC)' are not
afraid to let others see lhrm rl)', liht•
when their pickup I ru.ch gets repossessed,
the IRS won 'I allow /hem I a drrla re
their pigs as dependenls, or the womm1
of their clrmms lwi1· comes off, make-up
comes off, and trelh co111e oul.
You should be cLShamed of par/raying a ll Bu bbas as stujJid, backward,
feminine jJantywastes. jus/ because )'Oit
aTe a sissy doesn't mran our Bubbas
aTe. They would no/ be caught dead
d1·essing in d-rag lik1' a vice ojjicer on
Friday night!
Please stop /lying lo be something
you're not, change your name /o Brua•
or Victor, because you su·re as he{{ ain't
no Bubba!
Signed, Really P.Oed,
Bubba 's Ho
Darlin ',
Hotdamn ! At last, a woman who
trul y und e r sta nd s men. A nd a
South ern Belle! H o ney, I wou ld give
you all my mo ney- and my plastic,
too. I bet you know how LO shop.

So, yo u sniffed me o ut. Okay,
ma)•bc J"m not a real Bubba . Bu t,
the n, swee t thang, wh o is real? As
you so di vin e , Bu bba is a n e n igma-the m)'Ste ry o f pe rson a lity. I
am the he ro with a thousand faces.
I am a cha m e leon , m u lti-faceted
li ke the fi nest diamond. I am who
you want me to be-your creation.
It's true, I am no t ha ndso me. I
can't he lp the way I look. Evet)'One
is a lways c r iti c iz ing m y looks. 1t
hurts. U nd e r this ro ug h e xterior
the re is a fully sen tie nt being. I am
a poet posing as a brute so as to be
le ft a lone in th is de based, h ostil e
e nvi ro nme n t kn own as prison.
What I am no t , l ittle Miss
Th ing, is a fra ud . I ma y b e t h e
realest p e rson you' ll eve r m ee t. I
like m y wo m en lazy, p lump an d
with a taste for th e b izarre . And
I 'm man e n oug h th at I 'm not
a fra id to dress up like a queen .
Sissy from New Yo rk C ity,
indeed! Suga r, let me te ll yo u ,
th e re are some serio us sissies in the
Apple. I' m not a sissy, nor am I a
homophobe like some o f the o ther
so-calle d tOug h g uys around h e re.
Le t me tell you , chi ld, I've known
seve ral fi e rce queers in my ma n y
years of jai lin ', and this good ole
boy is one wh o fi r ml y be lieves in
live a nd let live. If a guy wants to
suck a dick, wh o am I to tell him
it's wrong?
I have a good he art. I love all
ma nkind-but I love women bestand have respect for all living-and
so me d ead-th ings. I didn 't wan t
to rob that a rm o re d car. I needed
the money!
So you almost marri ed on e of
us, huh? Da rlin ', yo u don't know
what yo u 're missing. Vice is n ice
bu t incest is best. T ry to look at !latulence as a way of life . T his Bubba
adm its he ha tes watch ing football,
plays te nnis, smo kes Dunhill cigarettes a nd only t he fin est weed. I
drink impone d beer an d flo ss
evet)' clay.
With love fro m Bubba-who is
a ll th ings to all women.

Send your Q's to Bubba, c/o Prison
l.ife, 505 8th A ve., NY, NY 10018.
PRISON LIFE

63

In his five-year stint as a government-funded Superhero, Crimejacker was the
most renowned weapon in America's war against crime. Then, he fell. Busted
for conspiracy, he was sentenced to 20 calendars in the stat e joint. Some
say he was set up by t he feds who began to distrust their super-steroidinduced creation. Stripped of his powers, Neil Politan, a.k.a. Cr imejacker,
entered Stonekill Max Penitentiary as one of the "common crimina l scu m" he
once took pride in putting behind bars.
~E5UMEMY CA~EE~

YEAH , Rl<OH~ FOR W\40?

r/'1\ NOT SURt: .I. CAN e-/E.~

8E ONE.OF"'T\-\E.MA~IN ...
A PIC":::>. X DON'TNEEDTHE.M.

YE.AH! HE.'S Sl(:,
E.NOI.>t::IH "TO OO"T'HIS.
WE'U... SAY ONE. OF
OU~ IN~ORhWNTS

SR:rri"E.PHIM! HAHA!
SE.Nr::> IN I HE£
C)(~ON '"'f"EAh), I..
WANT HIS AS$ IN
SOWTA~.

64

PRISON LIFE

PRONTO!

DON'T Be ACTIN' THE" I=00'-'
81TCH. Y'AL.I... STIL..L..<OOT 50/Y\E. o '
THAT 5UPERHS:~ 'SHIT I NSIPE
OFYA, DON'TCHA?

How to Rehabilitate Yourself
-at raxpayer Expense
by C.W. Pyle

CA State Prison, Sacramento

Reality Check:
Press yo ur face up against th e cold
stee l ba rs or th e smoo th cool c onc re t e s urroundin g yo u. Study the
re mains of a mall bird impale d o n
the razor wire outsid e. Listen to th e
e nd less noise. Sme ll the sta leness of
d ust a nd life. That's rig ht; yo u ' re in
p rison.
Again ? Haven ' t you fig ure d it a ll
out yet? Ho w no t to re turn ?
If n o t, th e n yo u b e u e r tan co nsid e rin g the othe r side. Yo u be u e r
stan considering re habi lita tio n.
Priso n doo r a re revolving doors.
But if you li ve in a state whe re it's
three strik es, yo u ' re o ut , you ' r e
tJwo ug h.
Fact: Re habili t:.·uio n does no t exist
within th e pri o n syste m.
Myth : It neve r will.
The o n ly re liable re hab a co nvict
(or inmate) can loo k fo rwa rd to- if
he o r she c hooses to look fo rward to
a nything-is self-re habi li tatio n .
Do n't laug h. 'vV h ere have yo u r
id e as go u e n yo u? (Yeah , sque eeeze
yo ur face thro ug h those bars.)
The lack of educa tio nal and vocational resources a nd programs grea tly limi ts any o ther forms o f re ha bilitati o n othe r tJ1a n selhehab. I sho uld
a dd th a t 12-ste p programs such as
Alco h o li cs Ano n ym ou s a n d Na rco ti cs Anon ymou , althou g h good
prog rams, have to be excluded he re
becau se o f the ir a buse as crutches.
Many prisoners go to these progra ms
beca use t h e y' re co urt-o rd e r e d , o r
because they' re u·ying to ple ase the
paro le board. Others go to the meetings for free coffee and cookies, or
maybe to ge t a gla nce of a visitor or
speaker of th e opposite sex. The reaso n I do n ' t go is simple: I' m looking
fo rward to a n ice-co ld b ee r wh e n I
get o ut.
The sa me thing goes fo r th e
"almigluy"' crutch o f religio n . (Tho ·e
who a buse it as such.) Fo r exa lllple: '·J
a m now a Chri st ian , th e refo re, my
66

PRISON LIFE

past ha s bee n fo rg ive n-n o matte r
th a t I have n "t d iscove re d wh a t the
pro bl e m was in th e first p lace. If I
sho uld slip and sin, no pro blem . I' m a
Ch ristian and l" m a lways fo rg i\'e n .
Ame n."'
Crutches are synthe ti c. T hey need
b rea ki ng. Yo u can c o ve r u p )'OIIr
proble ms any way yo u want bu t until
yo u ma ke th e d e cisio n to dig dee p
a n d un cover those pro b le m s, unti l
you plan o ut a life-ch ang ing tra tegy.
those proble ms are gonm1 re main.

"Who, me? I don't got no
stinkin' problems, pal!"
But th e re yo u are, s ittin g in a
priso n cell. Un less you co nscio us!)'
discip lin e yourself tO get up o ff )'OUr
ass, ni p th a t TV o ff, toss o ut those
esca p e n ove l ·, quit fo ll o win g th e
drugs a nd cro wds and start d ealing
with yourself, you will a lwars b e a
prisoner. If yo u stubbornly refuse to
brea k those c hai n s of d e nial that
bind you to your past and de al h e<tdo n with your pro ble ms. you have n o
rig ht crying for re hab. Nobody cares
a bo ut you! At this point. yo u "rc just
ano the r n um be r in th e huma n wareh ouse . (Wh a t m a kes vo u a somebody, exce pt tO you rself? Dream s? A
perso n wi t h dr e am s wh o ra il s t o
im p le m e nt them throu g h posi1 ive
acti o n is a pe rso n " ·ho ·sst ill asleep.)

Wake up!
Ma)•be you lost most o f your o th e r
rig hts. but no o ne ca n take away your
righ t and will1o self-re hab.
Alth o ug h prison resources arc limited, yours don ' t see m to be. \.Vho was
tha t at th e cante en window last week
buying $70 of coffee , c igare ttes, cookies a nd chip ? \\'ho walked away with
the five cases o r Coca-Cola a nd e ig l11
pints of icc cream? It wasn "t you. was
it? Yo u o nly have a 20 pay slo t. Aha !
A resource! Here's ano th e r.
O ver 50,000 boo ks are publishe d
eac h year, on c\·e ry s ul~j ec t imag in-

a ble. Check o ut those fi ·t-thick Hooh.1
in P1i111 indexes! There·s in fo rmat ion
out there to he lp you get started in
pursu ing or slUd~ ing whatever interests yo u, wht•t hcr it"s physical. emotional. meal ional o r psychological.
Books an· cheap and, pardon tlw
cl iche. ed uca tion lasts a lif"ctime.
Colli.T and sodas hype you up fo r
an h our. then you piss them out.
Cigareues b urn. c hi ps make you f~ll
and dope ki ll s. g ut so wh at? \\'ho
care? Society sure don·t.
Yo u ·,·e got to care fo r yoursel r
befo re a nvone e lse will . (.\nd e\'en
t h e n , ro u "re not gua ra nt ee d tha t
anyone will eve r care.) Yo u·ve got to
do th i~ fo r yoursel r and fo r whatever
love d ones \ ' O il h <we n 't chased ofT
ye t.
e lf~ rehab c<t n be a loneh· road in
p rison. And should n "t it bt·. co n ~ i d­
e ring the und ue infl uences (i.e . peer
p ress ur e ) of the p r ison ell\ ironme n t?
To start your e ngines for 1hat solo
d ri ve to t h e be tter life. vo u m ust
fo r m a n d reed t h e "'Big. \ ' bion ...
\1\'here do vou want to realisticallv be
fi\'e . I 0 or more \'Cars from now?
Once vou hm·e that. chart o u t a
sound j)ath based on your educa tiona l research tha t will get yo u there.
In clu de a kw p ossib le a lternatives
fo r a n c,·e11 betH·r cha nce at s uccess.

Nothing's easy,
unless it's a crime.
So get that book abou1 n u rsing,
business ll l<lnagcmcnt, adve n isi ng.
sales. writing. rea l esta te. Jm,·. pcrsoll<t l tra i11i ng, a rc h eo logy-w h a tever
yo u wa n t t o study- and educa t e
yo Ll rsd r.
Gel ~·our habits in shape so \'OU
can enter co llege. a tra in ing program or the work fo rce upon release.
r\nd lll'\"Cr ~tcp back, for the pa~ t wi ll
alway~ be lu rk ing in the shadows,
read) 10 yanl.. )'Ou ba c k in 1o iLs
(ronlinunl 011 jmgt' 69)

T e fJrst six issues of Prison Life are nearly
But iYO'U can still score issues 1, 5, 7, 8 and
from the Inside, these issues will never go
and th~t · eludes postage & handling.

Send me back issues of Prison Life!
Issue: 05 07 08 09 010 011
Enclosed is $10 per copy, $25 for #5.
NAME
10#

CITY

STAT E

Zll'

Send to: Prison Life, 4200 Westheimer,
Suite 160, Houston, TX 77027.

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(con I in ued from page 66)
vicious cycle or hope less ness a n d
clai 111 you as its own.
If n othin g e lse, conside r th is:
Su cceeding is like spitting in the
faces o f those who have imprisoned
you.
O u t of lin e? I d o n 't thi nk so .
Motivational? You bet.
A few good tips an d resources w
help get you started:
1. Try the non fi ctio n sectio n of
yo ur prison li brary.
2. Obta in publ ish ers' add r esses
from inside boo ks and ask the m to
send you a book list or ca talog of
available titles.
3. Send for these free book pu blicati on catalogs:
Supe rinte ndent o f Doc um e nts,
U.S. Gove rnm en t Prin ting O ffice,
Washington , D. C. 20402-9325.
(Over 14,000 LiLies available!)
Barnes and No ble Boo kstores,
In c., 126 Fift h Ave .. De pt. 86 IF,
New York, NY I 00 11 . ( Di scou nt
books.)
For publish e rs' addresses and
lists of subjects they publish, check
ou t W1iter's Marhet, too.
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Convict Code
(continued from previous page)

- ---- ----izing , just like th ose g ra ndmothe rs
are doing on th e street to save th eir
kid s from crack d ea le rs. As J orge
Re n a ud points out, th e purpose o f
th e co nvi ct cod e sh ou ld n o t be to
pro tect d ishonorable people.
My biggest proble m with the old
co nvict code is that even a t its best, it
has been basically selfish. Its rule of
sil ence allows all ma nne r o f bru tality
to take place , a nd its ru le of actio n
doesn ' t call for actio n to protect or
defe nd , it o nl y ca lls fo r action to
avenge. That's not righ teou s, it's bullshit. vVhat's righteous on a ny of our
parts is n o t o nl )' lO ca rry o urselves
with dignity and respect, but also w
live in such a way as to make our cellblock, o u r neig hborhood, our plane t,
a ki nd er a nd sa fe r pl ace. A g u y
named Ed mund Burke said over 200
yea rs ago, 'The o nly thing n ecessary
for th e triumph of evil is for good
m e n to do n o thin g." And as J o rge
poimed ou t, ta king th e rap for a coward is no t a no ble act. An d neither is
"Eye for eye, b ull ets fl y, idiots d ie."
That kind of code has been going on
fo reve r a nd has wasted countless lives.

(continued on next page)

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AOIDAS CRATOR-MO--MEN - ..·-··-··..-·... ~.95
DEXTER BlAZER·MID-Bl.KIBROWWTAN-M •• 69.95
DEXTER KlONOIKE-MIO--MEN & LADIES ... 59.95
DEXTER CARIBOU-MID--MEN .......- .......-... 84.95
DEXTER ROXIE-MID-8ACfNNfTAIHADIES . 59.95
HI·TEC ALPINE-MID-MEN & LADIES .....--.•54.95
tf.T£C VISTA-MID-MEN .............--........- .• 54.85
HHEC MIDNITE BlACK-MIO-MEN - - · -· 50.95
tf.TEC SIERRA UTE 11-M1D-BROWIWI.J·M ... 39.115
HI-TEC LADY UTE II-MID ··-·········-..···········- 39.95
HHEC NAV1.JO-MID-MEN -·-····....···-·--.. 69.95
HJ.TEC SHASTA 11-MEN ................·--···-... 29.95
HI-TEC HURON-Mil>-WATERPROOf.MEN .81.95
K.SWISS TAL.ARA-HIGH-tADfES ·-··..--··-· 59.95
K·SWlSS MURALT()..-H1GH-.-MEN .....- ........... 64.95
K.SWISS POKTANO-Ii1GH-MEN •.•.. _ ......... 64.95
NEVAOOS WllOCAT-MID-MEN ............•••... 26.95
NEVAOOS TUNDRA-IMO--MEN & LADIES -· 29.95
NIKE CALDERA-MID-MEN & LADIES .......... 46.95
NIKE AIR MAKALu-MID-MEN ·--................. 49.95
REEBOK TELOS-HIGH--MEN .................- ..... 58.95
REEBOI< TELOS ULTRA-HIGH-MEN ····--··· 64.95
REEBOK CLIFFHANGER-MID-MEN ····-······ 48.95
REEBOK BlUERIOOE 11-Mil>-MEN ···-··--·-49.95
REEBOK VIRAZON 1~10-tADIES ············- 45.95
SKECHERS4100TS:
ROAD RANGER CANVAS-uNISEXNATURAL, BLUE OR BLACK ..--·--····29.95
ROCKIES CANVAS-GREEN OR TAN-MEN . 34.95
TRESTLE WORKBOOT-MIO-TAIWRO\YIW.I . 45.95
REBAR- LOW-TA~MEN ...............- ....... 43.95
RIPCUT-lOW· BROWN-t.IEN (EVEN SIZES) 40.115
RIPSAW-Mil>-BU< OR BROWN-MEN ••. 35.95
OflSTONE4MO-T~(EVEHSIZES) 49.95
URSAN RANGER HIGH SNEAKER-IJNISEX •• 35.95

TENNIS SHOES

. _152.95 FILA CLASSIC TENNIS-MEN .....- ....- ..- ...-. 48.95 REEBOK CENTRE COURT-MEN ·-····-·-..--54.95
HEAD RADIAL 500-I.OW LEATliER4M.. •.•... 43.95 REEBOK OUAI.JFIER-MtD-Bl.K/WHT-M-SALE • 48.85
NEW BAlANCE CT 880-8. D. EE & 4E-MEN -- 55.95 WILSON PRO STAFF-MEN & LADIES --..--CALL

PRISON LIFE

69

Cartoon by Henry llcrL. F.C.I. Florence. AZ

ra th e r than th e worst.
Le t ' s b e real non co nfo rmi sts a ga in. If co nfo rmi s t li fe o n th e
streets has become "Usc
people an d love thin gs,"
th en th e convic t code
should procla im , "Usc
things and love people,"
~
a n d pri ·o n li fe shou ld
be an exa mpl e o f i t.
Con ,·ic ts c an s h ow a
~oNG. ~Ci<· ~g- lifestyle o f respect and
honor Lo a na ti o n th a t
~ FS~
has lost hope that anyo ne lives by those kinds
o f values anymo re.
Man y "newvic ts'' o r
ga n g bangc rs sin ce re ly
t hin k t h a t th ey do n ' t
car e \\·h c ther a n yo n e
u~
li ves or di es. I t hink
th ey're foo lin g th e m ~:r~'C:e,CaM
selves, and th at they will
EL.'~b 1t-lT~esrs ~ d iscover that for the mselves at so me point, if
aFf""al~ oF t hey live lo ng e no ugh.
Don ' t co unt th e m o ut
yet. That's why 1 1q · to
~~D.
resp ect the m as peop le
even before th ey respect
me back. We do n't h ave
to th e l'\inj a Turtles lun c hb ox by to hate a 1igcr to be cau tio us of it.
whi c h yo ur kid defi n es hi se l f- And we d o n ' t h ave t o me ter o ur
estee m. Pepsi and ike own Mi chael respec t to those who "deserve" o r
jorda n . Why? Wasn'L he ri ch e nough "no t deserve. "
from baske tball? The Rolling SLOnes
I have bee n privileged to ·ec tens
on ce had He ll's Angels handle secu- of th ou ·a nd s of bad-asses c han ge
rity; at a Sto nes' con ce rt n ow yo u th eir va lues so deeply that it colllin ues
walk past Wacke nhut guards to buy a to inspire and amaze me. Man y o f my
35 tee-shirt a nd $5 popco rn. And fri e nds arc d oi ng te n lifes withou t
th e n you say "thank you!" Wow, what parole or 200 years plus, or the deall1re bels we are! What tough hombres! row wai t in g ga m e - a nd are n ow
Mo t o fus h ave sold our fu ckin g a mo ng the fin est peo ple I hm·e ever
so ul s to t h e ve ry fo r c e s we o n ce met. People change. You've chan ged.
re be lled against - th e corpo ra tions I' ve changed. We need a cod e that
wh ose greed is d estroying th e wh ole allow · people th e maximum opportupl a ne t - and we ha ven ' t eve n nity to beco m e human bein gs, n o t
noticed it!
one wh ich keeps us and the m stllck in
Th e real nonco n for mist in this the worst pa rLS of ourselves a nd our
society is anyone whose spiri t refuses past. That's a fool's code.
to become e n laved by pe tty po sesIt may not be easy to change the
sio n s and the un e ndin g pursuit of convict code, but it has to be d one,
selfi sh pl easu res, so m e b ody wh ose a nd e ac h o n e of u s h as 10 d o o ur
resp ec t a nd kindn ess a nd co urage pan - like j orge Re naud has clo ne
can ' t be bought o r frighte ned away. by co urageo usly sp eaking h is mind
tow th at's g oing aga in st th e tid e! and e s p ec ia ll y by re -defining th e
That's ·'no retreat, no urrc nder" wo rd "snitch. " \Ne n eed to wrestl e
re fusin g to b eco me a m a te r ia listic with thi s a nd Wlite abou t it in Prison
slave eve n though th e c ultu re pro- L ifr'- but mostl y, and especia lly, we
mo tes it. And re fusing to beco me an have to each be a rea l huma n being
an imal o r a sile nt cowa rd in pri son today, where,·er we find ourselves.
eve n t ho ugh th e publi c ex pec ts it \\'e have to have th e courage to live
and the code condones it.
by a p e rso n a l co d e we wo ul d n o r
A new co nvict cod e must be an mind passing o n to ou r ow n c hil ideal th at speaks to th e b es t in us d re n .
OJ]

ttralem1e a

Rar<e-GfeeieS iN

me mSJ:N ~eHl'

f"~ B?i~~RaT Ua~

Tot;);iy

re.t?are';)

B}w;_

aH ..

ToeRt::eMic. ~toR­

~'n:cu~, m1~ L~­
wf.e~TCal'i
I~ruel se~C\Js

';::eMaGe

-rr-1e
....

011-ieJ;<
-Ala~ 9=N ~~f? ...

Another problem ,,·ith the code
is that it was once based around the
idea th at co nvi cts we re mainly nonconformists who rejected 1he nin e-tofive world because th e ir spiri LS were
roo free. Wh e th er that ,,·as ever really
tru e or not is irre le vant. But right
now it is ce rtainly no t th e case. The
biggest conform ity in .-\ m e ri ca n life
is SELFISH ESS. And convi c ls are
rig ht in th e re with eve ryo n e e lse ,
sh ar ing th e sa me values that place
thi ngs over people. O ur schools, te levisio n shows, movies a nd magazin es
a ll promo te selfishn ess to a degree
ne ver imagi ned by any o ther nation.
Te enagers kill eac h othe r over a pair
of sneake rs. Po litical ca ndida tes lie,
c h ea t a nd ste a l. Pri es t a nd ·co ut
leaders m o les t yo un g bO)'S. On ce
e ve ry few wee ks so m e wh e r e in
Ame rica, some ordina ry person picks
up a we apo n, wa lks down th e stree t
or in ro a Mc Don ald's a nd e nds th e
Ji,·es of people he n ever eve n me t.
Th a t\ no t n o ble o utla w be havio r, tha t's insanity. It's notj ust He rby
pc rling 's " n e wvi c t~ " and ga ngstas in
priso ns who arc a ne w and dange ro u s bree d : As a nati o n, we're a ll
going nuts. We have reached th e pinn acle of se l fishness, a nd h ave
b eco m e to la ll y e n slaved b)' eveqrthing from 1hm little TV in your cell
70

PRISON LIFE

IIIDIIlliiiiiiiiiiDIIIII
THE BE:GirNrNJINrG jAILHOUSE
LAWYER~'s

G UID,E TO

LE',G.AL Rm·s:mARC~H
by Robert R Reldan , New Jersey State Prison

L

egal research is often a lo ng, ted io us task, At the
b eginn in g, it is a lso q ui te c onfusing . H o we ve r ,
research is essen tia l to pre paring a pe tition , mo tion

o r complaint, and these g uide lines wi ll give you an id ea of
h ow a nd wh e re to begin. (For a beginne r 's g uide to basic
writ wri ting, see "In-Ho use Co unsel" in the Marc h '95 and
May:June '95 issues of Prison Life,) Refining lega l research

skills is a mau er of trial a nd error a nd re quires co ntin uous
practice, so d o n ' t give up if it all seems daunting a t fi rst.
The law is not an exact scie nce, Thoug h based o n fede ra l and sta te civil a nd criminal codes, th e law is in 1:eali ty a
nuid , ever-cha nging body of la ng uage contained in written
ru les a nd regula ti o n s, c rimin a l statutes, acts, bills, codes,
o rdi na nces and judicial o pinio n s known as "case law." All
of this langu age is collected a nd published in books th at
sh o u ld b e avai la ble in a ny we ll-ma inta ined pri so n law
libraty It is a ll th e re, evet)'thing you nee d to kn ow abo ut
the law; what rem ains is learn ing h ow to find it.
O n ce yo u have located and fa miliarized yo urself with
the statutes th at pe rtain to your case, you will the n have to
find an d study th e latest judicial o pinio ns o n the issues yo u
im e nd to ra ise, for th e law is co nsta ntly evo lving- a nd
becoming mo re compl icated- as j ud ges seek to inte rpret
exactly what the law means in practical terms. So you have
the sta tutes, o r laws, a nd th e vari o us case , o r case la w,
whe re j udges have made ru lings to d e te rmine h ow the law
app lies to c ircu msta nces more o r less li ke those you fi nd
yourself in .
Just remembe r, it is a ll a bo ut lang uage, You must study
th is la n g uage - whi c h o fte n seems like g ibb e ri s h or
Sh akespearean English-pre tty mu ch co ntinuously to rea lly unde rstand tl1e law so you can argue intelligently,
Also, co ur ts o pe ra te unde r strict procedural ru les a nd
tim e sc h e dul es. Mi ss a da te a nd yo u m ay b lo w yo u r
cha n ces. (Rece ntly, a man 's d eath p ena lty appeal was no t
h eard by th e Su pre me Co urt o f Virginia beca use it was
fi led o ne d ay la te .) Do your resea rch early and keep reading th e la test law throug h th e date of fi ling a nd until your

HOWTOUSE

A lAW LIBRARY
Sin ce many laws a n d cases seem to conflict with o ne a no ther , it is crucial to understa nd the hie rarchy of a utho rities with in o ur
legal system. It goes someth ing li ke this:
A t th e LO p is t he Un ited States
Consti tutio n, Most of its princi ples are binding on all state constitu tio ns, fede ral statutes,
state statutes, a nd case law from both the fede ra l and state courts. A law o r statute fo und
to be inconsistent with the basic con cept> set
fo rth in the U.S. Constitu tio n will not prevail.
In th e fed e ra l sys tem, Uni t ed Sta tes
sta tutes carry the Io ree of law. O n ly if they
vio la te th e U,S, Cons titutio n wil l th ey be
struck down . T he highest court in tl1e la nd is
the United States Supreme Cou rt. Al l U.S.
Su p re me Court decisio ns interp re ting t he
Con stituti on , fed era l and sta te statutes, a re
bi nd ing o n al l lowe r court decisio n s, both
federal and state,
Imm ed iate ly un de r th e Sup re m e Co u rt
t h e re a re 13 Fe d era l C ircu it Co urts of
Appeal. Decisions from the ci rcuit court level
arc b ind ing on a ll Federal D is tric t Courts
with in the circui t, but they are not necessarily bin d in g aS tO Oth e r fe d era l CO UrLS Of
appeal. In o ther words, a n 8 th CiL case is no t
binding on a 3rd Cir, court; however , theore tically, co nnicting dec isions co mi ng fro m
d iffe rent circ ui ts on su bstantia lly th e same
issue (i.e., a bortio n) will prod uce a decisio n
fro m the U.S. Supreme Court resolving the
issu es. Always m a ke s ure yo u are fa m iliar
with the leading cases on yo ur issues from
the circuit in wh ich you r case will be heard.
Decisio ns from cou rts a t the federal d istri ct level, j ust below the c ircuit courts, are
n ot b indi n g u po n eac h othe r . T h ey a r e
binding, tho ugh , as to all federal con sti tutio n a l issues, o n a ll sta te courts incl ud ing
sta te supre me cou rts. T hus, any fede ral d istri ct co urt can fi n d t ha t a sta te sup reme
court has issued a r u li ng t hat vio lates the
Constitution an d can o rd e r the sta te decisio n set aside . Th ere are limi ts invo lvin g

case is resolved .
PRISON LIFE

7t

issues of procedural defau lts, search
and se iz ure cla im s, ind e p ende nt
state ground s and a few oth e rs, but
the principle that fede ral courts rule
is esse ntially in tact.
State sys te m s h ave a hi era rc h y
similar to the federal struc wrc: state
constitutio n , sta te s tallltcs, s tate
supre me court, state a ppe llate court,
state court, local cou nty and municipa l co urts . H owever, th e var io u s
states may use different nam es for
the ir co urts.

FINDING THE lAW
The body of law found in a law
libraqr is organized under a complex
system of referencing a nd cross-refe re ncin g. A practiced researc he r ca n
ge t to th e sa m e law fr om m a n y
so urces . T h e law is fo und in four
gene ral categories, listed below.

THE STATUTES
T he Constituti on and U.S. Cod es
ca n b e fo und in a e t o f vo lum es
ca l le d t h e United States Codes
Annotate d (U .S .C.A.). By loo king
th rough these vo lumes you can find
th e Co n stiwti on and curren t versio ns of a ll U.S. stallltes in th e vario us T itles (Title 18, T itl e 2 1, e tc.)
th at comprise federal law, both ci,,il
a nd crimin al.
Most o f th ese vo lu mes contain
"poc ket pa rts" (fo und in the back) ,
wh ich provide recent cha nges in the
sta llltes since th e vo lu me was publi sh ed. Always co n sul t th e poc ket
pa n s wh e n researc hi ng ta tutes to
make ce rtain yo u a re aware of th e
latest changes in the law. The an notations followin g each sectio n of the
stawtes contain cita tion that direct
th e reader to case law and a utho riti es that have in te rprcted th at sectio n of the code.
State statu tes arc found in similar
sets o f vo lum es, for examp le, th e
New J e r sey Statutes An n o tated
( .J. .A.) , wh ic h con tains vad ous
titles (the UCriminal Code is fou nd
in Titl e 2C , whi le "Insti tu tion s &
Age ncies" is TiLle 30). These volumes
also have annotations tha t direct th e
reade r to important interpre tatio ns.

CASE lAW
U.S. Supreme Court decisio ns may
be found in any o ne of three sets of
volumes: U.S. Reports (U .. ); Lawyer·s
Edition (LEd.); and Supre me Court
Re porte r (S.Ct.). These publi ca tio ns
a ll co ntain th e sam e d ecisions but
72

PRISON LIFE

have other features that differ slighLly.
The books have tables of contents and
indi ces that provide cross-refere n ces
to o ther materials.
Fede ra l Circ uit Cou rt decisions
arc fou n d in the Fed e ral Reporter
( F.2d & F.3 rd ), wh ich publi sh decisio ns on appeals from the federa l d istri ct co urt le ,·e l. Th e Fe d e r a l
Supplement ( F.Supp. ), publis h es
District Court decisions and rulings.
State case law repo rter syst e ms
parallel the fed e ral. The state of ew
J ersey, for example, has reporters fo r
the State Supre me Cou rt (N..J.Su p.),
.J . Re p o rts ( ..J .) fo r the
a nd
Supe rio r Courts (Appellate, Law and
C ha nce ry Divisions). Again , d iffe re nt
states may use othe r tiLl es.
All o f these sets o f volumes of case
law are supple me nted with soft cover
upd ates publ is h e d a t inte rva ls
be tween th e hardcover editi o n s to
ensure th at researche rs have access
to the la test decisions.

SHEPARD'S CITATORS
On e o f th e most important and
usefu l tools in a. law libra ry is th e
ShejJnrd 's Citators (whe n ce th e term
"Sh e parclize") . T h eir prima ry fun cti on is to provide th e most co mplete
and up-to-elate listing of refe ren ces
to a case or stalllte being research ed.
This is essen tial in order to find o ut
whe th er so m e later co urt h as
ch anged th e we ight, sco pe or interpretati on of a cited case or statute.
In addit ion, eac h stalllte you are
research ing must be Shcpardized to
lear n i f it h as been amended ,
re p ea led or s upersed e d by s ubsequent legisla tion , o r whe th er it
might have been affected by recent
judicial interpretation.
S imila rl y, case law mu st be
Sh e pardized to find out if th e decisio n was a ppealed, and if so whether
it was affirm ed or reversed by a highe r court. Shepardizing a rulin g will
a lso t e ll yo u if th e case h as bee n
cite d in o the r cases, a n d if it has
bee n question ed , criticized, di sting ui shed or followed by o the r cou rts.
There is a uni t of ShPjJard's t o
cove r eac h o f the fifty s tates, th e
Di str ic t o r Co lumbia a n d Pu e rto
Rico, as well as se ts fo r the federa l
coun srste m. ShejHml:~ issues the following: a large, h a rdcove r , a nnual
vo l um e; a go ld- cove red, paperbound , an nu al supplemen t; a reelcovered , p a p e r bo und , q u a rt erly
c umul a ti ve sup p le me n t to updat e
the bound volumes; and some times a
white-covered, paperbound , quarte r-

ly Advance S h ee t Edition , whi c h
appears midway be tween the successive quarte r!)' red-covered cumulative
supple me n ts, usua lly a bout six weeks
later. The ma terial in the whi te edition is the n incorporated within the
succeecli ng red-cove red cumu lative
supple me nt.
ShejJard's Citators compose a kind
of master index. The vo lume numbe rs a t the top of the pages "·ork
mu ch th e sam e as key words at th e
top of the page in a di ctio nary.
Le t's look, for exa mple, at a case
cita ti o n, i\1/ruini v. f rpfand, 56 NJ.l 30
(1 970). Marini in this case is th e
' movin g' part)', whic h m ean s he or
she is eithe r the plaintiff at the trial
level or the pe titi on e r at th e a ppe llate level. In o the r words, Marini is
th e party brin g in g t h e a c t ion to
court. The n ame of th e p a rty afte r
the v. or vs. (versus), h e/an d, is the
de fendant at th e trial level, or th e
respo nd e nt at th e appe ll ate leve l.
Th e numb e r 56 m e ans th e case
a ppea r in Volu me 56 of NJ. ( 1ew
J ersey Re ports), and 130 t ells yo u
th at the case starts o n page 130 of
the volume. ( 1970) tell you the year
th e opinion was re nde red.
Once yo u have this info rm ation,
find the volume o f Shepard's o n New
J e rsey Reports, locate Vol. #56 at th e
to p of the page, a nd loo k down the
colum n until you fi nd 130 in bo ld
print. Th e re is th e case, J\il arini. If
you don't find it, it means it's unreported o nly in the scope of that volum e o r supp le m e nt. It do es n o t
mean yo u wo n 't find it in an annual
or c umula tive supp le men t. Be ce rtain your research is thorough.
In o ur exam ple, und e r 130 yo u
will see th e n o tatio n f227 t JS469,
and e237NJS21404. This mea ns th e
case is cited in at least two o th er volum es, 227 NJ S a n d 23 7 NJS ( ew
J e rsey Superior Court Reports).
Turn to th e table of abbreviations
in the front of the book wh e re you
will find th a t th e 'T' shows th e case
was "followed ," o r cited a co ntrolli ng in another case. The "e" means
the case was ··explained ", o r a stateme nt of the impo rt o f the decision in
th e cited case was given, no t mere ly a
resta te ment of the facts.
T he S2 1, immediate ly to th e left
of th e pag e numbe r 404 , in d ica tes
whi ch paragra ph of th e syllabus o r
head note o f the cited case pertains
to the po int of law in th e citing case.
Fede ral c ita ti ons are read in much
the same way. For instance, United
States v. Strn llon 820 F2d 562 (2 nd
Cir. 1987). The Un ited States was the

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plaintiiT a nd Stra u on the defe ndant
at th e trial level. The case can be
found in volume 820 of the Federal
Reporter, 2nd series, o n page 537.
(CA2 J987) te lls us the opinion was
rend e r ed by the Seco nd C irc u it
Co urt o f Appea ls in 1987. (See ':Just
In Ca e'' in th is issu e to read the
e ntire published case.)

METHODS OF RESEARCH
T he re a re three basic app roaches
to research ing an y legal question: by
word o r topi c; b)' statute; or by case
law. The o n e yo u usc usua ll y
d epends o n the amount of informatio n you have to begin with .
J f you have a statute o r case citation you can refer to, that is usually
th e easiest way to begin yo ur
resea r c h. ll owcvcr, if yo u kn o w
almost no thing about the partic ular
area o f the law yo u a re tryin g to
resea rc h , )'O U can stan by choosing a
"key word" or phrase th at pe rtains to
th e iss ue yo u wa nt to lea rn more
abo ut. Loo k up th e key wo rd o r
phrase in the research sources listed
below.

USING THE WORD
APPROACH
There are ma ny e ts of law books
th at d isc uss th e law o n a word or
topic basis, fo r instance, W'Pst's NJ.
Digesl 2d , 1\lesl 's Federal Digest, 2nd,
3rd and 4th Editio n s, a nd Co1jnts
j uris SPnwdum (Cj ), a n encyclopedi c, multi-volume se t of books contain ing co mm e n ta ri es on th e law.
Each o f th ese sets o f vo lumes h as a
word index. ome a rc very detailed,
so m e quite ge n e ra l. By u sing th e
word index, you will be directed to a
specific volume and page numbe r in
th e se ri es of books that discusses th e
word o r topi c you have loo ked up.
Fo r exa mpl e, if yo u wan t to learn
abou t the law as it pertai ns to hom icide o r to priso ns, you wou ld go to
th e word index and loo k u n d e r
ll om icide or Priso ns, the n refe r to
the pages listed.
The book wi ll g ive yo u a broad
overview o f the top ic and direc t you
to oth e r books th a t dea l with n a rrower i sues co n ce rnin g tha t su bject. Also, an no tatio ns in th ese refe rence books co nta in cita ti o ns th at
re fe r you to ca ·cs d ealing with th e
sp ec ifi c su bj ec t yo u a rc researc hing. The a nn o tati o ns are listed by
j uri sdi cti o n an d alphabetically.

74

PRISON LIFE

Th erefore, unde r the word or
topic Hom icide, you would fi rst find
d e fi n itio ns as to types, history a nd
common law origins. The n , by loo king und e r the a nn o t a ti o n s, yo u
wou ld go to cw j e rsey or T exas to
find specific cases d ealing with various aspects o f homicide as it applies
to courts in those states.

USING THE STATUTE
APPROACH
If you arc researching a sp ecific
statute, look it up in th e cod e books
for yo ur jurisd ic ti o n. In New .Jersey
that would be .j. S.A., ew J ersey
Statules Annotated. For fede ral la w
you would use U.S. C. A., United Stales
Codes Ann otaled. Annotate d m ea ns
th e references incl ude brie f discussio ns of cases tha t have interpreted
the statute. Citatio ns in the annotations will a llow you to fo llow up with
the case a pproach as outlined be low.
Read a nd study the statute. Refer
to th e pocket parts to check on any
rece nt c ha nges. And u e th e citations in th e ann otati ons to refer you
to cases d ea li ng with th e speci fi c
issue you are research ing.

USING THE CASE
APPROACH
Th e r e a re a numb er o f se ts of
books re porting cases tha t have been
decided in th e \a rious state and fede ral cou rts. "Re po rts" a re th e official
publications o f th e State and federal
co urts, a nd "Re porte r " a re un o fficial publication put out by commercia l publishin g companic · suc h as
Wests. If yo u a re citing more th an
o ne reference to a case, you should
list the official re port citatio n before
th e un o ffi cia l re porte r ve rsio n . In
o th er words, cite U.S. bdo re S.Ct.
Eve ry court has an o f"fi cial report.
H oweve r, these p u blica tion s do not
in clud e a ll t h e cases h ea rd a n d
decided by th at court. West's RejJorlers
p ub lis h eve ry case r ul e d upon by
sta t e a n d fe d e ra l co urt . \Nes t 's
RPjJorters arc exu·emcly useful in tha t
they have a key numberin g system. A
panicular point o f law will alwars be
refere nced with th e sa me key number t hro ug ho ut a ll West' · pu blicati o ns, an d yo u can qui c kly refer to
the Wes t's Dige t fo r additional cites
o n each numbe red po int of law.
Us ing a cita ti on , suc h as Uniled
Stat es v. Slrai/011, 820 P2 cl. 537
(2nd Cir. 1987), lirst fi11d volume 820

of the Fedual R f'jJorler, 2 nd series.
Turn to page 537, and there you wi ll
find the case. By read ing th e case
care fu lly and c ross-refe renci n g it
with o th e r cases ci ted in the case you
a re reading, yo u wil l ga in a good
overview of t h e pecific issues you
a re resea rching. You th e n want to
Shepardizc the ca ·c to th e present,
and in th e p a rti c u lar ju ri sdi ctio n
where your case will be heard, to
find what cases arc leading o r control ling in you r di strict. Readin g
case law a11d Shepardiz ing will also
p rovi d e you wi t h c itat ions fo r
Su preme Coun cases dea li ng with
the amc or similar i sue .
Read a ll th e case. that d iscuss
your is ·u es, whether th ey help your
posi tion o r not. If you cannot find
facts that arc right "on point" (and
you rarely can). uy to find tenets of
law that support you r logic a nd argument. You must be fami li ar with
cases that go agai n t yo ur positio n in
o rder to show why th ey should n o t
apply to the speci fi c et of facts in
your case. T he law is based on precedent a nd the more law yo u can find
that has se t p recede nt o n your side
of th e a rgum e n t, wi th the closest factual content, th e better you r chances
of persuasion arc.
Remember, the law i · a ll a bo ut
language. Th e re arc no a b so lute
rig ht o r wrong answers to any legal
question. There arc on ly rulings,
precedents, opinio n s and arguments. The law i wh at any g iven
judge dec ide it i · until a hig h e r
coun rules differently. Only by reading an d immersing yo urse lf in th e
body of the language of the law can
you become knowledgeable and
ca pable of u nderstand ing complex
legal issues. T he more case law yo u
read, the easier it becomes to understand complicated legalese.
Good luck an d happy h unting. 01]

coming in
In-House counsel:
* Your Questions
answered by top
jailhouse lawyers
*Writ Writing,
part 111
* Advanced legal
research

DIIIIDIIIIIIII111
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee
v.
Richard Lowell Stratton, a/k/ a
"Richard Lowell," Appellant.
No. 937, Docket 86-1504.
United States Court of Appeals,
Second Circuit.
Argued April 8, 1987.
Decided june 5, 1987.
Following defendant's conviction
on drug-related charges and imposi.,
tion of ten-year sentence to run consecutively with sentence previously
entered on another conviction, defendant moved for reduction of sentence.
The United States District Court for
the Southern District of New York,
Constance Baker Motley, J., denied
motion, and defendant appealed. The
Court of Appeals, Oakes, Circuit
Judge, held that defendant's sentence
was impermissibly enhanced due to his
failure to cooperate with Government.
Sentence vacated, case remanded
for resentencing.
See also, 779 F.2d 820.
Criminal Law 986.2(6)
Defendant's sentence was improperly enhanced due to his failure to
cooperate with Government; in
imposing sentence, district court
specifically indicated that defendant's
sentence would run consecutively
with sentence on previous conviction
because of defendant's refusal co
cooperate with government.
Ivan S. Fisher, New York City, for
pro se appellant.
Stuart E. Abrams, Asst. U.S. Atty.
(Rudolph W. Giuliani, U.S. Atty.,
S.D.N.Y., of counsel), for appellee.
Before LUMBARD, OAKES and
CARDAMONE, CircuitJudges.
OAKES, Circuit Judge:
Richard Stratton appeals from an
order of the United States District
Court for the Southern District of
New York, Constance Baker Motley,
Judge, denying his motion for reduction of sentence pursuant to
Fed.R.Crim.P. 35(b).
On November 17, 1983, Stratton
was indicted with five others for conspiring to import and distribute over
seven tons of hashish in violation of 21
U.S.C. §§ 952, 960, and with engaging

Just in Case is a new Prison Life department highlighting useful case law for
jailhouse lawyers and legal eagles.
Future columns will include summaries.
and analyses of the most current case law
compiled by a newly rele(!Sed

in a continuing criminal enterprise in
violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848. Stratton
immediately moved to dismiss the
indictment, arguing that his prior conviction in the United States District
Court for the District of Maine on a
charge of conspiring to distribute marijuana and hashish raised a double
jeopardy bar to all subsequent charges
arising out of the "single criminal
agreement." The motion was denied,
United States v. Stratton, 583 F.Supp.
1234 (S.D.N.Y. 1984), and this court
summarily affirmed on an interlocutory appeal, United States v. Stratton, 751
F.2d 373 (2d Cir. 1984). Thereafter, a
trial was conducted resulting in a verdict against Stratton and two codefendants on all counts.
On December 7, 1984, Stratton was
sentenced by Judge Motley to the
statutory minimum of ten years'
imprisonment, a $100,000 fine, and a
special parole term of five years. The
ten-year sentence was to be served
consecutively with the fifteen-year
sentence that Stratton had already
been given in connection with his
conviction in the District of Maine.
The court gave the following reason
for imposing a consecutive sentence:
I think that your sentence probably should be made consecutive
for the reason that it might convince you that cooperation with
the government is in your best
interest, and so I intend to make
your sentence consecutive for this
reason-that is, I expect that you
will reflect on your conduct since
you are in a reflective mood at
this time, and I understand that
the government can benefit from
your cooperation in respect of
other people who were involved
in this, so if you are interested in
getting out of prison soon and
really rehabilitating yourself the
best way to demonstrate that is to
cooperate with the government
with respect to this matter.

ex-con attorney.
Now, Mr. Stratton, if you decide to
cooperate with the government in
this matter you have 120 days to
apply to the court for reduction of
your sentence, and the court will
consider reducing you sentence
based upon the nature and extent
of your cooperation with the government So that in addition to the
15 year sentence you now have a
sentence often years to follow that.
Thereafter, Stratton moved for a
reduction of sentence pursuant to
Fed.R.Crim.P. 35(b). In his motion he
argued first that Judge Motley impermissibly increased his sentence because
of his refusals to cooperate with the
Government. Second, he argued that
the structure of his sentence violated
the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984,
Title II of the Comprehensive Crime
Control Act, Pub.L. 98-473, 98 Stat.
2015. He claimed that his sentence was
vastly disproportionate to sentences
generally imposed in cannabis-related
offenses. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(6)
(Supp. II 1984). Judge Motley denied
the· motion, and this appeal followed,
with Stratton raising essentially the
same issues that the district court considered. The only change is that while
Stratton alleged in his motion that his
refusal to cooperate with the Government was due to a "deeply ingrained"
moral conviction that it is wrong to
blame or inform on others for one's
own mistakes, he now contends that he
refused to cooperate out of fear of selfincrimination. Thus, he claims that his
sentence was increased as a result of
exercising his Fifth Amendment right.
We write here to address the issue of
whether Stratton's sentence was based
on an impermissible factor, i.e. his
refusal to cooperate. In Roberts v. United
States, 445 U.S. 552, 100 S.Ct. 1358, 63
L.Ed.2d 622 ( 1980), the Supreme
Court held that a defendant's failure to
cooperate was a valid sentencing consideration. This court, however, has
drawn a distinction between increasing
the severity of a sentence for a defendant's failure to cooperate and refusPRISON LIFE 75

ing to grant leniency. '" It is one thing
to extend len iency to a defendam who
is willing to coope rate with the governm e nt; it is quite a n othe r thi ng to
admi nister additi onal pu nishme nt to a
defendant who by h is silence has committed no addition al offense."' United
Stales v. Bradford, 645 F.2d 115, I 17 (2d
Cir.l98 1) (q u oting United States v.
Ramos, 572 F. 2 d 360, 363 n . 2 (2d
Cir.I 978)). This disti nction may be d ifficult to app ly. See Robe11s, 445 U.S. at
557 n. 4, 100 S.Ct. at 1362 n . 4; Mallette
v. Scully, 752 F.2d 26, 30 (2d Cir.l 984)
(ta kin g RobeTLS n .4 into acco unt) .
Neverthe less, "even though the d istinction is somewhat illusOJ)', it is the o nly
rule that recognizes the reali ty of the
criminal justice system while pro tecting
the integrity of th e syste m ." Mallette,
752 F.2d at 30.
When applying these standards to
th e in s ta nt case, it is c lea r th at
Sn·atton 's sente nce was imperm issibly
e nhanced. Judge Motley spec ifi cally
stated that th e se n te n ces wou ld run
co n secu tive ly beca use o f S t ratton 's
refusal to coopera te. In this case, Judge
Motley's com m e n ts crossed that fine
line between showing le niency, see id.,
752 F. 2d at 31 ("if Mr. Mallette were
willing to assist us to bring th e othe r
person to justice, I wou ld find it vel)'

easy to be reasonab le and le ni em'');
Bradford, 645 F.2d at 11 8 (de fendan ts'
fa ilure to cooperate is perm issible factor alo ng "~ th o th er rele,rant considerations), an d punishing a defendant for
hi s s il e n ce. In DiCiovan11i v. United
States, 596 F.2d 74 (2d Ci r.1 979) , th e
sentencing cou rt made comments very
similar to those made b)' Judge Motley
in th e present case. At sen te ncing, the
distri ct coun stated:
[I] n the lig ht of what I feel is a n
unwar ranted re luctance on your
part to assist the Gove rnm e n t and
so yo ur desi re to turn away from
thi s k ind of crim e, I fee l th a t I
must im pose o n yo u a m o re serio us sentence ...
[I] f .. . you change you r m ind ...
a bout the desira b ili ty of h e lp in g
the Government do so m e thi ng
a bout thi s drug scen e which has
had its co n sequen ces o n yo u, as
we ll as man y others , you may
m ake a n applicatio n to th e Court
for a r edu ctio n o r se n tence , b ut
not o th en vise ...
!d. at 75. This coun \'acated the sente n ce and re m a nded for se m enci ng
before a d iffere n t j udge. H ere, as in
DiGiovanni, the d isu·ict court impro perly en hanced the defendant's sem e nce.

We find it unimportant th a t
S tratto n d id n o t r a ise h is Fifth
A m endmen t c la im in th e d is tr ic t
court. A defendant's position would o f
co urse be much su·onger if his failure
to coo pe ra te was based o n assertio n
o n hi s Fifth Am endme nt rig hts; but
this court has not limited to the Fifth
Am e ndm ent co ntex t its r ul e on
imprope r se n tence en ha n ce m ent for
refusal to cooperate. For exa mple, in
at least fo ur cases befo re this cou rt th e
d e fe ndant's sil e nce was based o n an
a ll eged rear of p h ys ica l re prisa l if
coope ratio n was g ive n. See Mallette, 752
F.2d a t 30; Bradford, 645 F.2d at 11 6;
DiGiovanni, 596 F.2d at 75; Rm1ws, 572
F.2d at 361. It is improper to in crease
a defenda nt 's se nte n ce due to his
silence regardless of his m o tivations.
Stratton 's remaining contention that
is se n te n ce vio la te d th e Se nte ncin g
Re form Act is frivolo us. Th e issue of
whether the Maine convictio n and New
Yor k prosecution were based o n distinct facts was fully litigated. Thus, concu rre nt sentences would in any even t
have been permissible.
Having found th a t J udge Motley
imp roperly in creased Stra tton's sentence because of his sile nce, we vacate
the sente nce and remand the case fo r
resentencing before a d ifferent judge.

FREE
POST CONVICTION

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Federal and New Jersey
State Appeals, Habeas
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PRISON LIFE

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IIIDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDI
Chef's Special of the Month:
Marsha's Dolphin Delight
1 can Tuna (dolphin) in water
2 bags ofTokyo Rice (instant)
1-2 ·\alapenos
1 dil pickle
3 tbsp. diet salad dressing
Pm hot water in rice. le t it while you find th e can ope ne r a nd
o pe n th e fi sh. Cut up jalapenos a nd pickle. Mix eve rything together and throw in some ivl rs. Dash o r whateve r for taste. Eat with
cr<~ c k e rs. Really good whe n you 've bee n smo king lOO much Jnolo
in the yard a nd d o n ' t wan t to laug h in th e bulls' face at chow!

Marsha Howe
Utah State Prison

For Dessert:

Tuna Rockaroni

Pudding Bowl

1 Kraft Macaroni & Cheese package
113 cup milk
1I 4 stick butter
1 con of Tuno pocked in water

1-2 pk Chocolate pudding
1 lg banana
1 pk. graham crackers
1 1I 4 cup butter

Folio\\· Kraft 's directions for th e macaroni & chee e. O nce finished, cl ump a can of tuna into it a nd mix it aro und some . Plug in
some Me ta llica, kick back, and c how clown . C ua ramced to take
the shiuy !ish taste rrom th e tuna.

C ru sh gra h am c ra c kers. melt buuer. s lice
ba n a n a. Coa t bowl with butter and crackers .
Arrange sli ced bananas in bowl an d cover with
pudding. prinkle crackers over top a nd serve.

Jimmy "Snake" Tyler
Rikers Island, NY

William J. Casey
Sheridan, JL

by Chris Cozzone, Fitness Editor
MASS WITHOUT ASS
f'm o .. li'l 111011. •• \ l'hrn I got to thr
joint, / nl('igllf'(/ in at 122 jJOunds, due to
drinhinff and smollin' rmrlt. For the las/
ynn; though, a biff bro has guided 'lllf past
my adrlirlions and now I'm at my normal
142 pound~ a/ 5 '6" with a 30-inrh waist.
I Iooft all right for Ill)' size but I want
more mas\. My benr/1 jJreu i~ 205 max,
my C1/ rl is 85 and my squat is 225.
l-Imo m 11 I add more mass to Ill)' small
Jiwnr without pigging out? I don't want
a jJot brll)' and a fat ass. All the of' heads
in lh1• pit 1ay, "Short_)', you should be
mtin' f'Uf'l)'fhing you ran get your hands
on.·· And the iron freaks my hright say to
drinlt jlrolt•in flirt'!' timrs a day. \\louldn 't
that pose a health jJroblem?
Tallt to lilt' doff . ..
Smnless/Lowdown
Staft' Prison, South Mirhigan

78

PRISON LIFE

Yo Shony,
Quali ty mass takes Lime . Un le s you
wa nt tha t g ut and bull, p ackin g o n
th e beef takes years fo r most people.
The no rm a l hum a n b e ing ga in s
an ywh e re rrom 3 to I 0 pounds of
beefca ke a year-if h e's hiuing the
iro n hard. It 's th e kind o f we ig ht
you ' re no t gonna sec o n a scale clay
to clay, or eve n week to week. It may
n o t seem like mu c h but if you get.
say. fi ve pou nds or stea k, then imagine that packed o n vario us bodypans,
th at's {/ lot or mass. ow, yo u add
th ose five pounds up ove r, say, five
years and you got some serio us bulk.
min us the l~n .
Unl'onuna tc ly, the re a rc no shortcuts, unless yo u' re willing to pay a nd
pray with anabolic steroids ( pay the
triple stree t price in prison , pray you
won' t evc nw a lly di e from using it,
an d s uffe r a n yw a y !'r o m its s id e

efTccL~) . Espccia lly in yom case: You
wanna go from one drug to another?
\l\1 hen you get oiT th e juir<'. you'd
end up looki n · like )'Ott d id gcttin· o fT
crack by the tim e the effects wore o fT.
There's only way to do it: serious
ded ica tion, time in th e gym. smart
training and enough rest between
workou ts. I recomrncnd four kick-ass
worko u ts a week (split t he body in
two days. each mu~cle group twice a
week) . Don't listen to the g uys \\·ho
say you h;l\·c to spe nd you r life in the
gym and do six days a week. 3 to "I
hour~ a shot. For the m;~jorit~ of people. this will prohibit your body rrom
maximum g rowth and adequate renrper·a tion.
Reme mber this: Your body doesn't
g ro"· in the gym wh ile you're pumpi n g iro n. T h a t only tear s m ll sc lc
fibers apart. Your muscles grow when
you ' rc resting.

Forget mo t of that p ro te in shit,
too. Most of the supple me n t marke t
is a sca m . Th e average bodybui lde r
co uld easil y make do with as mu ch
protein as the ave rage couch po tato :
75 to I 00 g ram s a day, max . Too
much protein wrea ks havoc on your
liver over a lo ng period of time.
So when o n e of th e iro n fre aks
te lls you to eat everything you can ,
tel l' m you ain't loo ki n ' to ge t a big
ass or gut. You' re liftin g for quality
gains.

M. Re ndon,
to build stre ng th. If yo u ' r e o u t to
The b ul k of yo ur diet sh ou ld be build musc le, I ' d u se a n o th e r
foods co nta ining complex ca rbo hy- m ethod. Muscl es g row wh en you
drates. Rice (prefe ra bly brown , bu t push th e m to fai lure, or beyond fa ilyeah , I know, it's prison), pasta, whole ur e . vV h en yo u p yra mid sets, as k
grain breads a nd vegetables arc whe re yo urself how ma ny of your se ts a re
it's at. Frui ts arc a lso good fo r carbs, taken to fai lure. o t many.
especially for qu ick e ne rgy boosts. If
Low re ps b u ild stre ng th a nd tenyou insist on a carb d ri nk, I recom- dons, but mu sc les need r e p s. If
me nd Ultra Fue l beca u ·e th e carbs yo u ' re doing pyramid se ts, mos t o f
th ey' re made up of a re what's called your sets a re goi ng to be below e ight
"m ed ium-c h a in " ca rb s, m ea ning reps, whi ch me an s yo ur fibe rs a in ' t
they' re somewhe re be twee n t.h e carbs gonn a get max pump.
fo und in frui t and complex carbs.
If you 're set on pyra mid ing, and
Th e rest of yo u r die t shou ld be yo u an• out to build streng th , then
PROTEINS AND PYRAMIDS
prote in with a low-fat contelll: chic k- you s hould d o a co mbin at io n of
en, fish , beans. Re fer to my response h eavy-to-light a nd light-to-heavy (th e
Being tlwt I'm in prison for life, what to the previo us qu esti o n fo r mo re o n "true " pyram id ) in yo ur wo rko uts.
are the healthiest foods I ran eat to heljJ da ily intake of prote in . Do n 't go psy- J us t m a ke su re you' re wa rmed up
me bull! ujJ? What difference does it malw cho with prote in .
befo r e
go ing
heavy-to-lig h t.
on a pyramid worhout if you worh out
Fat should be wa tc hed. You wa n t Pyra midi ng is best clo ne with strength
heavy -to-light or vice versa? And does a to bulk up with quali ty mass, not gain exe rci ses (squats, be nc h , dead lifts ,
pyramid worlwnt work for every jmrt of a ton of fat. All that sa turate d shi t presses, e tc .) or those exe r cises
the body?
doe ·n 't do too much fo r the body but re quirin g seve ral mu scl e g r o up s
Thanh you for yom· time. As long as make yo u loo k like yo u 're made of (unlike curls a nd pushdowns, or calf
there a re prople like yon willing to leach, bu tter. If yo u' re gonna use fat, usc a ra ises).
you'll always have fJeople like me willing non-saturated va ri ety, like canola oil.
T rain ha rd.
Use comm o n se nse when ea ting.
to learn.
Resjwtfu fly,
Stay away from shit foods a nd save
M. Rendon your commissa ty money for healthi er
Smrl youT Q's, lmiuing tips and
Califm tria, CA StLt.ff.
fJiwtos to: hon Pile, 505 8th Avenue, New
Yor/1, NY 10018.
Pyramiding worko u ts are desig ne d

PRISON LIFE

79

EVERYTHING YOU NEVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT

ADS
Dem· Recipient,
I have a f ew good friends who are at risk of contmcting the fl{\1 virus. I am vet)' concerned
about their safety, I have also tal/in/with them conreming this maller. I-Jowevet; I am not a doc/01;
pra ctitioner, etc. I am contc£Cting you to ga in 11/.0re /w ow/edge about thei-r activities and their
chances of contracting this virus. Pleast' give me the best nll'dical answer that )'011 can offer. !'our
heljJ n1garding this matler will be greatly ajJjJreriatnl. T/l(m/i you, and here ar-e IIi)' questions:
• What em the ~lumces of contracting llu• HIV vin1s by receiving oral sex from an individual
who is Hf\1 positive, male orfemale?
• Are there any /mown cases of 1-ecriving the lf!V virus by hissiug and receiving the inta/ie of
saliva? If so what are the chances of con/meting the virus from that activity?
• What m·e the chances of an HI I' negative man contracting the Hill virus by being penetrated ll)' an I-JIV positive male? What w-e the chances of the male who is HIV negative contracting the
vims if no condom was used, and no brealwge of the shin to the penis or any blood was discovered
and the act happened in the maximum time ofthn•e minutr•.1?
• Is blood the only wa)' of transmilling the J-/f\1 virus from the H/V jJositive jJetwn during
anal intercourse? If so, please describe the wa)' this occurs.
• Can a male contract the HIV vi111s ll)• pnforming oral sex on a female who is HI I' positive?
• What are the jJhysical symjJ/oms that art' visually noticeable in an /-1/V j;ositive individual?
• What are the chances of co11tmcting the HIV virus with a person who is H/V positive with
the penetmlor wea·r ing a condom?
Sincerel)',
j effrey
Bennellsville, S.C.

Dear J e ffrey:
Your lette r to uches on many to pics, so
let's start with some basic information.
HIV (Human Immunodeficie ncy Virus)
is th e viru s t h a t ca uses AIDS. AIDS
stan ds for Acq uired (you ge t it from
so m eo n e e lse) Imm un e De fi c ie n cy
(yow· immune system , which con tains
cells that help fight off d iseases and life
threatening illnesses, becomes damaged
by th e virus) Syndro me (a gro u p of
sy mptoms). H IV is fo und in blood ,
breast milk, seme n, vagina l secretions,
and in small amounts in saliva. Anyone
of any age, race or sexual prefere nce
can be infected with HIV d1rough sex,
direct exchange of blood, or both.
He re are th e mai n ways HIVI AIDS
is spread:
•T hro ugh unprotected sex (no cond om ) with an infected person.
•By sharing needles, syringes, cookers
and works to skin-pop or inject drugs;
using HI V-con tami nated tattoo and
ear-pie rcing n eedles, body pierci ng
e quipme nt, or manicure tOols; shari ng
a toothbrush or razo r tha t may h ave
unseen Lraces of infected blood on iL
• By r eceiving HIV-in fccted bl ood
via transfusio n (not like ly these days
as blood supplies arc subject to strict
screening procedu res.)
• Babies born to HIV infected mo the rs have a 30-40% c h a n ce o f b e in g
so PRISON LIFE

H IV-infected themse lvc ·; H IV-infec te d m ot he rs wh o breas t feed th e ir
babies can infect th em with the viru .
An HI V-infectcd f~nh e r can only pass
i t to his c hil dren if h e in fects th e
mo ther fi rst.
T h e AI OS vi ru s is n ot p read
th rough casual contact. Yo u ca nnot
get infected with HIV fro m:
• S h a rin g an infected p er o n 's
prison cell , toilet, sink, ·hower, eating
utensils, food o r phone.
• Hugging, touching or ch) ' kissing
someone wh o is H IV infected.
1-IIV is spread thro u g h sex wh e n
se me n (cu m ), vaginal nuids o r blood
from an infected person ente rs someone e lse's bo dy thro ug h th e mou th ,
vagina or a nus. How many un protected
sex ual enco unters (no condom) with
what number of parltlers for how much
time wo uld it take yo u to b eco m e
infected ? No o n e know . You could
become infected afte r 0 1 E risky, brief
e n cou n ter. O r it might ta ke years of
unsafe behavior. It's a game of Russian
Roulette. You 'II eventually lose: half of
a ll prisoner deaths in th e :'\onheast
and one t hird of prisoner deat h s
nationall)' are now caused by AIDS. In
fac t AI OS is now the leading cau ·e of
dead1 of Americans ages 25 to 4-1.
Unprotected ana l sex is th e m o ·t
da ngerous. Eve n if you see no blood

there may be microscopic tear in d1e
s ki n that let t h e HI V virus i n .
Unprotected vagi na l sex is dangerous,
too, especia lly around th e time o f
me nstrua ti o n for women as there is
more b lood prese nt. O ra l sex is less
risky then anal or vaginal, but it still
carrie risks. The AIDS virus in t h e
·emen o r vaginal secretions may enter
the blood strea m through the lining
of th e mouth an d th roat if there are
sores or abras ions. Us in g co nd o m s
and den tal dams are th e be t protection b ut if yo u do n ' t use o ne, avo id
ora l sex after br ush ing o r Ooss ing
your teeth or eating food · like potato
chi ps. Most health ca re experts conside r kissing-even wet/ to ng ue kissing-to be safe. Fondling and stim ulation of you r partn er whi le yo u are
wearing gloves or using clean fingers
with no cuts or chapped skin are safe
exual practice .
Let's ta lk a b o u t drugs and 1-IIV.
Three-quarters of new H IV infections
1,·ere among drug addicts addicted not
just to IV drugs, but to crack cocaine as
well. Half of new I-lTV ca e were fo und
a mong crack smo kers who e ngage in
unsafe sex ual activit)'· Besides be ing
like ly to co n trac t the vi rus from need les a nd d rug works, bei ng high makes
you less like ly to practice safe sex. So
there are man y ways to pro tec t our-

selves. Abstai ning from sex and drugs
is best. But if this is impossible, reduce
your risk as much as possible. Use your
ow n n eedl es a nd works, o r c h oose
smo king or sn iffing instead of shooting. Do not fro nt load o r back load
with a noth er pe rson 's works. If you
have to re use needles, soak them in
pure bleach (not d ilu ted bleach) for
fifteen m in utes, the n wash the m o u t
well with soap a nd water, a nd rin se
well. Limit the numbe r of sex ual partners. Don ' t have sex whe n yo u h ave
been u sing drugs or alcohol. Practice
safe sex: Use a la tex condom with
nonoxynol-9 (a "spe rmicidal" o r che mical that kills HIV) for anal o r vaginal
pen e tration a nd a p lain co ndom fo r
o ral sex . Always put on a co ndo m
before you enter your partne r's mouth ,
an us or vagina. Always ch eck the condom 's expiration ela te. Never re-use a
condom. A condom sho uld be rolled
over an erect penis all th e way clown to
the pu bic hair. Some con doms come
''~th a reservoir tip: if it isn 't there, create one by leaving a little slack a t the
bottom to catch the cum. Remove the
condom right afte r yo u co m e; pull
your penis out while holding the base
of the cond om. Neve r use Vaselin e,
min e ral o il, baby o il o r cooking o il

(Crisco) with a condom a they cause
breakdown o f the rubber. Choose a
wa te r-based lubrican t like KY jelly. Use
a latex condom-H!V can get thro t~ gh
lamb skin. If you are allergic to latex,
wear a non-latex condom with a latex
condom over it. If your partne r has the
alle rgy, wear th e latex condom witl1 the
non-latex o n the o utside. I [ you pc rfonn oral sex on a woman , usc a dental
clam or a piece of latex over the vagina.
You ca n make a den tal cla m out or a
latex glove or cut-ope n condom. EVEN
IF YOU ALREADY HAVE HI V, practi ce safe behavio rs because you can
introduce more virus and different
strains o f the HN virus that wi ll make
you sicker.
There is no way to tell whether someone is HN positive or not. To be safe
you must assume your sexual partn er or
drug buddy could be infected. Peop le
1~th HJV can look healtl1y, strong, muscular or fat, because the ~ rus can stay in
your body for years \\~th ou t ever making
you sick. You ca n 't tell who ha HJV
un til the ill ness is advanced, causing
what are termed "opportunisti c infections"-serio u s illn esses that the
immune system of an H1V negative person would be able to fight off. In addition , someone might take the blood test

fo r l-IN, te ·t H!V negative (no n-infected), a nd in reality b e HIV positive
(infec ted ) . H ow could th is happen?
There could be a n insufficient amoun t
of AIDS ~rus in the blood to show up
on the test, but e nough to transmit the
vi rus to someone else. So, you could
get H IV fro m someone wh o was
recently infected themselves, or someo ne sick a long time.
Sex is a great pan of life, b ut HN
kills. Fo r more (free) in for matio n ,
call the Natio nal AIDS hotline; 1-800342-2437; (Spanish: 1-800-344-.SIDA) .
Each state has a n AIDS hotline (in
South Carolina, call 1-800-322-2437) .
Or call the tVDS in Prison Project at
(2 12) 674-0800.
Hope this helps,
Da Nu rses
Da Nurses are both R egistered Nu·rses
and Certified N?m;e Practitioners. We caution that infonnal ion ln lhis column is
offered as general advice and we recommend that anyone with health problems
see/( j;rofessional medical caTe. Although
j;roblems presented here may bear similarity
to yours, each requiTes personal and individual allen/ion. We welcome yow· questions and co mments, and thanks for
Asl1ing Da .VuTses.

A Chicano prisone r (name withhe ld ) a t the New Mexico State Pen in Santa Fe
shows us the tats on his hack. Photo by Manual "Manny Man" Machuca.
Send your tattoo photos to: Prison Life, Tattoo of th e Month, 505 8th A ve., NY, NY 10018.
PRISON LIFE

81

Don't
serve the
time,
let the
time serve
you
THE
PRISON LIFE
FOUNDATION
Don't in c arcerate;
e ducat e .

e

Personal T ransformation
through Education
e Fully-accredited GED. College
and Vocational Degrees
Schol arshi ps and Funding for
Pri son Educational Projects
Courses and Study Materials
Delivered Directl y to the
Pri soner/S tudent

e
e

Please tell us your educational

int~ res ts.

GED/ H.S. Degree 0
Libe ral Arts B.A.
Science B.S.
Business

0 His tory
0 Bio logy
0 Accounting

Vocational

0

Other (Speci fy)

0

Name
Address

D Art
0 English
0 Computer Sciences :J Chemistry
0 Pre-Law
0 Marketing

0 Philosophy
0 Engineering
0 M.B .A.

T he Pri son Life Foundat ion.
lnc. is a not- for-profit organization
devoted to helpi ng prisoners break
free from the cyc le of crim e and
in carcerat i on th rough educat ion .
Th e Foundati o n. to ge th er w ith
Prison Life Educationa l Services.
Inc.. sponsor full y-accredited GED.
coll ege and voc ati onal cour ses
through correspondence l earning.
lf y ou are interes ted i n lea rnin g
more about educational opportun iti es o ffered by th e Pri son Life
Foun dati on. pl ease fill out and
return the attached questionnaire to
The Pri son Life Foundati on. 350
Fifth Ave nue. Suite 1905. Ne w
Y ork. N Y 1011 8.

111111111111111
MAGAZINES * BOOKS
SPECIAL REQUEST
Send stamped, addressed envelope
for complete offerings to:
Paper-Wings
P.O.B. 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211.
;·;

·-·,.;
_.~

..-

.;,

*
Sample
Offerings
*
6 diff. iss. Gent $12, 6 diff. iss. Playgirl
$10, 6 diff. iss. Gallery $12, 6 diff. iss.
Wrestling $6, 6 diff.. Hollywood
Nostalgia $6, 6 diff. Espionage
Magazine $6, 6 diff. X-Words/Word
Find $6, 12 Super Hero Comic Books
$6 Include $2 per each selection
towards UPS + handling.

CLASSIFIED RATES.
Straig!lt classified ads are
S75 for 35 words.
Additional words are $1 each.
Prepayment required.
Send to:
PRISON UFE Classified Ads
4200 Westheimer, Suite 160
Houston, TX 77027-4426
Call 1'-800-207-2659
or (713) 840-7801

LIBERTAD TEMPRANA
PARA
PRESOS MEXICANOS
Los prisioneros Mexicanos, especialmente
en el sistema federal, pueden ser transferidos
bacia Mexico para recibir libenad temprana,
y vivir cerca de sus seres queridos atraves de
los servicios del Bufete de Benninghoff &
Ramirez. Atraves de oficinas en los Estados
Unidos y Mexico, Benninghoff & Ramirez
provee a sus clientes un servicio sin igual.
Los prisioneros transferidos podran recibir
libenad inmediata bajo fianza, libertad
temprana para trabajar, y tiempo libre por
buena conducta. Tambien, hemos tenido
mucho exito con prisioneros a los cuales se
les ha negado Ia transferencia anteriormente.
Favor de escribir a Ia siguiente direccion
para que reciba un foUeto descriptivo preparado especialmente para prisioneros Mexicanos. Escriba a:

Charles F. Benninghoff III
Benninghoff & Ramirez
Post Office Box 1355
San Juan Capistrano, Calif. 92675

---------------

LEGAL
POST-CONVICTION
ADVOCATES, INC. Top notch appeal,
habeas, sentencing representation
by creative, dedicated professional
staff. Fourteen-year member of the
bar with multi-faceted post-conviction experience. Electronic
research, competitive rates. 3061
Terrace Ave, Naples, FL 33942.
Phone 813-793-6511. Fax 813-7932584.
POST CONVICTION ATTORNEY
Direct Appeal, habeas, PCR, CPL
440 & sentencing representation on
federal and state levels. SALVATORE C. ADAMO, 412 Liggett
Blvd., Phillipsburg, NJ 08865.
Member NY, NJ & PA bars.
PARALEGALGRADED CURRICULUM BY BLACKSTONE SCHOOL
OF LAW. Approved home studies
legal training since 1890. Affordable
and comprehensive. Free catalog: 1800-826-9228 or write Blackstone
School of Law, P.O. Box 701449
Dept. PL, Dallas, TX 75370.

BOOKS & MAGS
FREE CATALOG, absolute lowest
prices on subscriptions to 850 magazines; Exam pies, Newsweek 1 yr
$23.95; GQ 1 yr $7.95; Vanity Fair 1
yr $9.95; Penthouse 1 yr $19.95;
Penthouse Letters $17.95; FREE
LIST-Magazine Warehouse, 124348th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11219,
(800) SAVE-SAVe.
----·-·-----------

MAIL ORDER
Say Happy Mother's Day, Happy
Birthday, I'm Sorry, I Love You, with
perfume, candy or flowers. Serving
prisoners exclusively. Free brochure.
MAIL ORDER BLUES, 2767 So.
Parker Road, Suite 188, Aurora,
Colorado 80014. Telephone:
303/914-3955.

RADIOS AND OTHER GOODS.
Serving the prison population since
1984-We are the Conaid Company,
Inc. We offer a variety of radios and
other goods specifically for the prison
population. Free Catalog. Write to:
The Conaid Company, Inc., 2302
230th Street, Pasadena, MD 21122.

OTHER STUFF
ALL INCARCERATED MEN. FREE
Brochures! Cut Red Tape! Meet
Women Worldwide and in USA.
LADIES run your Ad FREE! Send
SASE or (2) 32c stamps to:
Reaching Out, P.O. Box 21136,
Castro Valley, CA 94546.

For God So Loved The World That
He Gave His Only Begotten Son
That Whosoever Believeth In Him
Shall Not Perish But Have
Everlasting Life. John 3:16. Jesus
Loves You.
What: FREE pen pal service for
inmates. How: Send your name,
address and relevant info* to be used
in your bio. Also, what characteristics
you're looking for! Where: CellMates, PO Box 5423, Colorado
Springs, CO 80931-5423. * Crime,
time, sex, race, hobbies, etc. CellMates is a personnel service between
inmates and civilians. The more I
know about you, the better the
match! (Pictures also welcome.)
Female Inmates--Writer looking for
information on life on the inside.
Writing a novel involving a female
inmate. Looking for women willing
to be honest. If interested, write to:
Connie, P.O.Box 352, Mundelein, IL
60060-0352.

DO YOUR VISITORS
NEED A RIDE TO
PRISON?
MOST MAJOR CITIES

1-800-318-0500
SAFE, CONVENIENT
FAMILY TRANSPORT

co.

'Justfcfa yor los Mexicanos"
PRISON LIFE

83

maammamaa
by Alex Friedmann, Resource Editor,

SCCC,TN
'f'he Jo llowing is It list oj orgr11dz.ntiuns available to
jniwm•H. SujJjJOJ1 agrnrif' usutlil)' fn ouitle brodwrts,
in.Jounation malf'Jia /s or rrfr u o ls lo Olher g roups.
.\tlt•omrl f.,'fOUP\ II)' to dumgl' oimirwl jrutirr lrgi:Slation
lltwuglt Jmlilimllohl')illg. /Jollt of''"" 1)1"-' of ngntcies

• Pri•oner Literature Project, c/o Bo und Together
Book., 1369 Haight Street, Son Francisco, CA
94117: Free boob lor pri.aners.
• Pri.an Reading Project, Paz Pre55, P.O . Box 3146,
Fayetteville, AR 72702: Free books for women pri•-

jmbli\h urwllrllrrs; wbsrrijJiions a , , Jffllf' llll)' low cost
mu/ arr \lllllrlimes offt'ud jrrt' lo Jnisollm. A Lso i11dudtd

oners.

in thi~ drjm rtmrntnrr routnrls fm jm bhcatimu ami magn=.ml"\, rntnlnlf companil!'i, book or rtfllling projtW and
ollu•, a~t·llcies.
\ 'n) frw of lhtst mgani:t~liOII\ oflrt rlirtrt assisltma.
"l'ht')' mnin()' jJm vidt• information. Also, many of thesP
flf:''llfll'.\ mr uou-jnvfit and ntnl )OUT JlljJjxn1. inc/ruling
\lltmjwd ~t•J m71 t•nut40jJes urloosr \lnmJH.

SUPPORT AGENCIE5-NATIONAL:
• American Friend, Service Committee , 150 I
Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 1910 2 (215/241 7 130): A Quaker organization that work. for peace
a nd equality. Their criminal ju51ice bra nch co n provide litera ture on o variety of pri.an issues. There ore
•ix regional AFSC office• in the U.S.: CA, Ml, NJ,
MA, OH and NY.
• John Howard A550Ciotion, 67 E. Modi .an # 1416,
Chica go, IL 60603 (3 12/ 263-1901 ): Thi5 organizelion i5 mostly involved with pri.an reform ond criminal ju51ice issues in lllino i5, but they co n provide
moleriol5 of interest to all pri.aners. There i5 o 5eporole JHA branch in Conodo.
• Notio nal A55ociolion for the Advance ment of
Colored People (NAACP). Crimina l Ju51ice Prison
Program, 4805 Mount Hope Drive, Baltimore, MD
21 215-3297 (4 10 / 358-8900): Offers referrals ond
odvi.ary .ervices for pri.aners who wonllo break the
cycle of recidivi•m-especio lly o mong minoritie5.
The5e projecl5 operate through regional offices and
ore not ovoiloble in every area. Write for local conloci oddre55e5.
• Offe nder Aid and Re51orolion (OAR), 301 Pork
Drive, Severna Pork, MD 211 46 (410/ 647-3806):
Provides posl-relea5e ossi•lonce for pri.aner< in lA,
MD, NJ, PA and VA, through 12 local office•.
ADVOCACY AGENCIEs-NATIONAL
• CURE, P.O . Box 23 10, Notional Capitol Station,
Washing ton, DC 20013-23 10 (202/ 789-2 126):
Orgonizolion lor pri•on reform, with 5lole chapter<
ond special groups for veleron5, lifer<, 5ex offender<
and federal pri5ons.
• Fomilie• Agoin51 Mandatory Minimum• (FAMM),
100 1 Pe nnsylva nia Ave nue NW, #200,
Wa shington, DC 20004 (202/ 457-5 79 0 ): Work.
fo r the repeal of federal mandatory minimum 5enlencing low5.
• Justice Wa tch, 932 Dayton Street, Cincinnati, OH
45214 (513/ 241 -0490): Works lo eliminate clo55i5m ond racism from prison•.
PUBUCATIONS & MAGAZINES
• Fortune Ne ws, ATIN : Inmate Sub.cription5, 39
West 19th Street, New York, NY 10011 (212/ 2067070): A publicatio n of Fortune Society.
• Inside Journal, c/o Prison Fellowship, P.O . Box
16429, Wo,hington, DC 2004 1-6429 (703/ 47801 00): A publication of Pri.an Fellow, hip.
• Outlook an Justice, AFSC, 2 16 1 Mo55ochusell5
Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02 140 (617 / 66 1-6 130):
A new51eller of the Amer ican Frie nds Se rvice
Comminee.
• Prison Life Magazine, 505 8 th Ave nue, New
York, NY 10018 (800/207-2659): A notiona l magazine by and lor pri.aners ($ 19.95/ year).
BOOKS AND READING PROJECTS!
• Books lor Pri.aner<, c/o Lei! Bonk Bookstore, 92
Pike St., Box A, Seonle, WA 98101 : This volunteer
program provides up Ia three boob ol o lime.
• Boob Through Bar< Program, New Society
Publishers, 4527 Springfield Ave, Philadelphia, PA
19143: Provide, free boob for pri.aners.
• Pri.an Book Program, Redbook Sto re, 92 Green
Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02 130: No boob con be
senile pri.aner< in KS, NE, lA, Ml, OR or CA.
• Pri•on Library Project, 976 W. Foothill Blvd #1 28 ,
Claremont, CA 91 7 11 .
84

PRISON LIFE

CATALOG COMPANIES:
• Acces5, 23 44 Gri5.am Dr, St. Loui5, MO 631 46
(orders BOO/546-6283): Sell• o Iorge •election of
producb for priwners.
• Conoid Company, 2302 230th Street, Po5odeno,
MD 21122: Sell, o wide range of per<onol good,
specifically lorgeted lor prisoner<.
• Jock L. Marcus, 5300 We•t Fond du Lac Avenue,
Milwaukee, WI 53216-1348: Sell, o wide variety of
imlitutionol product•.
• M & P Wholewlers, P.O . Box 5 37, Foll,lon, MD
21 047: Sells products for pri.aner<- mo•rly electronic. a nd to pes.
• Walkenhorst' s, 10 50 Lincoln Ave., Napa, CA
94558: Retail good•.
OTHER- PRISON AIDS PROJECTS:
• Ame rica n Civil Liberlie• Union, 161 6 P Street
NW, Wo,hington, DC 20036 (202/234-4830):
O perole5 on •AIDS in Priwn• inlo rmolion project.
• Correctional A55ociolion AIDS in Prison Project,
13 5 E. 15th Stre et, New York, NY 10003
(212/ 6 7 4-0800): Offers resource information concerning AIDS in prison, e•peciolly for inmates in
New York.
• HIV Pri.an Project, NYC Commi55ion on Human
Rights, 40 Rector St. , New York, N Y 10006
(212/ 233-556 0).
• Notional Prison Ho•pice A.sociotion, P.O . Box
58, Boulder, CO 80306-0058: Help, develop ho•pice program• lor terminally ill pri.aner<.
• Notional ACLU Prison Project, AIDS Education
Project, 1875 Connecticut Ave nue NW 4 10,
Wa shingto n, DC 20009 (202/ 234-4830).
• •o ne Day at o Time; c/ o Richard H. Rhode,
#05353-01 8, U.S.P. Leavenworth, P.O . Box 1000,
leavenworth, KS 66048: An AIDS new, leller for pri•oners.

• Pri.an AIDS Project, Goy Community New5, 62
Be rkeley Street, Boston, MA 0211 6 (Notional AIDS
Goy To5k Force: 800/ 221-7044).
• Prison AIDS Re5ource Center, P.O . Box 2 155,
Vaca ville, CA 95696-2155; or 926 J. Street, #801,
Socromenlo, CA 95814.
• Pri.aners with AIDS/ Right, Advocacy Group, P.O .
Box 2161 , Jone,boron, GA 30327 (404/ 946 -9346):
Offers 5upport, educolionol molerio l, , referrals and
political lobbying for pri.aner< with AIDS/ HIV.
OTHER- SPECIAL AGENCIES:
• League for Le•bion ond Goy Pri•oners, 1202 Eo 51
Pike St., # 10 44, Seattle, WA 981 22: A project of
Goy Community Social Service•.
• Native American Indian Inmate Support Project, 8
Dolle • Dr ., Gra ntville, PA 17028: A Na tive
Ame rican g roup that •upporls the introd uction of
Indian religiou5 ceremonie5 a nd programs in priwns.
• Na ti ve Ameri can Pri •one rs' Re hobil ilo li on
Re5earch Project, 2848 Paddock lone, Villo Hill,, KY
4 10 17: Offers many 5ervices lor Na tive American
pri.aner<, including lega l and spiritual support, lribol
a nd cultural program• and d irect contra ct with pri.an
odminislrolors.
• Pockoge• from Ho me, P.O. Box 905, Fore5tville,
CA 95436: Sell• moil-order food packages lor prisoner<, ol a round $20/pkge.
• PEN , Writi ng Program fo r Pr i5oner< , 568
Broadway, New York, NY 100 12 (212/ 334-1660):
Offers o greol re.aurce booklet for pri.an writers.
• Pri.aners of Con.cience Project, 2120 Lincoln St.,
Evansto n, IL 6020 1 (708/ 328-1543 ): A religiou•bo.ed agency that work. lor the relea5e of pri.aners
of con.cience/ polilicol priwners in the United Slate•.
• Prisone r Visita tion a nd Support, 1501 Cherry
Street, Philadelphia, PA 19 102 (2 15/241 -71 17):
Provide• inslilulionol visits Ia priwner< in federal and
military prison• nationwide .

• Project for Older Pri.aner< (POPS). c/ o Jonathon
Turley, Director, The Notiona l Low Center, 2000 H
Street NW, Wo, hington, DC 20052.
• The Soler Society, Shoreham Depot Rood, RR 1,
Box 24-B, O rwell , VT 05760-9756 (802/ 89775 4 1): Se ll-help moleriol, for sex offender<.
• Stop Priwner Rope, P.O . Box 632, Fort Bragg,
CA 95437 (707 / 964-0820); or P.O. Box 27 13,
Monhollonville Sta tio n, New York, NY 10 0 27
(212/ 663-5562): Provide, sup port lor victims of
in51ilulionol rope.
• The Poe try Woll, Cathedral of St. John, 1047
Am51erdom Avenue, New Yo rk, NY 10025: Di5ploy•
inmate poetry.

PRISONER RESOURCE5-FAMILY
OfKfWi:llli01l.S that f~tfJI jlrijOIInl tt•ho
luwr rhilduu. "f'hrw• fiJ..'Pilril'\ Jnvllitlr litnalmt', infin1tUI·
tiou, rull'ir,. ami wjJjxnt on how to roJN fl'ilh fami(\' pru~
Ifill\ whllr in JnHon. /Jiurt rwd JHTSmwl aJJislanrr is
lUtlflll) m'flilablt• on~\' in thr load arrru that lhtsl' pro'J1u•fr

flit' IIIIHlJ

gmm.\\1'11'1'.

• Aid to lmpri,oned Mother< (AIM). 599 Mitche ll
St., SW, Atlanta , GA 3031 4 (404 / 221 -0092): An
advocacy group for incarcerated mothers. Although
social 5ervice5 ore only provided in the Atlonlo area,
AIM con provide helpful information for all women
in pri.an who hove children.
• Center fo r the Child ren of lncorceroled Porenls,
Paci fic O aks Co llege, 714 W . Califo rnia Blvd ,
Posodeno, CA 91105 (818/ 397- 1300): Provide,
free educational material for incarcerated parent•
a nd their children.
• Family and Correction• Network, Jane Adams
Center M/ C 309, 10 40 We5t Harrison St. #40 10,
Chicago, IL 60607-7134 1312/ 996 -3219): Provide•
inlormolion a bout program• serving fomilie5 of pri•oners.
• Fa ther< Be hind Bar., P.O. Box 86, Nile •, Ml
49120 (6 16/684-57 15): A by-pri.aners, for-pri.aners agency tha t helps Ia 5el up institutiona l porenl
g roups for incarcerated father<. Only the 5erious
need o prly!
• Lege Service• for Pri5oner< with Children, 47 4
Va lencia St. , #230, Son Fronci.co, CA 9 41 03
(415/255-7036) : Legol 5ervice s o re p rovided in
California only, but some general informa tion i•
a vailable.
• Notional ln5titule o f Correction•, Information
Center, 1860 lndu5triol Circle , Suite A, Longmont,
CA 8 050 1 (3 0 3 / 682-0213) : Provide• the
"Directory of Programs Serving Familie s of Adult
Offender<.•
• Notional Resource Ce nter lor Family Support
Progrom5, Fomily Re source Coalition, 200 S.
Michigan Ave. , # 1520, Chicago, IL 60604
(3 12/ 34 1-0900): Provides inlormolion about family
programs, including pri5on projec15.
• Parent Re•ource A.sociolion, 2 13 Fernbrook
Avenue, Wynco te, PA 19095 (215/ 5 76·796 1):
Support fo r child/ parenting program• in prison;
offer. referrals a nd information Ia incarcerated porenl5.
• Pri so n Family Foundation, P.O . Box 1150,
Auburn, AL 36831 (205/ 821-1150): Work. to •upport family education progra m• in pri.an. Sell, preand po51-releo5e boob and o ther publicoliom;
works with pri.an odminislroliom lo form imlitulionol
family 5upporl groups.

PRISONER RESOURCE5-LEGAL
IIIII II)' ~~~~·nrit'' thaljJrovidr lt)gal M'ttlirr.\ for
mml uf tlu ' ~" orgaui:t1lions tfijpttur iufontralion m ojfn 'r]rrrnrt• IIUIIt'nal. Note thai tltt'\1' "Kf'trries

"/ 1uw• flu'

Jni~oun,:

do not 11wnl/, luwtllr JNHonalll'gfll wnrici'J '"'" n~ jil-

iiiJ.! nJ~Ju•al\ , jJml·rontlirtums ur law~uiiJ-with thr
''"/1111111 nj Jm-Jmifil fOIItJifwir< ( 1101 lislfll ltnr) lfml

riUIIJ!f '''''' llllf!f' Jrn.

Federal:
• U.S. Deportment of Ju51ice, Civil Rights Divi5ion,
Special Litigation Section, Wa.hinglon, DC 20530
(202 / 514 -6255) : Enforce• the " Civil Rights of
ln, liluliono lized Pen om Act" th rough lawsu its

against slate or local prison officials who deprive
prisoners of their constitutional rights or who practice
racial discrimination.
• U.S. Supreme Court, Public Information Office,
Washington, DC 20543·0001 (202/ 479· 3211) :
Can provide up Ia live Supreme Court decisions per
term. Supreme Court slip opinions are available
through the Government Printing Office. Contact: The
Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402 (202/783·3238).
National:
• ACLU National Prison Project, 1875 Connecticut
Ave ., NW #41 0, Washington, DC 20009
(202/234·4830): A branch of the national ACLU
that works on prison legal issues. Sells resource
directories, criminal/"ustice statistic books a nd legal
aid manuals; a lso o fers a prison newsleHer lor 52
per year and sells the "Rights of Prisoners" handbook
for $5. Doesn't handle individual cases; they only liti·
gate large·scale slate or notional prison reform legal
actions.
• Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, 5519
N. Cumberland Ave # 1008, Chicago, IL 60656·
1498 (312/7 63· 2800): Sells monthly legal update
publications, including the "Jail a nd Prisoner Low
Bulletin." Although this bulletin is meant for correc·
lions officials, it includes excellent resource material
on the latest prison-related court cases nationwide.
Annual casts are S 168; perhaps your law library can
subscribe. Other bulletins include the "Liability
Reporter" and "Security Legal Update."
• Columbia Human Rights Law Review, 435 West
116th Street, Box B·25, New York, NY 10027
(212/663·8701): Sells the "Jailhouse Lawyer
Manual" (JLM) for 530 a copy (S 13 lor prisoners).
• Criminal Procedure Project, 600 New Jersey Ave.,
NW, Washington, DC 2000 1: Provides law·cosl
legal materials and publications.
• Freedom Press , 525K E. Ma rket St. , # 171,
Leesburg, VA 22075 (703/771 · 4699 or 703/391·
8604): A prison project run by paralegals. They offer
legal services a t a red uced ro le, sometimes on
monthly payment p lans; they also offer photocopying
services and pre· release/parole planning.
• Inside/Out Press, P.O . Box 188 131, Sacramento,
CA 95818: Publis hes self -help legal guides .
Inside/Out is the mail-order bu siness lor the
Prisoners' Rights Union, which focuses on California
prison issues.
• Lewisburg Prison Project , P.O. Box 128,
Lewisburg, PA 17837·0128 (717/523· 1104): Sells
low·cosl literature regarding constitutional rights, due
process and other legal issues of interest to prisoners.
• Notiona l Lawyers G uild, National Office, 55
Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 100 13·1698
(212/966·5000): A national legal agency that has
an interest in criminal justice a nd jailhouse lawyers.
• Oceana Press, 75 Main Street, Dabbs Ferry, NY
10522 (914/693·8 100): Sells prison-related legal
books, including "The Prisoner's Self-Help Litigation
Manual" ($20) and "Post-Conviction Remedies" (520).
• Prisoner Legal News, P.O. Box 1684, Lake Worth,
FL 33460: A newsletter published by prisoners in
Washington that covers nationwide prison legal
issues. Subscription rates are around $10 per year.
• Southern Illinois University Press, P.O. Box 3697,
Carbondale, IL 62902·3697 : Con provide "The
Rights of Prisoners" brochure at no cost.
• Starlite, P.O. Box 20004, St. Petersburg, FL
33742 (813/392·2929 or 800/577·2929): Sells
the CITEBOOK, which is a collection of positive fed·
eral and stale case law, both criminal and civil. The
CITEBOOK is updated quarterly and costs $28
($ 112 annually) . Although this is fairly expensive,
perhaps your law library can subscribe; this campo·
ny also sells other books regarding business, con·
sumer and legal issues.
• West Publishing Company, 610 Opperman Drive,
Saint Paul, MN 55123·1340: Publishes "Corrections
and Prisoners Rights in a Nutshell" and "Criminal
Procedures in a Nutshell; ol S 17 each.
PARALEGAL
CORRESPONDENCE PROGRAMS
• Blackstone School of Low, P.O. Box 871449 ,
Dallas, TX 75287 (800/826·9228): Offers a well·
known correspondence program.
• Southern Career Institute, 164 West Royal Palm
Rd, Boca Rato n , FL 33432 (800/669·2555 o r

407/368·2522): Offers a complete paralegal course
that costs $1595 to S 1977; monthly payment pions
available. This school is accredited by the National
Home Study Council.
• The Paralegal Institute, 3602 West Thomas Rood
#9, Drawer 11408, Phoenix, AZ 85061·1408
(602/272· 1855): Offers paralegal courses for fees
ranging between S 1290 and 52750. Monthly pay·
menl plans and an Associate degree program avail·
able. Accredited by National Home Study Council.
MINISTRIES & BIBLE STUDIES
• Emmaus Bible Correspondence School, 2570
Asbury Rd, Dubuque, lA 52001 (319/588·8000):
Offers free Bible courses for prisoners.
• Good News Mission , 1036 Highland Street,
Arlington, VA 22204 (703/979·2200): A Christian
organization that provides support, witnessing and
sp iritua l counseling to inmates in 1 10 p risons
across 14 slates.
• Guideposts, 39 Seminary Hill Rood, Carmel, NY
10512 (9 14/225·3681): A Christian organization
that publishes Guidepost magazine. Also sponsors
the FIND information network, which provides infer·
motion referrals : FIND Network , P.O. Box 855,
Carmel, NY 10512.
• Hope Aglow Prison Ministries, P.O. Box 3057,
Lynchburg, VA 24503: A nationwide religious argo·
nizatian that offers Bible study courses.
• International Prison Ministry, P.O. Box 63, Dallas,
TX 75221.
• Liberty Pri son Ministries, P.O . Box 8998,
Waukegan, IL 60079: This Christian ministry pub·
lishes the Liberator newsleHer.
• Liberty Prison Outreach , 701 Thomas Rood,
Lynchburg, VA 24514 (804/239·9281): Provides
religious assistance to prisoners, mostly in central
Virginia; Bible correspondence courses available.
• Prison Fellowship, P.O . Box 17500, Washington,
DC 2004 1 (703/ 478·0 100): A nationwide ministry
that sponsors spiritual activities in prison.
• Prison Ministry of Yokefellows International, The
Yokefellow Center, P.O. Bo x 482, Rising Sun, MD
21911 (410/658·2661): a religious organization
that offers information and literature to prisoners.
• Set Free Prison Mini stries , P.o. Box 5440,
Riverside, CA 92517 ·996 1 (909/787 ·9907):
Provides on extensive Bible study course.
• Southern Prison Ministry, 910 Ponce de Leon Ave.
NE, Atlanta, GA 30306.
• U.S. Mennonite Cen tral Committee, Office of
Criminal Justice, P.O . Box 500, Akron, PA 17501 ·
0500 (717/859·3889): Offers many publications con·
ceming crime and religion-most are free to prisoners.
ISLAMIC ORGANIZATIONS
• Islamic Prison Foundation , 1212 New York
Avenue NW #400, Washington, DC 20005: Mostly
works with Muslims in federal prisons.
• The Notional Incarcerated Muslim Network, clo
Maurice Taylor, #476837, Route 3 , Box 59,
Rosharon, TX 77583: A prison·bosed organization
that networks with incarcerated Muslims far support
and educational purposes.
JUDAISM ORGANIZATIONS
• Aleph Institute , P.O. Box 5 46564 , Surfs ide, FL
33154 (305/864·5553): A full-service Jewish advo·
cacy agency with regional offices.
• International Coa lition for Jewish Prisoners
Services, 1640 Rhode Island Avenue NW ,
Washington, DC 20036·3278 (202/ 857·6582) :
Offers support, referrals, guidance, educational and
religious programs, and pen pols.
BUDDHIST/ MEDITATION GROUPS
• Human Kindness Foundation , Prison Ashram
Project, Route 1, Box 201 -N, Durham, NC 27705:
Provides reading material for spiritual living.
• lskcon Prison Ministries, 2936 Esplanade Ave. ,
New Orleans, LA 70119.
• Prison Dharma Network, P.O. Box 912, Astor
Station, Boston, MA 02123·0912: Offers Buddhist
meditation literature.
PRISONER RESOURCESDEATH PENALTY
• American Civi l Liberties Unio n , Capito l
Punishmen t Project, 122 Maryland Avenue NE,
Washington, DC 20002 (202/675·2321 ): A branch
o f the ACLU that deals with death penalty issues.

• American Friends Service Committee, 1501
Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (215/241 ·
7130): a Quaker peace organization that works to
bon the death penalty as one of their Criminal Justice
projects.
• Amnesty International, Project Ia Abolish th e
Death Penalty, 322 8th Ave., New York, NY 10001·
4808 (212/807·8400): Works to abolish the death
penalty through public leHer·writing campaigns.
• Capitol Punishment Research Project, P.O. Box
277, Headland, AL 36345 (205/ 693·5225).
• Catholics Against Capital Punishment, P.O. Box
3125, Arlington, VA 22203 (703/522·5014): A
religious organization against the death penalty.
• Death Penalty Information Center, 1606 20th Street
NW, Washing ton, DC 20009 (202/34 7· 253 1).
• Death Row Support Project, P.O . Box 600, Liberty
Mills, IN 46946 (219/982·7480): Offers pen·pal
services to death row inmates.
• Endeavor Project, P.O . Box 2351 1, Houston, TX
77228·3511: A magazine produced by and fo r
prisoners on death row.
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 99 Hudson Street,
16th Floor, New York, NY 100 13 (212/219·1900):
A legal branch of the NAACP that supports minority
rights; also has an anli·death penalty project.
• National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty,
1325 G Street NW, Lower Level B, Washington, DC
20005 (202/347·2411): Worh to abolish the death
penalty; provides a slate·by·slale listing of agencies
against the death penalty ("The Abolitionist's
Directory." 52).
OBSOLETE PRISONER AGE NCIES
·n,. fullu:dng mltlrt.5ll'5 nlf' no lnngrr r wrnll. Thl'-5~
fl!!t'rtrit-J luwr mot'NI. gottt' uul of lnHini'SS or simp~)· tlid
nul wrilr lxttk whru

tl'f'

rontarlnllhrm;

• Askofuk Notional Committee, 427 N . Broom
Street, Wilmington, DE 19805.
• Committee to Abolish Slavery, 324 C Street,
#303, Washington, DC 20003.
• CVLP Newsletter, North 4 6 th Street # 1 07,
Phoenix, AZ 10017.
• 5-Stor Press, P.O. Box 4167, Ha lfmoon, NY
12065.
• Inmate Assistance Project, University of Texas,
Austin, TX 78705.
• Legal Advice to Inmate Progrom, Texas Southern
University School of Low, 3201 Wheeler Avenue,
Houston, TX 77004 .
• Legal Associates West, P.O. Box 255784 ,
Sacramento, CA 95865·5784.
• Liberation of Ex-Offenders through Employment,
309 E. St. NW, Washington, DC 20001 .
• NIJ, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1790 30th Street #130,
Boulder, CO 80301
• NTL Law Center, 1337 22nd St. NW,
Washington, DC 20037.
• Offender Aid Project, 1325 G Street #620,
Washington, DC 20005.
• Prison Ashram Project, 49 W . Jersey Ave., RD4,
Pleasantville, NJ 08232.
• Prison Families Anonymous, 353 Fulton Avenue,
Hempstead, NY 11550.
• Prisoners' Aid Society, P.O. Box 32 19, Oa k
Ridge, TN 3783 1· 3219.
• Prisoner's Personal Aid, 6001 G ulf Freeway, B·
103, Houston, TX 77203 .
• People with AIDS Prison Project, P.O. Box
300339, Denver, CO 80203.
• Sentencing Project, 1156 15th Street NW,
Washington, DC 20005.
• Southern Coalition on Prisons and Jails, P.O. Box
120044, Nashville, TN 37212.
• Tower Press Publishers, 410 Penn Stree t,
Holidoysburg, PA 16648.
• Women's Prison Survival News, WPSN, P.O. Box
770 Station P, Toronto , Onta r io, M5W 1 P7,
Canada.

Changes, additions and new
information should be sent to:
Prison Life M agazine

Resources Department
505 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10018
PRISON LIFE 85

liBitllilllll
S\Vi'vl , 2 1, br h air, 6'1'', 175 #, hazel eye·
see ks fema le for fr ie n ds hi p, possib le
love. Getting o ut in 2000. An th ony
Hartman , #C B-693 1, SCI Huntin gdon ,
11 00 Pike Street, Huntingdo n, PA 16654SWM , 38, 6'2", 21 0#, h azel eyes, ligh t- 111 2.
brow n h air, very good shap e, co ll ege
grad, write r see kin g fe m a le 30-55 fo r I ' m a p unk! Faggo t a nd h o m osex ua l.
meanin gful re latio nship- less tha n two Most o f all, J"m do ing life. But I'm ho nyears to pa ro le b oard. De rrick Corl ey, est, if th at counts at all. In toclay's soci#90T l 984, Box 700, Wallkill 1 Y 12589- e ty, I hope it does. Keith A. Warren, Box
1989-23562, Ely, NV 89301-1 989.
0700.
Last of th e real Blackme n. 32, 6', 190#,
hand so m e. Ge ts o ut soon . \>\' ill write
b ack a ll . j o hn Hamil to n, #56659, P.O.
Box 201 7, Buena Vista, CO 812 11 .

Lockdown in Mi chigan . Fro m Ca n oga
Park, CA. No Gam es. SWM , 35, 6', 200#,
hazel eyes, brown auburn hair wi th long
tai l. Bo rn 7/ 7/ 59. Yo u won' t be sorry.
J o hnny Gavid , #E 163272, P.O . Box 779,
Marque tte, Ml 49855.
Interested in men who are serio us abo ut
establish ing a healthy relatio nship. Age 30
up and who know how to u·eat a woman.
I' m d o ing a 12 year se ntence, 10 down
already. I' m 34, single and I love to travel
a nd li ste n to rock ' n ' r o ll. Sa n d ra
Rodrig u ez, #4 23988, 140 I State Sch ool
Rd., Crates,~ ll e, T X 76599.
Eig hth yr. d own. 6 '5", 39, lo n g hai r ,
attrac ti ve J ew is h drea m e r. C re a te a
future with me. You: A wo man whose prim ary co n ce rn s a re Go d , re spec t a nd
equitability. If all else is negotiable comme nta r y, I 'm yo u rs . Le tter, ph oto,
dreams to: Wayn e Sommerfie ld, P.O. Box
1989-24894, Ely, 'V 8930 I.
My m ail is too d epressing. I' m an artist
in loc kd ow n looki n g for cor r espo nd e n ce. Wou ld like to write h o m egirl
fro m Philly o r 'ew York; like white and
Puerto Ri ca n. George Ston e, #806676,
I owa S tate Pe n , P. O. Box 3 16, Ft.
Mad ison, lA 52627.
SWF, 33, 5'4", 135#, bl o nde, b lue eyes.
Down o nly a minute, many ho urs to go.
Seeking fr ie ndship, companionship with
SWJ\1 , age n o t an issue. Debra Matthews,
#5 4799, 5 15-20- 1-L, P.O . Box 1508,
Ch owchilla, CA 936 10-1508.

SWM, 21, Br h air, 6' 1", 175 lbs. Haze l
eyes, seeks female for fri endship possible
love . Get ti ng o u t in 2000. Anth o n y
H arLma n #CB-6931 S.C. !. H u n ti ngdon
"Th ey Sa)' t he r e is a wom an fo r every 11 00 Pike Street Humingdon , PA. 166?>4ma n, whe re is my wo man?, I need you!, 11 12.
ow!, DWM, Itali an , br ha ir, blue eyes,
5' 11", 185lbs, 37. Emotion all)' strong and \V/ M, 35, politica lly a nd locally active.
h o n est seeki ng a caring female to take Max. re lease date 7/ 200 3. I'm stuck:
away th is dreadful loneliness of incarcera- Lonely in Ameri ca's ··Dairyland." No one
ti o n thro ugh correspon de nce th at can th is handsome sh ou ld be lonely. Charles
lead to a possible long term relatio n, I Yode r , P.O. Box 3!1 I , Wa up u n. \\"1
n eed a fresh start a n d seco nd chan ce. 53963-035 1.
Ho me in 2 1/ 2 years. Chris Mirra #85aatural Arya n Warr io r lookin" to de725 1 29 11 Arthur Kill RD , State n Islan d
fil th ify the very presuppositio n of life :
N.Y. 10309
sex. T hat's righ t, lad ies, yes, you too kan
In sea rch of ex-b oyfri e nd , Eric Vaugh : assist in loping my m ule! I barter art an·
N ic kn a m e Du race ll. Eri c o r an yo n e d e pth for yo u r supp lements (photos,
knowin g th e wh e r eaa b o uts o f Eric kites) to Ill }' kl in ikal mastu rbatory studVaug h. Comact me a t, Susie Facto r P. O ies. Den nis Lee "Mu le" Marsh. Fa ir li t
Box 75 1434 Ho usto n, TX. 7727!1- 1434
and solid frame. Swapped photo to konfirm. P.O. B. 351, Wau p u nk , Wisconsin
S\VM, 43, 5' II ' 200lbs Seeks a muscular
53963. Only freethinke r need respond.
jocker or booty ba nd it who is out soon.
Ca n p rovide a fresh sta rt to a n h o n est SWM, 23. 5'9"', 170#, br. hair, ln. eyes,
sincere man, pl ace to live and e mploy- educa ted. Bee n down -1 got 3 to do.
me nt. Se nd Photo. All letters answered. Wo uld like to correspond with anybody
G. K. C., Po Box 4036, Clarks Burg WV wh o would like to share a mutual friend26302-4 036
sh ip. Peace! Val Haase, #883 152. P.O.
Bo x 8907, :\lichigan Cit)', IN 4636 1.
WM Lifer, 34, 228lbs. Long Brown hait-,
H aze l eyes. "Ret ire d " l'vl a rti a l Arts 36 yr o ld Indian \Narrior look ing for
instructoL Interests include bodybu ild- compassionate woman to share conversaing, ma rti a l a rts an d bea utiful h ard- tion with th ru letters. I have many interbodys. I have a B.S. in th e marketing and ests and I'm full o f warmth and desires.
a M.S. in Pro m o ti o na l Ma rketing fro m Don Gin gras, AO 13265, Montana Sta te
O .S.U. o ga mes. Sorry, but I can only Prison , 700 Con ley Lk Rd. , Deer Lodge,
rece ive le u e rs fro m no nin sti t ut io nal Mo ntana 59722.
add resses. Bi ll Wan less 2 11 723. Dic k
Conne r Corr. Cemer, Box 220, Hom iny ,
O klah o ma 74035

NOTE: ADS IN PEN PALS ARE $1 0 / ISSUE.
SUBSCRIBERS GET ONE AD FREE WITH A PAID
SUBSCRIPTION.
ALSO: ALL FEDERAL AND MANY STATE
PRISONS PROHIBIT CORRESPONDENCE
BETWEEN PRISONERS. ALL SUCH MAIL
WILL NOT GO THROUGH.

86

PRISON LIFE

I'm a l\ IACA-RONI looking for my TE L
DER-RO t I. I'n: been down eight total,
an d I'm looking for photos. In return, I
will send l\lac-photo. I love a woman with
a lo t o f he r wagon dragon ' . Sa m e o n
p hotos. Angelo Gomez Wrigh t, #205-14.
U.S. P.-STAR-3-B- 11 -B, P.O.B. 2:10,
Draper, UT 84020.

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OL. . .d1995

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