ET ert Page 14 (continued from PAGE ONE) and both on their relief that the situation had been resolved peacefully and that normality had returned. Part of the geniality was due to a feeling of promise that problems could and would be worked out with continued openness and good faith. But by the following Monday tension was once again in the air. By Monday Arthur Dwyer, a member of the Peace Com- mittee, had been confined to his cell for allegedly swearing at a guard and showing insubor- dination. Mr. Dwyer denied the charge but was sentenced to five days in lockup without, according to Mr. Dwyer, being able to call witness to sub- committee members felt that Mr. Dwyer’s lockup was in direct disregard of Mr. Mack’s promise that there would be no reprucussions directed against members; and further, that it underlined the absence of due process in prison disciplinary hearings. - Gerald Rohland, Edward Sistrunk, and Frank Patterson, committee members, reported that inmates were angry that the 30 promised reforms for which they had gone off strike nearly a week earlier were not being followed up. Predictions of further trouble were abun- dant. Since the work strike a week ago the Dallas prison has been open to members of the press who have been given free ac- cess to all inmates and all parts of the correctional facility. Although it is difficult to sub- when reporters walked into the prison at the height of the strike last Tuesday night it was the first time newsmen had been al- lowed into a correctional fa- The famous Attica uprising led to numerous law suits on the part of the press demanding the right to have access to that prison, and numerous other law suits are currently pending throughout the country dealing doubtful that many other repor- ters have had the opportunity to witness the agonies of penal re- form on the immediate level news organs have been pri- vileged to over the past nine days. It is plain that the issues in- Dallas prison are the same issues that plague other federal and state penal systems. Re- porters, walking through the halls and cell blocks of the Dallas prison are beseiged by inmates who want a public air- ing of their own particular cases vances. After a short time the problems begin to fall into a pattern that transcends indi- vidual cases and sketches, with sudden accuracy, a uniquely immediate protrait of the issues and nuances that create penal unrest. There exists no one certain explanation for the problems that the Dallas prison is cur- rently undergoing. The prisoner grievances fall into many dif- ferent categories and are tem- pered, furthermore, by the atti- tudes, frustrations, and grie- vances of the guards. But prob- 7); ably the most difficult aspect of the current situation for an out- sider to put his finger on is the inter-departmental and inter- personal political machinations common to any bureaurocracy but dangerous within the penal environment. Prisoner grie- vances are continually subject to the pecularities of adminis- trative, custodial, and bureau- cratic necessities and, ultimately (and this is a point of tremendous importance), to the demands, either real or imagined, of public opinion. All factions of the Dallas penal community show considerable concern for what the public thinks and how the public will react. “Inmates want to think for themselves; prisons want us to be robots. Ain’t nobody in here that’s really normal because we ain’t living under normal cir- cumstances. People look in here and see tv, modern buildings and nice grounds, and think everything is ok. But nothing takes the place of freedom; there is nothing outside that compares with being locked up.” James Hughes The list of requests originally submitted to Mr. Mack by the Resident Peace Committee totalled approximately 90. A few of these dealt with problems peculiar to the local institution, but the large majority of these have been reiterated time and time again by other inmates at other institutions throughout the country. By and large the list submitted by the committee corresponded with personal grievances enumerated to members of the press in in- dividual sessions throughout last week. A good many prisoner grie- vances stem fron dissatis- faction with the prison environ- ment as it now exists. Inmates what they call ‘‘continual harassment by guards,” and it is this point that is alluded to in that often repeated inmate plea, “We want to be treated like men, not like animals.” What it boils down to is a ment that included shakedowns by guards, custodial super- vision of all aspects of prison life, and the inability of residents to gain control over their own lives. Simply stated, it is a matter of trust, and inmates feel they should be granted the trust that accompanies ‘‘man- hood.” Racism is another accusation leveled at the Dallas custodial force. Nearly half of the in- mates are black and come from urban ghettos. The Dallas insti- tution is located in the country, and guards are recruited from the white population in the area. All the guards are white. The problems generated by this sociological schism are tre- mendous. Other environmental grievances tend toward speci- fics, such as the closing down of subterranean isolation cells commonly referred to as the “dungeon.” Gov. Shapp per- sonally closed the dungeon at Western Penitentiary over a year ago, but the Dallas. dun- geon remains open. ~ Another area which en- compasses many prisoner grievances deals with the ques- tion of rights. Complaints over 40 sa. fi 16 Ft. Long 579% | zg 2 INSTALLED censorship of the mails are abundant, and residents com- plain that despite promises to the contrary, their mail is being opened, read, and sometimes discarded. Due process in dis- ciplinary hearings is currently denied inmates, who are often thrown into solitary blocks without having had the opportu- nity to face their accusers or to call witnesses in their own de- fense. There is, furthermore, a sizeable number of state and federal inmates at the institu- tion who are, as yet, unsen- tenced. One inmate has been in prison eight years without having received a sentence. The complaint is that courts put these men in prison and forget about them and that communi- cation with the courts or with lawyers is nearly impossible prisoner in an area removed from home. Rehabilitation is another sore point at Dallas. Men with life sentences complain that they will teach them a skill and that, as a result of this, they look for- ward only to menial labor. Other inmates voice the same concern saying that the skills of prisoners are not being put to good use and that unskilled pri- soners are not being taught a trade. ‘‘If all a man can do is steal when he comes into the (prison) system and he can’t learn a trade here, what is he going to do when he gets out,” one man ‘mopping floors in the kitchen asked me. “For the first time prisoners, not only at Dallas, but all over becoming unified. They are overcoming the selfishness, greed, racism, and all other negative things that have kept them divided in the past. The prisoners now realize that if they are to win their legal and human rights, reform the prison conditions, and bring about needed changes, that they must be unified in a common cause.”’ Richard Mayberry Dallas Inmate To what extent the inmate population of the Dallas prison is unified behind recent at- tempts to reform the institution is difficult for an outsider to assess. The Resident Peace Committee contends it repre- sents the inmate population and that ‘it moves only with the majority vote of prisoners. Decisions of whether or not to stay on strike were made by polling inmates in each cell- block. The press accompanied the committee as it visited each cellblock on the first night of the strike, and support for the com- mittee was overwhelming if not unanimous. “There are Nazis, Muslims, and every group in between re- presented in this institution,” a committee member told me,” and they are all together in support of our grievances.” The truth of this statement was evi- dent as we traveled through the tution walls are quicker than on the outside and alliances are never stable. To be sure there were a number of prisoners not in sympathy with last week’s strike, and others felt more drastic measures were demanded. But the feeling recently has been that unity is : ss 1,000 Sq. Ft. Sp ALUMINUM STORM WINDOWS : Buy 5 Windows Get 2 FREE ISS oat Phone Day Night "ALUMINUM | LUZERNE-DALLAS' P : HIGHWAY—LUZERNE PRODUCTS [ & 7) the prisoners’ greatest tool and peaceful methods are their sur- est method. There is always the possibility that factionalism and-or impatience will destroy these tactics, but the current support for these methods stems from the realities of pri- son politics. Most inmates who are vocal in their support of reform make it clear that they are navigating within a system of power that requires some political aware- ness. Over and over again it has been repeated that inmates are tired of being promised change and then not getting it. Fre- quently this is not due to un- willingness on the part of those who promise reform, but rather to failure of promises to become reality during the process of translation from the top to the bottom. Prisoners realize this, but the ability of realization to stem anger is limited. Examples of failure of reform to be implemented are numerous. Bureau of Correc- tions directives outlining pri- soner rights frequently fail to be publicized to the prisoners. Directives from Supt. Mack concerning everything from menus to visiting procedures have, at times, been disregard- ed. Although Supt. Mack is in charge of the local prison, his capacity is mostly administra- tive. His office is outside the prison walls, and he does not work directly with inmates on a day to day basis. Under him are two deputy superintendents, a heirarchy of guard officers and men, and treatment counselors. The opportunity for any of these individuals to exercise personal control are numerous and, according to inmates, fre- quently taken. Furthermore, Supt. Mack is subject to pres- sures from all these areas as well as from the state hierarchy above him. It is this system of control and political balance that is hardest for an outsider to come to grips with. Nevertheless, it clearly exists and serves to complicate understanding of the prison en- vironment. Within the prison system of command it is the guards that exercise the most direct and constant control over inmates. Feelings of the guards on the current inmate discontent vary widely. Some are in agreement, some say they think reforms should be instituted very slowly, and others are staunch in their opposition. Many guards say that the trouble at the institu- tion is being caused by a rela- tively small group of militant inmates who are forcing the others to follow. It is a belief of many pri- soners that unity is the only way to deal with the prison’s politi- cal system. They also express belief in peaceful methods of dissent, ‘‘because if there is heads busted and we will lose what we have gained.” In the words of inmate Ken Owens, “The prisoners are caught in the middle of a political power game between the guards and the administration. The guards use inmates as a wedge. They try to cause trouble and they paint a picture of danger within the prison so they can have more power, more money, and so they won’t lose their jobs.” There is no doubt that the ten- sions currently plaguing the Dallas prison will, asa other institutions, remain e fant for some time. The important ques- tion at the moment, however, is a question of whether the re- forms promised to inmates will, indeed, come about and if so, will the difficulties be resolved within the framework of com- munications between the pri- soners and the administration set up as a result of last week’s strike. Thurs., Fri. Sat., Aug., 3-5 3 + 5.39 GIRLS SHORTS $1° LEG JEANS $ 2" AND DRYER “ SALE 59" SHIFTS 2 FOR 00 I Leia: sch
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers