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^ATLANTA, Ga, ;(AP—“It fe not} Arnatt went further: shortly: aft* right to shut a man like'a.inadjerbecoming govemorin Jamiary dog in a cage, whip him with al 1943. The legislature at his behest rubber hose and work him as a passed laws to abolish the use ofbrutal drayman might work a slrV horse.»Georgia has come a long wayleg irons, chains aud manades-Other legislation abolished stripedalong the road to reforms sinceformer Gov. Ellis AmaS, then in September. 1943, gave a spe-|uniforms and 'established' theBoard of Corrections. Guards were tdd that use of 'the whip would mean immediate dismissaLaal session of the legislature that description of conditions in the state prison system.The chains, the eaging in sweat-boxes^ the whipping and sadistic brutality by guards officially are no more.“The function of a prison system,” Arnall said, “is to rehabilitate and provide useful training for the inmates.”A .nationally known penologist, pressed into service by Gov. Carl E. Sauers, again has reported that there virtually, is no rehabilitation. or education for the 10,000 convicts in: Georgia.Sanders, 3B, moved quickly after receiving the report from . Joseph E. Ragen, director of the Illinois penal system and for many years warden of Joliet, 111., penitentiary. , ...A shakeup in the State Department of Corrections- shunted the Si?,600-a-year. director ' to a minor job in state government. His chief assistant plans to retire.Arnail kept thinking of Bums and the black eye his book had given Georgia. The governor interviewed the former convict but the State Pardon and Parole Board refused to free him as long as Bums remained a fugitive. ?In 1945, Burns returned to Georgia, teHirig his anxious second wife, Clara, ‘In all people’s lives there comes a time when onemust show courage.”With AmalT as his counsel, Burns faced the boardj It erased the prison sentence ! and restored full elvH rights. He died in a Veterans Hospital at the age of 55 in 1955... ; ’ ,'Since Arnall’s day, varlouslegis-lative committees have reported on the prisons. Some were critical and. reported lade of rehabilitation. A group of legislators saidlast year that some units of the system were too nice for the con-victs_... rGeorgians generally went their’*lt;t(Sanders dug into the* state sur-j^^y with little thought-of thepri-jjplus to make. S2.5 million available for prison reform. He will ask .the 1964 legislature to appropriate millions more. ’ He hired Fred- Hah-ford. a retired Federal Bureau,.of Investigation official with 23; years service, as prison chief.The prison situation has raged off and on as: a controversy for more than 30 years... .. .In 1931 Robert . Elliott Burns wrote a book, “1 Am a Fugitive From a Georgia, Chain Gang” which was made: into; a -movie the following year. Burns told of inhumanities in the prison, system, from which he escaped twice.■ Burns said in' his book that- he accompanied a flophouse aequarn-tance to the robbery- of a grocery store: in 1922 which netted $5. He described hiroself as a jobless and hungry World War I veteran. Burns was captured, sentenced and placed in a. chain gang working : on : the roads.He escaped two months after receiving the 6-to-lO-year sentence and fled to Chicago where, seven pears later, he was a ?20;000-a-?ear. magazine, editor His first site told authorities in 1929 : of his ^hereabouts and he was returned » the chain gang. ^Burns escaped again the follow-ng year, went to New York and vrote the book. Three New Jersey governors refused to extradite urn to Georgia after Bums became a respected tax consultant n Newark.Official Georgia, including tbea-jov, Eugene Talmadege, called turns’ story untrue. But in 1937, 3ov. E. D. Rivers ordered chain ?angs eliminated.sons. ...But the nation was shocked in1951 when 40 prisoners.at the rock quarry, prison for incorrigibles' at Bufdrd atfe. ' a''Christmas; dinner and; then cut their heel. tendons with razor blad^I . V Prison. .: authorities : described it as a plot to,, break Up the' prison. They, said... the; men-; had.. complained of . long hours of work in inclement weather; Other complaints were that' the: men did not receive * privileges; accorded in other penal.branches:1;'There vsrere no changes in therides; T.. V V,; Five years later Buford was in the headlines again:; Forty-one convicts in two days - smashed their .legs with: 20-pound sledges.They: said; brutality arid cursingby guariis-drove them to the ?act.A legislatiye inv^tigatirig • committee said the charges- of cruelty and- brutality: at the state’s '‘Tittle Alcatraz” were, hot substantiated. ; ' y.~- : '■■■ 'T .' v- ..The committee did .find that profanity and abusive language were used by the guards and supervisors and that, some: ‘‘have- on ocr-easion-slappqd and cuffed ^prisoners.” ; IThis,” the cdmmittee, said; should be;Stoppedl •. Tod ay, ‘little Alcatraz”is being dismantled aid1 its; inmates removed to -the'•■ main' -prison at Reidsvillei Modem dormitories will be built to house misdemeanor prisoners..',-' . . :*i .The new: quarters for misdemeanor prisoners will include a toy repair shop—a far cry from! the wielding, of 20-pound sledges in 100-degree heat and reck- dust.CnusVis5cwSiBwitdatiuftUv.Ntiirtef
Newspaper Details
Hobbs Daily News Sun
Hobbs, New Mexico, US
Fri, Jun 28, 1963
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Twin F.
ID, USA 19 Feb 2022
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