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Leg-Breaking Incident«Rock Quarry Prison ActsPlayforSympathyBy THOMAS CHASE lUFORD, Ga., Sept. 15 (i^WThe ird in the tarpaper' tower oncltff overlooking the swelter-rock quarry lifts his rifle, kts carefully and fires into the irry floor 100 yards below.lie bullet spatters the granite jt near the feet of a convict, ‘uptly halting his shuffling Ik. The prisoner looks up, Ves a weary arm at the tower, reives an answering wave and itinues his way to a wooden tine at the side of the quarry.rChe prisoner forgot to obtain emission. If* he doesn't return imptly, another shot may whine ross the broiling rock pit.Phis is Rock Quarry prison, 40 edst of Atlanta, where re-41 convicts smashed their jSlWith sledge hammers.Guards and prison officials termed the incidents a play for public sympathy in an effort to have the prison for incorrigibles abolished.tya investigatibns were held to I) the answers, one by a joint ’ lative committee, the other Ifttjp Georgia Board of Corrects; officials acting under orders i/aMarvin Griffin.* prisoners claimed their leg-g was a protest against ardbly hard work in the hot S'ifthd brutalities and indignities'JIT*Sthe hands of guards.The prison itself is a modern white sprawling structure, neat and clean, with flowers planted by the entrance. Here the prisoners slqep and eat two of their daily rfieals, unless confined to solitary cells in “the hole,” where they get bread and water and, for extra tough cases, a regular meal only once every three days.Most of the complaints originate in the rock quarry half a mile away, a vast excavation ringed by an eight-foot barbed wire fence and patrolled by rifle -toting guards in the tower and guards carrying five-foot, inch-thick clubs on the quarry floor.The prisoners are in the quarry from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., 5% days a week. They have two hours off for lunch, served in the quarry, and a half-hour rest period in the morning and another in the afternoon.It was during one of these rest periods that the 20-pound sledge hammers were employed on the legs of 41 convicts. The men were taken to the Georgia State PrisonHospital at Reidsville, where doctors Jound-that 34 had brokealegs, and the rest cuts and bruises. Twomore shattered their legs when told they would be returned to the prison.The investigators were confronted with two versions of how the mutilations were carried out.. One witness testified the convicts formed a ragged line on the ground, placed their legs on rocks eight inches apart and stuffed handkerchiefs in their mouths to prevent any outcries. Then three other prisoners moved down the line popping legs with the sledge hammers.All the injured men,, however, insisted it was a do-it-yourself project.The legislative committee held hearings at Buford and Reidsville and reported “allegations of cruelty and brutality had not been substantiated.” It recommended that discipline be tightened and that guards and supervisors stop swearing at convicts and desist from occasionally cuffing them.The 1956 national price support level for wheat is $2 a bushel.
Newspaper Details
Ardmore Daily Ardmoreite
Ardmore, Oklahoma, US
Sun, Sep 16, 1956
Page 31
Full Page
Clipped by
Twin F.
ID, USA 19 Feb 2022
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