Word: convicted
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...hired, the gates close be hind him, he panics and quits on the spot," says Officer Byers. The younger guards, on the other hand, contend that each shift captain makes up his own rules for running the cell blocks. Prisoners seem baffled by the inconsistency. One convict was thrown into solitary for wearing a knit cap and tennis shoes; others have been handcuffed to their beds for little apparent reason. Says John Palladini, a discharged New Mexico convict who has served time in four federal prisons: "New Mexico is worse than any place, since the harassment is irrational. There...
...operation of the penitentiary. Meanwhile, everyone worries about another bloody riot. Prison officials admit that they are helpless to control the violence inside the walls. The exercise yard of Cellblock Three, where some of the most violent cons are kept, is so dangerous that guards require each convict to sign an unusual form before he steps into it. The document releases the state from liability for anything that might happen to him while he is in the yard...
...wanted to, virtually disappear. Earlier this year, Norman Mailer had led a campaign to secure parole for Abbott, largely on the basis of his writing talent. His letters from prison, collected under the title In the Belly of the Beast, were released to fair critical acclaim. But the ex-convict seemed unable to handle his lionization or his freedom. Two months ago, Abbott got into an argument with a waiter in a New York City restaurant. The two men went outside, and moments later the young waiter was lying on the ground, stabbed to death. Abbott was gone. He fled...
...cold steel blade, sandwiched between two upright wooden shafts, is quietly carted into the prison's exercise yard before dawn. The convict is aroused at 5:30 and offered a cigarette and a glass of rum. Then, bound and blindfolded, he is strapped, face down, neck bared, to the shoulder-high plank. A switch trips and the heavy, razor-sharp blade falls...
After an hour of arguing, the jurors took their first vote by a show of hands: four to acquit, two to convict, six undecided. The store manager suggested that they all write out their reasons on a blackboard. One by one, they stood up and explained their votes. "I kept hearing 'Beyond a reasonable doubt, beyond a reasonable doubt,' " said Suzanne Sheldon, the writer, who had originally voted for conviction. "And I kept seeing that kid Charles looking up at me from the defendant's table with his big blue eyes. It tore me apart." The jurors...