English 1C: CONOVER, NEWJACK, Prison, Pop Culture & False Convictions

TED CONOVER

See Ted Conover's website. It is worth a visit. Check out his blog post Yo, CO! Vinny Retires. It gives a nice insight into Conover and his former CO colleagues. Unfortunately, Conover's  interview with Charlie Rose is no longer available at his website here or on the Charlie Rose website. (But try it again; it might get reposted.) However, I have a copy of the interview, so we will (and did) watch it in class. 

At Conover's blog: Rehab at Sing Sing, May 22, 2012.  Here's the first two paragraphs of Conover's reflections: 

Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing is still considered contraband in New York state prisons – at least until the seven pages deemed a threat to security back in 2000 have been torn out. But though my book can’t come in whole, it appears that, as of last week, I can.

Rehabilitation Through The Arts, which helps stage a play at Sing Sing every year, invited me to see the inmate production of  “A Few Good Men.” To my surprise, Sing Sing approved my visit and then Albany said okay, as well. I was rehabilitated, politically speaking – and last Friday, for the first time since I turned in my badge in 1998, I passed back through the prison gate.

Go to Rehab at Sing Sing, May 22, 2012 to read more.

Conover also wrote "A Snitch’s Dilemma," about Alex White for The New York Times, June 29, 2012.  If there was ever a "secrets, lies and spies" story, this is it.  Here's the first paragraph:

"Kathryn Johnston was doing pretty well until the night the police showed up. Ever since her sister died, Johnston, 92, had lived alone in a rough part of Atlanta called the Bluff. A niece checked in often. One of the gifts she left was a pistol, so that her aunt might protect herself."

If you like, read the rest of Conover's story about Alex "the Snitch" White, a member of the Black Mafia Family, and "Behind the Cover Story: Ted Conover on the Murky World of the Snitch" for Conover's point-of-view about his article.

Conover also has a report on a slaughterhouse in Harper's, May 2013. 

From Harper's May 2013 issue

The Way of All Flesh

Undercover in an industrial slaughterhouse

By Ted Conover

Here's the first two paragraphs:

The cattle arrive in perforated silver trailers called cattle pots that let in wind and weather and vent out their hot breath and flatus. It’s hard to see inside a cattle pot. The drivers are in a hurry to unload and leave, and are always speeding by. (When I ask Lefty how meat gets bruised, he says, “You ever see how those guys drive?”) The trucks have come from feedlots, some nearby, some in western Nebraska, a few in Iowa. The plant slaughters about 5,100 cattle each day, and a standard double-decker cattle pot holds only about forty, so there’s a constant stream of trucks pulling in to disgorge, even before the line starts up a little after six a.m.

First the cattle are weighed. Then they are guided into narrow outdoor pens angled diagonally toward the entrance to the kill floor. A veterinarian arrives before our shift and begins to inspect them; she looks for open wounds, problems walking, signs of disease. When their time comes, the cattle will be urged by workers toward the curving ramp that leads up into the building. The ramp has a roof and no sharp turns. It was designed by the livestock expert Temple Grandin, and the curves and penumbral light are believed to soothe the animals in their final moments. But the soothing goes only so far.

The story continues at Harper's, but it only offers limited access to its magazine online, including the above Conover article. You may be able to find the full-text through EbscoHost, a database available through the PCC Shatford Library.

Sing Sing Prison Cell

RECOMMENDED: C-SPAN did a video documentary on Sing Sing in 1997, close to the time Conover was there. To watch the unedited footage go here and see inside Sing Sing, from correction officers to inmates, locked cells to its history and architecture.

William M. Vander Weyde (American, 1871-1929).
 Electric chair at Sing Sing, ca. 1900,
 glass plate negative.

Newjack by Ted Conover

Discussion Questions Suggested by Students

1. On page eight Conover writes that after making eye contact with the prisoners he got a “sense that grows of the human dimension of this colony.” What does this mean?

2. On page 99 in the last couple of sentences of the first paragraph, we find that Conover was told, “you’re going to learn, CO, that some things they taught you in the Academy can get you killed.” This can be either a threat or advice. What does it say about the prison system that what you were taught could cost you your life? Offer five examples from Newjack to develop your discussion.

3. Why would a professional enforce another officer’s questionable demand to keep a prisoner locked up? (See page 102 when a CO is asked to enforce a rule that wasn’t a rule.)

4. Why would one officer (in this case Wickersham) humiliate another officer in front of the prisoners? (See page 110 and the line, “Do you have a problem with picking this inmates comb off the floor?”)

5. With reference to page 122: Conover writes about being a correction officer from a man’s perspective, and he says that the job is depressing, tiring, and stressful. There are also female prison guards working in the male prison. Do these females go through the same emotional rollercoaster or are they more likely to be taunted by the inmates than male prison guards?

6. In Chapter 5 (171-209) Conover gives the reader background on the jail system and the development of electrocution. Why does he present this information and what was he trying to convey by discussing these topics? Offer five examples from throughout Newjack to support your position.

7. Study the Jack Henry Abbott quote on page 126. Does this quote reveal prison life as described by Conover? Explain.

8. What importance is Conover’s report of the suicide watch to his story about Sing Sing?

9. Why is Lewis Lawes so important to Sing Sing’s history? Why does Conover bother to tell us about him? (Pages 199-202)

10. What does Conover mean when he says, “I was probably somewhere in between”? (221) What does this say about Conover’s personality and his connection to prison life? In support of your position give  five specific examples from Newjack where Conover is “in between.”

11. Name five examples of race as a topic for Conover to discuss in his book. How is racial issues significant (or not) to life in Sing Sing?

View to the northwest, with B-Block on the left, A-Block to the right and
Messhall Building in the middle. B-Block yard, with more grass than at present, lies
 in the left foreground. This was probably taken in the 1960s. from Ted Conover's website.

Newjack by Ted Conover More Discussion Questions Suggested by Students

 

1. Do you think Conover is consistent when attempting to challenge the stereotypical views of prison life? For example, do you still view prisoners as victims? Or do you now feel sympathy for prison guards?

2. Do you feel content with what Conover has illustrated in Newjack? Or do you feel like certain scenarios have been left out? Is spending one year at Sing Sing enough time to really become familiar with a prison guard’s lifestyle?

3. Why does Conover place one or more epigraphs at the beginning of every chapter in Newjack? Does he use them to strengthen the argument that he is trying to make within the chapter, or does he offer them as counter examples to what he believes? Explain.

4. On page 142 Conover states, “No one, as far as I could see, improved in prison.” Do you think this--with reference to Newjack--also applies to the prison guards? Why?

5. Throughout the book Conover italicizes words and phrases such as “the cure” (142), “he” (150), “support” (155). Italics are usually used for emphasis or to show importance, but why is Conover italicizing these words?

6. At the end of their day in the Visit Room, Colton says, “It’s a regular Hallmark card” (156). What does he mean?

7. Do you think that correction officers “control” the inmates of the inmates “control” the correction officers? (234)

8.  The title of Chapter 7, "My Heart Inside Out," is taken from from Anne Frank's diary.  Who does it apply to in this chapter?  Why?

9. Why was it most common for things to go wrong in the prison with inmates during the holidays? Why is it that most suicides occur around that time of year? (294)

10. How hard was it for Conover to work as a CO with the prisoners? Give five examples from Newjack of the good and the bad for him, and then argue whether or not Conover was comfortable in the role of prison guard.

Original cell block at Sing Sing. from Ted Conover's website.

Newjack by Ted Conover EVEN MORE QUESTIONS Suggested by Students

1.  Conover writes, "The process of breaking a man simply takes longer and costs more.  Does it represent injustice or tyranny?  That depends on your point of view." (136)  What is Conover's point of view?  Discuss with five examples from Newjack.

2.  Explain why Conover writes at length about the history of Sing Sing and the death penalty.  Point to several examples from the book.

3. Based on Conover's experience and understanding of other COs, does learning about your prospective prisoners serve as a positive or negative in being able to maintain control?  Explain.

4.  Does Conover offer a fair representation of his superiors (as corrections officers) or does he seem set on making them look like bad guys?  Explain with five examples from Newjack.

5. In the Charlie Rose interview, Conover briefly mentoned that the frustration he went through at the prison followed him home.  Do you think Conover believes it is possible for guards to leave their frustration in the work place?  Explain.

6. Why is race such an important part of Sing Sing prison?  Point to several examples from Newjack as you discuss the question.

7. What makes a good corrections office, in your opinion? If you were a warden, would you hire Conover as a corrections officer?  Why or why not?

8.  Do you think Conover's first day on the "gallery" was as stressful as any other OJT's?  Do you think it was less or more stressful, considering that he is an established writer and journalist?

9.  Turn to pages 123-26 (and other pages, too) as you discuss Conover's experience with inmates as a corrections officer, writer, and citizen. With reference to five examples from Newjack, does Conover compartmentalize (i.e., divide) his perspective as corrections officer, writer, and citizen?   Or not? Explain.

10. Why would a C.O. (in this case St. George) choose not to write a prisoner up when said prisoner has cearly disobeyed some rules? (86)  A follow-up question: Conover writes that "Smith succeeded because he viewed the inmates as human beings." (87)  What does Conover mean by this?

11. What is the point of the Academy if it doesn't prepare you for the real thing? (94)

Conover in his correction officer uniform at Sing Sing Prison

PRISONS

"The Dannemora [Prison] Dilemma" by Ross Douthat. The New York Times, June 13, 2015. From Douthat's op-ed: "All told, our prisons house around 2.2 million Americans, leaving the land of the free with the world’s highest incarceration rate. And they house them, often, in conditions that make a mockery of our supposed ban on “cruel and unusual” punishment: gang-dominated, rife with rape, ruled by disciplinary measures (particularly the use of solitary confinement) that meet a reasonable definition of torture." Click on this to read the full op-ed.

The Supreme Court made an important decision regarding prison conditions in California.  From The New York Times, May 23, 2011, article, "Justices, 5-4, Tell California to Cut Prisoner Population": "Conditions in California’s overcrowded prisons are so bad that they violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday, ordering the state to reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates." The Los Angeles Times story on the Supreme Court decision can be found here.  KQED has also posted an audio interview about the decision.

PBS Frontline has posted online "The New Asylums," its  report about prisons housing the mentally ill. Produced in 2005, the program runs about 60 minutes. It is introduced with these words: "Fewer than 55,000 Americans currently receive treatment in psychiatric hospitals. Meanwhile, almost 10 times that number -- nearly 500,000 -- mentally ill men and women are serving time in U.S. jails and prisons. As sheriffs and prison wardens become the unexpected and often ill-equipped caretakers of this burgeoning population, they raise a troubling new concern: Have America's jails and prisons become its new asylums?"

PBS Frontline has reported other stories about prisons. Look for "Locked Up in America," and its two programs "Solitary Nation" and "Prison State "

A former prosecutor wearing a suit writes: "I Got Myself Arrested So I Could Look Inside the Justice System" by Bobby Constantino, in The Atlantic, December 17, 2013.

What is "Club Fed"? Here is one story, "The Secrets of White Collar Prisons," from Dujour 

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ANGLOLA PRISON

In Newjack, Conover mentions the documentary The Farm: Life Inside Angola, that we saw in class. If you missed it, you can watch it online here.  Wish to see the sequel to it?  Watch The Farm: 10 Down, made ten years after the original in the series. Go to nola.com for a profile of filmmaker Jonathan Stack and his work on the first  documentary and its sequel about the prison.

Learn more about Angola and the life of one prisoner who spent 41 years in solitary confinement for the crime of killing a prison guard.  The inmate, Herman Wallace, died of cancer just three days after a judge overturned his conviction. NPR reported that "Wallace's conviction [was overturned] on the grounds that he had been denied a fair trial because he was indicted by a grand jury comprised solely of men — in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment."

This photo of Glenn Ford was taken by his lawyer on March 11, 2014—Ford's first day of freedom
 after 30 years in prison—near St. Francisville, Louisiana. (Gary Clements)

"Glenn Ford's First Days of Freedom After 30 Years on Death Row" in The Atlantic monthly by Andrew Cohen, March 14, 2014. Imprisoned since the Reagan's first tem as president, a man tastes freedom.

"Anywhere he wanted to go, the jubilant defense attorneys told a hungry Glenn Ford late Tuesday afternoon as they left the television cameras behind, piled into their car, and left the yawning grounds of Louisiana's notorious Angola prison. Ford was hungry, very hungry, because from the moment he had learned that he would be released from death row—after serving 30 years there for a murder he did not commit—he had decided that he would not eat another morsel of prison food." Read the rest of the article here.

"[Angola] Prison rodeo offers hope where it is lacking." Los Angeles Times, November 27, 2012. Louisiana State Penitentiary [Angola aka The Farm] hosts a popular, long-running prison rodeo, where inmates, many facing life sentences, compete for prizes and a bit of respect.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times

ANGOLA, La. — In the middle of the rodeo arena, the four men could smell manure from the animal pens and cracklins and caramel corn from the stands as they steadied themselves in their plastic lawn chairs, spread their hands on the red card table in front of them and planted their feet in the mud.

They were bracing for the bull.

Once it was turned loose, the last one sitting in this game called Convict Poker would win. . . .

Louisiana State Penitentiary was once a plantation, Angola, named for the origin of its slaves. Inmates work the fields for 2 cents an hour at what is now the largest maximum-security prison in the country, an 18,000-acre compound about 50 miles north of Baton Rouge that's home to the state's death row and more than 6,200 other prisoners, many of them murderers, armed robbers and rapists (who aren't allowed at the rodeo).

Click here for the full story.

Watch an Angola Prison Documentary from the Atlantic magazine. 

Jeffrey Goldberg reports.

Angola for Life

This was published by the Atlantic on Sep 09, 2015: "There are more than 6,000 men currently imprisoned at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola—three-quarters of them are there for life, and nearly 80 percent are African American. It's the end of the line for many convicted criminals in Louisiana, which has the highest incarceration rate of any state in the U.S. In this Atlantic original documentary, national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg goes inside Angola to speak with inmates and with warden Burl Cain, who has managed the prison for two decades. Cain and his colleagues grapple with the crucial question: What does rehabilitation look like when you're locked away for life?"

Read Goldberg's recent reflection on the filmmaking process, as well as his in-depth report on crime in Louisiana, "A Matter of Black Lives," from The Atlantic's September issue. Follow this link for more information about the documentary and Goldberg's reporting. 

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PRISON and POPULAR CULTURE

Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour

Episode 6: Jail (From Season 1) 

 Standard Podcast Play in Popup

(prison noises)
It’s night time in the big city
A truck driver runs a red light
A strange quiet man practices tae chi in a park

“The Big House, the brig, the clink, the coop, the gray bar hotel, the hoosegow, the joint , the jug, the pen, the pokie, the slammer, the stir”

The Singers and Songs

• Johnny Cash: Folsom Prison Blues
• Magic Sam: 21 Days in Jail
• Bessie Smith: Send Me To The ‘Lectric Chair
• Warren Storm: Prisoner’s Song

“A little bit of swamp pop from Louisiana, which fused R & B, Country, Cajun, and Creole, a real Brasshopper mixture. And, just like Ringo, he’s a singing drummer.”

• The Pretenders: Back on the Chain Gang
• William Shakespeare, def poet
• Andre Williams: Jail Bait
• Cannon’s Jug Stompers: Prison Wall Blues

“Gus Cannon, one of the best-known of all jug band musicians, made himself a special harness, so he could wear his jug around his neck and play banjo at the same time.”

• Kenny Lane and his Bull Dogs: Columbus Stockade Blues
• Joe Simon: Nine Pound Steel
• Jimmy Patton: Okie’s In The Pokie

“A thick slab of rockabilly madness…soundin’ funky drunk and full steam ahead.”

• John Prine: Christmas in Prison
• Sir Douglas Quintet: In The Jailhouse Now
• The Mississippi Sheiks (Lonnie Chatmon, Walter Vinson, Bo Carter, Sam Chatmon): Jailbird Love Song
• Wanda Jackson: Riot in Cell Block #9
• Merle Haggard: Sing Me Back Home
• Hurricane Harry: Last Meal

(Click here for complete notes on this episode at The Bob Dylan Fan Club)

The 40 Best Prisoners in Pop Culture

By Paste Staff, August 21, 2013 

Great Escapes: From 'Shawshank' to 'X-Men,' Pop 

Culture's Top Prison Breaks

By NBC News,  June 8, 2015

‘Lockup’ Exec. Producer on Prison TV, and How It’s 

More Popular Than You Think

By The Observer, May 9, 2015

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FALSE CONVICTIONS 

People go to prison for crimes they did not commit. Addressing this issue, The Innocence Project has helped free 303 people. based on DNA evidence, as of April 6, 2013. Affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo.School of Law at Yeshiva University. the Innocence Project was instrumental in helping Brian Banks get his rightful freedom. See, below, an interview with exoneree Brian Banks and his attorney Justin Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project.

First Exoneree to Play Professional Football Inks a Deal With Atlanta Falcons
Posted by the Innocence Project here: April 4, 2013 4:20 pm

Nearly one year after kidnapping and rape charges against a former Southern California high school football player were dismissed, Brian Banks’ dreams to play professional football were fulfilled Wednesday when he inked a deal with the Atlanta Falcons.

The alleged victim claimed that she had been forced to the school’s basement and raped without a condom, but DNA testing did not find sperm on her underwear. Banks was exonerated after the alleged victim was video recorded denying that any crime had taken place.

As a collegiate prospect with a verbal commitment to play at the University of Southern California, Banks was forced to set aside his dreams in 2002 when he took a plea deal to avoid trial and the risk of a lengthy prison sentence. After a five-year stint in prison he was forced to register as a sex offender and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

Following his exoneration last May, Banks, who was represented by the California Innocence Project, received calls from several professional football teams and was invited for workouts and tryouts.

Watch Banks and California Innocence Project Director Justin Brooks, above, talk more about Banks’ story and what it means to go pro on MSNBC’s Politics Now.

Yusef Salaam is escorted by police in a scene
 from the documentary "The Central Park Five."
 (Clarence Davis / NY Daily News Archive / 
November 29, 2012)

More False Convictions

People go to prison and some released--just ask Yusef Salaam, above--for crimes they did not commit, as some students discovered during past semesters for their research papers.

The Los Angeles Times of November 24, 2014, reported "California's Longest-serving Wrongfully Convicted Inmate is a Free Man," and it can be found here.

The Washington Post reported a story about an Ohio man falsely convicted and released on December 9, 2014. NBC News also reported on this story.

Four articles from the Los Angeles Times examine wrongful convictions with a special focus on the Central Park Five and a recent documentary about the case:  "A 10-year nightmare over rape conviction is over," May 25, 2012, "Cannes 2012: Ken Burns' 'Central Park Five' explores famous crime," May 24, 2012, "A Voice at Last for the 'Central Park Five," November 28, 2012  and a "Review: Devastating 'The Central Park Five' details injustice," November 30, 2012. 

from the PBS website for THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE, "a new film from award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns, tells the story of the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park in 1989. The film chronicles The Central Park Jogger case, for the first time from the perspective of these five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice."  Here is the trailer for the documentary broadcast on PBS:

"FBI Admits Flaws in Hair Analysis Over Decades," The Washington Post, April 18, 2015

"Fix the Flaws in Forensic Science," The New York Times, April 21, 2015

"Man Convicted in Murder Investigated by Scarcella Is Ordered Freed," The New York Times, April 14, 2015.

By MARC SANTORA and NATE SCHWEBER

More than two decades after Rosean S. Hargrave was convicted of murdering an off-duty correction officer in Brooklyn, a judge on Tuesday afternoon ordered him released from prison, saying that his trial was deeply flawed and unfair.

The case against Mr. Hargrave was built, in part, on the work of Detective Louis Scarcella and his partner, Stephen W. Chmil, and it is one of dozens of cases that have come under review since accusations emerged that Mr. Scarcella once framed an innocent man.

The scrutiny of Mr. Scarcella’s work has led the Brooklyn district attorney’s office to move to have several convictions thrown out, but this ruling marks a first time that a judge has conducted an independent review of a Scarcella case and found profound problems.

Justice ShawnDya L. Simpson of (New York's) State Supreme Court offered a scathing review of Mr. Scarcella’s record, finding that his work as a detective fundamentally compromised the defendant’s right to a fair trial.


Continue reading the above New York Times news report here.

Friends and family members of Rosean S. Hargrave at a hearing Tuesday in which he was ordered released from prison. Mr. Hargrave was one of two teenagers convicted of shooting two correction officers, killing one, in 1991. 

Credit

Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

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Tip: "How to Beat a Polygraph Test." Read this from The New York Times, By Malia Wollanapril, April 10, 2015.