Show f 66 fly OF -- 1 LA t O" W IT 11 vfljf r r r r r o n 4l How would you I spent feel 16 If you were unjustly Imprisoned for 16 years? Here years in prison for a crime I didn't commit When the doors of Statc-vil- le prison in Illinois opened for me in April 1956 newsrs exmen and pected to meet a bitter spitewell-wishe- ful man ty They were surprised to find I was neither Yet I know what hate is and at one time I could have matched anyone in bitterness But those are things which I left behind prison walls If newsmen had met me during the first days of my imprisonment they would have seen the angry man they expected It was 1938 then and like a lot of others I had just weathered the depression Prosperity was around the corner at last in the form of several valuable mines I was working in the Southwest Then suddenly I was arrested and extradited to Illinois The victim of a $40 robbery in Rock Island identified me as one of two holdup men In those days there was 6 Family Weekly June no public defender for people too poor to hire an attorney I had witnesses in New Mexico who could have cleared me but no money to bring them to Illinois I sat in my cell the night of my sentence and learned hate intimately Then slowly self-piwas eaten away by something God has given man to distinguish him from other creatures I wanted to rise above odds What's more I knew I could men had done so before against even more overwhelming odds I began studying law sociology theology psychology and accounting But law was my key to freedom and I concentrated on it 16 1957 It wasn't easy Years dragged by most of them at hard labor My health failed and the prison authorities lacked funds for proper medical care Just recently a doctor examined me and told the Illinois legislature "He has suffered serious and permanent injury as a result of his 16 years imprisonment Is the story attributable to forced con- finement nervous and mental strain inadequate food and medical care" Nevertheless I learned how to file petitions and bring action in civil courts I bombarded authorities with legal papers But I was blocked at every point Officials refused to give me access to records all requests for investigations were pigeonholed To fellow convicts I was "bugs" They laughed at my hopes to clear my name and labeled me "the petitionin' man" T was too busy battling for freedom to pay much at- tention but my battle wasn't just with law terms procedures precedents Inside my own heart and mind was an even tougher fight That old bitterness died hard each setback gave it new vigor" Yet I knew that if it again gained control of me I would be locked in a prison far more ruinous than one of concrete and steel Even if I was freed what would hap Jl "r fToT- - rcr T r r s of a man who lived this experience pen to me if hate and animosity won out? I had seen too many victims of these two diseases in Stateville They were as hopelessly trapped as the drug addict or the alcoholic I wanted freedom but I wanted to enjoy it too I wanted to join the world outside those walls not fight it Years of failure though made it hard for me not to jeer at justice and the triumph of right Then in 1947 a Federal judge in Chicago took cognizance of my case and ruled that state authorities must answer my petition That meant producing those forgotten records And those records in turn would eventually reopen" investigation of the case Legally that was the turning point In the battle within myself however I still had a lot to learn I had taught myself the law and how to fight injustice But only others could help me learn how to win a final victory over malice And I found those others while in prison Injustice I learned is something that can happen to anybody like a disease or an accident But once alerted to a wrong people will dedicate themselves to righting it Judges attorneys prison officials were timong those who taught me that lesson in humanity as they helped in the final years of my struggle State's Attorney Bernard J Moran of Rock Island opened the last door to freedom when he obtained a confession from the actual holdup man after two years of diligent investigation The hoodlum named his accomplice a man already imprisoned in the state of Washington n tateville is behind me now and I think my stubborn legal efforts can take credit for my physical freedom For the freedom from vindictive-nes- s and revenge I must thank others I'm still asked "What about the people who put you in jail? What do you feel toward |