Show Letter To Teenagers From behind the walls of the Worlds Largest Walled prison a convict who ho has spent more than 11 H years behind behind behind be- be be be- hind bars for crimes ranging from rom auto heft to armed robbery tells the brutal truth of what it is like to spend his teenage years behind the walls of a prison This is being written 35 feet inside four walls that isolate about persons many of them although a little older are no worse in in terms of character than you are JUST FOR the record this is Jacktown the Worlds Largest Walled Prison Society Society Society So So- refers to it as a place for rehabilitation but I call it the big house louse at the end of the road For surely this is the end of the road for many of the ones who come here For others you might say its it's The beg beginning nning of the end for there are arc some who keep coming back I AM ONE of the inmates a convict It doesn't matter why I am here or how long I must stay and neither does docs it matter what you m might think of me for speaking brutally frank frnnk with you YOUR OPINION of me i isn't nt going to make me stay here one more day or less nor is isIt isit isit it going to make my shame and the shame I have brought upon others more innocent or easier to bear What does matter is that one day I was a normal teenager probably a lot like you TH TILE THE E NEXT day I had step- step or ped-or across ped across leaped that narrow narrow narrow nar nar- row line which separates the decent people from the in in- decent I Without giving diving any thought to the subject I violated a I number of society's laws and subsequently got mixed up tomy to tomy my ears in the blackest social social so so- social I cial disease known to tion Prison AS I write this the clock hands approach the midnight the hour end of my day behind bars That is exactly See LETTER on page 2 Letter To Teenagers Continued from front page ten years Quite a big slice out of my youth Make doubly sure this never happens to you Before you steal that car for fora a joy ride or break into that store or service station let let me tell you a little about crime and punishment IN MICHIGAN the Ionia Reformatory Reformatory Reformatory Re Re- is the first stop for many youngsters just getting getting getting get get- ting started on crimes crime's in- in famus famIs avenue dome ome of them-the them smart ones ones end nd their criminal careers right there They may serve two or three years are paroled and eventually become good citizens OTh OTHERS ERS USE it as I have done as a stepping stone to Jackson Leavenworth Sing Sing or one of the many other such facilities that dot the country One morning they wake up to discover that while they have been sitting in near vegetation in m a cell youth has passed them by It is a sickening ex ex- ex- ex LUCKILY most prisoners eventually concede that all the baubles in the world arent aren't worth the price that society demands of and receives from these persons who violate violate violate vio vio- vio- vio late its statutory laws The unfortunate thing about all this is that such wisdom seldom comes until youth vitality and ambition have ebbed away Listen to the voice of ex ex- Crime doesn't pay enough money to compensate a person for the heartaches he has to go through to serve even a single year in prison Nobody could have made me believe this ten years ago I didn't want to listen I had tasted the fruits of crime and found them sweet Foolishly I kept reaching for more egotistically thinking I was the one guy in the world to get away with it I PRISONS FROM M Maine ine to Florida from New York to California and all around the world are filled with guys who thought they could get getaway getaway getaway away with it There is really much more to serving a prison term than just being locked in a cell FIRST THERE is the loss of character then comes debasement debasement debasement de de- de- de basement a arid and d ridicule le from society then there is the loss of individuality and there is still more There are the silent unshared birthdays the many lonely nights nights that are sore aching boils that are poison filled and erupt with the stinking pus of never-ending never isolation TilE THE WORST hurt of all is isI I when you get a visit from a I I relative or friend Dressed in typical prison garb you find I them separated from you by inches yet years and worlds apart Visits are the same for all prisoners We notice a tinge of gray in mothers mother's hair little indelible indelible indelible in in- lines in the wife's or sweethearts sweetheart's face little jagged streaks of red in their eyes and we know they've felt a hundred for every hour weve we've suffered It twists some of us up inside THAT IS the final reward roadhouses roadhouses roadhouses road for hanging out in houses for drinking for Cor accidentally killing someone in a drag race for acting on impulse rather than on sound reasoning I have only one piece of advice for teenagers Stop and think before you act irrational irrational- ly Ask yourself am I prepared prepared pre pre- pre pre- pared to sacrifice all Can CanI I live with loneliness regret and heartache If you cant can't you'd better turn back before beCore its it's too late For these will willbe willbe willbe be your only companions in a prison cell |