the photograph on the cover is of the
west cellblock at the maximum security
unit, the penitentiary, of the Nebraska
penal complex. Behind the bars on the left
there is a narrow alleyway and another row
of bars which are the doors to the three
tiers of tiny cells.
Men were first housed in the steel gray
cells 104 years ago.
Each year increasing numbers of men
are sent there and each year they get
younger. In the past four years according
to one official, the average inmate age has
dropped from 33 to about 23 years.
This issue of Fathom is a look at the
penal complex today-the penitentiary and
the medium-minimum security unit,
known as the reformatory, near Pioneers
Park-facilities that even the corrections
director has said are "nowhere near
humane."
Two inmates were interviewed for this
issue, one lives on death row and the other
is in the general inmate population.
Joe Starita interviewed convicted mur
derer Robert Williams who is sentenced to
NEBRASKA &
ST ATE- RRJ.S6N
i
1L-.
Photo by Ted Kirk
die in the electric chair for the murder of
two Lincoln women.
Carla Engstrom investigated reports of
homosexual rapes among inmates by speak
ing to one of the inmates as well as with
attorneys, a prison counselor and prison
officials.
Also included in this issue are the
thoughts of people who are involved in the
system indirectly. Anne Carothers inter
viewed a Lincoln Journal reporter who has
covered the prison system for 25 years.
Mary Jo Howe talked to two Lincoln
attorneys-one who tries to keep the ac
cused from entering prison, the other tries
to put them in.
George Wright talked to sociology and
criminal science professors who believe
that the penal system is society's form
to revenge for a crime rather than a place
to rehabilitate the convicted.
The views of some penal complex of
ficials who talk about the changes in Ne
braska's system in the past few years as
well as the changes that are expected in
the future, are recorded also.
There is alio a story about the electric
chair the procedures to put someone to
Jeath and a short history.
Photographs of the prison were taken
Dy Ted Kirk.
Amy Lenzen, editor
fathom
Fathom Editor: Amy Lenzen. Manag
ing Editor: Mary Jo Howe. Cover Design
and Layout: Liz Beard.
Fathom is a magazine published by the
Daily Nebraskan. Editor in Chief: Carla
Engstrom. Advertising Manager: Denise
Jordan. Production Manager: Kitty Policky.
Business Manager; Jerri Haussler.
Unless covered by another copyright,
material may be reprinted without per
mission if attributed to Fathom, magazine
of the Daily Nebraskan.
Fathom is distributed tri-weekly on Fri
days with the Daily Nebraskan.
Cover photo by Ted Kirk.
prison: citizen revenge or citizen protection
J' ' -v
f"
Photos by Tim Ford
Joseph Vitek Hugh Whitt Larry French
by george wright
If you believe prisons rehabilitate
criminals or deter crime you are wrong,
according to two UNL professors.
"Prison systems don't work." sociologist
Hugh Whitt said, "Recidivism rates (num
ber of cinvicts who return to prison) are
high in prisons and compulsory rehabilita
tion programs do more harm than good."
Criminologist Larry French echoed
Whitt 's assessments and said that argu
ments for rehabilitation are a "bunch of
crock."
"Only five persons of the serious crimin
als are incarcerated," French said. "Society
isn't protected when 95 percent of the
criminals are out. Prisons only punish and
incarcerate a man, nothing else, and this is
dangerous considering the bitterness
factor."
There are four theories behind the
purpose of prisons, Whitt said.
"One idea is that a prison sentence will
act as a deterrent to prisoners themselves
and others who see people whose freedom
is restrained. Rehabilitation also hopes to
prevent future crimes by performing psych
ological changes.
"And there is the idea that prisons
protect society from the individual."
But most criminologists and sociolo
gists," Whitt said, believe prisons are a
"form of vengence for society."
"It is like an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth relationship. We feel better if
they are harmed and we have our revenge."
Punishment is a better word than
revenge, said Joseph Vitek, director of the
department of correctional services.
"There is a morality in Nebraska to
punish those that commit crimes. If you
rape a woman in Lincoln you can expect to
be punished by the people of Nebraska. A
lot of people are a threat to society and
themselves. And as far as deterring crime,
of course we are deterring the crimes those
in prison might have committed."
Vitek said there are bizarre points of
view on why prisons don't work but many
of the arguments can be used against other
institutions.
"Our mission is to make the prisons
more humane and bring dignity to the
individuals in prison," he said. "But we
also have a mission to the people of Ne
braska to provide safety and incarceration
serves their need."
Prisons have changed from the days of
shackling prisoners feet with a ball and
chain. Architectural design in the prisons
helps to create a more livable atmosphere,
he said. There is also a shift from the quasi
military atmosphere of discipline in prisons
to a more responsibility oriented atmos
phere for the prisoner.
Whitt said the trend in prisons now is to
offer voluntary rehabilitation programs to
avoid conflicts with prisoners that don't
have their heart in it.
During the late sixties and early sevent
ies compulsory rehabilitation was pushed
in the federal and state prisons but it was a
failure, Whitt said.
"Some prisoners saw it as another form
of coersion and reacted negatively to their
forced brain readjustment."
The major problem with rehabilitation
is in the system itself, Whitt said.
two staffs with conflicting ideas on
how to deal with convicts are entrenched
in the prison system.
The warden, guards and others with
custodial duties see their primary responsi
bility as keeping order and rehabilitation is
a secondary function. But the staff of
psychologists, psychiatrists and. those in
volved in prison schools have a desire for
rehabilitation.
There is a rehabilitation conflict be
cause the staff pushing rehabilitation is
dependent and insists on the rules, Whitt
said.
In such a rule bound environment the
convicts lose the capacity to make choices
and eventually are dependent on the prison
to take care of them. The rehabilitation
staff try to counter this but in such a re
gulated system it is ineffective.
Prisonalization, total reliance or the
prison system, sometimes goes beyond this
dependence.
Charles Manson, imprisoned for the
murder of actress Sharon Tate believed
prison to be a safe place, Whitt said. From
the time Manson was 14-years-old, he spent
half of his life in prison and actually liked
to be in prison because he had no decisions
to make.
"To Manson prison was a warm, safe
corner like home," Whitt said. "It is hard
to grasp how one could feel safe in such a
place."
Problems of prisonlization are furthered
as ex-convicts return to prison. French said
the average national recidivism rate is
about 66 percent.
Who gets imprisoned is a question of
discrimination of law enforcers, the courts
and the states themselves, he said.
"In North Carolina, which has the
largest correction system in the United
States, 220 of every 100,000 persons are
incarcerated. But North Dakota has the
lowest percentage with only 26 out of
100,000 persons in prison."
A study in Texas showed the average
sentence actually served by prisoners con
victed of first degree murder was six years
while the prisoner convicted of possession
of marijuana served a 20 year term.
In! u r ,C vvt i
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1211 til I t L V 1
Photo hv Tart KM.
The wall of the penitentiary separates the criminal from the rest of society. Some people say the penal system is society's form
of revenge. Others call it a way to protect society from the criminal.
page 2
fathom
friday, September 29, 1978
