Run for life
Prisoners serve children
while serving hard time
Penitentiary inmates ran for their lives Fri
day morning — but they weren't attempting
to escape over the prison's ominous, gray
walls.
They were running for terminally ill
children, and they were running for their
own mental, as well as physical, health.
Race organizer and marathon winner
Danny Vrieling and about 50 other Oregon
State Penitentiary inmates in Salem ran in a
benefit marathon, half-marathon and
10-kilometer race on a mile course that
wound through enclosed prison grounds —
always under the watchful eye of tower
guards.
Their efforts and inmates' pledges raised
more than $3,500 for the Make-A-Wish
Foundation, which grants terminally ill
children their favorite wishes.
The inmates' donations will grant about
four or five children their favorite wishes,
said foundation vice-president Patricia
Alberto Salazar signs an inmate's shirt.
Honeycutt. So far, the Oregon branch of
the national foundation has given children
trips to Disneyland and arranged to have
them meet their favorite television
celebrities, Honeycutt said.
Helping the children is also a way for in
mates to help erode negative stereotypes
many people have about them, Thomas
Cremeem said.
"These people (the inmates) have been
categorized as criminals. Over a period of
time of being conditioned like this, they
really forget who they are. They're asleep,"
Cremeem said.
"The automatic reaction (of society) is
that once you're a criminal, there's no way
«
you're going to change," Angel Rodriguez
said. But the running program and chanty
race give inmates the chance to do
something positive and they may may begin
"realizing that crime ain't what it's all
about.
Among the many conspicuous race sup
porters on hand that day was OSP
Superintendent and fellow marathoner
Hoyt Cupp, who thought the charity race
was a "great thing.
"For a selfish reason, it's about the best
thing. The (inmates) involved have an ex
cellent attitude. I'm going to keep suppor
ting this," Cupp said.
Other local celebrities attending the race
included Oregon track coach Bill Dellinger
and his top runner Jim Hill; marathon world
record holder Alberto Salazar; marathon
Canadian record holder Art Boileau; former
Oregon steeplechaser Don Clary; Oregon
State cross country coach Gary Sievers and
several of his runners; Gov. Vic Atiyeh's
assistant, Paul Phillips; and State Reps.
Mary Burrows and Peter Courtney.
On race day, Cupp allowed inmates to
run over a flat mile-long course around the
fenced-in grounds, instead of having
marathoners run about 130 times around
the prison yard's 380-meter cinder track —
which they did in the 1982 marathon.
All visitors' bags were searched in the
front lobby and the large group was split in
to smaller groups to keep a close and ac
curate head count.
Then guards led the small groups
through several iron doors. Finally, visitors
reached the prison yard, where all inmates
exercise.
Along one wall, colorful hand-pamted
murals of nature scenes contrasted with
predominantly gray walls and buildings that
surround the prison yard.
Other inmates, all wearing blue jeans,
went about their usual work duties. A few
privileged ones spent the morning quietly
seated on a nearby bench, staring at the
strangers, especially the women — an un
common sight in the all-male prison.
Others stared through cell bars down at
the strangers, jeering at them. Most in
mates did not see the race.
One photographer was reprimanded
sharply by a tower guard when he pointed
his camera toward the tower. "Point that
camera where it's supposed to be," the
guard snapped.
Vrieling's winning time of 2:47:32 won't
WMiim
Race winner and prison inmate Danny Vrieling celebrates by showing off the
trophy.
Marathon runner5 pass under a guard tower in the Oregon State Penitentiary in a
benefit race Friday.
threaten Salazar, who ran a few miles with
the inmates Friday.
Vrieling's efforts, though, have turned a
few pleasantly surprised heads.
"I think what he has done is
phenomenal,” said Make-A-Wish Founda
tion Pres. Fran Boyd, "He's helping
children. And it's beautiful.”
With a wiry body and intense eyes, Vriel
ing looks like a runner. His stilted walk
before the 26-mile race belied the fluid
strides he showed throughout the entire
marathon.
It was Vrieling's second marathon. He
finished his first in nearly three and a half
hours. He hopes to run his third marathon
in two and a half hours.
Vrieling said he was a smoker before he
took up running about two years ago. He
was also one of the "pen's” hotheads, ac
cording to several of his friends.
"Danny was one of the biggest
troublemakers in here. He was always in
the hole (solitary confinement). Now he's a
model citizen,” said R.G. Anderson
Wyckoff, who helped organize the race.
Anderson-Wyckoff owns Phidippide's, a
Salem running store, and sells running
shoes and shorts at cost to the inmates. He
also hosts several running clinics each
month "behind the walls."
"Anybody who runs knows they get a
positive mental lift from it. And the reason
most of these guys got in here is because
they feel negatively about themselves,"
Anderson-Wyckoff said.
"Running has changed my life," Vrieling
said after his victory. "Before, I didn't know
what it was really like to feel good. When I
quit smoking and started jogging, it felt
good." Along with cigarettes, Vrieling said
he once was addicted to heroin.
In nine months, the OSP Running Pro
gram has become the prison's most
popular athletic club, with more than 50
members, Vrieling said. Dellinger and well
known running coaches Arthur Lydiard and
Jeff Galloway give running clinics behind
the walls.
Several inmates said running helps break
"idle time," relieve tension and negative
feelings. Running gives them something to
strive for, they said.
One such inmate is Gary Sanchez, who
weighed 275 pounds and could jog only
one lap around the prison track last year.
Today Sanchez weighs 180 pounds and
finished the half-marathon victoriously
bellowing a four-letter word.
"There's a lot of negative things happen
ing in here, But through this (the running
program), people become aware of their
health their diet, their soul. And I've done
something, my own time, my own thing. It
gives you discipline," Sanchez said.
"It relieves the pressure," Steve Danforth
said of running. "This is a negative environ
ment. Running takes the pressure away.
Running gives us a chance to be free."
Yet even more important to Vrieling and
other inmates are their contributions to the
children. Many inmates said they wanted to
give children chances they felt they'd never
had as children.
"We need the community to help us. And
we need to help the community. It's basic
human understanding. They (the inmates)
realize the kids are our future, so if they can
keep the kids out of trouble, they're doing
something positive.”
Story by Joan Herman
Photos by Dave Kao
self SFRVF U/ORci pROCESSINq
■ IBM personal computers
Epson RX-80 pnnters
Diablo 630'printer
and featuring... q
Perfect Writer “Software „
*s copies
860 E 13th
344 7894
1 jgjjjp) Thi5 week's specials:
fgl Bfl B\ O Small Gold Barbs 79*
vWBIBj \\ / v Medium Julii Cat $1.99
W K 20 gal. aquarium, Reg. $49.99 Mow $39.99
X 5 % Off aCCeSSOrieS wtth purchase of tank
1920 Franklin Blvd. Next to Radio Shack 687-0682