Portland Observer Thursday, August 17, 1978 Paga 3
/t's Good to/(now...
Behind the wall
Larry Baker »35021
O.S.P. Correspondent
'S
Julius D. Snowden »38013
Poetry Editor
O
by Floyd Mack »55054
A plea fo r mercy to the Oregon
State Parole Board.
In February 1979, 1 will appear
before you for a review o f my parole
date, which it February, 1982. In
1972 I received a parole set o f ten
years for murder. Under the present
system I realize that might not sound
like much, but for a seventeen year
old boy it sounded like the end of the
world. There are many mitigating
circumstances that I hope you will
consider when I appear before you
this time.
At the time o f my crime I was
seventeen years old. There was
another boy, aged sixteen involved in
the same crime. He was convicted of
bludgeoning a woman to death; he
received a fifteen year sentence for
second degree murder and was sent
to McLaren School for Boys. I was
convicted of shooting a man to death
and received a life sentence for first
degree murder and was sent to
Oregon State Penitentiary. I suppose
I really shouldn’t say I was convict
ed. because I pled guilty to the
charge. I fail to understand how a
judge can allow a seventeen year old
boy plead guilty to a first degree
murder charge. There was no
prem editation to the crime. The
other boy did approximately fifteen
months at M cLaren and was
paroled; he has now been discharged
from parole for two years and is a
free man. In return I have been in
carcerated in the Oregon State
Penitentiary for six years. At the
time of my review hearing I will have
exactly seven years in prison.
I m aintain that there is a great
discrepancy in the amount o f time I
am having to serve and the amount
of time the other boy had to serve for
the same crime that happened at the
same time. I realize that I was made
out to be the instigator of the crime,
but that is not true in any way.
At the time, Attorney General Lee
Johnson requested that I be retained
in the county jail until after January
1, 1972 before being sentenced; the
idea being that the mandatory ten
year date set for murder was being
dispensed with at that time, and I
would not receive one. But, even
though the parole board was setting
lifers an average of seven years at the
time I went before them, I received a
ten year set anyway.
I am not trying to justify my crime
to you. I have never denied my part
in it. I am merely trying to show you
how many discrepancies theie are. I
realize that I was responsible for the
death o f another human being, and 1
will live with that knowledge for the
rest of my life. Only I know how
sorry I am for what happened. 1 have
suffered deeply for my past and for
the person who’s life I took. I wish
with all my heart that I could undo
that damage I inflicted on that per
son and his family, but I cannot.
1 am an intelligent and capable
man. 1 have much potential to make
it in society. I have been involved
w ith several psychologists and
groups since my incarceration, and
my last few psychological reports
have been very favorable. In fact my
last report recommended a parole
date cut, but the date cut never
m aterialized. I have received my
G .E .D ., and have two terms o f
college with a 3.5 G PA to my credit.
I have completed a course in
Vocational Body and Fender, and
CSA recommends staff training,
comminity involvement
The Community Relations Service
of the U.S. Department o f Justice
has announced that it will design a
human relations and cultural
awareness training program for
correctional personnel in Oregon
penal system.
The program is the result o f the
CRS investigation o f charges o f
discrimination made by Oregon Sute
P enitentiary inmates during the
recent visit to that institution by
N A A C P Executive Director Ben
jamin Hooks. The investigation was
made at the request o f Reverend
John Jackson, president o f the
N A A C P, Portland Branch.
Robert Lamb, director o f CRS’s
Northwest Regional Office, said the
training program will be designed by
a CRS team, including a correc
tional consultant. The training will be
conducted by the Corrections
Division.
Lam b said the prison ad
ministration was very cooperative in
providing in fo rm atio n and in
facilitating communication with in
mates. Among the complaints in
dicated by inmate groups that met
with CRS staff were: complaints
related to ethnic food, religious
facilities, funds for entertainment,
Spanish translation o f rules and
regulations, vocational trades, ex
tended waiting times for visitors, etc.
Lamb said he will conuct the Port
land and Salem Branches o f the
N A A C P to attem pt to increase
community involvement and to find
a solution to the need for a halfway
house in the Black community.
CRS is an area o f the Justice
D epartm ent that helps resolve
disputes involving the rights o f
minority groups.
graduated with a very good report
from my instructor. I plan to pursue
this trade upon my release. I have
never been inside the Segregation
and Isolation U nit, and have had
only four minor disciplinary reports.
I have been in honor cell blocks since
the first six months o f my incar
ceration. I have been involved exten
sively with the outside building
projects of the lifers club. I have
built many items for senior citizens,
children, and many other people who
could not have afforded to have the
work done without my help. This has
all made me feel very good about
myself.
You speak of punishment for the
criuie, but just how much punish
ment is enough??? Fifteen months
was enough for the other boy. I
would like to know why I am being
treated so much differently. You say
(hat the institutional accomplish
ments o f us inmates don’t count, but
what happens to someone like myself
who came in here at such an early age
and have accomplished nothing in
the outside world? I would think you
would have to take into account all
my accomplishments since my incar
ceration. No one can punish me
more than I have punished myself
for my past.
1 have a very beautiful and in
spiring wife who has been with me all
this time. We have been through
many discouraging and d iffic u lt
times, but our love for one another
gives us the strength we need to stand
up and face all the negative things
that happen to anyone in this
situation. 1 owe everything I am and
everything I will be to my wife. She
saw good in me when I couldn’t even
see it in myself. And she worked to
make it possible for that good to
emerge. She is the incentive I needed
to change my life and accomplish the
things I have.
My wife’s devotion has helped me
grow to like myself and others.
Compassion has developed in me,
along with an appreciation of human
accomplishments. 1 no longer wish to
be an outlaw, 1 want to be a husband
and someone I and everyone who
knows me can be proud of. For the
first time in my life 1 feel like an
adult; a man who is responsible for
his own actions. I blame or praise
myself for my own actions. I now
talk where before I struck out with
frustration from not being able to
communicate. 1 love being able to
express myself so easily and freely.
I have strong family ties and they
will help me and my wife in any way
we need them to upon my release.
When 1 am finally paroled I will have
a job and place to live waiting for
me. I would like to be paroled to
California, as that is where all of my
family live. So with all that I have
said I respectfully request that you
consider cutting my parole date to
February, 1980. That would allow
me to have some time on W ork
Release to build up a little money so
that I can be more financially sound
when I am paroled. I truly hope you
can find it in your hearts to give me a
chance to show everyone that 1 can
make it in society.
’¿ ¿ ¿ If
Cal! tcday
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