Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / April 17, 1975, edition 1 / Page 5
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Tr Dairy Tar Hel 'Don't be too harsh with the man who sins...' V .kneg tlhe Ceetral Prison! tounir Thursday, April 17. 187S J rrr r by Kenneth Black ' DTH Contributor An employee of North Carolina corrections department said, "Getting into Central Prison is harder than getting into Harvard." Eerie and sinister looking, like Dracufcfs! castle in the middle of . Raleigh, Central Prison is the only maximum security institution in the North Carolina penal system. It houses about 1 1 00 felons, all of which are sentenced to three years or more. Built in 1 87 1, the main building is surrounded by brick walls and barbed wire. Six guard towers dot the perimeter of the unit, looming over the grounds. A small building outside the walls serves as the visitors entrance to the prison. of? 4 twto by Terry CantiwU Dracula's door Our tour was delayed by a 45 minute wait in the visitors building while administrative hangups and red tape tangles were straightened out. A television in the building was tuned to The Price is Right, and we spent our wait watching a skit about the Damsel Repulsive, trapped in a tree house because no one would kiss her. (Someone bought her one). Our tour began with an introduction to the guide, Lieutenant Harris, a middle-aged WATCH FOR fHE NEW CAROLINIAN Personal journalism in a new magazine CHINESE & AMERICAN CUISINE RALEIGH' LOCATED V4 BLOCK TO TAKE Cfjiite u:ii.i... FROM NEW Hni inAY INN Get your tickets: EARLY! $ Available at Carolina! Union desk only. '4 an "HI tm IMam II ; if V w. S black man concerned mainly with sounding' educated and apologizing for the prison. He spent the first ten minutes explaining that the prison, though now housing 1 1 47 inmates, was meant to hold only 900. Lieut. Harris took us first to the Warden's officein the entry to the prison building itself. Outside his office an anonymously" written poem hangs framed behind glass. The last verse reads: 'This is our diagnostic center... We can... determine whether , the man is a homosexual, or if he is likely to become a homosexual while in prison.9 Don't he too harsh with the man who sins. Or pelt him with words or stone. Unless you are sure, yea, doubly sure that you have not sins of your own. Going behind the bars to the heart of the prison was the beginning of paranoia. Something tells you that once you pass behind- that first set jof bars, you'll never come out. Something tells Lieut. Harris that nobody likes his prison and everyone thinks the guards are sadistic maniacs. And something sends the prisoners scurrying around corners and behind doors at the sight ol a camera. The first iron bar door we go through is electrically controlled by a guard seated inside the arsenal. He is locked in with the guns and ammunition behind a bank vault door. He smiled and waved at Lieut. Harris through the four-inch-thick glass of his booth. Alter an introductory lecture, our guide points out the newer buildings of the inmates "whose behavior cannot be accurately predicted." We also see the hospital and kitchen building, the cell building, and the license plate factory. The guard points to the top tloor of the older main building and tells us this is the high school. We meet our first inmate, standing at the door to Cell Block C, the block for new prisoners. Lieut. Harris tells us that we are about to tour the cell block, and warns the only female in our group to walk next to him. U ntil we reached the cell block, all we had seen looked very normal and institutional. It might have been a high school. Entering Cell Block C was like entering hell. Inside, everything is steel. Cold, harsh, sharp steel. Steel bars, steel walkways, steel walls, steel ceilings. Everything clinks. We are led briskly across a catwalk about ay 2 ALL FOODS PREPARED OUT QO"7QC-7 W I I M SI j . featuring vL J0l) - a)IWJUSBROSL& SISTER ROSE n i:W - Ut;-? uf nt " I i . fifteen feet above the floor. The light is dim and the smell pungent. Halfway across the catwalk, courage is (ound to look down. The sight is eerie. What seem like a thousand eyes, and may be because there is no time and no composure to hazard an estimate, glare upward. It seems a solid mass of humans, all dressed in brown, and their heads turn slowly in unison, following our progress above. Once across the catwalk, we begin to climb a flight of stairs that Lieut. Harris says will lead to the diagnostic center and gymnasium. This is the diagnostic center," says Lieut. Harris as we enter a large room with long tables and benches. "This is where we are able to determine a lot about the new inmates as they are brought in. We can determine whether they will be an escape risk. Often we can recommend that they can be sent to units in other parts of the state with less security. "We can also determine whether the man is a homosexual, or if he is likely to become a homosexual while in prison" Lieut. Harris adds. From the diagnostic center, we are led to the gymnasium. "Whenever our working inmates are not on duty and the gym is open, they are free to come here. During the winter we have a basketball team, and they compete in the regular Raleigh city league. Some of the other teams in the league say we have an unfair advantage. We play all our games at You'ifo opont yoaro getting a dogroo. Would you epend ttiroo more month gotting As a Lawyer's Assistant, you work in a law firm, bank or corporation doing work previously done exclusively by lawyers. You select the city in which . you work, as well as your Law specialty: Corporate; Criminal; Employee Benefit Plans; Estates and Trusts; Litigation; Real Estate; or General Practice. The starting salary is good. So is the potential for advancement. To qualify, you need a good college record and a Bachelor's Degree. And you'll undergo three months of intensive training in Philadelphia. We've placed over 900 graduates in positions in more than 60 cities throughout the nation. There's a session starting soon. Mail the coupon. The Institute for Paralegal Training 235 South 17th Street, Philadelphia. Pa. 19103 Please send me more information. Name. Address- City, State, Zip- School and Graduating Date. Grade Point Average. home." The gym is fairly crowded. Several inmates are playing basketball, some are lifting weights. The card and pool tables are occupied and one inmate is jogging. As we leave the gym, a basketball comes bouncing our way. Lieut. Harris grabs it up. "You give that thing here. You don't know1 what to do with it," says an older black man. "BetT says Lieut. Harris. "You're on. old man," says the inmate. Lieut. Harris took the ball with him and walked on the court to the free throw line. As he starts to dribble, it becomes apparent that he really doesn't know much about what to do with a basketball. He takes aim and clumsily lets his shot go. It hits the backboard high above the basket and bounces away. "That's six," says the inmate. "Six," says Harris. Outside the gym, Lieut. Harris explains that he owes the inmate six steak dinners after he is released. He also explains that the man is in for life.. Our tour ending, Lieut. Harris takes us to see the gas chamber as an afterthought. Unused since 1961, stark stairs outside the building leads to the chamber. . Behind a thick glass window are two chairs with straps and buckets beneath them. A stethoscope leads from each chair through the wall of the chamber and on out to a position where a doctor can fix the time of death. Lieut. Harris tells us our tour is over and we begin our journey back to-the outside world. As we pass by the reception desk, a f. state trooper is delivering a new inmate. Our "ears catch a few words. "You have been charged with a crime against nature." A new inmate remains behind as we leave Central Prison. Lieut. Harris said he hoped we enjoyed our tour. G a career? .Phone. p.m. Tuesday, Apcil -22-. CacmiicCiael A is d i o it i u or n it . 7 '. J -J J L BURGNER presents DM 0 Roy Burns Is coming to town . . . TV show drummer, percussion respected throughout the world. r f n .COME AND MEET ROY BURNS questions about tuning... endurance and speed... developing a good snare drum roll... selecting cymbals. ..and much more. Mark the date. Admission is FREE! Across from the Bus Station 942-8718 CHAPEL Crossword Puzzler ACROSS 2 Lubricate 3 Poem 4 Part of church 5 One versed in dietetics 6 Spanish ar ticle 7 Wooden pin 8 Former Rus sian ruler 9 Deity 10 Reverence 11 Man's nickname 16 Likely 18 Peruses 20 Drunkard 22 Positive pole 23 Burdened 24 Preposition 26 Notmigrato- 1 Game at cards 4 Clever 9 Idle chatter 12 Succor 13 Heaps 14 Be in debt 15 Gratify 17- Vegetable patch 19 Fondles 21 Note of scale 22 Landed 25 Island in Aegean Sea 27 Imitates 31 Girls nickname 32 Accom- 34 Hypothetical 2Q arent (cQ. force 35 Mohamme dan name loq.) 29 Growing out of 36 French: of the 37 Three-toed sloth 38 Lessened 41 Devoured 42 Wife of Geraint 43 Religious devotee 44 Tints 45 Conjunction 47 Girl's name 49 Metal waste 53 Passageways 57 Bushy clump 58 Cognizant of 60 Silkworm 61 Sum up 62 Kills 63 Obtain DOWN 1 Once around . track r2 15 16 9 22 23 24 1 34 35 38 59 P2 45 49 ISO 51 57 61 Distr. by Photo by Ttrry Cantrvll MUSIC CO. The CLINIC will be held MONDAY, APRIL 21 at 7:30 p.m. in RM 107 HILL HALL (Music Dept.) on the campus of UNC. ROY BURNS WILL ALSO BE ON HAND AT BURGNER MUSIC CO. THROUGHOUT THE DAY ON APRIL 21 TO TALK ABOUT DRUMS, DRUMMING. ETC. THERE WILL ALSO BE SOME FANTASTIC DOOR PRIZES GIVEN AWAY AT THE CLINIC. TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THESE PRIZES ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS COME BY BURGNER MUSIC CO. AT 320 W. FRANKLIN ST. AND PICK UP ONE OF OUR FREE PRIZE ONE TICKET PER CUSTOMER and we've got him. Recording artist, authority. . . Roy Burns Is known and At our Drum Clinic he will answer J, HILL'S COMPLETE MUSIC STORE Answer to Yesterday's Puzzle 30 Pigpens 32 Beverage 33 Man's nickname 35 Enthusiasm 39 Roman num ber: 101 40 Girl's name 41 Symbol for gold 44 Possesses 46 Inlets 48 Cravats 49 Music: as written 50 Food fish 51 Unusual 52 Shoemaker's tool 54 Limb 55 Before 56 Pose for portrait 59 Cooled lava 8 10 1 1 3 4 17 18 20 21 25 26 27 32 33 36 37 0 41 43 44 46 47 48 152 53 58 62" 60 63 United Feature Syndicate, Inc. n 1 R a wmr" b- m Ac mm. m w m r i mm i irjftiAiTienr.iAiRiURi i P LTIojwEp05LojG' AN T go PPmsJe m i n aIr : jl o Rffirgj ML err p Tlsfe eMtu Tje sms eLrinsMNrOmJsjNA TiAh'tertjpJo p rl. Q R s!n!e EiRisns peHrb rrRBWrTi lrlE!ErM SI : 3 PiS 56l w
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 17, 1975, edition 1
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