Letter from Frank 'Parky' Grace to Gloria Xifaras Clark
Description:
Back in B section; things were getting mad in 10 Block. Shake down: everything in his cell taken by the guards. Head of the guards union, McLaughlin, wants everyone to believe the guards are being attacked, but the prisoners are subjected to so much abuse they strike out. "They have just the right number of guards who treat you as a non human, like you were a piece of shit. Some punk who can't fit in anywhere in society. A misfit and mental midget. A sadist who admired the ground Hitler walked on. Men have seen and heard their friends being beaten. They have been told 'Your friend hung himself and you'll leave here just like him, toes first.' But if you had angels as guards down there, the place would dehumanize them just as it dehumanizes the prisoners. If you took one of your children and put them in that environment within days you would have a time bomb on your hands, a potential killer..." Some dangerous men are imprisoned, but a "tiny minority" are made that way by the brutality of economics and social conditions. Lynette is at Plymouth House of Correction and goes on trial "for assault on a lesbian guard." Newspaper reporter writes a hack story on Parky for the Brockton Enterprise.
Requests to publish, redistribute, or replicate this material should be addressed to Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries.
Contact host institution for more information.