| Chaplain: | What were you in the Indiana Reformatory for? |
| Inmate: | I was there for house breaking. I had a sentence of from one to ten years and it took me about three years to get out. I was on a four year parole. |
| Chaplain: | Had you been in trouble before this? |
| Inmate: | Yes, I had been in trouble before. I was on probation once. |
| Chaplain: | As you look back on it, what do you think caused you to get started in a career of crime? |
| Inmate: | Well, (pause) I've never thought much about it, but I think it is getting started with the wrong crowd. I got to going into pool halls too often and got with a crowd that led to trouble. |
| Chaplain: | What is the trouble you had which led to this sentence you're serving now? |
| Inmate: | (pause) Well, I was indicted on one count of killing a nigger. |
| Chaplain: | You say you were indicted. Do you feel that you have been wrongfully imprisoned? |
| Inmate: | (pause) No, it isn't that, but I got from 15 years to life and in some other part of the country outside of Washington I might have gotten less. |
| Chaplain: | How did you happen to kill this Negro? |
| Inmate: | (pause) Well, I guess I had a prejudice. |
| Chaplain: | Have you ever had unpleasant experiences with Negroes? |
| Inmate: | (pause) I never have had much sympathy for them. I had some experiences with them at the Indiana Reformatory and in Washington. There are a lot of them in Washington. The population is about 33% niggers. |
| Chaplain: | What percent? |
| Inmate: | Thirty-three percent. |
| Chaplain: | Would you care to tell me about your charge? |
| Inmate: | I'd rather not go into any of the details. |
| Chaplain: | Do you feel that it is a past chapter on an unpleasant subject? |
| Inmate: | (pause) Well....I don't like to go into it. |
| Chaplain: | It is sometimes good to go into things and seek to understand them. |
| Inmate: | Well I was accused of several charges, but they tried me on one. The evidence at the trail only pertained to the one charge. On the last day of the trial I escaped from the Marshall. I just ran away from him. He had no gun. I was out for three days and was finally caught when someone recognized me and notified the police. I guess that's the reason I was taken to Atlanta and not to Lorton. |
| Chaplain: | How did you happen to come here from Alcatraz? |
| Inmate: | (pause)Well, the real reason isn't on the record. I noticed on the commissary tickets at Atlant that they were issuable in denominations up to $10. The warden there had cut this down to $5 on his own initiative. I wrote a letter to the Attorney General explaining the situation and after a time the commissary tickets were permitted for the $10 amount. The warden called me in and said, 'You're getting too big for your pants. I'm going to send you to the "Rock", I'll put you in S.T.U.' I didn't have a perfect record, but most of the offenses were minor and such as a person might accumulate over a period of years. I might have been sent out here any way, but it looks to me like the main reason was over those commissary books. |
| Chaplain: | Wasn't the letter you sent to the Attorney General sealed? |
| Inmate: | Yes, but they sent it to the Director of the Bureau of Prisons and he sends it on to the Attorney General, but a copy is made and sent back to be put in my jacket. |