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A
Sorry Chapter For Prison Officials
By Michele Jacklin
Hartford Courant
April 11, 2004
How's this for a stupendous achievement? Barbara Parsons Lane, a domestic
abuse victim who's been incarcerated at York Correctional Institution
since 1996 for manslaughter, has won a prestigious $25,000 writing award
from the PEN American Center.
The annual prize was established by actor Paul Newman and author A.E.
Hotchner to honor a U.S. resident "who has fought courageously,
despite adversity, to safeguard this country's First Amendment right to
freedom of expression."
Lane won for her essay in "Couldn't Keep It To Myself: Testimonies
From Our Imprisoned Sisters," an anthology edited by Wally Lamb and
written by women at York, a maximum security prison in Niantic. The book
is a product of a writing workshop taught for five years by Lamb, a
novelist and resident of Mansfield.
The award will be presented to Lane's son and daughter on April 20 at the
Pierre Hotel in New York City.
So, what's been the reaction of the state Department of Correction? Its
first impulse was to halt the writing program - which had been praised by
the agency's spokesman as "therapeutic and innovative" -
confiscate the women's computer disks and chastise prison employees for
their involvement.
A March 29 memo from Dorthula Green, principal of York's school program,
to staffers says: "Effective immediately, all activities related to
the Wally Lamb writing group are suspended. Students involved in this
program will not engage in any activities related to this program.
Computers, other equipment, time, space in classrooms are not to be
used."
It seems that Green's feelings were bruised and her nose bent out of shape
because she wasn't properly informed that Lane had been nominated for the
PEN award.
Even though Lamb apologized to Green for the oversight, her decision to
suspend the workshop and banish the author from the premises was backed by
higher-ups in the correction department. That is, until last week, when
e-mails were exchanged, the rhetoric heated up and entreaties were made on
Lamb's behalf by state Rep. Denise Merrill and Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal, among others.
The incident was fast becoming a public relations nightmare for a prison
system that is fond of touting its education and rehabilitation programs.
By Thursday, correction spokesman Brian Garnett was saying that the
writing workshop was "temporarily on hold" and that the
computer's hard drive had been seized and the data transferred to disks to
ensure their preservation.
What's more, Garnett said, the correction department is grateful to Lamb
and proud of the accomplishments of the women at York. Prison officials
have a strange way of showing their appreciation.
This is but the latest chapter in a long-running controversy that flared
early last year when Blumenthal, at the behest of then-Commissioner John
Armstrong, sued eight contributors to the book to recover some of the $117
per-day cost of their imprisonment. Lane, who was sentenced to 25 years,
suspended after 10, for killing her abusive husband, had racked up
$339,505 in costs when the lawsuit, which is pending, was filed.
Several officials, including Blumenthal, believe the "cost of
incarceration" law was too broadly drawn and unevenly applied. A
provision in a proposed prison overcrowding bill would limit the law's
reach so that inmates could be sued if they receive windfalls, such as
inheritances or lottery winnings. But the law would not apply to royalties
from a book's publication.
"What these women did is a form of rehabilitation," said Rep.
Michael P. Lawlor, a sponsor of the bill. "They're in prison, they're
being punished. We don't want to remove all hope of redemption."
Blumenthal said that, in his view, the $25,000 PEN prize shouldn't be
considered a windfall but a byproduct of Lane's skill and achievement.
In the introduction to "Couldn't Keep It To Myself," Lamb
writes: "We are a paradoxical nation, enormously charitable and
stubbornly unforgiving. We have called into existence the prisons we
wanted. I am less and less convinced they are the prisons we need."
With all due respect, the prisons appear to be less of a problem than
their misguided overseers.
Michele Jacklin is The Courant's political columnist. Her column appears
every Wednesday and Sunday. To leave her a comment, please call
860-241-3163.
E-mail: jacklin@courant.com
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