Mighty Mercury

I was on the street for about 2 months and was busted again for safe cracking. I was sentenced to an indefinite to10 year sentence.

 

While serving the above sentence, I became involved in a prison riot. The riot was quelled by the guard of the prison and the National Guard unit from Camp Wale. 14 inmates were shot by gunfire,but only one rioter was killed.

 

 

I, along with about 50 other rioters, was placed in isolation. My cell was bare and consisted of a cot, a very thin mattress, and a toilet stool. The building had been built in the 1890s. The entire cell house was constructed of large blocks of granite. The tiers were 18 cells each. The tier walkways were made of wood.

 

I was fed one complete meal every 3 days. On the first day we were served at 6 am, a portion of wet noodles and two slices of bread. On the second day,,a portion of spinach and two slices of bread. On the third day a complete tray of whatever food was being served on the line. The tray was delivered to me in my cell, as were the noodles and spinach.

 

We weren't given anything to drink, nor a utensil to eat with, So we had to drink and wash up in the toilet stool. This went on for 3 months.

 

Meanwhile, groups of 5 or 6 rioters were being shipped out and taken to the Maximum Security Prison at Cañon City.

 

When there were only 5 or 6 rioters left in isolation, of which I was one, all of the others having been transferred to Cañon City, the Deputy Warden came to my cell and advised me that Governor Steve McNichols had signed an order that I had to serve my entire sentence, 1O years, in isolation, with no possibility of parole or good time. When I asked the Deputy Warden what that meant, he said that I would probably leave

the prison in a pine box.

 

I was more than a little bit dismayed on hearing the above. I couldn't even conceive of the idea of serving 1O years flat under such conditions as I was then. I had just barely turned 18 years old. My future did not look too bright.

 

Meanwhile, 7 of the rioters who had been transferred to Cañon City had filed a Class Action Suit in the District Court in Denver, protesting the Governor's order on the grounds that the Administrative branch of Government cannot supersede the Judiciary.

 

The Governor's order was overturned and all participants of the riot were ordered released within 6 months of the District Court order.

 

The riot occurred on August 27, 1957. 1 was released from isolation on November 26, l957, almost 3 months to the day that I spent in that isolation hell. I was placed back in population the day before Thanksgiving. Surely I had something to be thankful for.

 

I was released on parole in April, 1958. The District Court order concerned every inmate in Buena Vista, not just the rioters. This meant that more than 400 convicts were released in a very short period of time. It caused a crime-wave in Denver which, to my knowledge, has never been equaled or surpassed. Just about every pharmacy and drugstore was robbed in 1958-59, many of them numerous times. By 196O, almost every inmate released by the District Court order was in Cañon City again with new offenses.

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