Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison

I am Folsom Prison

At one time they called me Bloody Folsom

And I earned the name.

I've been standing here in California

since 1878.

My own prisoners built me,

shutting themselves off

from the free world.

Every block of my granite

is cemented by their tears,

their pain

and the blood of many men.

This is a story

from my rough, tough past.

It happened not long after

the turn of the century.

At the time I tell about

I had within my walls 1,000 dangerous men

that other prisons couldn't hold.

but I held them.

If I couldn't break a man's spirit

I broke his bones.

I kept many of them in a cell house

that wasn't fit for animals,

let alone men.

It's cells were more like tombs.

And the doors were made

of solid iron,

secured by bars that

only dynamite could budge.

Two men, and often more,

were crowded into those airless crypts.

They slept, when they could sleep,

on mattresses alive with vermin.

They froze on winter nights

and their bodies were drained of sweat

in the breathless heat of summer.

Every morning,

whilst it was still dark,

my guards made the rounds

turning out the inmate kitchen workers

so they could cook the slop that was

fed my prisoners under the name of

breakfast.

Is it any wonder that

after a sleepless night

a man sometimes went berserk and

fought the hated walls that shut him in?

Knock it off you

and let a guy get some sleep!

Pipe down you wing-ding.

This was a common thing

in those old days.

I had so little work for them to do.

Idleness and brutal restraint is

a combination that rots a man's mind.

Every Sunday morning

a long line of prisoners

waited before the gate

which led to the office

of the Captain of the Guard.

These men had dared to break my rules.

Rules no man could keep

under such conditions.

And they were there

to be sentenced to punishment.

First in line was the man whose mind

had cracked under the awful strain.

His feet were touching the Dead Line.

and every prisoner knew

that it meant just that.

That the convict who stepped across

that line without being ordered to do so

invited hot lead from the rifles

of the guards from the towers.

Trigger happy morons

who needed no second invitation.

In every prison population

there is always a leader

and Chuck Daniels, serving a life term

was just that.

My warden of that time

was of the old school

In the language of the prison world,

a con hater.

To him, convicts were brutes.

And brute force was the only thing

that would keep them in line.

Pete Donovan!

Close the gate.

Well Pete,

you had a little trouble this morning.

- What have you got to say for yourself?

- Nothing.

Destroying prison property

is a serious offence.

Haven't you got

any explanation to offer?

You try sleeping in

one of them sweat boxes.

- According to regulations I should

put you in solitary. - Go ahead.

Drop 30 days on me.

a concrete bed'll be better than that

stinking mattress I've been sleeping on.

- 10 days solitary.

- Wait a minute.

He could do 10 days

standing on his head.

Getting temperamental again eh?

Lock him down for 30.

Take that long to cool off,

a big boy like Pete.

Get him out of here.

- Chick Fullis

- I think 10 days is enough, Warden.

10 days?

What do you think we're running here,

a flop house for these guys?

Fullis, why did you start a fight

with Matese in the yard?

I didn't start anything.

- The report says...

- The report's all wrong, Captain.

- What about it Sergeant?

- All I know is Matese's in the hospital.

Somebody gave him a pretty good

working over, Matese says it was Fullis.

- Any witnesses?

- None that'll talk.

It wasn't me, think I'm stupid.

I just did 30 in the hole,

Think I want to go back there?

That's the trouble with this joint, you

blink an eye and the roof falls in on you.

Wait a minute.

Who are you yelling at, con?

Give him another 30

that'll teach him some manners.

Get outta here.

- Drop out of line.

- What's wrong, Chuck?

Tell you later, go to the other end

of the yard and wait for me.

See you over there.

- The students are sure

nervous this morning. - Yeah.

Don't try it Jeff, call it off.

- Why?

- It looks bad.

Why is Rickey

standing up there watching us?

Look at them bulls in there, 16.

Got a hunch somebody

tipped them off.

Give it up, Jeff.

- It's too late now.

- We'll get another chance.

- I'm going.

- Not me.

Take my advice Jeff,

call it off.

- Anything wrong. - No, give the signal

when I look through the gate.

- Ciprean

- Riordan.

Shut that gate!

They made a break

for the Captain's office!

Open the gate, Joe.

Get outside that gate

or we'll kill these guys.

Get away from that gate,

we're coming through.

Alright, fire!

Fire, I tell you!

Fire!

Fire!

Get in there.

Hold your fire.

Hold your fire!

Hold your fire!

Quiet you fellows,

everybody back.

You two are responsible for this.

I'll take care of you responsibly.

Alright.

OK boy, the game's over.

- What's the score?

- Three dead...

Four, maybe five.

- I had a bid at that party.

- Yeah, so did I.

I passed it up.

When I go I go alone.

How are you going, boy?

You'll find out.

After I've gone.

Doc Hayden just phoned.

Captain Baxter died during the night.

Two officers dead.

Lacks discipline is the answer.

If Baxter hadn't been so soft

he'd be alive today.

So we're clamping down the lid.

As of now

all privileges are cancelled.

The men not assigned to jobs will be

locked in their cells 24 hours a day.

Stop the tobacco issue.

Lights out in the cells

the minute the men get back from supper.

Sherman,

Tell the mess sergeant

to cut the con's meals to the bone.

No meat, not sugar,

beans three times a day.

And close the canteen

till further orders.

Sergeant, you're acting

Captain of the guard.

I'll recommend you to the board,

make your promotion permanent.

Thank you very much, Sir.

I want you to take the men

who instigated this riot

Say about three weeks before

they come to trial...

And give them

six hours a day on the horse.

Right!

Now...

I'll talk to Jeffrey.

Take the cuffs of him.

Go ahead.

Jeff isn't dangerous.

Not now.

Wait outside.

Jeff...

You're a bigger fool

than I thought you were.

Nobody ever escapes

what they've done.

Nobody.

Six of you got through the gate.

There were others who couldn't make it,

others who were all set to go.

- Who were they?

- Didn't your stool pigeon tell you that?

He told us there was a break coming.

But he couldn't tell us when

or who'd be in on it.

I'll make a deal with you.

The name of the stool pigeon

for the names of those who missed out.

I know the name of the stool pigeon.

Look, you're no hoodlum like the others.

Why protect them.

Officers have been killed.

That means the death sentence.

I can get you a commutation.

You know Stu was in on it,

wasn't he?

Daley...

Tinker...

Pardue...

Daniels...

You're not even warm, Warden.

Not Daniels, your good friend?

- You wouldn't go without him.

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