Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison Page #7

You're sending us out

with the others ain't you?

Yes Tinker,

we're sending you out.

The both of you.

Sending you out,

just like you sent out Red Pardue.

Four minutes!

- Get ready to duck you guys.

- No, not this time.

Don't Nick, that's dynamite!

There you have a story

from my notorious past.

Today the picture is

an entirely different one.

Through the years that followed

my board of directors

gave me modern, new buildings

to house my growing population.

But what is more important,

they gave me a change of heart.

Administrators who were

merciful as well as just.

Today under the direction

of an enlightened penologist

my guards are chosen

by competitive examination

and without political interference.

My walls are still impregnable,

but the prisoners inside them

are treated as individuals.

For what they are

and for what ails them.

I am still overcrowded.

There is still the evil

of two men in a cell.

In my prison hospital

you will find every modern appliance.

Every expert medical care.

To correct a man's thinking

you must keep his body fit.

And by the same token,

you must occupy his mind.

Here where 11 million license plates

were turned out this year

inmates are paid a nominal wage

and are given a chance

to regain their self respect.

I can't keep all the men you send to me.

The great majority will

one day be sent out on parole.

Their care, their rehabilitation

is your problem as well as mine.

You can't lock them up and forget them.

Sooner or later one of them

may be your next-door neighbour.

If they send you to me now

I'll be just,

I'll be humane.

But don't get me wrong,

I'm no pushover.

You will still find

that there is no substitute

for freedom.

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