and various other jobs, where you stayed until lunchtime. You went through the same procedure at lunch as at breakfast and then you went back to your job. You came back in for the evening meal with the same procedure. . . . After supper was over and the count was completed then you were free to do whatever you could do in your cell. That consisted primarily of reading. 6
Every weekday was virtually identical to the others (see table 1 ). Showers, issue of clean clothing, and shaving were the only regular activities that did not occur every day. Harrell described the shaving routine:
Twice a week the same attendant [who delivered writing materials] came by your cell with a board with numbered cells on it; your razor blade was on this board; he left this blade on your cell door. You were given a short time to shave, with cold water, and then the attendant would come by and put your razor back on the board. 7
Weekends offered slight variations on the weekday routine. On Saturdays inmates could go to the small concrete yard from 12:40 to 4:10 P.M . On Sundays, the resident Protestant chaplain and Catholic chaplains who came over from the mainland held religious services in the small auditorium; these were attended by a handful of prisoners. After services, prisoners could be in the yard from 8:40 to 11:10 A.M . In the yard, they playedsoftball, handball, and horseshoes, and those inclined to less active recreation found partners for dominoes, chess, or checkers, or just walked the yard. Movies were shown in the auditorium on the seven legal holidays each year. 8 The policy regarding movies was that “they will not be used for entertainment but may be employed by the Warden for education and improvement of the inmates when he deems it advisable in the interest of good discipline.” 9 Here is Harrell’s view of weekends:
The weekend days were somewhat different; after breakfast you had a few hours in the yard as well as after lunch. You had a choice of playing handball or softball or bridge or walking up and down in the yard or sitting and talking with your friends. . . . There was one guard in the guard house and one walking the catwalk around the yard; they were there to break up fights and they usually broke up fights by firing down on the yard.
Since a work assignment offered the only opportunity to be outside the cell for any significant period, it was a privilege that had to be earned. An inmate was first assigned a job that involved some routine maintenance task. Then, if his performance and behavior were “outstandingly good and of outstanding value to the institution,” he could be awarded meritorious good time and/or pay in addition to statutory good time; he could also be transferred to a job in the prison’s industries, which carried a small wage and extra good time, called “industrial good time.” For men without a job assignment—and this included anyone locked up in the disciplinary segregation units—there was little to relieve the boredom. According to Harrell, “the only thing they could do is sleep, read, or walk the floor.”
Few inmates’ days on the island were interrupted by visits with attorneys; no caseworker or psychologist ever called them in to discuss their early childhood experiences, their criminal careers, their home life, or their problems with authority figures. Outside of FBI agents investigating crimes committed on the island and a very small number of official visitors approved to tour the cell house or work area, no outsider disturbed the daily routine. The activities that began in prisons during the 1960s and 1970s—attending class, going to meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, the Toastmasters Club, or the black culture group, or attending individual or group counseling sessions—were never available on the Rock. No newspaper reporter or university criminologist called inmates out for interviews; the only conversations allowed with persons not employed by the federal prison
Every weekday was virtually identical to the others (see table 1 ). Showers, issue of clean clothing, and shaving were the only regular activities that did not occur every day. Harrell described the shaving routine:
Twice a week the same attendant [who delivered writing materials] came by your cell with a board with numbered cells on it; your razor blade was on this board; he left this blade on your cell door. You were given a short time to shave, with cold water, and then the attendant would come by and put your razor back on the board. 7
Weekends offered slight variations on the weekday routine. On Saturdays inmates could go to the small concrete yard from 12:40 to 4:10 P.M . On Sundays, the resident Protestant chaplain and Catholic chaplains who came over from the mainland held religious services in the small auditorium; these were attended by a handful of prisoners. After services, prisoners could be in the yard from 8:40 to 11:10 A.M . In the yard, they playedsoftball, handball, and horseshoes, and those inclined to less active recreation found partners for dominoes, chess, or checkers, or just walked the yard. Movies were shown in the auditorium on the seven legal holidays each year. 8 The policy regarding movies was that “they will not be used for entertainment but may be employed by the Warden for education and improvement of the inmates when he deems it advisable in the interest of good discipline.” 9 Here is Harrell’s view of weekends:
The weekend days were somewhat different; after breakfast you had a few hours in the yard as well as after lunch. You had a choice of playing handball or softball or bridge or walking up and down in the yard or sitting and talking with your friends. . . . There was one guard in the guard house and one walking the catwalk around the yard; they were there to break up fights and they usually broke up fights by firing down on the yard.
Since a work assignment offered the only opportunity to be outside the cell for any significant period, it was a privilege that had to be earned. An inmate was first assigned a job that involved some routine maintenance task. Then, if his performance and behavior were “outstandingly good and of outstanding value to the institution,” he could be awarded meritorious good time and/or pay in addition to statutory good time; he could also be transferred to a job in the prison’s industries, which carried a small wage and extra good time, called “industrial good time.” For men without a job assignment—and this included anyone locked up in the disciplinary segregation units—there was little to relieve the boredom. According to Harrell, “the only thing they could do is sleep, read, or walk the floor.”
Few inmates’ days on the island were interrupted by visits with attorneys; no caseworker or psychologist ever called them in to discuss their early childhood experiences, their criminal careers, their home life, or their problems with authority figures. Outside of FBI agents investigating crimes committed on the island and a very small number of official visitors approved to tour the cell house or work area, no outsider disturbed the daily routine. The activities that began in prisons during the 1960s and 1970s—attending class, going to meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, the Toastmasters Club, or the black culture group, or attending individual or group counseling sessions—were never available on the Rock. No newspaper reporter or university criminologist called inmates out for interviews; the only conversations allowed with persons not employed by the federal prison
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