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Pete has added a new page to his site. It is focused solely around the events occurring due to the Crazy Book Release. The U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth earned the nickname “The Big House” for a reason. For more than 100 years, the prison has housed some of the nation’s worst and most-publicized criminals. But a recent decision by the Federal Bureau of Prisons means the walled behemoth is about to lose the mystique that once made it the most feared name in American criminal justice. The bureau plans to convert the maximum-security prison, which currently holds 1,511 inmates, to medium security. Local officials, who have grudgingly accepted the decision, have been told the transition will mean up to 106 of its 474 positions could be lost through attrition, retirement or job transfers. The move is, in part, a reflection of the changing technology of incarceration. The prison was built when confinement relied on armed guard towers and walls 40 feet high — and just as deep, according to prison lore, to prevent tunneling. More modern facilities have incorporated electronic surveillance and operating systems that keep guards safer, reduce the potential for inmate uprisings, and largely make the notion of prison escape an anachronism. The Leavenworth penitentiary dates to 1897, when 17 teams of mules and at least 300 inmates from Fort Leavenworth’s military prison marched to a neighboring site to begin construction. By 1903, there was enough space to house 418 inmates in what has long been considered the “birthplace” of the federal prison system. The prison has made massive changes since. Its shiny dome and intimidating walls have housed mobsters and terrorists, including some of the men convicted in the first World Trade Center bombing. Through the years, the walls have held the stories of men like Robert F. Stroud, who studied birds before a prison transfer left him with the nickname “Birdman of Alcatraz.” At Leavenworth he murdered a guard — a sharp reminder of the violence that has taken place within the institution. The prison also was linked to the 1933 Union Station Massacre, which occurred as authorities were returning Frank Nash, murderer and train robber, to the prison. His escape nearly three years earlier is one of numerous famous jail breaks that occurred years ago at the facility. Today, the prison still houses infamous criminals, including convicted killer and American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier. But prisons have changed dramatically since the walls were constructed. A “super max” facility in Colorado now houses some of the nation’s worst criminals. The decision to change the prison’s security level comes down to efficiency, said bureau spokeswoman Traci Billings. Newer institutions are designed better for maximum-security inmates, she said. Prison officials said the transition would happen during the next nine to 12 months. However, security reasons prohibit them from disclosing how and exactly when inmates will be transferred. Bureau officials are especially tight-lipped about when or how they will transfer Thomas Silverstein, whom some consider the nation’s most formidable criminal. Silverstein, 53, was one of the inmates featured in the book The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison, by Pete Earley. Prison officials would not confirm whether Silverstein, who murdered two guards, is still held in the solitary cell Earley described. Silverstein, who is not allowed visitors, used to spend his days beneath the prison rotunda in a cell lighted 24 hours a day. The security transition will free up more space for medium-security inmates — a rapidly expanding population within the prison system. Local officials said the decision would save the government money. “They save a considerable amount of money simply because the number of personnel required is not as substantial,” said Charlie Gregor, executive vice president of the Leavenworth-Lansing Area Chamber of Commerce. “We don’t consider that good news at all.” At the same time, he said, city leaders won’t sit back. They plan to learn from Terre Haute, Ind., a community that faced a similar situation. After appealing to the bureau, Terre Haute ended up with the new prison designated to perform federal executions. Leaders in Leavenworth hope the bureau will consider building a new maximum- or medium-security facility on the expansive grounds it already owns along the northern edge of the city. In addition to the bureau’s ownership of enough real estate for another facility, they say the community has the trained employment pool and an established relationship with prisons. The federal system, with 112 institutions, has been on a building spree. Billings said it had built 10 new facilities within the past two fiscal years. For local leaders like state Rep. Candy Ruff, that signals an opportunity. Ruff, Gregor and others plan to court federal officials for the next prison. After all, the four prisons in the Leavenworth-Lansing area — the federal penitentiary, the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, the state prison in Lansing, and a privately run prison for federal inmates in Leavenworth — have proved to be vital economic assets, she said. “Some communities might not relish the idea of having a new prison, but you know Leavenworth is a prison community. We’re very proud of it,” she said. “We think that it’s a good way to do business. It’s the type of thing that we have long been associated with, and we see nothing wrong with it.” * A Hollywood producer has shown interest in film rights to WITSEC, and hopes to turn it into a weekly television drama. * Carl Bowles, one of five prisoners profiled in The Hot House, has died. That leaves only three main characters in the book who were convicts still living: Thomas Silverstein, Norman Bucklew, and Thomas Little. * In the mid-1980s, Sam Ormes created a closed circuit television station inside the Dade County Jail in Miami. He called it ICTV (Inmate/Corrections Television) and it was run and anchored by inmates under Ormes' supervision. Since then, ICTV has produced some 6000 hours of original programming, including its own Inmate Evening News broadcast. In addition to running ICTV, Ormes is a photographer and has captured the jail environment in his Faces of Jail portfolio. I befriended Sam in Miami and suggest you check out his various jail related websites at: 1. http://www.prisoners.com/conphoto.html 2. http://www.hometown.aol.com/sormes/Index5.html 3. http://www.samormes.com/ MGM and Kirk Kerkorian have bought Mandalay Resort Group, which was originally known as Circus Circus. Steve Wynn, meanwhile, has opened the most expensive casino ever built on the Las Vegas Strip. The new Wynn resort cost $2.7 billion! You can learn more by visiting Wynn's web page. Michael Walker was paroled from prison at age 37 on February 16, 2000 after serving 15 years of a 25 year sentence. The other members of the Walker spy ring -- John, Arthur, and Jerry Whitworth -- remain in federal prisons with little possibility of release despite several attempts by friends of Arthur Walker to win him a parole. While in Russia, I contacted Boris Solomatin, who was the KGB resident agent when John Walker volunteered to become a spy for Russia. He told me that he considered John Walker and Jerry Whitworth to be the most important spies in the history of the USSR, more so than Aldrich Ames because they gave the KGB cryptographic information that it used for nearly eighteen years to decipher U.S. military messages. Solomatin told me that Arthur Walker never provided the KGB with any useful information and the Russians consider his continued imprisonment to be cruel punishment for such a useless spy. Barbara Walker returned to the Virginia Beach area. FBI Agent Bob Hunter retired and wrote a book, along with his wife, about the Walker case. It is called Spy Hunter: Inside the FBI Investigation of the Walker Espionage Case. It is available on Amazon books. Jeffrey Don Lundgren was executed in 2006. You can read more about his death by visiting wikipedia. The members of his cult, including his wife, Alice, remain in prison. Kirtland Police Chief Dennis Yarborough died while jogging. At the time, Lundgren saw the chief’s death as a sign from God, but doctors said it was a heart attack. Lundgren had told his members that he could not be killed. He claimed that when he was taken to the death chamber, "God would save him and the world would end". Carl Bowles, who was a main character in my book, has died. Dallas Scott, the Aryan Brotherhood member, died of a heart attack while exercising in a prison yard in Lompoc, California in 1999. William Post, the "Catman," was paroled and moved in with a family that had read about him in my book. It seemed to be an ideal situation. The family ran a veterinarian business in the country and provided Post with free room and board and a salary for his help with animals. At one point, he said that all he needed was to meet a "beautiful blonde who rides a Harley." Incredibly, the family introduced him to a friend who met that description. It seemed that Post had found the perfect world outside Leavenworth. He was cared for and in love. But one day, he read about a local bank robbery and commented that the job had been done by a real amateur. Not long after that, he walked into a bank to rob it. The car that he had stolen to drive to the bank was blocked by a delivery truck. Post panicked and took a woman and her baby hostage when the police arrived. He freed the woman and child and was pursued by the police. He shot and slightly wounded an officer. Meanwhile, he was seriously wounded. Rather than surrender and return to Leavenworth, Post shot himself. Thomas Silverstein remains under “no human contact status” at the ADX Super Max prison in Florence, Colorado. A group of law students has filed a federal petition to force the federal Bureau of Prisons to drop his “no human contact” designation and allow him to participate in a step down program that could eventually result in him being released to a less secure facility. You can read the petition by clicking here. 
Rhonda Morrison's killer remains free. The character identified in my book as Howard K. Denmar has fled the area. Bryan Stevenson was awarded $500,000 from the MacArthur Foundation given to young geniuses but rather than spend it on himself, he used it to keep his death penalty organization going. It is now called Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama at WWW.EJI.ORG/ Despite much saber rattling by the Alabama Statehouse, no money was ever paid to Johnny D. McMillian by the state for his false imprisonment. Johnny D. has returned to the Monroeville area where he continues to eke out a living as a laborer. Sheriff Tom Tate and D.A. Tommy Chapman remain in office. Although the investigation into the death of Rhonda Morrison remains open, no one is pursuing it. Aldrich Ames remains in prison with little hope of a parole. Rosario Ames was released from prison and returned to Colombia where she is residing with her son and her mother. Under Boris Yeltsin, Russia released all of the spies in its prisons who Aldrich Ames identified and who had not been executed. The CIA has secretly relocated several of these families in the U.S. During a recent trip to Moscow, I met with a retired KGB general who assured me that the Russian government would eventually pay Aldrich Ames the $2 million that it still owes him, but I have no idea how or if this will ever happen. Four members of the CIA team that caught Aldrich Ames have retired from the agency. They include Paul Redmond, Sandy Grimes, Jeanne Vertefeuille and Diana Worthen. Despite all of the evidence that can be found in my book, there are some who are convinced that the CIA team did not catch Aldrich Ames. They believe that the CIA and FBI acted on a tip from Edward Howard or from Vasili Mitrokhin. I do not believe either of these men were the sources of any tips. |