Posted on 10/10/2005 6:41:01 AM PDT by billorites
The Department of Correction has found a new way to entertain the most dangerous cons in the state: They have sent in the circus.
Last week, murderers, rapists and other violent prisoners at MCI-Walpole, Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center and Boston Pre-release Center were being treated to entertainment in the form of strongmen, singers and comedians who are part of a touring evangelistic Christian outreach group that uses laughs to urge cons into Bible study. Correction officers say clowns even joined the act.
And the show will go on.
The Christian group is called Operation Starting Line, a program aimed at helping violent cons on their ``marathon run through life with all its loops and bends, its smooth pavements and potholes. Through OSL, prisoners learn to come under a new `coach' – the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who alone can transform their hearts and set them free from bondage to sin and crime.''
The performers plan to visit every prison in the state, said DOC spokeswoman Kelly Nantel.
The traveling circus has infuriated correction officers who complain that in addition to the violent maniacs they are dealing with every day, they now have to trip over Bozo in the prison yard.
``Picture a big clown car pulling up to MCI-Walpole with strongmen, clowns getting out and entertaining the murderers and rapists out in the yard,'' said Ken Ferullo, vice president of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union.
``Morale is at an all-time low, and we have to watch inmates who are throwing feces and urine at us be entertained by a circus, having a great time,'' Ferullo said. ``I have been in this department for 13 years and I have never seen anything like this. It's shocking.''
It strikes me that there are probably enough strongmen already in the prison system. How many more men need to flex their muscles in a prison yard?
And the issue of clowns has become a touchy one with the DOC. Last week, Nantel, the DOC spokeswoman, insisted there were no clowns on prison property. Yes, there was a strongman, she said, and some singers.
But no clowns.
``There were never clowns. I know that there was a strongman who is a former drug addict,'' Nantel said.
When told that the DOC was denying that clowns were part of last week's prison-yard shows, a correction officer who watched it himself laughed.
``That must have been the superintendent with the red nose and the floppy feet,'' he said.
Who knows? Maybe some entertainment will calm some of the angrier inmates down. These past few months – since Walpole's ``supermax'' unit was shut down the same day the Herald exposed a problem with faulty doors popping open, allowing inmates to escape – prisoners have caused thousands of dollars in damage.
The show's strongman, Duane DeGravel, who breaks bricks as part of his act, is going to have a hard time impressing the guys who ripped toilets out of the walls of their cells with their bare hands over the past few months.
But hey, Operation Starting Line is not promising anything but the following, according to a flyer posted at Bay State Correctional Center: ``We are hoping to entertain you, and most of all we want to give you hope and encouragement.''
At least the prisoners are getting to enjoy a circus. I certainly can't afford to hit the old Garden this week with my five nieces and nephews to take in the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. Not when the tickets run up to $95 a pop.
Otoh, the Chinese, Russians, Japanese, Iraqis, Somalis, etc., wouldn't do such a thing. Maybe THEY are right.
Shades of Willie Horton/Michael Dukakis/John Kerry
When did we elect Ned Flanders as Governor?
I HATE clowns! The though of 'em makes me want to destroy something, hit somebody!
I am, at this very moment, listening to Johnny Cash's "Live at San Quentin" with Carl Perkins and the Statler Brothers there too.
Man they knew how to pamper prisoners in the sixties. I would have shot a man in Reno, just to be at that show.
"Man they knew how to pamper prisoners in the sixties. I would have shot a man in Reno, just to be at that show."
Why, you dirty old egg-sucking dog!
;-)
I support these activities if they are payed for out of the inmate canteen profits or other such funds AND as incentive for the best behavior.
throw
I know they're murderers and rapists, but does that really jusitfy clowns? Surely you could just execute them and get it over with.
Hey, I think this is a great idea.
As long as the cons are part of the act.
Lion tamer amateur hour. Human cannonball where their victims get to load the powder. And see how many you can fit into a Volkswagon - again with the help of victims.
It could be a hit...
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