From St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
BOWLING GREEN, Mo. — The warden’s office view is very good here at Northeast Correctional Center. From his window, he can see much of the sprawling state prison that’s home to about 1,550 inmates and surrounded by rolling fields.
That doesn’t mean it’s pretty.
On a recent mid-morning from his roost, the clear sun revealed overwhelming hues of gray from down below. Spools of concertina wire. Layers of fencing, concrete and metal. Even the prisoner uniforms.
An exception — a notable touch of color — came from the far-off corner of campus, where the Missouri prison system has been turned on its head. Older men milled around as they pleased, dressed in maroon “free world” shirts. Though each of the inmates carried convictions for long-ago heinous crimes, ranging from fatal shooting to kidnapping to strangulation, today they don’t even have correctional officers in their housing unit. Continue reading >>>
|
|
|
|
