MY THOUGHTS WHILE IN PRISON
By Dan Miller
June 26, 2008
The wind was chilly and biting that day, so other inmates were reluctant to join me in the recreation yard.
That's me, standing alone outside, but within the big walls of Alcatraz.
I was only about an hour into my stay at, what we call, the Rock.
Alcatraz is unrelentingly fascinating...
The cells, the stories, the sounds.
Inside, there are photos of some of the infamous inmates who spent time there...Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz....Al Capone....Machine Gun Kelly.
OK... mine was a voluntary visit a couple of weeks ago, along with several hundred other tourists.
Even the gift shop is something special... perhaps the most comprehensive and authentic gift shop I've seen in a tourist attraction anywhere.It's filled with books, clothing, videos and other mementoes that reflect the serious, intriguing nature of what that place was all about.
The day we visited, a former inmate -- Darwin Coon -- was there signing copies of his book about Alcatraz, and answering questions about his days as a bank robber, and what life was like on the Rock.
Alcatraz is a surprisingly beautiful place, with a breathtaking view of the bay and, of course, the City by the Bay.
So, at one point, my wife Karen asked Darwin Coon if -- given all the flowers and seagulls, the view of San Francisco, the much touted "good food" served three times a day, and the pleasant sounds of the bay -- perhaps there might've been some enjoyment in staying there?
Darwin didn't smile, he barely moved a muscle, and just sort of snorted, "It was bad!"
Alcatraz is a huge magnet for tourists.... with one-and-a-half million people taking that ferry ride from Pier 33 to the island every year.
Hmmm... that's probably more people than used to visit Opryland, back when it was Tennessee's top tourist attraction.... before it was unceremoniously dismantled to make way for a shopping mall.
It got me to thinking.....Maybe we should re-open the old Tennessee State Prison along Centennial Boulevard as a tourist attraction?
It's an impressively spooky place, with a haunting history and story.Like Alcatraz, it's had its share of well-known inmates.James Earl Ray was briefly housed at the old Tennessee prison.
And it has something that Alcatraz doesn't have.... an old, abandoned "death row".... including the actual room where condemned men were put to death in the electric chair.
Not necessarily a pleasant thing... but fascinating.
The old Tennessee prison was the scene of several riots.Channel 4 has great archival video of a stand-off with authorities in the early 1960s.
It's also been the setting for some famous movies... including the Academy Award winning "The Green Mile" with Tom Hanks, and "The Last Castle" with Robert Redford.
Like it or not, the old Tennessee State Prison is part of our history, dating back to the 1800s.A visit would be educational and certainly thought provoking.
Why it might even motivate some would-be criminals to take another path.
The deteriorating old building is just sitting there empty now.... waiting for its next mission.
Why can't that mission be to serve as a seductive destination?
Who knows... it could recapture some of those money-wielding tourists who escaped when Opryland disappeared.
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