It's amazing what you might find in your box of photos and letters that just might fit a Sepia Saturday prompt. When I saw the one of the prison inmate, I remembered a wonderful photo that I once found in an antique store. The identification card above is from Joliet Prison from 1912. Nothing could be found on the internet about this poor man. I wonder what ever happened to him.
Mr. Hudson sure looks a lot older than 25. And look at that nice suit he's got on with the stiff crisp collar. He doesn't look like a criminal to me.
Look at the 4th column from the left where it says "Color of Left Eye". Don't they want to know the color of the right eye?
According to this ID card, he escaped from prison in 1913 and there was a $50.00 reward for his capture. Was he ever found? I picture him running through the swamps with the bloodhounds after him. Let's hope he escaped and lived a long crime-free life.
There's nothing on the card about his crime. Maybe he was in for arson - since it states that he had burns on his face and forearm. mmmm. Could this be?
I might have been able to find out more about Mr. Hudson if that lazy prison guard had asked him for his birth date or even measured his cheek width. I just didn't have enough info to work with. So I guess we'll never know what happened to him. Maybe he escaped like this enterprising prisoner:
Escaped Inmate Caught Hiding In Portable Toilet
Authorities
swarm escaped inmate Cesar Sanchez in Rockdale Friday evening several
hours after he jumped from a moving prison vehicle. (CBS/Todd Sherman)
ROCKDALE, Ill. (CBS) – A state prison inmate was captured Friday evening, hiding deep within a portable toilet, several hours after he escaped from a van while being transported to Stateville Correctional Center.
As I dug deeper into my box of goodies, I was looking for a performance review that my mother received when she was working at a prison - another item I could relate to the prompt. But alas I couldn't find it. In the late 1950s she worked as secretary to the superintendent of the California Institute for Men in Chino, California.
The weird thing is that besides her secretarial duties, she also led group therapy sessions for drug addicted prisoners. How this happened I'll forever wonder. She had no experience or training as a counselor. That prison must have been pretty loose. I doubt if this could happen today. But I'll bet she was good at her job. Maybe better than a highly educated counselor.
I found another photo from another member of my family who was briefly incarcerated in a photo booth. It's my daughter, Megan when she was about 6 or 7. I love her variety of expressions. She really seemed to know what it would feel like to be a prisoner.
Walk the corridors and look into other cells by clicking here Sepia Saturday.
