You hardly ever slept, only cat naps. You wake up shivering, hardly able to move. You ache. Men were beaten into unconsciousness. I could hear their yells and screams. One boy was beaten after he hadn’t eaten for fifteen days. I could hear (Associate Warden) Miller cursing and raging like a mad man. I was scared to death...
The jury sympathized with Young, and he was ultimately convicted of manslaughter, a charge that would add only a few years to his sentence. He continued to be a difficult inmate, and was eventually transferred to the US Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Missouri. After serving out his federal sentence, he was transferred to Washington State Penitentiary in 1954, and was released on parole in 1972. He spent nearly forty years in prison. He finally jumped parole and vanished without a trace. Henri Young emerged only as a legendary crime figure and was never seen or heard from again.
* * *
January 21, 1945
Miss Amelia Young
Kansas City, Missouri
Dearest Aunt Amelia:
I don’t at all understand how the mix-up came about that you should have been told that I am in our church formally. Father Lyons has never had the opportunity to take me into our church. I have all the time been in isolation and cannot go to church...
Aunt Amelia, my dear, the fact that I am a true conversionist is definitely why I know I am going to be out of prison and a priest within five years. It is all a miracle I grant you, but one that your prayers helped obtain for me. I never would have been a Catholic, or even religious, were I not a true conversionist. And do so wish you would question your priest as to what a true conversionist is even after I give you these details. A priest can make it so clear by many illustrations that I haven’t the paper to draw out. A true conversionist is a person who re-lives every one of his sins. He is a made to do this by God so that he will be clean-souled enough to work for God on some specific task that God has in mind for that person to do. It is a miracle, a miracle of a human being going through Purgatory here on earth. Even your priest will tell you that I am the only human on earth who will know that I am a true conversionist until God chooses to reveal it to His Church, and I know that I am a true conversionist who will be free and with you and a priest within five years.
That was ever so good of you to renew my name at Saint Jude’s Shrine. I hope some day to visit there with you. Then we can pay our respect to Saint Jude in-person and have long talks with the priests at His Shrine.
Just as you have done in the past, Aunt Amelia you might do now, send the prayer book and calendar you have for me directly to me here. But wait until I let you know about the “Register” before you send them. They may have to go direct to Father Lyons. Yet I wish I had them now to turn to as a religious discussion. I know they are pleasing to God, Mother, and to Saint Jude.
Lovingly yours,
Henri Young, 244-AZ
* * *
May 15, 1946
Mr. and Mrs. Ruckman Ward
Oakland, California
Dear Bob and Naomi:
This is the first time I have had an opportunity to write you since the awful escape of May second. I am now cold. All of the Windows were bombed and shot out, and all the radiators were broken up by the shells. Workman are laboring to get the place warm again. And I’m writing this on a life news magazine held on my knee.
When that terrible escape attempt started I was writing a letter to Aunt Amelia. A while later I tore it up because if I didn’t come through all shooting I didn’t want anyone else to read it. At first the shooting was light. Another fellow and I sat on the floor until he caught a deflected shell in his shoulder. He wasn’t hurt badly. We however grabbed some mattresses and built a barricade at the front of my cell door. Then we stacked all my books up beyond that. Things got hotter. The noise of gun firing was terrific. We crawled under my steel bunk and stayed there nearly all the time. Those antiaircraft and antitank bombs the Navy and Marines threw into isolation lifted my cell up and crashed into my eardrums with awful din. I laid there and wait to feel the pain from a fragment or a shell. I never got touched.
Two real close calls scared me. One came at the very first and one at the last. But after used to the firing I slept a while over different periods. I raised up to look around the cellblock during some of the heaviest firing. The place was truly beautiful. There was a steady stream of brilliant white and red flares casting their lights over everything. Tracer bullets lancing through the smoke. Actually the worst of the whole thing physically was the pungent smoke from smoldering mattresses. I can hardly breathe and my eyes ran a steady stream.
When I wasn’t sleeping or talking I was praying for all of us fellows, the officers I knew were in danger of getting killed, and the officials and guards would have the courage to come in and capture those who caused such horror. It was a sheer miracle that so few innocent inmates were slightly wounded. Even the guards could hardly believe their own eyes, when they saw us all walking.
There is a big colored fellow among us who was through the Italian campaigns during the recent war. He laughed aloud and said even Italy was never so bad is what we went through.
Yours, with love,
(Signed) Henry Young 244 – AZ
* * *
September 30, 1947
To: Attorney General Tom Clark, Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
I am writing to you concerning a hunger strike, which is now going on here at Alcatraz, California. I want to present our just grievances to you in hope that you will require this Warden to act as he should. This hunger strike is taking place in isolation, where there are about 27 men, 22 of us began it, now we are down to 15 men, all of whom I expect to remain on it since the weakest ones have fallen out.
Here is the reason for the hunger strike. The two orderlies who attended to our wants in isolation which we others remain locked in our cells, are two men no came to isolation for protection because they had caused so much trouble for themselves out in the main cellblocks. They have caused so much trouble here in isolation for themselves that they refuse to go to the isolation recreational yard. These men are John Davis #557, and Ramos Nemine, whose number I don’t know. Both of these men are sarcastic and swearing to most of us. Both of these men have committed petty acts against us that hardly a normal person would do.
And John Davis #557 is now in the district courts on petition to prove himself insane. He is in truth for the man has been in several insane asylums. I have read his psychiatric record. He is a confirmed liar, as his psychiatric record will show.
And, you know that no person should be in a position to handle the wants of others who are so afraid that they refuse to accept the normal privileges of others, the main cellblocks or of isolation. That alone proves that the men are unbalanced.
This is now the 5th day of the hunger strike to have these men removed from their positions. No one wants to hurt them, simply to require them to cease handling our food and our other necessities.
It is peculiar that Warden Johnston has refused to remove these two men from their position in the light of similar past events.
Four men have been removed from the food job alone for getting into trouble with only one inmate. These two men are protected on it when 22 out of 27 men object to them.
Why Warden Johnston acts in this manner only he has the answers.
Will you therefore please investigate this matter and require that we isolation men obtain justice?
Very sincerely yours,
HENRI YOUNG 244 AZ
* * *
From Henri Young 244 AZ September 30, 1947
Alcatraz, California
To Mr. James V. Bennett Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
In this letter I am trying to obtain your help in relieving a couple of almost unbearable burdens from inmates of this institution. We are now on the fifth day of a hunger strike in protest against Warden Johnston’s unjust actions.
First, Warden Johnston
has forced us to accept as an orderly an insane man, John Davis #557. This man is in position to foul our food, clothing, and the toilet necessities we require. He entered isolation for the reason that he could not get along with the inmates in the main cell blocks. He refuses to go to the yard in isolation for the same reason. He sneers and snarls at us as he passes our cells; he has been in several insane asylums; he is an escapee from the last one in which he was confined; and, now he is in the district court on petition to prove himself insane. You know that a man of such character should not have power over other inmates, and it is desired by us inmates that you require Warden Johnston to remove this man.
Second, Warden Johnston has some time ago taken away a great deal of our yard privilege. This was unnecessary. We receive only three hours of yard privilege each week now, and with hardly no change whatsoever from the administrative viewpoint, we could as easily receive eight hours of yard each week. This lack of yard has contributed immensely toward the cracking of men in isolation. There are two men here short-timers both, who hear voices – pure delusion. These men are Willie James Westley and Clifford Owens. Nothing at all is done for them, but soon they will go out into society with your permission and that of Warden Johnston. When the insane orderly we have now first came over to isolation he believed that many of us were “talking” about him when that was not true. If we can receive a longer yard privilege, even what has been taken away from us, we can cooperate to better the mental condition of these men who are cracking up.
These hunger strikes are not pleasant experiences. But as Warden Johnston has never indicated any desire to negotiate on such wrongs, we must use as severe means against ourselves as this. I am therefore seeking your aid, as a delegated representative of the group, to bring about a just conclusion to our grievances.
And may I hope that this letter finds you willing to help us?
Very sincerely yours,
Henri Young 244 Az
* * *
December 20, 1947
To: Warden Johnston
Sir:
We isolation inmates are making arrangements to protect your refusal to permit us a different yard status.
We see no reason why all of us cannot be in the yard at one time, especially when you can lock up any chronic troublemaker on any yard day, for example, Basom. And this separate yard basis is a constant source of agitation for the reason that it gives no inmate an opportunity to prove to the officials that past feuds are over.
No one would protest if you would give us all the yard on a three-day two-hour period week. We have discussed it and think that a six-hour week would be sufficient. At the same time, that would save your personnel expense, and the trouble of letting us in and out on the fourth day.
I hope you won’t refuse us this reasonable request. More of us want to buck you on this question; none of us enjoy a non-cooperative protest.
May we hope that you will give us a least the three-day, two-hour yard period?
Very sincerely,
HENRI YOUNG
* * *
This statement was made in response to the request for an investigation of Alcatraz, made by the jury that tried Henri Young for the murder of Rufus McCain.
Statement of James V. Bennett
Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons
May 1, 1941
I am firmly convinced that the jury which tried Henri Young for murder of another inmate in the Alcatraz Penitentiary has been misled about conditions at the prison. It has been impressed by tactics which sought to free Young through disparaging and attacking a public institution performing humanely and intelligently a most difficult task of protecting the public from hardened and unregenerate criminals. Young has been described by former United States Attorney Simpson and Federal Judge Stanley Webster of Spokane, Washington, as “the worst and most dangerous criminal with whom they ever dealt” and as “one who would not hesitate to kill anybody who crossed his path.” He has been permitted to go virtually unpunished on the basis of inferences and innuendoes made by inmates whose criminal records and life histories show them to be wholly unreliable and who were able to commit deliberate perjury with impunity since they could not be reached by any effective legal process. From such information as I have about the trial, it is apparent that the Jury had before it no first-hand information or reliable evidence as to the policies or methods followed in the management of the most difficult and desperate group of prisoners ever assembled.
Alcatraz is now and always has been open to inspection and investigation by any qualified or properly commissioned person or groups. It has been inspected by Judges, Congressmen, penologists and qualified private citizens and has been approved as a modern and intelligent method of protecting the public from those desperate criminals who have proved themselves to be wholly intractable.
The institution, for instance, was recently inspected by experts of the Osborne Association of New York, a private philanthropic organization devoted primarily to the investigation of prisons, and was pronounced by them as well managed and operated and as using no improper system of discipline. Members of the Appropriations Committee of Congress in the course of their examination of our estimates also recently inspected the institution and made no criticism of its methods or operations.
I have visited Alcatraz frequently as have various members of our staff and know personally most of the inmates, including Young. As a matter of fact, I have on several occasions personally interviewed Young and done everything possible to obtain his cooperation. I have never found or had called to my attention any authentic case of brutality or inhumanity at Alcatraz.
Corporal punishment is prohibited in all the Federal penal institutions including Alcatraz. We stand on our record as the most modern and humane penal system in the world. I have every confidence in Warden Johnston. He is a just, humane, and intelligent prison warden capably performing the most difficult job any warden was ever asked to assume. The entire institutional staff has consistently displayed their courage, patience, and devotion to the public service. They deserve the support of every fair-minded citizen whose homes and safety they have helped to protect.
The statements made by the prisoners so far called to my attention have already been carefully investigated by the Department [of Justice] and found to be wholly unfounded. When, however, a transcript of the testimony has been received, it will be carefully gone over as in every other case, and if any evidence or facts are found showing brutal or inhuman treatment, vigorous corrective measures will be taken.
Richard Neumer, 286-AZ
Richard Neumer
Former Alcatraz Officer Alver Bloomquist once described convicted bank robber Richard Neumer, AZ-286, as “Neumer the Nuisance,” an inmate who exhaustively complained about the conditions at Alcatraz. Neumer was a very close friend to Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz,” and had a reputation for inciting fellow inmates and scheming against the administration. Officers characterized him as an abrasive personality type who could never be trusted, even by his fellow inmates. Neumer was one of the prisoners barricaded in Block D during the Battle of Alcatraz. He wrote prolifically to federal officials and—as he sought intervention for the strict confinement practices on the Rock—to the President of the United States.
Alcatraz Island, California
January 12 1946
Mr. Harry S. Truman
President of United States
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. President,
Please excuse me for putting you to extra work at a time you are terribly busy on other matters.
Mr. President life for me here at Alcatraz, under Warden James A. Johnston, and Associate Warden E. J. Miller is getting to a point where it is double jeopardy, and causing me great mental strain.
I do not wish to cause myself any trouble by doing as others had to do to get medical treatment and other privileges due them. A fellow that flares up and losses all his good time gets treated better than those tha
t do not.
Sir, truly, I can prove to you I am receiving unjust treatment through the prejudice of the Associate Warden, Mr. E. J. Miller.
Mr. President, I pray you will order an investigation concerning my treatment before my mental strain forces me to do acts beyond my control and against my will to do.
Sir, we have recently received a very fine doctor, Dr. Rochek, I feel he will or could help me if Mr. Miller would allow me to go to the hospital for the treatments that has been recommended for my trouble.
Thanking you in advance and promising to be a future good citizen I remain
Yours Respectfully
Richard A. Numer
Inmate #286
* * *
From Richard Numer January 27, 1946
Alcatraz Is., California 854 Woodhaven Ave.
To Mrs. R. G. Oliver Memphis, Tennessee
My Dear Sister & Family,
It is Sunday afternoon and a very nice sun-shiny Sabbath. Wish we could all go for a drive in the country or perhaps to the Memphis Zoo. Do you take the children out to Overton Park very often? I use to get a big thrill watching those silly monkeys. Ha.
Certainly glad you received and enjoyed the poem – “Ode to God.” I hope Mrs. Coons will enjoy reading it. I am ashamed of myself because I didn’t send Thelma a copy of it! I will yet.
Darn it, of all the swell sisters I had, it seems as though my life should have been differently woven. No one to blame but Poor Richard Acough! I had a swell opportunity from a swell Uncle and Aunt to gain a good education. That golden chance was thrown to the four winds. And of all the places to be chosen along life’s pathway to stop to realize – It had to be prison! Ha Poor me!
A bright light shines on the horizon! Hopes of my near freedom exists with me. Yes Linnie, I really believe something will turn out for my good. And if I must continue to serve the term to its long end; I only hope my mind stays together.
Letters from Alcatraz Page 32