Life in Prison

This riot baton was owned by James A. MacCormick (1923 – 2009). A riot baton is a club. This one is made of wood. Law enforcement officers can carry them as weapons to control groups and defend themselves.

James’s father Austin H. MacCormick spent his career observing different prisons and raising awareness for prison conditions. In 1967, James started working at the Maine State Prison in Thomaston as a line officer. This was soon after the prison’s warden, Allen Robbins, created a riot control squad at the prison in response to the unrest in prisons across the country.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, prison riots became more common. More people inside and outside of prison were calling for prisoners’ rights and better living conditions.

During riots, riot control squads were trained to approach the inmates as a group, swinging their batons at the inmates’ legs and knees to get them to retreat. It is unknown whether the baton was ever used against inmates during James MacCormick’s time on the squad.

This a jail cell at the Maine State Prison in Thomaston, Maine. This picture was taken in the 1920s. The prison was open for 178 years, from 1824 to 2002.

As you might have noticed from this image, the prison cells were very small. At the time, they were usually around four feet deep. They contained a bed, toilet, and sink.

This type of cell was an upgrade from when the prison opened its doors in 1824. Those cells were completely underground. The only opening was in the ceiling of the cell, which is how the prisoners entered. They were completely isolated from other people. These cells were later replaced because they were considered inhumane.

This is part of a lecture, or public talk, given by Austin H. MacCormick (1893 – 1979) at Bowdoin College in 1956. In this speech, MacCormick talks about prison conditions and his career.

When Austin was a student at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, he studied prison reform. An author named Paul Douglas asked Austin if he would be interested in going undercover as a prisoner to help with a book about state prisons.

Austin agreed and then committed himself to the prison for a week. He came in as a forger (someone who makes fake copies) and was assigned cell 67. He spent his time at the prison building relationships with the prisoners.

His goal was to learn about the prisoners’ first-hand experiences and to see how the prison functioned from an inside perspective. Afterward, Austin went undercover in several other prisons throughout his career. He used the insider knowledge he gained to expose the truth about prison conditions and advocate for reform in prisons across America.

This is a grave marker, which is used to mark where a body is buried in a cemetery. Joseph W. Kerr was an inmate at the Maine State Prison in Thomaston when he died. When prisoners died, they were buried in an area right outside the prison walls.

The grave markers in this cemetery were made of wood with painted lettering. When the Maine State Prison in Thomaston closed and moved to a new location, these wooden markers were replaced with stone markers that would last much longer.

Joseph, whose prison number was 2890, was from Washington County, Maine. He was convicted of breaking and entering (forcing his way into a building with the intent to commit crime). He entered the prison on January 9, 1888.

Joseph was just one year away from completing his four-year sentence at the time of his death. He died on September 1, 1890, from tuberculosis. Tuberculosis was a deadly lung disease also known as “consumption.” He was only 23 years old, and it was his first time in prison.

Joseph’s experience was not uncommon. The Maine State Prison at Thomaston was open for 178 years, from 1824 to 2002. Poor living conditions and overcrowding meant that inmates faced serious health risks. Most years, at least one inmate died from illness, suicide, or execution. These health risks were even more serious during pandemics, like the tuberculosis pandemic.

This report was written by Albert P. Heald, M.D, the doctor (or ‘physician’) for the Maine State Prison. In this document, Heald specifically writes to the Board of Prison Commissioners of the State of Maine. He wants to make sure they get his message. This Board’s job was to oversee the prison, including how it spent money.

In the report, Heald mentions the new facilities in place in the prison and how they have affected the prisoners’ living conditions and health. He references disease and an epidemic that happened in the prison. According to this report, improvements to the prison have helped prisoners’ overall health.

This is a photograph of the inmates at Maine State Prison in Thomaston, taken around 1924. They are playing a game of baseball. Some people spend years or the rest of their lives in prison, and their lives continue with different types of education, culture, work, and recreation.

Prisons do allow recreation time for activities such as playing sports, but it is highly monitored and regulated. In some cases, removing recreational privileges is a way to punish prisoners for bad behavior.

Notice the environment of this baseball game and how it might be different from a game in the park.