What Kinds of People are in Prison?

This is a report on female prisoners at the Maine State Prison for the year 1880.

At the time, the prison was designed only for men and did not have a place for female prisoners. This was a problem because, by the time this report was published, there had already been 62 female prisoners.
This table shows the sentences, or punishments, for these women. It also shows how many women were in prison for that amount of time.

Notice the number of pardons and commutations. A prisoner is “pardoned” when the government decides that they will not be held responsible for the crime. A person is “commuted” when their sentence is changed in some form. Often this involves shortening their sentence so that they get released from prison earlier.

This is a booking form for the Maine State Prison in Thomaston. Booking forms were used to record people’s entry into the prison. They contained information like fingerprints that could identify them.

This form belonged to Austin H. MacCormick (1893 – 1979). He arrived at the prison on August 30, 1915. At the time, he was a student at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. He was studying prison reform. An author named Paul Douglas asked Austin if he would go 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 pretended to be a forger (someone who makes fake copies) and was assigned cell 67. He spent his time at the prison building relationships with the prisoners to learn about their first-hand experiences. He also noticed how the prison functioned.

Austin went overcover at several other prisons around the country 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 chart from the 1905 Maine State Prison report. It shows what jobs people held before they came into the prison.

All of the people included in this report are men – women of the time mostly had different kinds of jobs.

Notice how certain jobs have higher numbers than others. For example, there are more laborers and farmers than bakers or cigar makers.

What is a laborer? A laborer is an unskilled worker. They usually have to do physical tasks and are not paid very much. Being “unskilled” is the most important part of what defines a laborer – they do not need as much special knowledge. For example, a skilled worker like a carpenter must train and practice to be able to design and build something. A laborer could start a new job without previous experience, though their work is still difficult and important.

This is a portrait of Clifton Harris (misspelled “Haries” here), who was accused of murder in Maine in 1867. Harris was a 19-year old working as a laborer in Maine. He was born in the South, and he may have been a freed enslaved person, or a Civil War veteran.

Clifton was accused of killing two older women in their home in Auburn, Maine. He was captured and questioned by the police until he finally confessed to the murder. It was complicated, though.

A white man, Luther Verrill, was also believed to have been at the scene of the crime. At first, Clifton said that Luther was the one who planned to rob and kill the women. Clifton’s story changed after police questioned him for hours and hours. At the time of the trial, there was no evidence proving which man committed the murder. Later evidence suggested it was probably Verrill. Even so, Harris received the death penalty, and Verrill walked free.

Because of how violent the crime was, the case became a hot topic in the media. Even before he was officially charged with the crime and sentenced to death, the public in Maine called Clifton Harris “The West Auburn Murderer.”

That title is included in the caption of this photograph, which was taken in a studio. It was sold to the public for a small amount of money, like a souvenir postcard. It was also published in some Maine newspapers.

Maine governors usually ignored death warrants and instead let convicted people continue their lives in prison. Joshua Chamberlain was governor in 1867. Of the ten people convicted of murder during Chamberlain’s term, Clifton Harris was the only one executed. Capital punishment (the death penalty) was abolished in Maine in 1876, then reinstated (for murder only) in 1883, then abolished again in 1887.

This is a photograph of Luther J. Verrill, who was arrested, charged, and sentenced to death with Clifton Harris for the infamous murder of two women in Auburn, Maine. Lither was a 41-year-old white man who worked as a laborer. Clifton Harris was a 19-year-old African American man and may have grown up enslaved in the South.

Both Luther and Clifton were originally charged with the murder. Clifton said that Luther planned the crime, but later changed his story after the police questioned him for hours and hours. There was no clear proof. Luther ended up getting a retrial and was judged innocent. He walked free, while Clifton got the death penalty. Later evidence suggested that Luther was probably the one who committed the murders.

This photograph and caption were from a Maine studio. It was taken in the same place and time as Clifton Harris’ portrait, and both men are wearing the same jacket. It was probably a prop at the studio.

Because of how violent the crime was, the case became a hot topic in the media. This photograph was sold to the public for a small amount of money, like a souvenir postcard. It was also published in some Maine newspapers.

The caption of this photo links Luther to the crime, but does not call him a murderer.