1880 Report of the Inspectors of Prison and Jails for the State of Maine
Pgs. 36-37
Maine State Archives
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.
Source 2 - Document
Source 2 - Document
Juvenile Institutions of Maine Statistics
1920 Fifth Biennial Report of the Board of Trustees and Officers of the Juvenile Institutions of Maine
Pg. 35
Maine State Archives
This is a breakdown of the girls at the State School for Girls from 1918 to 1920. The school was in Hallowell, Maine.
It is part of a larger report, published every two years, on the Juvenile Institutions of Maine. There was also a State School for Boys in South Portland. The purpose of these Juvenile Institutions was to rehabilitate, or “improve,” children who either committed crimes or showed behaviors that people thought could lead to them committing a crime.
When this report was written, 123 girls lived at the school and another 91 lived outside of the school. Many of the girls were working. Notice the reasons that the girls were sent to the school and their average age.
Source 3 - Artifact
Source 3 - Artifact
Austin H. MacCormick Booking Form
1915
Maine State Museum 2019.74.2
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.
Source 4 - Document
Source 4 - Document
Occupations of Prisoners
1905 Annual Reports of the Inspectors, Warden and Subordinate Officers of the Maine State Prison
Pgs. 28-29
Maine State Prison Archives
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 and is usually receives low wages to complete a physical task. 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.
Source 5 - Image
Source 5 - Image
Portrait of Clifton Harris
1867
Maine State Museum 2021.6.1
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.
Source 6 - Image
Source 6 - Image
Portrait of Luther J. Verrill
1867
Maine State Museum 2019.71.1
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.
LISTEN TO THE SOUND RECORDING
Click on or copy and paste the link below:http://mainesharedhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/What-Kinds-of-People_Sound-Clip.mp3
Transcript (written copy of the sound recording):
“People want to know that the people they’re surrounding themselves around really, really care about them. People want to be closer to their loved ones, or be able to experience making a con-nection with someone that could be a loved one. Those are the things that don’t happen here.
And so every night when people go to bed here, and either you’re looking at the ceiling or you’re looking at the bottom of the bunk above you, at those moments you’re really in touch with where your fears are, and what you want to do. And people don’t want to die in prison. Nobody wants to die in prison. And nobody wants to die – not just being alone, but let me personalize this a little bit.
Not only do I not want to die in prison, but I don’t want to die with this stigma that is associated with my being in prison. I don’t want people to say, ‘yeah, Bobby Payzant could’ve, should’ve done all this, but he chose to be this instead.’ I don’t want the actions of my past to dictate how I am perceived for the rest of my life. I want the things that I’m doing today to weigh in on that. And I don’t feel like if I continue my life in prison, that that really happens in an adequate manner.
Because you’re locked away, people don’t see you. We’re not given a platform or a format to share who we are. And so people out there, a lot of people who are suffering because they were victimized by people like myself, you know, they have that one view. And nobody’s out there say-ing ‘hey, there’s more to it than that.’ While at the same time acknowledging their grief and their pain.
Because I don’t want anyone to misunderstand what I say – I own what I did, and my victim, and I made sure I said this to him in court- did not have that coming to him. He didn’t deserve that. And I live with that. You know, because if someone knows me and they get to know me when I’m not high, when I’m not making bad decisions, they know that I’m a very caring person and that I want to add something to your life, I don’t want to take away.
And so to have become that person that was stealing and taking away from people, and neglect-ing the person who I am, my core self, you know. That eats me up. That eats me up. And I can’t say sorry enough times. So what do I do? I think about it, and I say, okay, well moving forward, be-cause I have to move forward, what do I do? “
Interview with Bobby Payzant – What Kinds of People are in Prison
2014
SafeSpace Radio
Full interview available at https://safespaceradio.com/prisoners-and-hospice
At the time of this interview, Bobby Payzant was serving 23 years for assault at the Maine State Prison, a maximum-security correctional facility in Warren, Maine.
This is a clip from a 2014 radio interview. The woman’s voice that you hear is Dr. Anne Hallward, the radio program’s host.
In this clip, Bobby talks about the experience of being in prison, thinking about how you are seen by people on the outside.
Bobby is a hospice volunteer and gives end-of-life care to his fellow inmates. He has a lot of experience talking with and helping inmates who are dying.
Freedom & Captivity Primary Source Sets developed in collaboration between the Maine State Archives, Maine State Library, and Maine State Museum.
