Late night Georgia history story.
Prisons with horrible legacies turn Angola, Rikers, Attica, San Quentin, etc into household names...
Georgia had a prison so horrendous that it only managed to stay open for twelve short years.
Buford Rock Quarry Prison For Incorrigibles.
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Prisons with horrible legacies turn Angola, Rikers, Attica, San Quentin, etc into household names...
Georgia had a prison so horrendous that it only managed to stay open for twelve short years.
Buford Rock Quarry Prison For Incorrigibles.
1/
Rock Quarry was consistently in the national press from before it accepted prisoners until it closed in 1963.
Not just for the brutal treatment of the inmates but for the desperate actions they took to escape the torture and draw attention to their situation...
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Not just for the brutal treatment of the inmates but for the desperate actions they took to escape the torture and draw attention to their situation...
2/
Construction started in 1949 and the prison started accepting inmates in 1951.
It hit the national wires before housing an inmate due to the fact that the prison was entirely designed and built by prisoners (though not the ones that would be incarcerated there).
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It hit the national wires before housing an inmate due to the fact that the prison was entirely designed and built by prisoners (though not the ones that would be incarcerated there).
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"Escape-Proof," "Tight As A Dam," "Georgia's Alcatraz..."
What could go wrong in a prison designed by prisoners as escape proof... solely to house the "worst of the worst" inmates that other state prisons couldn't handle?
To work in a rock quarry in the brutal Georgia sun?
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What could go wrong in a prison designed by prisoners as escape proof... solely to house the "worst of the worst" inmates that other state prisons couldn't handle?
To work in a rock quarry in the brutal Georgia sun?
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Everything went wrong.
It's hard to explain what manual labor in a humid Georgia July/August is like.
You can easily lose ten pounds a day if you aren't used to it and don't take precautions
Add to that working in a quarry, thick dust coating your lungs 12 hours a day.
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It's hard to explain what manual labor in a humid Georgia July/August is like.
You can easily lose ten pounds a day if you aren't used to it and don't take precautions
Add to that working in a quarry, thick dust coating your lungs 12 hours a day.
5/
Add to that brutal, armed guards standing over you.
It made men desperate.
"Escape-Proof" lasted months.
The first escape (six men) happened in September of the year the prison opened.
The man hunt put the prison back in the national news.
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It made men desperate.
"Escape-Proof" lasted months.
The first escape (six men) happened in September of the year the prison opened.
The man hunt put the prison back in the national news.
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For days the story appeared in newspapers across the country.
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It even earned a photo spread in Life magazine.
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The real shock, however, came a few months later when, after finishing their Christmas dinner, 1/5 of the inmate population sliced the achilles tendon in their heels.
In protest of their living and work conditions.
It prompted the prison's first investigation...
/9
In protest of their living and work conditions.
It prompted the prison's first investigation...
/9
The eventual investigation found nothing wrong.
A glorious example of "we investigated ourselves and we found we did nothing wrong."
It would not be the last investigation like this.
Nor the last "self-mutilation" protest.
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A glorious example of "we investigated ourselves and we found we did nothing wrong."
It would not be the last investigation like this.
Nor the last "self-mutilation" protest.
/10
Five years later, during an afternoon break, 36 prisoners lined up in a row, sitting, while another prisoner went down the road and broke bones in their legs with a ten pound sledge hammer.
Not long after, five more inmates followed suit and a second investigation was held.
/11
Not long after, five more inmates followed suit and a second investigation was held.
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Rock Quarry was, once again, hot on the national wires and appearing in papers across the country.
Time magazine even did a piece on the story.
content.time.com/time/subscribe…
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Time magazine even did a piece on the story.
content.time.com/time/subscribe…
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And the story earned Rock Quarry another photo essay in Life magazine....
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The local papers ran photos of an empty quarry yard and the State Prison Director, Jack Forrester, demonstrating how the inmates broke their legs.
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Initially, Forrester claimed the mass leg-breaking demonstration was a frame-up to get out of work and bring bad publicity to the prison.
No investigation would be held but each of the inmates would receive a psych evaluation.
He ordered an investigation as the...
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No investigation would be held but each of the inmates would receive a psych evaluation.
He ordered an investigation as the...
/16
as the bad publicity mounted.
Unsurprisingly, the report found no evidence of any brutal conditions at the Rock Pile.
The only concessions were that guards cussed too much and occasionally cuffed inmates for no reason and it was recommended those practices end.
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Unsurprisingly, the report found no evidence of any brutal conditions at the Rock Pile.
The only concessions were that guards cussed too much and occasionally cuffed inmates for no reason and it was recommended those practices end.
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But in addition to the horrific work and living conditions receiving bad press, the escapes continued at the "Escape-Proof" prison... sometimes garnering national press, sometimes just local.
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But in addition to the horrific work and living conditions receiving bad press, the escapes continued at the "Escape-Proof" prison... sometimes garnering national press, sometimes just local.
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In 1959 a hunger strike broke out at the Reidsville prison was broken up with the ring leaders sent to Rock Quarry.
Once in Buford, they continued to organize and protest, staging a sit-in and refusing to work.
Both protests were highly publicized and the second put...
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Once in Buford, they continued to organize and protest, staging a sit-in and refusing to work.
Both protests were highly publicized and the second put...
19/
Rock Quarry back in the news.
The end came in 1963 and the release of a report from a real investigation, by an outside investigator. This investigation was ordered by then Governor Carl Sanders.
I haven't found a copy yet (and when I do I'll add it to the thread), but...
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The end came in 1963 and the release of a report from a real investigation, by an outside investigator. This investigation was ordered by then Governor Carl Sanders.
I haven't found a copy yet (and when I do I'll add it to the thread), but...
20/
it's clear it pulled no punches in it's depiction of how awful our prison system was. It was an embarrassment for the State, after years of insisting there were no problems.
Rock Quarry was closed with plans to renovate the facility.
It never happened but eventually...
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Rock Quarry was closed with plans to renovate the facility.
It never happened but eventually...
21/
a new medium-security prison, Phillips State Prison, was built and opened in 1990.
But Rock Quarry still stands on the site.
12 years.
A brutal piece of Georgia history often overlooked...
A hundred men willing to extremely injure themselves in protest...
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But Rock Quarry still stands on the site.
12 years.
A brutal piece of Georgia history often overlooked...
A hundred men willing to extremely injure themselves in protest...
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of their inhumane conditions.
For the inmates of Rock Quarry, their life was probably summed up by a phrase carved into the wall of "the hole" where inmates were sent for solitary confinement.
It was literally a hole dug out of the ground in the basement.
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For the inmates of Rock Quarry, their life was probably summed up by a phrase carved into the wall of "the hole" where inmates were sent for solitary confinement.
It was literally a hole dug out of the ground in the basement.
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In that dark, dank hole, dug out of the floor of hell on earth, a reporter found "There Is No God" carved into the wall.
/end
/end
A couple updates...
I was wrong about the prison not being renovated. It was... to a rehabilitation center for youthful offenders (20 years and younger).
It was even hosting concerts just a few years later... something the original inmates could never have imagined.
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I was wrong about the prison not being renovated. It was... to a rehabilitation center for youthful offenders (20 years and younger).
It was even hosting concerts just a few years later... something the original inmates could never have imagined.
1/2
I found the report from the commission put together by Gov. Sanders.
"Tactfully brutal" would best describe it.
It was an interesting read and I'm sure the ideas seemed suspicious to the old guard.
This just the portion related to Rock Quarry. The first sentence sums it up.
"Tactfully brutal" would best describe it.
It was an interesting read and I'm sure the ideas seemed suspicious to the old guard.
This just the portion related to Rock Quarry. The first sentence sums it up.
One more thing to point out. I told @ne0ndistraction last night about the housing arrangement. I read about it from another source but couldn't confirm it until this report.
No individual cells. A long, somewhat narrow dormitory... like Army barracks, inside of a cage...
No individual cells. A long, somewhat narrow dormitory... like Army barracks, inside of a cage...
with a walkway surrounding the cage.
The other source said that basically the inmates were free to do as they please inside the barracks at night.
50-60 men brawls were common place.
And with no individual cells... there was no way to truly lockdown the prison if the...
The other source said that basically the inmates were free to do as they please inside the barracks at night.
50-60 men brawls were common place.
And with no individual cells... there was no way to truly lockdown the prison if the...
need arose.
I'm honestly surprised that at some point in those twelve years the inmates never took over the complex.
Besides many of the guards seemingly being sadistic in nature... it may explain partly way they were so quick to torment the inmates.
This place was truly hell.
I'm honestly surprised that at some point in those twelve years the inmates never took over the complex.
Besides many of the guards seemingly being sadistic in nature... it may explain partly way they were so quick to torment the inmates.
This place was truly hell.
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