Word: murton
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...Murton is a realistic idealist: "I don't think prison reform is attainable," he says matter-of-factly. "It's a goal we won't ever reach but we can get closer." He smiles. "We don't have Jeffersonian democracy either...
...wave of reform ended when Tom Murton left Arkansas. The new warden reverted to a strict trustie system that eliminated the prisoners' new-found sense of responsibility. A few of Murton's innovations were retained but the system was not new, only dressed-up. "Cosmetic changes only domesticate the animal but don't kill it," Murton says...
Despite his best efforts, which included a book detailing the grisly conditions at Tucker and Cummins, and appearances on the Dick Cavett show, Murton could not prevail upon Arkansas state authorities to investigate the murders, despite the existence of an unlimited statute of limitations on murder. Only in 1970 was Murton vindicated when the Supreme Court ruled that confinement in Arkansas prisons was cruel and unusual punishment and therefore unconstitutional...
...month later, Murton was out, fired from his post in Arkansas and unable to land a teaching job despite his four degrees in penology and criminology and experience as a university professor. The fraternity of prison wardens, naturally gregarious and even boastful, ostracized him. Murton threw up his hands and conceded the end of his criminology career...
...Murton didn't play by the rules. Throughout his life he has flaunted a cardinal rule: never expose the system you're working for. His role as he sees it is to uncover the abuses of the old system and point the way toward a new system. At times he sounds like an evangelist...