The
Prisoner Poet
The Story of
James Lewisohn
Part 2…What
Happened Later?
Bolduc
Correctional Facility in Warren, Maine
Minimum
Security, “The Farm”
When I interviewed James
Lewisohn (Jimmy) in 1979 at the Prison Farm in Warren, Maine, there was no
internet. I still had questions after I had returned to my home in Connecticut
and to my graduate school classes at Fairfield University. We communicated via
the mail, some being passed on to my brother, Harlan, first, who was
classifications officer at the prison at that time.
Jimmy also sent me a
tape with the answers to my questions on it. That tape is long gone, although I
have some of that transcript as I wrote it down. I have most of the material I
gathered for that story including all the materials Jimmy gave me and my own
notes.
I have handwritten notes
from Jimmy written on blue lined paper we used to use in school. I suspect that
the budget for his classes and for his own use was limited when it came to
paper. He also sent me copies of letters from his attorney showing the
progression of the commutation campaign early on in his incarceration. I have
copies of the commutation form for his release that people were asked to submit
to the governor.
At one time I asked
Jimmy to send me a list of people we might all recognize who signed his
commutation petition. Here are some of the names he sent, many of which will be
familiar to you:
Father Daniel Berrigan;
Tom Wicker, NY Times; Ken MacCormick;
Howard Moss; Alan Ginzburg; Hayden Carruth; Howard Nemnor (not sure of
spelling); William Styron; Richard Wilbur; May Sarton; Galway Kinnell; Martin
Kumin; John Ciardi; Stanley Kumitz.
The Warden at that time,
recognizing what a model prisoner Jimmy was, recommended to Governor Brennan
that his sentence be commuted. Many of the officers at the prison, including my
brother, also supported his cause.
The
Commutation Plea, The Appeal, the New Trial
The Commutation was
denied by the Governor as I previously reported because he deemed the crime to
be too great to consider commutation.
A new effort for an
appeal was begun in 1977. My dates may be a little off here as I found the
whole appeal case online which was dated 1977. However, I have another letter from
Jimmy, dated in 1979 which mentions the appeal. Jimmy did not mention this
appeal when I spoke to him in 1979, but it could have already been in the
works.
However, his letter
states that he doesn’t have much faith in the justice system but that his lawyers
are “interviewing and investigating 66 jury members and panelists, including a
former F.B.I. agent” to corroborate the story of one juror who gave an
affidavit about the possible tainting of the jury for Jimmy’s trial.
Jimmy continues in that letter:
“I am reconciled to my life in prison and have discovered that I can live a
life of obedience, penance and prayer right here.”
The
Appeal Case
As I stated before,
there was no internet in 1979; so I was very pleased when I found out so much
information about later developments in Jimmy’s case after 1979 when I last saw
him.
The Appeals Case ran
eight pages as found in findacase.com. There is even more if you want to spend
money to obtain it. However, I could get the gist of the proceedings, albeit wading
through all the usual legalize, to know that it did not go well.
The case reads like a
script from the TV show,”Law and Order”. As the “Law” part of the story
reveals, the lawyers took every stance they could to discredit the
investigators in the case; the evidence; and even the jury. It was also argued
that the judge did not describe the differences between a murder charge and a
manslaughter charge properly to the jury so that the jury leaned more towards
the murder end of things.
The upshot of the whole
thing was his eventual retrial in 1981 at which time he was tried by a
different jury and convicted of the murder of his wife, Roslyn once again. So
Jimmy remained in prison.
Parole
in 1984
As I continued my quest
of what happened after 1979 in the case of James Lewisohn, I came upon a story
from the Bangor Daily News, of
December 28, 1984. The title read, “Lewisohn Seeks Oblivion…Paroled Poet studying at Bangor Seminary.” It
was a UPI story written by Jon Fleming.
The “exit” interview of
Jimmy quotes him as saying in his own poetic way, “Father, I have come not to
ask but to be forgotten like the snow that covers us.” All he wanted was the
freedom to disappear from public view and public scorn. He sought refuge,
therefore, studying at the Bangor Seminary.
About the Seminary, he
said, “I’m at home here. The Seminary is a wonderful, wonderful place…It’s also
a place where nobody asks about my past…I want to get that behind me. It just brings back terrible memories, and I do
penance for it every day.”
So after all the efforts
of many to bring about a commutation for Jimmy; and the time and money spent on
appeals and a new trial, James Lewisohn was simply paroled from prison. He
served 10 years of his “life sentence.” I do not judge here, but only state the
facts as I see them.
Why was he paroled? New
politicians in office? A lack of public or media interest after 10 years? We
all know that interest in a very public flaying of someone loses its appeal
after the initial front page story; then the progression of smaller articles as
the case progresses. As we used to say in the newspaper business, “Today’s
newspaper will line the bird cage or the cat’s litter box tomorrow.”
Jimmy’s
Obituary
I wanted to finish this
story with Jimmy’s obit as my brother, Ted, told me he had passed away. Guess
what? Not so. As I searched the interned for an obit, I was getting frustrated
upon finding no such report of his passing until I all at once came upon a site
that was a directory of poets and writers. There he was.
At first I didn’t
believe it until I read the list of his works and knew it was him for sure. The
site said that he was 80 years old and living in downeast Maine. Even better,
his phone number was listed. So yes, I proceeded to call him.
He didn’t know who I was
at first apologizing because he couldn’t always remember things that happened
what is now 35 years ago.
I could have
re-interviewed him then and there, but not being prepared and realizing at once
that he didn’t like to talk about those days; I simply listened to what he had
to say. He didn’t even want me to send him copies of these two blogs about him.
“Why?” he asked. As he has no computer and has no use for the internet, he will
never see them unless someone else prints them out and sends them to him.
He said he has a dog he
walks every day and that he spends his days meditating and waiting for his God
to come and get him.
There was bitterness in
his voice and a whole pessimistic view of life in the United States as it
stands now. He didn’t sound happy. However, he was happy that I had called and
when I said I might call him again just to see how he was doing, he was
enthusiastic. He didn’t get many calls he said.
Jimmy is still a devout
Catholic. I didn’t ask him why and when he left the Seminary in Bangor. I
didn’t think that was an appropriate question at that time. After all, I had
just contacted him after a long 35 years.
As he continually
referred me to one religious treatise after another and insisted that I should
become a Catholic; that I would be very happy that way; I found a way to exit
from our phone conversation.
I sat in amazement that
I had actually talked to him again. Some stories take unusual twists and this
was one of them.
The
Prison Cemetery
As an aside to this
story I got to thinking about the prison cemetery you saw Jimmy sitting in in
the first part of this story. Remember the white picket fence around it? As the
old prison was demolished, all that is left is one part of the granite wall
that stood as part of the ball field along with this plaque.
The plaque reads:
Maine State
Prison at Thomaston
Closed
February 11, 2002
In the decades following
1923 many improvements and additions were made including a new Commissary, Segregation
Unit, Chapel, Gymnasium, and Deputy Warden’s Office.
In 1992 the Segregation
Unit closed and a new ‘Super Max’ facility opened in the neighboring town of
Warren.
On February 11, 2002,
the Maine State Prison at Thomaston closed and 400 prisoners moved to a new 900
bed, maximum security facility in Warren, Maine.
On March 21, 2002, demolition
began and after 178 years the old prison became part of Maine history.
“Leadership and Respect Prevailed”
Angus S.
King, Jr., Governor
State of
Maine
1995-2003
Martin A. Magnusson,
Commissioner
Department of
Corrections
Jeffrey D. Merrill, Warden
Maine State
Prison
I did find the cemetery
on a site called findagrave.com. It listed the cemetery and the bodies within,
some of which are unidentified. The whole space has an iron fence around it
which seems to be impenetrable. The earliest date listed on a grave is 1876.
I then came across a
piece from the Thomaston Historical Society called “A History of Thomaston
State Prison.” Here’s what they say about the demolition of the prison:
“By early summer of
2002, the entire prison had been demolished and the stones, concrete and iron
bars were literally pushed into the huge hole, several stories deep, left by
the quarry after it was played out more than a century ago. The debris, which
only partially filled the hole, was then covered with tons of dirt and topped
off with a deep layer of loam.”
You thinking what I’m
thinking? Where’s Steven King when you need him?
Thanks for listening.
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