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June 05, 1981 - Image 11

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
Michigan Daily, 1981-06-05

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Officials
review
prison
riots

UPI-Officials interviewed inmates and officers
at Jackson prison, and the Marquette County
prosecutor's office filed paperwork from 141 felony
charges against inmates of last month's prison
riots.
Gov. William Milliken's riot task force viewed the
wreckage from last month's uprising at Southern
Michigan prison in Jackson-the world's largest
walled prison.
THE GROUP ALSO questioned Warden Barry
Mintzes, his deputy Elton Scott, elected inmate
representatives, and members of the Michigan
Corrections Organization.
The governor's nine-member task force, headed
by former Michigan Supreme Court Justice
Lawrence Lindemer, was appointed to conduct an
impartial study of the riots which hit the state
prisons at Jackson, Ionia and Marquette May 22 and
May 26.
In Marquette, the prosecuting attorney's staff
waded through the reams of paperwork and files
associated with the 141 felony charges brought
against 127 Marquette inmates in connection with

The MichiganDaily-Friday, June 5; 1981-Page 11
the May 26 riot.
THE WARRANTS, authorized Wednesday by
chief assistant prosecuring attorney David Peter-
son, included 104 charges of rioting, 15 charges of
assaulting corrections officers, 18 charges of in-
citing to riot and four charges of possession of
weapons.
Nine inmates were charged with more than one
offense. Spokesman Paul Maynard said prisoners at
the Marquette prison, which houses the state's most
dangerous felons, remained locked in their cells and
were not allowed out for meals or usual recreation
time, while corrections officers complete searches
of individual inmates for weapons.
Prosecutors in Jackson and Ionia counties said no
warrants have yet been issued for inmates involved
in the riots at the Southern Michigan Prison and the
Michigan Reformatory.
Spokesmen for the state Department of Correc-
tions and the state police department said in-
vestigations are continuing at both facilities to iden-
tify those prisoners who are liable for felony
charges.

Facility 'far cry'from Jackson

(Continued from Pagel)
security prisoners all at one institution.
Kime said under such a system a per-
son convicted of a crime would be sent
to a smaller facility close to their home
instead of being sent hundreds of miles
away to a huge prison.
"It makes a lot more sense than the
big remote bastilles that we operate
now," Kime said. The state is in the
process of phasing out the Jackson and
Ionia prisons on a long-term timetable,
Kime said. He said that law requires
that the old Ionia Reformatory be
vacated by 1990, but that it would take
considerably longer to replace Jackson
Prison simply because of its massive
size.
"I think Michigan is a progressive

state," said Hank Risley, deputy war-
den of the Huron Valley prison. "In
Michigan, we've gotten away from the
stereotype of Jackson (prison)."
Risley said the aim of the new prisons
like Huron Valley is to create "a more
normal environment to promote in-
tegration (of the prisoner) back into the
community." Architects have been
trying to create a more receptive en-
vironment through the use of colors and
design. "People do respond to color,"
Risley said.
AT THE HURON Valley facility, the
walls that don't bear brightly colored
murals usually are painted bright
orangeoryellow.
The facility is made up of a number of
smaller buildings-several housing

units, a gymnasium, a school complex
with a modern auditorium, an ad-
ministration building with an extensive
infirmary including emergency and
dental facilities-laid out on a
sprawling lawn surrounded only by two
large chain-linked fences topped with
"razor wire" and eight guard stations.
But corrections officials insist that
the new facilities are just as secure-if
not more secure-as the massive
walled prisons like Jackson. "We think
we can do this (build the new style of
prison) without sacrificing security,
and in fact, it should make it even more
manageable," Kime said. "It has been
very successful."
Huron Valley Deputy Warden Risley
and Warden William Grant both

stressed that their new maximum
security facility employs the most
modern security devices, including
microwave monitoring and
sophisticated electronic stations which
are constantly monitoring the prison
buildings.
"I don't know if you can make a
prison that it's impossible to escape
from, but you can make enough ob-
stacles that it'll take him (the prisoner)
a long time to figure out how," Risley
said, adding that the new facility and its
staff will be well-equipped to deal with
any possible disturbance similar to the
recent ones at Jackson prison, Ionia
reformatory and Marquette prison.
"I'm not saying we won't have a distur-
bance, but we'll know about it before it
happens" Rislev said.

Arthritic pain
may be helpful

BOSTON (AP)-Many of the nation's
20 million arthritis victims may suffer
added pain because their bodies
manufacture lower than usual levels of
a natural narcotic-like pain killer, a
study says.
But a researcher says the agony may
actually be beneficial, serving as an
unpleasant safeguard against abusing
disease-weakened joints.
TESTS CONDUCTED on about 700
arthritis victims at Fairview General
Hospital in Cleveland show that their
blood levels of endorphins are ap-
proximately 30 percent below normal.
Endorphins are a naturally occurring
analgesic, or pain killer, that work in
the body like morphine. The substance
binds onto nerve cells and deadens
pain.
Dr. Charles Denko, who directed the
research, presented his findings
yesterday at the annual meeting in
Boston of the Arthritis Foundation.
DENKO SAID he was not sure why
these people, who presumably need
more pain protection, instead have less.
But he said it may help them protect
their bodies by regulating their daily
life.
Rheumatoid arthritis, which affects
about 5 million Americans, disrupts the
tissue around joints. The joint becomes
inflamed, and victims may be crippled.

as the disease corrodes cartilage and
bone.
"If you have arthritis, you shouldn't
expect complete relief of pain," Denko
said. "A little pain can be a good
thing."
THE EXTRA pain due to low endor-
phin levels forces arthritis victims to
move carefully. "It prevents you from
abusing your joints,". he said. "It
prevents further damage and helps you
get through life's problems by pacing
yourself."
Various arthritic diseases affect
about 20 million Americans. Although
victims can be any age, the disease is a
leading cause of limited mobility in
people over 45.
Denko also found that endorphin
levels are below normal in people who
suffer from gout and lupus. Gout, a
disorder of the uric acid metabolism,
causes swelling and severe pain in the
hands and feet. Lupus includes a
variety of diseases characterized by
skin lesions, including tuberculosis of
the skin.
DENKO MEASURED endorphin
levels in the patients' blood and joints.
"In many gout patients, they had no
endorphin at all in their joint fluid," he
said, "andl they had very acute pain."

OPEN HEARING
for
Review of the Dprtmffent of
Geography
Monday, June 8, 1981
Regents' Room
First Floor, Fleming Administration Building
3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Those wishing to make a public statement should
call Edward Dougherty, 764-9254.

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