Tom Murton
Encyclopedia
Thomas O. Murton generally known as Tom Murton, was a penologist
best known for his wardenship of the prison farms of Arkansas
. In 1969, he published an account of the endemic corruption there which created a national scandal, and which was popularized in a fictional version by the 1980 Robert Redford
movie, Brubaker
.
Murton died of cancer at the age of 62 on October 10, 1990, at a Veterans Affairs Hospital in Oklahoma City. Both of his parents and the four children survived him.
from Oklahoma State University in 1950. He earned a degree in mathematics at Fairbanks, Alaska between 1957 and 1958 with benefits under the GI bill. He enrolled in the University of California
(Berkeley) in 1964 and completed a Master of Arts Degree in criminology and satisfied residency requirements for a doctorate in 1966. After he was dismissed from the Arkansas correctional system in 1968, he completed a doctoral degree in criminology at the University of California
(Berkeley).
According to his obituary in The New York Times
,
during the 1960s.
He was teaching at Southern Illinois University
when he was hired to reform the Arkansas prison system in 1968. The book he wrote about his experiences there (with co-author Joe Hyams
), Accomplices to the Crime: The Arkansas Prison Scandal, was published in 1969 by Grove Press
. He was unable to find work in the correctional industry after that, and believed he had been blackballed
for his work in Arkansas.
From 1971 to 1979, he taught at the University of Minnesota
. In 1980, he left teaching and returned to farming, raising wheat and ducks on his mother's farm in Deer Creek, Oklahoma
, the community where he died, ten years later.
In 1982, he wrote his second book on penal reform, The Dilemma of Prison Reform, published by Irvington Publications.
. The farms used over a thousand inmates as forced labor to produce profits which annually "averaged about $1,400,000 over the years..."
In 1967, Arkansas inaugurated a new governor to follow Orval Faubus
, who had held that office for twelve years (six terms). Governor Winthrop Rockefeller
released a report on the state prison system which had been ordered, and then suppressed by Governor Orval Faubus. The 67-page report detailed horrific conditions at the two state penal farms, including endemic sexual assault, electrical torture, flogging, beatings with blackjacks and hoses, extortion of money from other inmates by the armed prisoners who were working as "trustie" guards (due to the absence of a salaried guard force), open marketing of illegal drugs and alcohol, and a host of other malicious and criminal practices. Particularly ironic, as well as harsh, was the poor quality and quantity of food given to the prisoners — on a farm which marketed enough produce and dairy products to produce profits that were averaging $1.4 million (US) in 1960's dollars (more than $10 million (US) in 2008 dollars).
In his own later writings about Tucker, Murton noted the cruelty of the "trusties":
In 1967, along with releasing the Faubus report, Rockefeller sought to reform the system by bringing in Murton, who had made his reputation by helping establish the Alaska
n correctional system after that territory achieved statehood in 1959. Murton, then 39 years old, was chosen to be the first professional penologist the state of Arkansas had ever hired as a warden.
In early February 1968, Murton ordered excavations on the grounds of the Cummins prison farm. Three bodies were uncovered before the excavation was halted, although 15 to 25 depressions were clearly visible and Murton's inmate informant told him that as many as 200 bodies had been buried there. Clearly not coincidentally, the number of prisoners listed as "escapees" since 1915 was reported as "more than 200."
According to the informant, Reuben Johnson, most of the men had been killed after refusing extortion demands from the "trustie" guards. Their deaths were either falsely recorded as successful escapes; or recorded as deaths, but under false pretenses. Johnson, a lifer, gave details of murders and burials on the prison grounds dating back for decades, including a mass murder of about 20 inmates around Labor Day of 1940. Johnson was backed up by at least one other inmate, James Wilson. Wilson also asserted that returning escapees were routinely murdered.
The skeletons were turned over to another arm of state government, the University of Arkansas Medical Center. At the time, Governor Rockefeller stated his intention to withhold details of the investigation from the public until the Arkansas state police issued a report of their findings, incorporating the University's results. Rockefeller was quoted nationwide when he said that there could be no point in "washing dirty linen for weeks on end as each body is dug up."
Murton's agitation eventually disrupted the Rockefeller administration to the extent that not only was he fired two months after the bodies were exhumed, he was told he had 24 hours to get out of the state, or be arrested for grave-robbing — a charge with a sentence of 21 years, under Arkansas law at that time. He left.
Murton was dismissed in early spring, 1968, less than a year after his 1967 hire. Governor Rockefeller claimed that Murton's excavations had become a "sideshow." The governor halted the excavations after the first three bodies were found. The official report by the Rockefeller administration, written by the Arkansas state police, took the position that the bodies must have been from the paupers' cemetery— although the cemetery was a mile away from where the bodies were located.
Murton's book about the scandalous conditions was released the next year, 1969, and the Redford movie was released eleven years later, in 1980.
Murton's career as a correctional administrator was essentially over, and he returned to academia for the next ten years, including a short stint teaching criminology and corrections at Oklahoma State University in the mid-1980s, before returning to farming for the ten years prior to his 1990 death.
as "Warden Henry Brubaker" was released to wide acclaim, earning an Oscar nomination. Although the dramatic opening of the film, in which Brubaker impersonates an inmate in order to see the system literally "from inside" before taking up the warden's post, was a fabrication, much of the movie's drama was taken directly from the book.
The fabricated prisoner-impersonation device may have been inspired by Thomas Mott Osborne
, a former warden at Sing Sing
, who had had himself committed to Auburn Penitentiary
in 1913 under an assumed name.
Penology
Penology is a section of criminology that deals with the philosophy and practice of various societies in their attempts to repress criminal activities, and satisfy public opinion via an appropriate treatment regime for persons convicted of criminal offenses.The Oxford English Dictionary defines...
best known for his wardenship of the prison farms of Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. In 1969, he published an account of the endemic corruption there which created a national scandal, and which was popularized in a fictional version by the 1980 Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
movie, Brubaker
Brubaker
Brubaker is an American 1980 film about a prison in distress and the Warden Henry Brubaker who attempts to reform the system....
.
Personal life
Tom Murton was born in 1928. His parents were E.T. Murton and Bessie Glass Stevens. He had four children, Marquita, Teresa, Melanie (Melanie Sandstrom) and Mark D. Murton.Murton died of cancer at the age of 62 on October 10, 1990, at a Veterans Affairs Hospital in Oklahoma City. Both of his parents and the four children survived him.
Education and penological views
Before his career as a penologist, Murton attained a bachelor's degree in animal husbandryAnimal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....
from Oklahoma State University in 1950. He earned a degree in mathematics at Fairbanks, Alaska between 1957 and 1958 with benefits under the GI bill. He enrolled in the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
(Berkeley) in 1964 and completed a Master of Arts Degree in criminology and satisfied residency requirements for a doctorate in 1966. After he was dismissed from the Arkansas correctional system in 1968, he completed a doctoral degree in criminology at the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
(Berkeley).
According to his obituary in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
,
Mr. Murton's ideas on prison reform included treating prisoners with respect, abolishing corporal punishment, providing better food and rooting out extortion and other rackets among the inmates. Vehemently opposed to the death penalty, he dismantled the electric chair at Cummins. He also opposed life sentences. "When you sentence a man to life in prison, with no chance of getting out, he's going to die one day at a time because he knows he's doomed to walk the halls of purgatory for as long as he's alive," he once told an interviewer.
Career
Murton had helped establish the correctional system of the new state of AlaskaAlaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
during the 1960s.
He was teaching at Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois region of the state, with multiple campuses...
when he was hired to reform the Arkansas prison system in 1968. The book he wrote about his experiences there (with co-author Joe Hyams
Joe Hyams
Joe Hyams was an American Hollywood columnist and author of bestselling biographies of Hollywood stars.- Career :...
), Accomplices to the Crime: The Arkansas Prison Scandal, was published in 1969 by Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
. He was unable to find work in the correctional industry after that, and believed he had been blackballed
Blackball (blacklist)
Blackballing is a rejection in a traditional form of secret ballot, where a white ball or ballot constitutes a vote in support and a black ball signifies opposition. This system is typically used where a club's rules provide that, rather than a majority of the votes, one or two objections are...
for his work in Arkansas.
From 1971 to 1979, he taught at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. In 1980, he left teaching and returned to farming, raising wheat and ducks on his mother's farm in Deer Creek, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, the community where he died, ten years later.
In 1982, he wrote his second book on penal reform, The Dilemma of Prison Reform, published by Irvington Publications.
Hired to end corruption
In the 1960s, Arkansas maintained two large prison "farms," the Tucker State Prison Farm and Cummins State Prison FarmCummins Unit
The Cummins Unit is an Arkansas Department of Correction prison in unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 65, near Grady, Gould, and Varner, south of Pine Bluff, and southeast of Little Rock.This prison farm is a correctional facility...
. The farms used over a thousand inmates as forced labor to produce profits which annually "averaged about $1,400,000 over the years..."
In 1967, Arkansas inaugurated a new governor to follow Orval Faubus
Orval Faubus
Orval Eugene Faubus was the 36th Governor of Arkansas, serving from 1955 to 1967. He is best known for his 1957 stand against the desegregation of Little Rock public schools during the Little Rock Crisis, in which he defied a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court by ordering the...
, who had held that office for twelve years (six terms). Governor Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller was a politician and philanthropist who served as the first Republican Governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. He was a third-generation member of the Rockefeller family.-Early life:...
released a report on the state prison system which had been ordered, and then suppressed by Governor Orval Faubus. The 67-page report detailed horrific conditions at the two state penal farms, including endemic sexual assault, electrical torture, flogging, beatings with blackjacks and hoses, extortion of money from other inmates by the armed prisoners who were working as "trustie" guards (due to the absence of a salaried guard force), open marketing of illegal drugs and alcohol, and a host of other malicious and criminal practices. Particularly ironic, as well as harsh, was the poor quality and quantity of food given to the prisoners — on a farm which marketed enough produce and dairy products to produce profits that were averaging $1.4 million (US) in 1960's dollars (more than $10 million (US) in 2008 dollars).
In his own later writings about Tucker, Murton noted the cruelty of the "trusties":
"Discipline was routinely enforced by flogging, beating with clubs, inserting of needles under fingernails, crushing of testicles with pliers, and the last word in torture devices: the 'Tucker telephone,' an instrument used to send an electric current through genitals."
In 1967, along with releasing the Faubus report, Rockefeller sought to reform the system by bringing in Murton, who had made his reputation by helping establish the Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
n correctional system after that territory achieved statehood in 1959. Murton, then 39 years old, was chosen to be the first professional penologist the state of Arkansas had ever hired as a warden.
In early February 1968, Murton ordered excavations on the grounds of the Cummins prison farm. Three bodies were uncovered before the excavation was halted, although 15 to 25 depressions were clearly visible and Murton's inmate informant told him that as many as 200 bodies had been buried there. Clearly not coincidentally, the number of prisoners listed as "escapees" since 1915 was reported as "more than 200."
According to the informant, Reuben Johnson, most of the men had been killed after refusing extortion demands from the "trustie" guards. Their deaths were either falsely recorded as successful escapes; or recorded as deaths, but under false pretenses. Johnson, a lifer, gave details of murders and burials on the prison grounds dating back for decades, including a mass murder of about 20 inmates around Labor Day of 1940. Johnson was backed up by at least one other inmate, James Wilson. Wilson also asserted that returning escapees were routinely murdered.
Fired to end exposure
The Rockefeller administration, though not directly implicated in crimes which took place before 1967, was deeply embarrassed by the national attention drawn to the brutality Murton revealed. Claims were made that the bodies must have been from a nearby potters field, a cemetery for the poor. However, as Time magazine noted in February 1968, the cemetery in question was over a mile away from where Murton found the bodies, at least one of which was positively identified as prisoner Joe Jackson, buried by Reuben Johnson on Christmas Eve, 1946.The skeletons were turned over to another arm of state government, the University of Arkansas Medical Center. At the time, Governor Rockefeller stated his intention to withhold details of the investigation from the public until the Arkansas state police issued a report of their findings, incorporating the University's results. Rockefeller was quoted nationwide when he said that there could be no point in "washing dirty linen for weeks on end as each body is dug up."
Murton's agitation eventually disrupted the Rockefeller administration to the extent that not only was he fired two months after the bodies were exhumed, he was told he had 24 hours to get out of the state, or be arrested for grave-robbing — a charge with a sentence of 21 years, under Arkansas law at that time. He left.
Murton was dismissed in early spring, 1968, less than a year after his 1967 hire. Governor Rockefeller claimed that Murton's excavations had become a "sideshow." The governor halted the excavations after the first three bodies were found. The official report by the Rockefeller administration, written by the Arkansas state police, took the position that the bodies must have been from the paupers' cemetery— although the cemetery was a mile away from where the bodies were located.
Murton's book about the scandalous conditions was released the next year, 1969, and the Redford movie was released eleven years later, in 1980.
Murton's career as a correctional administrator was essentially over, and he returned to academia for the next ten years, including a short stint teaching criminology and corrections at Oklahoma State University in the mid-1980s, before returning to farming for the ten years prior to his 1990 death.
Movie
The book written by Murton and Hyams was published in 1969. In 1980, a fictionalized film treatment starring Robert RedfordRobert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
as "Warden Henry Brubaker" was released to wide acclaim, earning an Oscar nomination. Although the dramatic opening of the film, in which Brubaker impersonates an inmate in order to see the system literally "from inside" before taking up the warden's post, was a fabrication, much of the movie's drama was taken directly from the book.
The fabricated prisoner-impersonation device may have been inspired by Thomas Mott Osborne
Thomas Mott Osborne
Thomas Mott Osborne was an American prison administrator, prison reformer, industrialist and New York State political reformer...
, a former warden at Sing Sing
Sing Sing
Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services in the town of Ossining, New York...
, who had had himself committed to Auburn Penitentiary
Auburn Prison
Auburn Correctional Facility is a state prison located on State Street in Auburn, New York, built on land that was once a Cayuga Indian Village. It is classified as a maximum security facility....
in 1913 under an assumed name.
Song
In 1968, the popular singer Bobby Darin wrote and recorded a song called "Long Line Rider" which described the incident. Some of its lyrics were: "There's a farm in Arkansas, got some secrets in its floor, in decay, in decay. You can tell where they're at, nothing grows, the ground is flat, where they lay, where they lay." It also includes the line "This kind of thing can't happen here, especially not in election year." Darin was due to perform the song on the Jackie Gleason show, but when they ordered him to cut that particular line, rather than censor himself, he walked off the set.Quote
"Prisons, mental hospitals, and other institutions are a thermometer that measures the sickness of the larger society. The treatment society affords its outcasts reveals the way in which its members view one another - and themselves." (From the Preface of his book: Accomplices To the Crime, 1969, Grove Press, Inc., New York, NY)External links
- Timeline of Arkansas Prison History by Arkansas Department of Corrections, accessed September 13, 2006.
- Brubaker at the Prison Film Project, accessed September 13, 2006.
- Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal movie, includes historical information on Thomas Murton and the Cummins Prison Plasma Program.