Building Time at Brushy [Paperback]

Stonney Lane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2003

Former Warden of Brushy Mountain State Prison in Tennessee, Stonney Ray Lane, shares his experiences while serving as warden of Tennessee's toughest prison in the 1970's. Take an exclusive look into the lives of hardened criminals and those courageous men and women who have the job of keeping them locked behind bars. Warden Lane tells his side of the story of the 1977 escape of James Earl Ray, convicted of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and one of the nations largest manhunts that brings him back behind the walls of Brushy.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Foreword Biographical sketch of Stonney LaneI was born in Williamsburg, Kentucky, October 13, 1937, the second son of Dorothy Schultz and Claude Lane. My brother Harold was five years older than I, and my sister, Claudia, was born when I was 11. My mother adopted a daughter, Kitty, who was a few years older than Harold. My father owned a garage in Williamsburg, and was widely known for his mechanical ability. He was also, unfortunately, an alcoholic. My parents divorced when I was 13, and I went with my mother and sister to live in Knoxville, Tennessee.I was enrolled at Christenberry Junior High, where as the new boy in town, life was pretty tough for me. My mother had married Paul Ross, and they had a coal mining business. I was involved in the usual teenage pranks and scrapes, had a few near brushes with the law, a few automobile accidents. It was the 1950's when drag racing, duck tail hairdos, rock and roll music were the most exciting things around.Late in my freshman year at Fulton High School, a physical education teacher noticed a curve in my spine. My mother took me to Bagwell Clinic where I was diagnosed with scoliosis, a curvature of the spine that can cause crippling or hunch-back. I entered St. Mary's Hospital and had spinal-fusion surgery (a sheep's bone was placed beside my spine to stop any further curvature, which was cutting-edge medical procedure for the time). Several months in the hospital and half a year out of school (homebound teachers) changed my life radically.My experience as an invalid and trying to deal with my parents' divorced gave me my first hand lessons in surviving. The divorce was traumatic enough, but the spinal problem really presented me with a challenge.Home from the hospital, I was flat on my back, in traction with weights on my head and on my feet for over three months. I had to depend on someone for everything. I had to be fed, dressed, bathed, and tended for 24 hours a day. My bodily wastes had to be dealt with in a most no

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (June 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410711366
• ISBN-13: 978-1410711366
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,915,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book in the South, June 14, 2009

By 

S. Lane "Appalachian Bubba" (East Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Building Time at Brushy (Paperback)

Brushy Moutain Prison is closed after serving Tennessee for over a hundred years by holding Tennessee's convicted criminals. This book is just part of that history. It has been a part of East Tennessee lore for a long time.

5.0 out of 5 stars Building time at Brushy, December 16, 2009

By 

matt "3-AMIGOS" (Lancing,TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building Time at Brushy (Paperback)

This book is a true account of life as a Warden for a maximun security Prison located in Petros, TN. I have the honor of calling the author a close friend. The events in the book are a true account of daily life at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary and what all Tennessee Dept.of Corrections employee's must endure daily. I discovered thing's about Stonney Lane that I did not know when I read the book.It was the first time I had ever heard him talk about how much physcial pain he endured as a result of his spinal problems he was born with. I know that this is exactly how the escape and re-capture of James E Ray occurred. Reading it left me with an even higher admiration for Mr Stonney Lane!!! If you want an accurrate account of what life is like behind those prison wall's and just some of the dangers that Corectional Officer's face every day then read this book. Great job Stonney!!!!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Warden not really a mild mannered young man, November 2, 2003

By 

"mensetmanus" (Oak Ridge, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building Time at Brushy (Paperback)

The author was the warden of Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary when James Earl Ray escaped in 1977, and he tells the story of Ray's escape and capture, as well as the story of the author's life growing up and living in rural Kentucky and Tennessee. The autobiography covers Stonney Ray Lane's life, from birth in 1937 in Kentucky, through his retirement from prisons (and return to schools) in about 1979. Approximately the middle third of the book covers James Earl Ray's escape, capture, and subsequent trial.

I enjoyed reading the book, and I recommend it, not only for the history involving James Earl Ray, but also for the insights into life and violence in prisons, education inside and outside of prisons, life and violence in coal country, and for the descriptions of some local sites around Knoxville, Tennessee. How could one not like a book that adds favorably to the legend of places like Big Ed's Pizza Parlor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee?

The book has a few rough edges. It has very little apparent structure or organization. Although the story-telling is easy enough to read, there are only four separate sections in the book, and only three sections are titled. For someone who is primarily interested in the portions about Ray's escape, it may seem to take a long time to get to that part. The book also has no table of contents, and no index. The bulk of the book is in one very long, unbroken, autobiographical narrative (271 pages in the paperback). This lack of structure makes it somewhat difficult to stay with the book at times. I noted a few typos, including "English" spelled as "Egnlish" in the Foreward, ironically in the section where Lane describes how he copied and cheated his way through college English.

The book contains some confusion, which disturbed me at first, regarding whether it is actually non-fiction. After seeing the author describe the book as a true story in an interview on a local cable access channel, I was surprised to see the following disclaimer at the top of the copyright page at the front of the book:

"This book is a work of fiction. Places, events, and situations in this book are purely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental."

In the paperback book released in 2003, at the end of the first section called "Foreward - Biographical Sketch of Stonney Lane," the following statement clearly contradicts the disclaimer:

"The publishers have classified this book as "fiction" because I had to change some of the names of the inmates. But this story is the truth as I remember it. It is not a made up story; it really happened, as strange as it may seem. It is humbly dedicated to my children Lisa, Dusty, and Lori."

The publisher, 1stBooks.com provides an online copy of the Foreward and a "Free Preview," which amounts to the entire contents of the first 21 pages of the paperback, excluding the title and copyright pages. The online version is dated 2000, and does not contain the statements mentioned above.

There are a few surprises in the book. Lane says as a teenager he "had a few brushes with the law, a few automobile accidents," and he was sent by his mother to boarding school "for troubled kids from broken homes." He admits to cheating and copying to get through college English. Yet, he became a teacher at Coalfield school, was a teacher and counselor at Brushy Mountain Prison, and eventually became a principal at Wartburg Central High School. He says it is only "a thin line that separates a free man from one behind bars," and basically says "if it were not for getting the right break here and there, who knows?" he could have ended up on the other side of those bars. Later, he acknowledges that by working at the prison, he was also "building time" similar to the prisoners.

Lane also wrote some surprising things about whether James Earl Ray was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King, based on Lane's personal discussion with Ray. I don't want to spoil the story, so I won't say any more about that.

The book concludes with two short sections:

* Ray Tucker's James Earl Ray Escape Story, and
* Ray's story about "Nub"

Although the last section of the book only includes a short, two page description of Nub, and does not mention Nub's death, it does include the following statement, "As I said before, Nub Haynes was one of the most special people that you'll ever meet anywhere." It almost seems as though the book is being partly dedicated to Nub, and if the following obituary found online is accurate, this is understandable.

HAYNES, CHESTER A., --Chester A. (Nub) Haynes, 57, Petros, for three years recreational director at Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, died of a heart attack early Sunday morning while visiting the home of Warden Stonney Lane in Petros. Family members said Haynes and Lane were watching television when he was stricken. He was dead on arrival at Oak Ridge Hospital.