Crossing the Yard: Thirty Years as a Prison Volunteer [Paperback]

Richard Shelton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

Ever since he was asked to critique the poetry of a convicted murderer, he has lived in two worlds.Richard Shelton was a young English professor in 1970 when a convict named Charles Schmid—a serial killer dubbed the “Pied Piper of Tucson” in national magazines—shared his brooding verse. But for Shelton, the novelty of meeting a death-row monster became a thirty-year commitment to helping prisoners express themselves.Shelton began organizing creative writing workshops behind bars, and in this gritty memoir he offers up a chronicle of reaching out to forgotten men and women—and of creativity blossoming in a repressive environment. He tells of published students such as Paul Ashley, Greg Forker, Ken Lamberton, and Jimmy Santiago Baca who have made names for themselves through their writing instead of their crimes.Shelton also recounts the bittersweet triumph of seeing work published by men who later met with agonizing deaths, and the despair of seeing the creative strides of inmates broken by politically motivated transfers to private prisons. And his memoir bristles with hard-edged experiences, ranging from inside knowledge of prison breaks to a workshop conducted while a riot raged outside a barricaded door.Reflecting on his decision to tutor Schmid, Shelton sees that the choice “has led me through bloody tragedies and terrible disappointments to a better understanding of what it means to be human.” Crossing the Yard is a rare story of professional fulfillment—and a testament to the transformative power of writing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The stories. . . are enticing observations about life, literature, incarceration, and the human condition, which make for a book that is hard to put down. Shelton writes with skill and candor about society's exiles and their hidden talents, which he was able to bring out in his workshops; his own talents as a writer give the book its power. Both eye-opening and enchanting, this volume would certainly be a worthwhile addition to any collection.” —Library Journal starred review “In a spellbinding memoir chronicling the uncommon challenges and unexpected rewards of reaching out to some of society’s most complex and generally forgotten members, Shelton’s triumphant paean to the tenacity of the creative spirit celebrates the courage of hopeless men who bravely found a way to express their essential humanity.” —Booklist “This book is a tribute to Richard Shelton’s artistry, to the power of words, and to the talent of men behind bars. ‘You have saved me before they might have destroyed me,’ writes one of his former workshop participants, ‘I am singing.’ In this deeply felt and honest memoir, Shelton teaches us the meaning of compassion and makes a moving plea for the arts in prison.” —Jean Trounstine, author of Shakespeare Behind Bars: The Power of Drama in a Women’s Prison

About the Author

Richard Shelton continues to lead prison workshops and is editor of the journal Walking Rain Review, which features the work of current and former inmates. A Regents’ Professor in the University of Arizona’s creative writing program, he is the author of eleven books of poetry and the award-winning memoir Going Back to Bisbee.

Product Details

• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press; 1ST edition (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816525951
• ISBN-13: 978-0816525959
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #658,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well written and terminally obnoxious, October 20, 2009

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D. Ashal "Just some dude" (Aztlan, holmes) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crossing the Yard: Thirty Years as a Prison Volunteer (Paperback)

Because of my interest in teaching and in prison reform issues, affection for memoirs, the fact that I've lived in the same area as the author most of my life, and said author's local reputation as an excellent writer, I thought I might very well love this book. And Shelton does deserve high praise as a writer; he chronicles events memorably and offers his own insights freely and with eloquence. Unfortunately, he's so ridiculously (and stereotypically) liberal that the end result is a truly cringe-inducing piece of work. We'll get back to that in a moment.

The book starts with Shelton's initial contact and developing friendship with Charles Schmid. Schmid is locally well known in my sort-of-hometown Tucson as the only notorious serial killer the town ever produced, to the point that Oates wrote a short story about him. I remember that Toxic Ranch records used to sell shirts with his pictures on them, because playing to jaded hipsters' need to be macabre has never really been an unsafe bet. Schmid sent Shelton some poems he'd written in prison and Shelton was interested in the poetry of a monster, a reaction he says he will always be a ashamed of. This sets off a long tale of how the Schmid he knew was a sensitive and intelligent guy whose mother loved him and who had "outgrown" his sociopathic tendencies. The problem is that, even taking for granted that such a thing can be outgrown, it doesn't change who Schmid was or what he had done. And taking Shelton at his word, Schmid told him ahead of time that he was going to escape. That fact that Shelton failed to notify authorities that a serial killer was planning to run when he was given that knowledge directly means that, quite frankly, he should have never been allowed to set foot in a correctional facility again, but I digress. What makes this part difficult to read is a simple application of Ockham's razor; what was more likely, that a sociopath later just sort of outgrew it or that he was magnetic and gifted at playing people? I mean, they called the guy the Pied Piper of Tucson, you think he might have some charisma? Doesn't really change a whole lot.

The thread running through the book never fails to similarly ennoble criminals or portray corrections officers as dimwitted and uncaring at best and cruel thugs at worst. Now, let me say that having known several COs over the years, including some at the very facility Shelton spent most of his time, that some of them are indeed unsuited for the work. And I do think that the prison industry does some pretty monstrous things to people, though I stop short of calling for its abolition as Shelton does here. But not everyone in prison is Cool Hand Luke, and not every guard is The Boss. Shelton talks at some length at how talented many of the prisoners were as poets, and I have no doubt that this may be true. I've met many intelligent, eloquent criminals and the kind of suffering such lives entail entail often are fertile ground for creativity. But that being said, most of the men Shelton dealt with were guilty of doing horrific things, and ultimately while the prison system may be hard on the families of these men, they have in most cases done things that created these situations to begin with. We see here the cliche "bleeding heart" personal politics of the whole thing when Shelton excoriates COs for far lesser things than those he is willing to forgive in his convict friends. He makes a point that he has no respect for female guards who sexually tease prisoners, but has no apparent problem working with rapists and killers, who he obviously does respect. He points out how guards often treat prisoners as less than human, leaving out that, of course, the guards are constantly tested and often threatened by the inmates, and that the inmates themselves often treat each other even worse. The sort of vague aura of 60s politics is especially on display when he shows his contempt for a Saudi Muslim teacher who is teaching classes on Islam; the man is naive enough to only teach Black inmates about Islam, and doesn't teach them black revolutionary nationalism. He then says, providing no real evidence for his interpretation, that black inmates were angry at the teacher for precisely this reason. Only a white uber-liberal like Shelton could fault a teacher of religion for teaching you know, religion, instead of being a fiery blend of Stokely Carmichael and H Rap Brown.

Before you get the idea that this is a bad book though, let me tell you why it isn't. It's a well-written, often engrossing account of decades spent with prisoners. Shelton's obvious biases aside, his mastery of the English language and ability to describe key moments in this narrative make this a very easy and accessible read, yet thought-provoking and intelligent. The book also serves as a valuable historical document of both certain individuals and of a certain time and place. It may very well be worth your time to read; but the intellectual dishonesty and lack of critical reflection keep it from being truly excellent.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what a great book!, May 17, 2008

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reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crossing the Yard: Thirty Years as a Prison Volunteer (Paperback)

I encourage anyone wanting to know more about prison and prison arts to read this book. Shelton is such an honest reporter. He tells us about his initial morbid curiosity when asked to "read the poetry of a monster" - an attitude he's now ashamed of - and the desperation he felt when witnessing unexpected horrible consequences for some of his prisoner students as they became poets. He tells us about institutional stupidity and the subversion he found he had to use in order to get anything good done inside. Especially he tells us about the dozens of men he worked with inside, many of whom are now well-published writers (see Ken Lamberton's "Time of Grace" mentioned on this page). "Crossing the Yard" is both moving and unadorned (honest, straight-forward). I'm so grateful for this book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frank M, July 28, 2008

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Frank L. Miler "Avid Reader" (Brookly Park, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crossing the Yard: Thirty Years as a Prison Volunteer (Paperback)

Mr Shelton rises to the top of my heroes. My heroes are those that rise above their accomplishments to help others reach inside themselves to gain self worth and to reach their own accomplishments. All great teachers bring a sense of hope to their students, a sense of their own worthiness. To leave the confines of his own comfortable academia, Mr Shelton brings his entire heart and soul to the rescue of men without much hope, in his walk across the yard! Every teacher should read this book and discover their own worth!