Nights with Charlie's Girls and Other Prison Stories

By Ben Lockyn

The counterculture of the late sixties and early seventies by the draft dodgers and those who opposed the Vietnam War started a movement of protesters against what they termed a materialistic society. The civil disobedience led to marches and demonstrations against the draft, the government, and the conservative culture of the time. The nonviolent demonstrations became unlawful disturbances with police brutality and mass arrests by law enforcement officials. The movement took on a name, where hippies and their use of drugs, societys dropout mentality, and the belief that our government was committing murder of its citizens by fighting in an undeclared war created an atmosphere of social unrest.
It was in this environment that Charlie Manson, a self-proclaimed guru with a desire to dominate and control runaway teenagers from dysfunctional homes, gathered his family. He then used them to commit his atrocities and devious plan for a future apocalypse. The results were horrendous and left many lost souls and murdered victims in its wake. The Manson women, as they were referred to, were some of Mansons family members.
The incarceration of the Manson women at the California Institution for Women in Fontera, where I later became a Correctional officer, brought me face-to-face with the notorious women. Being the only officer between them and their execution gave me a sense of anxiety and responsibility. A previous escape attempt had failed. Would they try again?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504920094

Ben Lockyn

Ben desires to express himself through his literary talents resulted in many short stories and books. His major in Behavioral Science with a minor in English Literature served him well in pursing his passion. This book being his fifth, covers his interesting and exciting career of twenty years with the Department of Corrections at five Southern California prisons. His background working in secured facilities also included an additional five years with the Orange County Juvenile Department as a Deputy Probation Officer and ten years working with children and young adults from ages 9-18 years in a special needs school. This has given Ben much experience working with people of varied ages in prisons, institutions and work camps.

Book preview

CHAPTER I

New Cop On The Block

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California Institution for Women

It was a cold January morning in 1972 as I drove up to the grounds of the California Institution for Women in Frontera, California near Corona. I was physically and mentally prepared as I could be, in my new California Department of Corrections uniform. I was excited to start my new career as a Correctional Officer. It had been a long ordeal after applying for the test, completing the written and physical parts of the test and waiting for the results.

I entered a large building that extended the length of a football field and after signing in at the front desk, I was allowed to enter the locked front door that unlocked electronically by the attending officer. I then searched for the office down a long hall I was directed to. After a brief discussion with administrators, I was taken on a full tour of the facility. I was then given my first assignment, the front desk checking in staff and visitors. The prison was not open to dorm positions for male officers at the time. I was told I would also be responsible for operating the plug in type switchboard that I thought had gone out with high top boots! This made me responsible for all incoming and out going calls.

The position was challenging to say the least, as I controlled the last locked door to the free world for the inmates that were identified as residents! They wore street clothes and the only identifiable difference from staff was the small nametag worn by staff! To add to the confusion, there were many residents who worked in the administrative offices that could easily reach this door! I never lost a resident in the six months I worked this position and I’m sure it was the fear of being fired if this occurred, as I was on a nine month probation period that allowed for termination over the smallest concern!

The front desk assignment gave me the opportunity to meet all the staff as well as most visitors who came in on visiting days. I found the job interesting and enjoyable as I had the power to grant or disallow entry to anyone including staff, if I felt it was warranted.

Upon completion of six months assignment to this post, I was assigned to the cafeteria. Other officers told me that this was a lousy assignment. I felt I had to pay my dues being the new kid on the block! I found this assignment just as interesting and challenging as the front desk job. I was responsible for supervising several resident cooks, servers and the clean up crew.

The responsibilities were immense, as I was required to ensure that all the residents were completing their work assignments and meals were prepared and served on time. I had another officer assisting me and we had a Sergeant supervising us. The loss of food was one of the major problems with inmate kitchen workers taking food back to the dorms for their friends. Being a male, I was only allowed to do a cursory search of any bags they were carrying. I recall that on one occasion I checked a resident at the cafeteria door as she was leaving. As I watched her leave, a large pie and a couple of apples fell from under her dress. She quickly picked up the items and ran and I began to laugh, as the incident seemed so funny. Since I knew who she was, I wrote her a disciplinary report.

I recall approaching the dishwashing crew with a dirty plate that had signs of spaghetti on it. Their lack of checking the plates for cleanliness became a major concern. As I confronted the inmates about it, I pointed out the spaghetti that had gone through the dishwasher twice, since spaghetti had been served the day before! A resident said, Mr. Lockyn, the spaghetti was served three days ago! After that, I promised myself I would never take the tasters meal ever again. The tasters plate came in handy at times when I forgot to bring in my lunch. The tasters plate was a tray with the meal of the day prepared by the residents for the residents. The meal was free and given to one staff each meal with a questionnaire form to fill out describing the quality of the meal. It questioned whether the hot items were hot and the cold items were cold as well as the tastiness of the meal.

There were fights from time to time over various issues that had to be broken up and dealt with, however once confronted the residents usually ended up getting along and getting back to their assigned task.

Most residents, who were involved in fights, were usually taken to a makeshift jail ward, which was a wing attached to the psychiatric unit. They would remain there until classified by an administrative committee, usually within a week and released back to the mainline.

The word was out to all security staff how the Superintendent felt about her residents. We were not allowed to handcuff the women who were being escorted to the jail ward. The women were also allowed to wear street clothes, making it difficult at times to tell the inmates from the staff. We were told that any unnecessary physical contact when trying to subdue a resident would not be tolerated.

There were many policies that the superintendent felt she wanted to deal with differently than the male prisons. One of the major concerns many staff disagreed on was an unarmed perimeter, where the officers were not allowed to carry weapons like they did in the male prisons. The issue of an armed perimeter was eventually changed, but it took a perimeter officer being assaulted by someone from the outside attempting to help a resident escape.

CHAPTER II

Meeting The Death Row Inmates

I was ordered to report to the Sergeants office and was told that an attempted escape had taken place on death row where the Manson women were housed. The staffing pattern was going to be changed because of this and I was asked if I was interested in working death row, to apply in writing to the Superintendent. I later discovered that the attempted escape was thwarted when a thorough cell search was initiated for contraband. One of the residents had sawed the bars to her cell window and filled them with black shoe polish so they would remain undetected. This had gone on for a long time as several bars were sawed leaving just a few securing the cell.

I didn’t have much interest in the assignment until I discovered that the Department of Corrections was paying for college classes that pertained to prison work at all prisons in California, which would include the California Institution for Women where I worked. I wanted to finish my AA degree and I knew that working the night shift would allow me to go to college during the day. I began to realize that the third watch position that was available would allow me to accomplish my goals. I applied for the position and was accepted. As part of the training for duty on what was called death row, I was told to refrain from sharing any of my personal information about the prison security system or myself with the inmates. This was due to the ability of the women to influence and manipulate staff. Therefore any exchange of personal information was forbidden. Although the women were sometimes friendly towards me, I never felt as though they were trying to influence me.

I admit I was a bit nervous on my first day. I reported for duty early one morning, as I was to work two weeks on the day shift training with two of the day staff. I entered a large building known as the Reception Center where women were first received and evaluated for placement on the mainline. The death row hallway and cells were attached to this building. I entered a hallway that lead to the entrance and knocked on the large wooden door. An officer opened a small peephole and asked, Who goes there? After presenting my identification I was allowed to enter a small Sally Port, which was a small-secured area locked by a barred door on one side. Once the door was closed behind me, this secured the officer and I in a small six by six-foot room, until another officer then allowed us entry into the celled area. I was surprised that the staff office was so small. It was necessary for one of us to sit down, to allow the other officer enough room to move around.

I was then introduced to the inmates who were referred to as the Manson women. This was my first encounter with them as I had seen them on T. V. for several years from the time of their arrest to the completion of their trial. The first thing I noticed about them that stood out were the X’s on their foreheads, to show solidarity with Manson. Their stature and demeanor was like nothing I expected. They appeared fragile and friendly looking much like the girl next door and were polite and respectful. I informed them that I was in training and would eventually be working the late night shift. I advised the women that I would adhere to all the rules and regulations. If they followed the rules, there would be no problems.

The day shift was quiet, peaceful and routine as I became acquainted with the duties the officers followed. There were procedures for visiting and mail to adhere to, as well as exercise periods on the grounds outside the facility. One of my co-workers was always reading the newspaper when she was on her free time. She informed me that her son was in the Jimmy Jones cult in Giuana, and she feared for his life. She had heard that a representative from the U.S. was flying to Giuana to investigate. Unfortunately she later got the news that everyone in the cult had committed suicide, including her son.

I worked days for the first two