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| In Jail, Sewing Is an Escape |
| By Los Angeles Times |
| Published: 01/07/2002 |
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They call themselves the Twin Towers Sewing Circle. Candy Love, a 37-year-old inmate at the Los Angeles County jail and a swift seamstress, sat at a table embroidering muslin. It would become the smiling face of a doll. Sheriff's Deputy Myrtle Everage, the guard who watches over Love and her 50 or so fellow doll-makers, circled the room, giving gentle suggestions on colors and materials for the tiny dresses. 'You got a lot of freedom in the use of color,' Love said. The women gather daily to craft about 5,000 dolls each year for disadvantaged children. The dolls are distributed in December through sheriff's stations, elementary schools, and some of the religious and civic organizations that donate the material for the dolls in the first place. The women participate in a long tradition of creating holiday toys for the needy from inside Los Angeles County jails. Started by Sheriff Eugene W. Biscailuz in the 1940s, it has become, deputies say, a 'pet project' of current Sheriff Lee Baca. Male inmates working in the program in a smaller branch at the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic make about 700 wood toys. Part of the sheriff's ceremonial duties since Biscailuz is an annual trip to deliver dolls to the Belvedere Children's Center in East Los Angeles. The dolls that go with Baca are about a foot tall, stuffed with cotton and moon-faced. Inmates stitch eyes, noses and smiling mouths by hand, usually trying to match eye color with the yarn hair. The dresses are almost all different, coming from scraps of donated material and sometimes from the same blue cloth used for the inmates' own uniforms. Everage interviews interested inmates one-by-one before accepting them into the sewing group. A grandmotherly guard who often listens to inmates with her hands folded, Everage said she mostly considers the inmate's demeanor and behavior. Everage has overseen the doll-making at the downtown Los Angeles jail since 1984, and said the program helps to improve inmates' behavior inside the jail and to prepare them for work once they are out. Everage said she knows the program sometimes pays off, because 'after inmates from the program are released, I sometimes see them working at the mall.' Others let her know of their progress through dozens of Christmas cards she receives every year. Everage's budget comes from the Inmate Welfare Fund, an account of money raised mostly through pay phones inside the jail. Lt. Bob Hudson, who oversees the money, said the toy program receives 'no more than $5,000' raised through the jail to supplement donations for supplies and sewing equipment. To donate cloth, yarn, wood and other material, Deputy Myrtle Everage may be contacted at (213) 893-5220. |
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