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| Once a Con, Later a Friend to Prison Officer |
| By Union Democrat (CA) |
| Published: 10/14/2002 |
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Jerry Wheeler doesn't look like the type to pal around with ex-cons. Given his ruddy cheeks, snowy locks and twinkly blue eyes, he's more likely to be taken for a relative of Nicholas Claus than a roving ex-prison officer set for a road trip north to pay his respects to an ailing former inmate. Wheeler and Leon 'Whitey' Thompson first met 55 years ago while both were on Alcatraz Island living on opposite sides of the law. Wheeler, who turns 81 on Christmas, was a young corrections officer then, still wet behind the ears, while Thompson was serving hard time on the Rock for robbing banks. 'Like a lot of the other [officer]s, when I first met him, I thought Whitey was a low down, rotten SOB,' recalled Wheeler. 'Turns out he was a nice guy.' 'A lot of people draw the conclusion, 'once a con, always a con.' I've found that not to be true,' he said. To prove his point, he produces an autographed copy of 'Last Train to Alcatraz' written by his friend Thompson, who turned his life around after his release and hit the lecture tour telling about it. Seated in the spare but snug living room of his crackerbox-sized cottage as early autumn light colored the peaceful vista of Dorrington Meadow, Wheeler spoke of his encounters with some of the most notorious felons in the annals of U.S. criminal history. 'I never felt I was scared,' he said matter-of-factly. 'Although in dealing with rough, tough animals, you never turned your back on them, I never had a confrontation with an inmate,' 'I believed in treating them with respect and in turn they treated me the same,' Wheeler said. He still has a copy of the penitentiary's official 'Charge Out Sheet' dated Dec. 22, 1947, that identifies the 255 inmates then in captivity by number and location. Without missing a beat, Wheeler rattles off the names that went with the numbers. |
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