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| Parole museum pays tribute to unsung system |
| By Los Angeles Times |
| Published: 05/24/2004 |
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The facility in Diamond Bar is the culmination of one agent's 14-year dream. It's not exactly the Getty or the Guggenheim, but the small, cream-colored room in Diamond Bar is indeed a museum. If security is a bit tight - a pane of bulletproof glass keeps the receptionist safe - it's in keeping with the museum's unlikely subject: the California parole system. "We didn't have many choices," said Parole Agent Paul Toma of the museum, which is tucked inside an administrative building at the Department of Corrections. "With our funding, there weren't a lot of places we could go." For Toma, the museum is the hard-earned culmination of a dream. He fought for 14 years to create a place dedicated to his often-overlooked profession. The cramped space is just another obstacle Toma must face. He has already overcome plenty along the way. A tall man who previously worked as a prison officer, the 47-year-old Toma may seem an unlikely candidate for a museum director. When he became a parole agent 17 years ago, he was trained to analyze the psychology of ex-convicts, monitor them in society and take them down by force if necessary. That training never covered the aesthetics of gallery lighting or the framing of vintage photographs. But Toma, a man with a mission, remains undeterred. His quest has to do with respect. Parole agents, he says, don't get any. That's why Toma wanted a museum that could set the record straight. What eventually became the T.H. Pendergast California Parole Museum began in 1990 as a junk pile in Toma's office. On his days off, he traveled the state interviewing retired parole officers and wading through their dusty attics. He found old photos, early department documents, badges, even a dictionary of prison slang from 1951. Every year, he'd bring up his idea for a museum. Administrators thought it would be too costly. Other agents said they'd be embarrassed to see their pictures on a wall. And every few months Toma would hear that another retired veteran had died, which only made him more desperate - another link to the past lost forever. Finally, in 2001, after a decade of lobbying, Toma won $50,000 in funding from the Legislature. The museum finally opened in October. It has a handful of visitors each month, mostly retirees and high school classes. Visits are by appointment only. |
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