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| Prison-yard artists learn a Native American craft |
| By heraldnet.com |
| Published: 09/28/2009 |
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Monroe inmate teaches others the skill of totem carving. MONROE — Douglas Tobin first saw shapes in the wood when he was a boy. His father had built a backyard patio out of cedar. Tobin took out his pocket knife and started whittling, earning a spanking. Tobin kept sharpening his skills over the decades. Now 56, he's still at it, but in an unusual setting. A 14-year prison term for clam poaching landed him in the minimum security unit at the Monroe Correctional Complex. He has started a program there that has sparked the imagination of prison staff and inmates alike. He is teaching 10 inmates how to carve a totem pole, working within the strict confines of prison while earning 42 cents an hour for a skill that would otherwise earn him thousands of dollars. “You do a lot of poles,” Tobin said. “Some mean more than others. This one will always mean something.” Tobin, a Squaxin Island Indian, pitched the idea for the pole to prison superintendent Scott Frakes about three months ago. Tobin said he would spend his money to buy carving tools, arrange the donation of a cedar log and teach prisoners — who include other American Indians — how to carve. Frakes said he was chuckling on the inside when he heard the plan, because Tobin's proposal closely mirrored the speech the staff gives to prisoners who are in educational programs. He agreed, in part because Tobin was in minimum security, and in part because he was impressed. Read More. |
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