Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Wednesday Wonderful Collection - Arkansas State Prison Board records, MS.000278

Cynthia Houchin Wolfe, who served as secretary/administrative assistant to the Arkansas State Prison Board, collected these records. Wolfe was employed as executive secretary to John Haley at the Rose Law Firm in 1967. She was the Assistant Commissioner for Program Planning for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, 1968-1972. These records cover some of the most turbulent times in Arkansas prisons, as the reforms of Governor Winthrop Rockefeller were being put into place and the federal courts ruled the Arkansas prison system unconstitutional, forcing the state legislature to appropriate sufficient funds for substantial prison reform.

This collection includes correspondence, notes, memos, reports, grant proposals, court rulings, government studies, newsclippings, and Arkansas Correction Board minutes from 1967 to 1971. Much of the material in the collection deals with the tenures of Thomas Murton, Bob Sarver, and the chairman of the Arkansas Correction Board, John Haley. Included in the papers are Cynthia Wolfe's notes explaining many of the different reports and folders she included in the collection.

  • 1. Correspondence and memos, 1967-1970 (Box 1)
  • 2. Arkansas State Police report, 1968
  • 3. Prison Industries Reorganization Board Report on Arkansas Prisons, 1936
  • 4. Arkansas State Penitentiary Annual Report, 1962
  • 5. Arkansas Department of Correction Annual Report, 1970
  • 6. Statement of Robert Sarver to United States Senate, 1969
  • 7. Arkansas Penitentiary Study Commission Probation and Parole Report, 1967
  • 8. Arkansas Penitentiary Study Commission Report, 1968 January 1
  • 9. Brozene, prison money
  • 10. Long range planning, correspondence and memos, 1969-1970
  • 11. Long range planning, "A Ten Year Action Plan for Arkansas Corrections," draft version, 1970
  • 12. Long range planning, final report, "Where from Here?" 1970
  • 13. Long range planning, notes, charts and work sheets
  • 1. Miscellaneous newsclippings and articles (Box 2)
  • 2. Grant proposals
  • 3. Women's reformatory, prototypical design study, 1971 May
  • 4. Carl Runyan, "Operation Challenge," final report, 1970 September 8
  • 5. Board of Corrections meeting minutes, 1970-1971
  • 6. "Arkansas Penitentiary System," article by John H. Haley, 1968
  • 7. John Haley's notes, 1968
  • 8. Notes on inmate interviews, undated
  • 9. Prison humor
  • 10. Constitutional issues, federal court rulings on Arkansas prisons, 1970 and additional rulings, 1969-1971
  • 11. Arkansas Council on Human Relations, 1971
  • 12. Marion Crank, 1968
  • 13. Site plans
  • 14. Personnel
  • 15. Manuals
  • 1. Project program report, Cummins Unit (Box 3)
  • 2. Correctional standards, 1971
  • 3. "Of Prisons and Men," (A Play)
  • 4. Search audit, 1968
  • 5. Legislative acts, 1968-1970
  • 6. Newsclippings, 1967
  • 1. Newsclippings, 1968 (Box 4)
  • 2. Newsclippings, 1969
  • 3. Newsclippings, 1970
  • 1. Newsclippings, 1971 (Box 5)
  • 2. Newsclippings, 1972-1973
  • 3. Newsclippings, 1974-1976
  • 4. Newsclippings, 1980
  • 5. Newsclippings, undated
  • 6. Winthrop Rockefeller memorabilia
  • 7. Notes from Cynthia Wolfe, 1993
  • 1. Prison tape recordings (Box 6)