European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 19, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse By Tom Joyce Nana staff writer Jimmy Hoffa is a mattress is his Iob As prisoner no.33298 at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary an institution about a Plush As Man has created since he started sending his enemies to jail. Along the Banks of the meandering Susquehanna River in Central Pennsyl Vania convicted jury Tampere Hoff works at a machine that takes Lumpy mattresses and makes them Fluffy again of the inmates at i Weisburg will sleep better. The one thing that makes the former teamster president different from most of his fellow inmates All of whom must work at some Job is that he travels More. Since the prison doors clanked behind him last March 7, Hoffa has made trips to Chattanooga and Chicago for new hearings arranged by his army of lawyers. When this reporter visited Lewisburg few Days ago Hoffa s own mattress was rolled up on a steel cot and a Signon his cell door read out to it is one that is expected to appear there often during Hoffa s eight year jury tampering sentence and another five year term for raiding the Union Treasury of a million dollars. Hoffa s attorneys known facetious Lyas the teamsters bar association be cause there Are so Many of them have been working feverishly Ever since the once Jaunty teamster Boss entered Lew Isburg. And they Are not expected to let up As Long As Jimmy is behind bars. In one of his latest moves Hoffa petitioned the . District court in Chattanooga which sentenced him to the eight year jury tampering sentence for a reduction or suspension of sentence. Hoffa contended that both he and his wife Are ill. But Federal judge Frank Wilson who sent him to jail turned Down the motion last june after Bureau of prison officials argued that Hoffa has had no serious medical problems since hear Rived at Lewisburg. Moreover the prison a difficult word to use when describing Lewisburg has an operating Oom. We can to an kind of surgery that is required Here said or. Harry Weller chief medical officer of the prison except for heart and stroll through the Hospital is revealing. Like the rest of Lewisburg itis Bright and airy. The patients were smoking playing cards watching television and listening to radio from earphone at each happened to you i asked one Young Hurt my hip he replied cheer the Job no he said. Playing is the Way it is at Lewisburg where a surprised visitor must toss out of his mind All the old movie stereo types about the architecture is italian Renais Sance. And if it were not for the 40-Footwall that surrounds the 26-acre com Pound and the bars you would thin you were in a great mansion or Cathe Hoffa has visitors they Don t sit movie fashion on one Side of a Cage like Barrier. The visiting room at Lewisburg looks More like a posh cocktail lounge in a county that has just voted to go Are comfortable chairs and couches around Little tables where families May get together. On the Walls there Are paintings som for Sale done by the inmates. There Are no guards and inmates May talk freely to wives children rela tuesday september 19, 1967 bunching he coot to hide the Handcuffs Hoffa became an inmate of Lewisburg a prison earlier this year. Tives and girl friends if they Are on the approved list of visitors. How does Hoffa stack up As a Pris Oner we have a policy associate Warde Hardy Rauch said not to discuss individuals. It is based on the theory that families in Many cases have been embarrassed enough from other sources however comes picture of a Tough Hoffa who is hav ing a hard time adjusting to prison life. He does his Job and he does t cause any trouble. He has always been a mercurial Moody Man an ambitious Man who decided in his teens to give orders rather than take them. Now in his mid-50s and a convict witha number he has grown sullen morose and More Moody. Most of the time said one source he Sticks pretty much to himself and says very anyone who knew Hoffa the Pat Tern should have been predictable. He dealt in awesome Power. He barked or Ders and burned nervous Energy Fly Ingall Over the country in private air planes to run the big Union almost As a single handed operation. He found relaxation Only in the inti Macy of his close family to whom his Devotion knew no Bounds and in occasional Hunting and fishing trips. From inside the prison he can seethe rugged wooded mountains around Lewisburg an area full of Trout Stream Sand some of the Best Hunting in the has to be frustrating. What kind of a Hoffa will he be when the teamster Boss ultimately emerges from Lewisburg prison life changes people. So does the stigma attached to being an the latter probably would have More effect on Hoffa than the former. Right up to the last Day he believed his lawyers would find some Means of keeping him out of jail. They had Formant years. The whole idea of the new prison philosophy at Lewisburg is rehabilitation. This is done by teaching skills Job placement therapy for the emotion ally disturbed criminal and even through Branch of alcoholics Anonymous for Hoffa does t need a vocation or a Job when he gets what will Lewisburg do to or for him the Hope is that the kind of treatment handed out at Lewisburg will make Hoffa and All the other inmates there less hostile to society than a traditional grim Penitentiary would. Obviously this does not directly apply to Hoffa who has always been self sus Taining and who gives every indication that in his own mind he feels he has never done anything Lewisburg which is As breakout proof As any prison can be was no built for Hoffa or executive Caliper men like the exception of a few like Tony Provenzano a teamster vice president from new Jersey and 01 Hoffa protege serving time for extortion the prison ers make up a general mixture of Crim Are murderers Bank robbers assailants car thieves and makes them different from the convicts at the nation s touches fed eral prisons Atlanta and Leavenworth is that they Are not regarded As con firmed offenders. It is Felt there is Hope for them. An that s Why Lewisburg is run the Way it is. Prisoners Are awakened at 6 30a.m. And must be i bed by 11 . And All must work at some kind of Job Many of which teach occupational skills for eight hours. The stars and stripes but in an inmate s free time he disallowed to wander the attractive build ing almost at will if to has not broken any rules. Guards Are called correctional offi cers and they carry no weapons. A prisoner May go to the big hand some Library. He May go to a Craft Center to make things like leather purses to either sell or Send Home or paint if he is so he May go to the commissary where he can buy cigarettes fresh fruit Candy and personal items up to $15 a , within the High Wall there is a recreation area that would be envied by Many private schools. Baseball is the favorite pastime but there is also weight lifting Horseshoe pitching and other games. For the Man who smokes a pipe or wants to Roll his own cigarettes free tobacco is dispensed from self service containers scattered throughout the the old Bogart movies the prison mess Hall is a drab dismal place where inmates eat Bland Mushy concoctions while crowded on benches at Long guards with night Sticks walk Between the rows of tables ready to silence any complaints about the food. Not so at spacious Cathedral like dining rooms put Many High class cafeterias on the outside to shame. Instead of the Long tables there Are four Man tables in Many Bright colors. Prisoners Are not herded into the May enter and leave any time during the meal hour. A typical lunch menu roast beef with Gravy Sage dressing Green Beans lettuce salad with garlic dressing Rolls and Margarine chocolate ice Cream and half a Grapefruit dry Cereal Oatmeal continued on Page it Page ii
