Prison Archives: Students learn from seasoned inmates

In May of 2001, the prison embarked on two programs. One of them was a victim awareness program where convicts could undergo rehabilitation and eventually meet and apologize to families of their victims. The other was a school program that took students to see what life was like behind bars. News Five accompanied one class trip that saw faces which have been memorable to our newscast. They met notorious criminals like Frank Castro, Herman Lanza, and they also met Mark ‘T Dogg’ Stewart, whom, while in prison on one murder charge, aroused fear in other prisoners after he became the prime suspect in the murder and dismemberment of his cellmate. It was a sobering experience for students of Excelsior High when they met a youth in their age range locked up. News Five Jose Sanchez joined them in 2001 when they learned that prison is no picnic.

{Prison Feature dated May 3^rd, 2001}

Featured in that decade old story is Sergeant Gilbert Pitts, who was a Zone Beat Liason Officer. The school visits to the prison were initiated by Pitts who has now retired from the force. T-Dogg was eventually shot twenty seven times and killed inside his cell at the Central Prison in 2003. The inquiry into his death was completed in 2010 and no one was charged.