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Piece Description
John Mills, a 21-year-old inmate, is serving seven to nine years. As a kid, John dreamed of becoming a police officer, but by the time he was locked up at the age of 17, John had committed more than 75 armed robberies. John is trying to make a change in prison, but sometimes it is hard for him to forget the thrill of putting a gun to someone's head.
Transcript
Doing Time: John's Diary
Prison Diaries
Produced by: Joe Richman All Things Considered (NPR)
1/2/2001
NOAH ADAMS, HOST: Polk Youth Institution in Butner, North Carolina is home to more than a thousand young men between the ages of 18 and 22. There sentences range from a few months to life. If you go to the "C" unit at Polk and walk up two flights of stairs you'll arrive at cell number 302. It is John Mills cell. John Mills is serving 7-9 years for armed robbery. This is his story.
JOHN: I wanted to be a police officer, you know what I?m saying? When I was smaller used to think about that all the time, be a police officer. All the sirens, loud noises, blue lights and stuff. That was just something I always wanted to be. But now I hate the police. (laughs)
(knocking)
JOHN: I know my life just took a big turn somewhere. I just don?t know where.
OFFICER: all right fellahs, it...
Read the full transcript
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Helen Woodward
Posted on January 12, 2004 at 10:18 AM | Permalink
Review of Doing Time: John's Diary
This is a revealing and challenging first-person piece, an excellent and affecting example of its genre. The overall impression is of an environment that is loud, jarringly loud; replete with inmates (if this diarist is representative) whose potential to change/make amends is being squandered by the prison system. The piece is filled the mundane details of daily life behind bars: smoke breaks, watching ricki lake, endless hours in the cell. The diarist is honest and intimate, and the piece is seamlessly constructed.