This state prison was formerly known as Cummins State Farm and is a prison farm. It is located near Grady, Arkansas and it opened in 1902. Until 1986, Cummins was the home of Arkansas' death row. It's capacity is 1725 offenders.In 1968, Tom Murton alleged that three human skeletons found on the farm were the remains of inmates who had been subjected to torture, prompting a publicized investigation which found "a prison hospital served as torture chamber and a doctor as chief tormentor." [1]
The revelations included allegations of electrical devices connected to the genitalia of inmates. The Arkansas State Penitentiary System at that time had already been found to have held inmates at the Cummins Unit under conditions rising to the level of unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment, in cases tried by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, among others.
Cummins Unit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
GRADY, Ark. — This is Brubaker country, once home of the most corrupt prison in the entire U.S. Behind these walls, unscrupulous wardens and guards held sway over the lives of men convicted of everything from passing phoney cheques to capital murder.
Prisoners were subject to torture and it is alleged many were murdered. A call to the telephone at the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas prison system didn’t mean a call from a loved one. It meant attaching electrodes to a prisoner’s big toe and wiring him to an old-fashioned telephone. They called it the Tucker telephone, after the Tucker Unit, Cummins’ sister prison. The resulting electric charge drove some men insane. Others were rendered sterile.
The Truro Daily News, Nova Scotia : Columns | Hard time in prison
A movie with Robert Redford was made based on the story of Tom Murton's efforts to reform Cummins Unit. The movie is called Brubaker. Brubaker (1980)
Recently, two men convicted of murder who were serving time at Cummins, escaped wearing guard uniforms. They were caught yesterday in New York State.
The Associated Press: Prison: 2 Ark. escapees captured in New York state
Arkansas Department of Correction | Prison History and Gallery
cummins unit - Prison Talk
Prison Ministry Network. Cummins Unit Webpage of the member of International Network of Prison Ministries.
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