Page for Members of the Press

We frequently receive inquiries from members of the press and have created this page to provide information specifically for your needs.

We will be very happy to attempt to direct you to specific resources, organizations, people or other resources you may need to cover any aspect of correctional recreation (as time permits). Our contact information is at the bottom of this page.

For some basic background, please consult some previous stories on correctional recreation.

• Sports in Prison Series by Michael Dobie published by Newsday.com Jul/Aug 2004. This is a huge, wonderful series on prison recreation. In our view, the most in-depth ever published by a news organization. It also includes several videos.

• Sports Behind the Walls. Rick Telander. Sports Illustrated. Vol. 69. October 17, 1988. Pgs. 82-88.

• The Blotting Out of Time. Rick Telander. Sports Illustrated. Vol.42. April. 1975. Pgs.34-41.
  This article is very similar to the article above, but written about 13 years earlier by the same author. It can be found in most public libraries. The article primarily focuses on prison weight lifting and boxing. Several photographs are included.

• Locking Up Sports. ESPN. by Matt Marantz. December 16, 1999.
  The show covered the Louisiana Penitentiary Rodeo, the professional debut of an ex-inmate boxer and basketball at McNeil Island (Washington). The accompanying online articles were written by Tom Farrey. In them he re-visits a 1995 article he wrote covering basketball at McNeil Island for the Pacific Magazine, the Sunday magazine for the Seattle Times.
  Introduction
  Part 1
  Part 2
  Part 3

• CNN Prison Lifting Special. Provision to Eliminate Weights in Prison is Debated. April 22, 1994.

• 20/20 Prison Lifting Special. "Bigger and Badder?" -- Banning Weight Lifting Equipment in Prison. John Stossel. May 6, 1994.
  Part 1
  Part 2

• Changing the Laws of Recidivism Through Recreation NCRA spotlight article by Mary Dallao. Corrections Today (publication of the American Correctional Association). Vol. 58 No.1. Feb. 1996. Pgs. 80 and 101.

• Corrections in Florida: 1998 Opinion Survey
  What the Public, News Media and DC Staff think. Florida Dept. of Corrections web site.

• Special Report" on Georgia Prison Sports. Atlanta Journal Constitution. Sunday 22 March 1998.
  The report consisted of four sections. The sections were titled:

  When weightlifting was banned in Georgia's prisons 
  Less Fun, Fewer Games for Georgia Inmates: PRO 
  Less Fun, Fewer Games for Georgia Inmates: CON 
  Less Fun, Fewer Games for Georgia Inmates: Female Inmates
  

If your questions center around current state budget shortfalls and their possible impact on correctional recreation, please see our page on state budget cuts and correctional recreation and its accompanying paper, State Budget Shortfalls Impact Correctional Recreation; The View From Both Sides.

If your questions concern weightlifting in prisons, please see our List of Issues Concering Weightlifting in Prisons page.

We also suggest you visit the National Correctional Recreation (NCRA) web site. They are the professional association for correctional recreators.

Contact us for additional information If you need additional information, please email us and we will contact you or call us at (405) 377-7100. Gary Polson is the contact person.

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