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I spend my days with convicted murderers.
Some are well-dressed in bow ties and collared shirts and jackets, their hair immaculately combed. One wears a bowler hat. I’d love to sit down and talk to them through their prison bars, but they’re all dead. “Hanged by the neck until dead,” as the courts ruled. Folsom Prison executed a total of ninety-three inmates, occurring between 1895 and 1937. Folsom’s 93: The Lives and Crimes of Folsom Prison’s First and Only Executed Men will be the first book to profile in detail, the lives and crimes of these men, as well as the lives of their victims.
I became acquainted with these men when I was a child. Their mug shots sat tucked away in a closet at my Great-Great Aunt’s house for over four decades. Turns out her husband Tom, a self-described “professional gambler,” paid a visit to a Folsom inmate who owed him money. My Aunt figured the Warden gave Tom the photographs, but she wasn’t sure. And there was something else. Stashed in the flat box was an original forty-page, typed document—author unknown—chronicling events at Folsom from its early planning stages in the 1850s to 1943.
It wasn’t until Tom’s death in the late seventies that the documents resurfaced. Twenty years later, my Aunt showed them to the rest of the family. In 2008, I began the task of researching each man, his crimes and his victims. As a writer, I was enthralled. I knew there would be incredible stories to tell, but I had no idea I would uncover so much information.
Considering the book will cover 42 years, involve hundreds of people, and take place in a notorious prison, I have accumulated more information than what the book can hold. Folsom’s 93 will contain many sidebars of information and anecdotes relating to the 93 men and Folsom prison, but it’s impossible to include everything. The surplus of these fascinating snippets of history couldn’t go untold, however, and I’ve included many of them on my blog. They deserve to be heard.
April Moore
Cover: Scomo Design
The book is scheduled for release in spring 2013 by Linden Publishing.
very cool, cant wait to read more!
Fascinating. Can’t wait to see more!
Just your exploration on this would make a good movie
This is a very cool idea for a book, April. Let me know when it is published.
Thanks, Dale. My publisher has Spring of 2013 for the release. Hopefully that doesn’t change.
Beautiful. Proud to say I know you. Kinda. In a weird typing way.
Ha! Thanks. You too, in a weird typing way as well.
Hey April:
I’ve been to Folsom prison a couple of times in the 90′s. My brother was incarcerated there for 13 years. This sounds like a fascinating project. Can’t wait to read more!
Hey thanks! Folsom’s definitely a fascinating place. I’ve been there once and that was certainly enough for me.
Old Folsom or new Folsom?
Old Folsom. What about you?
My brother was housed at Old Folsom initially, but I don’t think I visited him there. I just remember that the guards were kind of rude every time I went. When I went to interview someone at the Pollunsky unit in Texas, I was taken aback by how polite everyone was. Granted, Texas kills a lot more people than California, but at least the guards (or at least my experience with them) have been pleasant.
Interesting. I can’t even imagine the mind set these guards need when working at prisons like Folsom. Not a job I’d want.
I worked in a jail for four months and it was horrible.
I could only imagine. I’m sure you could write a book on your experiences!
Well, now that you mention it, I am writing a book about my “death trip.” It began as my master’s thesis about people who worked with death in their professions. Now it’s more of a memoir of my experience.
An essay I wrote about my brother was published in Creative Nonfiction and a book called “Silence Kills.”
Prison and death are the two topics that I’m drawn to, so that’s why I’m very interested in your project.
I don’t know how people deal with death on a daily basis, so your book sounds like a very intriguing read. I guess now I know more about executions and prisons than I ever thought I would! And I find the prison industry and prison life incredibly fascinating, especially during the turn of the 20th century. Keep me posted on your progress with your book–I’d love to know more about it.
April, Since talking to you via email this week, I have to tell you that your blog is absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to read your new book, too. From one writer to another I truly wish you all the best in your career and I will continue to read your work!! – J’aime Rubio
Thank you, J’aime–that means a lot. You have a fantastic blog and I’m looking forward to your book, too!