Bob Shell: Virginia Giveth, Virginia Taketh Away

portrait of inmate Bob Shell Pocahontas state correctional facility
Inmate Bob Shell. Pocahantos State Correctional Facility 2022

Text by Bob Shell, Copyright 2022

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Virginia Giveth, Virginia Taketh Away

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Last year our Virginia General Assembly passed into law a bill modifying how the Department of Corrections allocates ‘Good Time,’ time subtracted from your sentence for good behavior. Under the new law, my sentence would be shortened considerably. The administration was made up of Democrats when the law was enacted and signed by the Governor.
Last year in November the voters in Virginia put in a Republican administration, which has systematically undone many of the progressive laws and programs put in place by the Democrats, changing Virginia from a blue state to a very red state.

An amendment to the law that recently went into effect modified the original ‘Good Time Law’ by adding multiple pages of exclusions. Now, anyone convicted of multiple offenses does not qualify if they have a single one of those convictions for a ‘violent crime.’

My most serious conviction was for involuntary manslaughter, which is arbitrarily defined as a ‘violent crime,’ even though no violence whatsoever was alleged in my case. Result: I now do not qualify for sentence reduction under the law.

That is very depressing and makes me angry. Around five hundred men here at this one facility lost their expected sentence reductions under the new amendment. Many were only weeks or days away from going home to families who had prepared for their return. Children have to now be told daddy (or mommy) isn’t coming home. These prisoners now have to serve their original sentences, meaning some have months or years yet to remain incarcerated. One man I’ve known for years is from out west. He was supposed to go home this month. His family had already bought his air ticket. Now he won’t be coming.

Since this change in law applies to about half the men at this prison, the prison administration will have to scramble to have beds to accommodate these men for much longer. The Virginia prison system is overcrowded as it is. Early release of several thousand prisoners was intended to help ease that situation. Our new Governor’s solution: Ask the legislature for more than fifty million dollars to expand the prison system! Politically, I am neither Republican nor Democrat, since neither party has acted in the best interests of the country for many years, overspending money we just don’t have.
The Virginia Department of Corrections, as the prison system is euphemistically called, has a yearly budget of one billion dollars. That’s not a typo, it’s billion, not million. The entire budget for Virginia is four billion dollars. Prisons are allocated one fourth of the entire state budget! Why don’t the taxpayers realize how absurd that is? Twenty-five cents of every dollar they pay in taxes goes to keeping people in prison.

In the USA we lock up more people per capita than any developed country. Doesn’t that tell you something is radically wrong? Not only do we lock up more people, we give them much longer sentences. Anywhere else in the civilized world, I’d have been released years ago. Many states other than Virginia would have given me far less time for relatively minor offenses. (The Virginia Sentencing Guidelines recommended my sentence to be 1 -1/2 to 3 years. I was given 32- 1/2 more than ten times the maximum sentence recommended by the guidelines! In Virginia, the guidelines are suggestions that judges routinely ignore. In many states the guidelines are mandatory.)
Now, if I am not exonerated, I’m likely to remain in here far longer than I would have under the new law as originally enacted.

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 About The Author: Bob Shell is a professional photographer, author, former editor in chief of Shutterbug Magazine and veteran contributor to this blog. He is currently serving a 35 year sentence for involuntary manslaughter for the death of Marion Franklin, one of his former models.  He is serving the 13th year of his sentence at Pocahontas State Correctional Facility, Virginia. To read additional articles by Bob Shell, click here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/gun-control/

Seward Johnson Atelier: Grounds For Sculpture. Hamilton, NJ

 

Photography and Text by Tony Ward, Copyright 2022

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Seward Johnson Atelier: Grounds For Sculpture

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I had long heard positive reviews about this place over the years from various artist friends.  I was told it was a must see but like many things in life, visiting this unique place was put on the back burner.  A few days ago, I finally cleared my schedule to visit Seward Johnson’s atelier, Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey.  I took Route 1 North for about a 40 minute drive from my studio and then headed over the Trenton Morrisville Toll Bridge to cross the Delaware River into Trenton.  It took another 10 minute drive or so to navigate through low income housing and a variety of industrial small businesses before I arrived at what at first glance seemed to be a pretty nondescript place.  Behind the security checkpoint where I had to present my timed admission receipt, a fee to enter the grounds for $15.00 (senior citizen discount). I was excited to see what my artist friends were talking about.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Actually it was much more than I expected, especially the landscaping, not to mention the approximately 300 sculpted modernest art works that were carefully curated to attract visitors from around the world.

On 42 acres of land that was once the New Jersey State Fairgrounds, Johnson put some of the millions he had invested as an heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical family fortune towards building a place where he envisioned sculptors could work and be showcased, including his own work that is  nestled into a perfectly manicured horticultural and large scale sculptural paradise.  Seward Johnson became known in the art world for his life sized depictions of people in everyday life tableaux.  My favorite Johnson’s piece is a marvelous, fanciful  recreation of Grant Wood’s American Gothic painting from 1930. When I approached  the mammoth 30 foot portrait of the iconic midwestern farmers,  it took my breath away.  It was like a set from Disney, crafted to perfection.  There are lots of nooks and crannies like this where you come across large scale contemporary sculptures constructed in metal, stone, wood, plastic and a variety of other materials represented by artists from all over the world.  Some of the works that you see there were commissioned by Johnson’s foundation and are site specific. This is the type of place you need to visit more than once to take in the breadth and nuance of this most charming environment to enjoy art.  I am already making plans for a return visit at night when many of the installations are lighted for evening visits. This is a great place to take a date!

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To access additional articles by Tony Ward, click herehttps://tonywardstudio.com/blog/atlantic-city-airshow-2021/

 

Pat Cleveland: Legend of Fashion Modeling

Fashion model icon Pat Cleveland with star photographer Tony Ward
Fashion icon Pat Cleveland with Tony Ward. Photo: Paul  van Ravenstein  Copyright 2022

Text by Tony Ward, Copyright 2022

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Pat Cleveland: Legend of Fashion Modeling

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I first came to know about Pat Cleveland in the mid 1970’s when I was a graduate student at the Rochester Institute of Technology.  I saw some of her earliest published photos in fashion magazines and noticed right away something unusual about her pictures.  Pat was one of the earliest models of color to be published prominently in a major fashion magazine.  Pat, Grace Jones and Beverly Johnson broke the glass ceiling for being the first women of color  to be recognized for their natural beauty.  Needless to say, Pat was more curvaceous than the standard white female model because of her exotic mix of both Irish and African American blood.  She opened the door for lots of other women to explore the world of fashion and runway modeling. Iman and Naomi Campbell owe a debt of gratitude to the legend of Pat Cleveland.

I could relate to her upbringing when I read her memoir Waling With the Muses. I am also of mixed heritage, my mother was Italian and my father was African American.  Pat and I had other similarities as well in that both of  our parents, were artists. Pat’s mother was a painter as well as my dad. There was also the connection to Harlem, Pat was born there, my parents lived there when they got married and stayed for a time until my parent’s moved to Philadelphia in the 1940’s. Pat and I first met at a mutual friends home in Elkins Park, just a few minutes drive to where I was born and raised.  In this picture we were reunited again by our friend Sandra Blumberg, an artist and humanitarian who recently had a reception of her most recent works of art at Beaumont in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.  

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To access additional articles by Tony Ward, link herehttps://tonyward.com/tony-ward-diary-happy-hour/