There
was a prisoner who was a stone mason and had certain skills with
cement and stone. He worked alone and was assigned to building
artistic walls and borders. His work was mostly on The Terrace,
adjacent to the Warden's residence. Some of his art work with nymphs,
mermaids and so forth were admired by everybody.
He
served his time and left the prison, but they had no one who could
take his place at masonry. After several months he was back in prison
on another conviction. He asked if he could have his old job back
again. The officials said that there were no tools available for that
kind of work. He said that he could take care of that. He went out
and recovered his tools that he had cached away before he had left.
That fellow knew he was coming back home to San Quentin.