Warden Elbert v. Nash on Running Penitentiaries

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WARDEN ELBERT V. NASH
February 7, 1945 Thomas Whitecotton a former Captain with the Missouri Highway Patrol, accepted the position of Warden of the Missouri State Penitentiary. His mission? “clean up” the penitentiary.
A year later, Missouri formed the Department of Corrections. Whitecotton, became its new Director. Together with Missouri Governor Phil Donnelly, the two set out to take control of Missouri's prisons.
Prisoners at MSP rioted in September of 1954. The Missouri Highway Patrol and local law enforcement entered the prison to quell the riot, before all the buildings were burnt to the ground.
In the aftermath of the disturbance, four inmates lay dead, 29 injured and four guards assaulted. Administrators estimated the damage at over 5 million dollars.
Director Whitecotton resigned as Director and less than a year later, Governor Donnelly appointed James D. Carter as the new Director of Corrections in March of 1956. The Director appointed former Highway Patrolman Elbert V. Nash as the new Warden of the Missouri State Penitentiary.
Nash, a former World War II Veteran, school teacher and Highway Patrolman, eagerly accepted the job. Mr. Nash had every intention of making the penitentiary a safer, more productive and less violent institution.
Warden Nash over-saw the State executions of; Thomas Moore, Sammy Aire Tucker, Ronald Lee Wolfe and Charles H. Odom. I mention these executions because as a Correctional Officer, I have seen my share of death. It goes with the job. Its never easy watching a man die or finding him after hes killed himself.
Warden Nash knew these men personally. He spoke to them, listened to their pleas of mercy and he watched them die in the chamber.
By the 1960s, MSP embraced another rash of violence. To...

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...e party described the Warden's demeanor as “normal” but it was far from normal.
After the party, Elbert Nash shook hands and walked across the street to his home with his wife. Depressed, emotionally distraught, the media crucifying his moral character, Mr. Nash walked to his bedroom, placed a gun to his head, and pulled the trigger. It was over. The media and politicians had finally got their pound of flesh. Warden Nash killed himself. They could do as they pleased.
According to the book “Somewhere In Time” by Laurie A. Stout, a few days later, Representative Peter J. Rabbitt (Yes, Peter Rabbitt) from St. Louis, released a full report stating that Warden E.V. Nash was “wholly lacking in administrate ability.”
Enemies sought to destroy the penitentiary Warden, and in my opinion; they succeeded. If I am right, and I hope I'm not, may God have mercy on their souls.

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