It’s coming up to the 50th anniversary of the recording of ‘At San Quentin’, the famous concert given by Johnny Cash to inmates of the notorious prison. The man who filmed that documentary came to our prison to give a talk. Click below to see the article as it appears in the ‘Penned Up 2018’ magazine. The full magazine can be found here : Penned Up 2018 Magazine
An Audience with Michael Darlow
An Audience with Michael Darlow : Text only version
I have met numerous visitors during my sentence, by and large they shared the same anxious demeanour. They constantly check that they have not strayed from the sanctuary of their escorts—like an errant child at a supermarket. Whereas when I met Michael I noticed that he was utterly at ease. I suppose that a week in San Quentin in 1969 will put a day trip to our sleepy prison into perspective.
Despite an illustrious and varied career in the entertainment industry Michael is almost exclusively asked about his involvement in the 1969 Granada documentary featuring Johnny Cash playing live at San Quentin prison, California. At that time Michael was working for Granada TV, and wanted to produce an interview with Cash about the experience. After a positive initial contact with Cash’s management team, the idea was developed and grew until it was suggested that they film a documentary around a concert in San Quentin. Quoting Dostoevsky, Michael told us “A society can measure its degree of civilisation by the way it treats its prisoners. We decided that we could measure the degree of civilisation in American Society”
Cash was one of the USA’s best loved and best-selling artists, regularly sharing stages with stars like Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. But long term abuse of drugs and alcohol almost cost Johnny his life. In 1966, with his career on the wane, he was divorced by his first wife Vivienne. That might have been the end of Johnny Cash but for the intervention of folk singer June Carter. She was Cash’s saviour. She inspired him to go straight and led him back to his faith. Johnny had come from a childhood of abject poverty in 1930’s Arkansas and perhaps this is why he could identify with men in prison. In 1968, with June by his side, Cash’s comeback began with his album, ‘Live at Folsom Prison’. Cash had occasional nights in jail for petty beefs, but his song lyrics made prisoners believe that he had served hard time (“I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die”). I asked Michael if Johnny promoted or denied these rumours. “Johnny was a consummate showman. He had a way of endearing himself to his audience. When he played in prison he loved that the men thought that he had served hard time and he played on that. Johnny always knew his audience.”
When I asked Michael if there was much red tape to be negotiated he shrugged and said, “It all seemed to be the decision of the Prison Warden. I was never aware of him having to get permission from anybody else.” Having met the Warden of the prison, (who demanded a ’brand new radio-gram’ in exchange for his approval) Michael explained, “I was then introduced to the Head Guard who told me that he would not be able to guarantee our safety. Instead, the guard arranged a meeting with the leaders of the main prison gangs. A deal was done that they would get front row seats in return for keeping things in check. According to Michael, “There was no doubting who was in charge.” Rather than be intimidated, Michael said matter-of-factly, “We decided to record the various interviews with the prisoners and guards before the gig – we weren’t sure that the protection would last long after the gang leaders had enjoyed their reward.” I asked Michael if that was why Johnny shook hands with some of the prisoners before he came on stage. Michael’s face creased into a smile as he said, “Oh Johnny knew exactly who the men in the front row were and the power that they held. They were our protection. He was a showman and he worked his audience.” When asked about the atmosphere in the prison, Michael described “…a sense of simmering, pent up rage…”
San Quentin prison is located on the Northern side of San Francisco Bay. At the time of the concert it held 3,000 of the worst offenders in the US. Michael told us, “At that time, anybody arriving at San Quentin already had a bit of a reputation. There were 70 men on death row… and an average of 6-8 murders within the prison every year.” Our first glimpse of those prisoners was eerily familiar. Their comments from a half a century ago mirror those of prisoners today.
“They’re [society] hiding us you know. That society out there created a good many of us. I myself feel that the greatest crime a goodly proportion of us in San Quentin are guilty of is one thing – that we were born poor.”
“We’re exposed to a kind of machine like justice that just spews us out because of our mediocrity. We’re of no consequence.”
Johnny Cash was determined to shine a light on the harm that prisons were doing in order to force change. A few days before the concert, Michael asked Johnny if he might write a song about ‘San Quentin’ like his hit ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ only to be told to “F*** Off!” But Michael described how Johnny’s wife June came over, placed her hand on his arm and said “Don’t worry, that means he will do it!” The lyrics say all that you need to know about Johnny’s stance on US prisons.
“San Quentin I hate every inch of you
You’ve cut me and you’ve scarred me through and through
And I’ll walk away a wiser weaker man
Mr Congressman you can’t understand
San Quentin what good do you think you do?
Do you think I’ll be better when you’re through?”
Some of the most poignant interviews relate to Death Row, from both the guards’ and the prisoners’ perspectives. Michael described the Head Guard, “He was one tough man, he had an aura about him. Put it this way, if I had been
drafted to Vietnam at that time I would have wanted this guy as my platoon sergeant.” But tough as he was, this man struggled to describe his part in strapping men into the gas chamber to carry out death sentences, “The ones that I’ve witnessed [executions], well, it was very easy. I’ve heard many people describe this in many different ways. But to me, if you watch a man’s hands that’s strapped to a chair [he examines his own hands as he speaks] – when he doesn’t even clench his fist, which would be the first thing that you would see if there was pain involved. I’ve never even seen this happen. So I don’t believe that there is any pain whatsoever connected with it. Most of them [the prisoners] want to go in without any problems, they think it’s important to die like a man.” It is plain to see the anguish in the Head Guard’s face and to hear the doubt in his voice. He is trying to rationalise and justify his part. Michael shared my opinion, “You can certainly see that he is trying to convince himself that the execution is a kindness of sorts, almost like it’s a mercy killing.”
Whether or not you are a Johnny Cash fan, it is worth watching the documentary. You will gain a perspective on how ineffective prison was at delivering any real rehabilitation. Alarmingly, it also highlights the fact that we are still having the same debates today while very little has actually changed.
