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Tommy-the-Sparrow,
cigarette in beak, appears to be trying to get a light from his owner. Sparrows are prisoners' most common pets. |
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An excerpt from PRISON EXPOSURES by Robert Neese #24933, pages 56 and 57, Chilton Company, 1959 |
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Two jail birds find an easy way to do time. Tommy-theSparrow, with wings clipped to discourage too much traveling outside his owner's cell, frequently enjoys an after-dinner smoke with his human pal. Of course, he has too much sense to inhale, and enjoys his smoke just as much if it isn't lit. But since he fell from the nest, and Canelin taught him to eat from the end of a stick (the nearest thing to a mother's beak), Tommy's favorite plaything has been a cigarette.
Tommy's master runs risks to keep his pet. For one thing, the bird likes to eat hamburger and mashed potatoes, which means the owner of the bird has to smuggle them from the dining hall, a rule violation. But it is well worth the risk as far as the former thief is concerned. The pet is a great help in passing the 14 hours we must spend in the cell each day. |
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An earlier article and photo was released about Tommy Canelin (Tommy-the-Sparrow) in Iowa State Penitentiary's prison magazine, "the PRESIDIO," November 1956, Vol.XXIII No. 9
-the photo above was printed in the Presidio six years prior to the release of the movie
"Birdman of Alcatraz," that has a scene similar to a bird holding a stick in it's beak- |
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