AJC 9-22-1969 1A

Maddox Seeking New Women’s Jail

By STEVE BALL JR.

Gov. Lester Maddox Monday recommended the replacement or total renovation of the Georgia Women's Prison at Milledgeville, calling conditions there "intolerable." The old structures makes for a "total disregard for any privacy or any feeling that you're something other than an animal," Maddox declared while announcing plans to meet with the State Board of Corrections at the site later in the day.

He estimated the cost at any- where from $350,000 for renovations up to $1.5 million for replacement, aid said, "I don't think a state with $900 million budget wants a place like the one we have."

Maddox's comments on the women's prison—the subject of several newspaper articles- came at the end of the press conference he called to declare he stands with Atlanta police and the police of the country against charges of brutality.

The governor, who declined to name any names, charged that the incident in which officer Dewitt Smith accused five fellow officers of beating two men at the city jail was "planned to provoke action from police officials."

Maddox a added” I believe some of the politicians . . . (he was referring to candidates in the Atlanta mayor's race), at least one of them is responsible."

HE EXPLAINED he believes it "was one of those planned incidents" when someone in custody provokes police action in order to influence the political situation.

However, Maddox declined to say who he thinks the incident and subsequent actions will help or who he personally prefers in the mayor's race.

"The present cry of police brutality hangs heavy with political intrigue that is unfair to good police officers in Atlanta and elsewhere," the governor said in a prepared statement at his conference. "It is my personal judgment that the current uproar probably resulted from a planned offensive by the agitators, the politicians and the enemies of law enforcement - as is often the case - to provoke immediate defense action from the police officers."

GETTING IN what was apparently intended as a slap against Atlanta Police Chief Herbert Jenkins, Maddox continued, "The demand to remove local law enforcement from direction by duly appointed authority is what the Communists have demanded in their drive to overthrow government in this country.

"Insisting Upon the chief of police being removed from his post proves that the racial agitators the criminals and the Communists may even care less for friend who has crawled before them than they are for their most outspoken opposition."

Maddox charged that government has failed in its first responsibility - protecting lives and property - "because some cowards in public office prefer to be elected than right."

"It is time in America to pull the brutes off the police officers in Atlanta and the rest of the United States, even if they have to be beaten off or shot off," Maddox continued.

"Common sense thinking tells sensible, patriotic and law-abiding citizens that when police officers are forbidden to protect themselves, it is impossible for them to protect other citizens.

"I take my stand with the police officers of Atlanta and the United States, and I urge other real Americans who would save this country from the barbarians, the criminals and the Communists to do the same," Maddox concluded.