5 minute read
Pig Iron
Will weightlifting return to California prisons as part of the California model?
By Steve Brooks
Nowadays, when you descend onto the Lower Yard at San Quentin you can see serious workout enthusiasts doing pushups, pullups, burpees, and running miles along the track. You can see prisoners lifting homemade bags made with sewn pants legs or pillowcases filled with gravel; some using plastic bags full of water, stretch bands, or rolled up mattresses and books. This desperate attempt to get a “pump” is being duplicated on prison yards throughout California, because of a weightlifting ban implemented more than two decades ago.
When people living within the barbedwire enclosure of California prisons were allowed to participate in the sport known as weightlifting, the bulking up took place in gravelly pits full of crudely welded rusted pig iron. Sweaty men in blue jeans, shirtless or in white slingshots, would groan and curse, snatch and lift, or clean and jerk the rusty “bronze pennies” the size of vehicle tires for hours. Many looked like athletes preparing for the Summer Olympics. They were loud, excited, blowing off steam.
The “weight pile,” as it is called, is where men build their bodies, self-esteem, pride, and confidence. It is where they keep themselves in good mental and physical condition, and where they keep their hope by counteracting the de-motivating force of prison. It is where men learn to cope and work out any frustrations they are dealing with. Many drug addicts who ended up in prison would use weightlifting as a way to reclaim their body weight, pride, self-respect, and dignity.
But public perception changed in the 1990s. Tough-on-crime advocates preached that weightlifting creates monster-sized criminals that would upset law and order. Then-senators Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton were referring to young Black and Brown men as predators
The “super-predator theory” is a term advanced by criminologist John Dilulio. It predicted a rise in violent criminal acts committed by young, conscienceless thugs.
This super-predator theory led the California Assembly to enact a law banning weights in the California prison system to prevent prisoners from dramatically increasing their physical strength.
“Allowing prisoners to become bodybuilders contributed to the creation of human weapons on the street who could turn around and harm police officers,” said then-Senator Steve Peace in August 1994.
Gregory Harding, then Chief Deputy Warden of the California Department of Corrections, issued an administrative bulletin announcing the end of weightlifting in the free world’s largest prison system on January 2, 1998.
It was a radical departure from an earlier era when bodybuilding champions like Lou Ferigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger toured California prisons and youth facilities to promote weightlifting among prisoners as a way to help them cope with prison life, and find a sense of purpose.
When Schwarzenegger became governor in 2004, he suggested bringing the weightlifting programs back to prisons.
“As you know, in the ’70s I used to go around and visit almost all the prisons in California, and youth facilities to promote weight training for inmates,” he told the media. “I don’t want to put weight training in here if that’s not what everyone wants and if they think it’s counterproductive, only because I believe in weight training.”
But Schwarzenegger faced stiff opposition from the Correctional Officers Union and victims’ rights advocates. Efforts to reintroduce weightlifting were abandoned.
But now, Gov. Gavin Newsom says he wants to create a new California model focused on the health and wellness of those living and working inside prisons.
“Roughly 10 percent of our correctional staff thinks about seriously, or has attempted to commit suicide,” he said. “This system isn’t working for anybody.
“This is about getting serious about addressing the issue of crime and violence in our state by doing things differently and acknowledging… that we have failed for too long,” Newsom said.
Prioritizing punishment over rehabilitation led to massive prison overcrowding and the removal of healthy living among the incarcerated. The weights were removed. The quality of the food decreased.
There is no evidence of a link between weightlifting and violence. To the contrary, studies show that weightlifting actually reduces stress and violence.
The prison population rose to dangerous levels, and a sedentary lifestyle developed from continuous security lockdowns that prevented incarcerated people from getting outdoor exercise.
Not long after, a health crisis developed that led to a class action lawsuit and the takeover of the state’s medical facilities by the federal government. A chain of events created an unhealthy system for everybody. The return of weightlifting might help reverse this trend.
There is no evidence of a link between weightlifting and violence. To the contrary, studies show that weightlifting actually reduces stress and violence. It also promotes health, strengthening the heart muscle and cardiovascular system, thus lowering risk of heart attack and stroke. Weightlifting can boost metabolism, and help people lose weight; manage chronic conditions, back pain, obesity, heart disease, depression, and diabetes; and can sharpen cognitive skills. In fact, lifting weights may be one of the few legitimate releases for anger and stress for many people.
Today, public perception about crime and punishment has drastically changed. The imagined wave of super-predators never materialized. Violent crime is down. President Joe Biden, former Senator Hillary Clinton, and even Dilulio himself admit they were wrong; the super-predator theory is now considered a myth.
Given that, and in light of Gov. Newsom’s historic announcement that San Quentin will soon become a center for rehabilitation, his efforts to create a California model similar to Norway’s, perhaps it’s time to revisit the idea of returning weights to the California prison yard.
