Clinton Truman Duffy (1898–1982) was the
warden
A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint.
''Warden'' is etymologically ident ...
of
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...
between 1940 and 1952.
He was a prominent opponent of
capital punishment.
[
]
Life
His father was a guard at San Quentin, he was raised on the prison grounds, and his wife's father was also a San Quentin guard.[
The 1954 film ''Duffy of San Quentin'' tells his story as a warden.]Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...
program
* Desegregation of the dining hall
* Creation of the first prisoner-developed radio programs inside a prison
* Inauguration of a prison newspaper
He was known to walk unarmed among the prisoners and to chat with them.[ Although he "supervised 90 executions during his tenure as warden", he opposed capital punishment.][
After he left San Quentin, he worked for the state's parole board; in addition, he wrote books and gave lectures about capital punishment.][ He died in Walnut Creek, California, at the age of 84.][
]
Works
* Duffy, Clinton T., and Dean Southern Jennings. ''The San Quentin Story''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1950.
* Duffy, Clinton T. ''88 Men and 2 Women''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962.
* Duffy, Clinton T., and Al Hirshberg Albert Simon Hirshberg (May 10, 1909 April 13, 1973), was an American writer and sportswriter whose work was published primarily from the 1930s to the 1960s. He is best known as the co-author of Jimmy Piersall's 1955 autobiography titled ''Fear Str ...
. ''Sex and Crime''. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965.
* Duffy, Clinton T., and Eva Irene Linkletter. ''From Heroin to San Quentin''. Morro Bay, CA: Java Books, 1977.
References
External links
A biography by William J. Duffy, Jr., a brother
* Speech delivered by Clinton T. Duffy to the Comstock Club of Sacramento, California
1898 births
1982 deaths
San Quentin State Prison wardens
{{US-law-enforcement-bio-stub