Go Straight, Billy Taylor Tells Young Inmates

-6 The Ann Arbor News, Wednesday, March 14,1979

Go straight, Billy Taylor tells youn

^tUNt

By Jim JKane

STAFF REPORTER

WHITMORE "If
you're tough or t e very
tough, you still cL.i; , ,,..., icbein
prison. When you're in prison, you
find out you're not as tough as you
think you are. There's no rehabili-
tation in prison. There's just self
rehabilitation."

3. J^yzJE^y^011 t^ght to know. He's

^anex^coir——

Taylor, a former Wolverine All-
America running back, talked
about the grim conditions of pri-
son life Tuesday before 120
youths at the Ma^cy i-oys Train-
ing School.

The occasion was the first annu-
al winter sports awards banquet in
the Sequoyah Center, one of three

'open or minimun' ^^"irity living

'I units at the instit

TAYLOR SPENT 2^ years of
lan eight-year sentence in federal
prisons for his part in robbing a

wards a PhD in philosphy from the

U-M, which he hopes to receive in

the ^all of 1980.

ylor and his wife Cheryl now
n Detroit, where he works for
;raLMotors Corporation's per"
el and labor relations depart-

suerit.

SPFA ^'O TO the youths rang-
ing fix LO 18 serving time for
felonies varying from breaking
and entering to murder and rape,
Taylor told his audience they have
it made and things are a lot worse
in state and federal prison.

"The big brother is at Jackson
(Southern Michigan Prison) and
the father at Milan (FCI). I was 25
when I broke the law. I liked doing
things in a big way then. I really
didn't know what I had done until
an held a gun up to my head
told me not to move. I was to-
tally freaked out about the whole
thing."

He said the times were unfortu-
nately ripe for him to get in trou-

ble after his mother, uncle and girl
friends had died within a short
period of one another. He said at
that time, he had a poor, indiffer-
ent attitude about- life.

TALKING TO the youths with
his hands in his pockets, Taylor
said being in prison was degrading
and that it's a real world but un-
believable.

"Some guys get out of prison
and have physical or psychologi-
cal scars because they were rape
or beaten up real bad. But it's not
too late to do something aboufr
your life. Things aren't -ad
here, "he said.

"After you leave this place, you
have to go back to what you were
doing constructively before. You
have to find your own niche, grab
hold of something good and deve-
lop it. You've got to believe in
yourself."

During a question and answer
session, Taylor said he cried every
day when'-•- -.',-- 'n --son because

Billy Taylor chats witti Maxey inmates

bank in his home town of Barber- While at the 'Milan prison, he
ton, Qhio. Taylor drove the geta- earned a master's degree in c •
way car. He served a year of that turning and adult education fi
time at the Federal Correctional the University of Michigan. H
Institution in Oxford, Wis., and 1 ^ said to be the first inm 1 one
years at the prison in Milan. He of very few of more i- an ^9,000
walked out a free man on Oct. 19,- federal prisoners to earn a mas-
1977. ter' '" ree.Heisnowwor?"n^-5

it hurt so bad to be locked up,

"WHEN THEY FIRST put me
in prison, I said & prayer for
strength. I never felt so helpless in
my life. If you do some crime, you
do some time," he quipped. "I was
hoping I would get a break on the
sentenc < i-ise 1 was Billy Tay-
lor but I cliclni."

He said prayer and positive
thinking helped him greatly to
rope with prison life and that he

t he would be branded when he
gained his freedom.

Taylor is ^ '-•7* ^" "'"ighs 210,
his playing ig daily
exercises and watching his diet. "'

He's working on an autobiogra-
phy which is to come out soon, and
Taylor* says a movie studio is in-
terested in making a film about
his life. Eventually, he would like
to do public an<' "i^mty rela-
tions for GM. i re time,
Taylor hopes to form a corpora-
tion to find lobs for ex-cons.