NWI.com: Garland brings his passion for game to prison

(Thanks to Frank Rizzo for getting me to look up what Winston Garland
was up to these days......


[url]http://nwi.com/articles/2008/04/06/sports/top_sports/doc0e7ba590819f428b862574200077d828.txt[/url]

BY NATE ULRICH
[email]nate.ulrich@nwitimes.com[/email]
219.933.3374 | Sunday, April 06, 2008 | 1 comment(s)

SUNDAY SPECIAL

MICHIGAN CITY | Winston Garland had to pass through metal detectors
and courtyards surrounded by tall, barb-wire covered walls.

But the intimidating security measures didn't seem to bother him.

It was just another day at work.

As Garland took his routine stroll to the recreation field house at
the Indiana State Prison, he smiled, waved and of course, stopped to
talk some basketball.

An offender asked Garland what he thought about the Phoenix Suns
trading for veteran center Shaquille O'Neal.

"I think he's in the way," Garland said while shaking his head and
laughing.

In what many outsiders consider a hostile environment, Garland has
earned a reputation as a recreation leader who's willing to joke with
inmates, offer them advice and share his knowledge.

Garland, a Gary Roosevelt graduate and former NBA standout, has also
earned something more important than popularity at a maximum-security
prison that houses about 1,700 inmates.

"If you're a ballplayer, you respect ballplayers," said Kevin
Donaldson, a recreation leader and co-worker of Garland. "And for him
to come from the NBA and choose to come here to work with these guys,
they'll listen to him more than any other person out there because
they respect the game, and they respect the players in the game.

"He was in the upper echelon level of the game by playing in the NBA,
so anything he tells them basketball related, it's like little kids
sitting there and listening to daddy tell them a bedtime story."

Garland retired from the NBA after the 1994-95 season. About 2 1/2
years ago, he began working at the Westville Correctional Facility
before transferring to the ISP seven months ago to help guide its
basketball program.

"When I found out Winston was down there (at Westville), I went to try
to recruit him," said Brudnell Bradley, the ISP's recreation
coordinator. "About a couple weeks after he got here, he got
acclimated to the state basketball team. I turned my program over to
him. He's very instrumental to the overall program here, and he's made
it a success."

The ISP basketball team plays local recreation league teams and
Division II and Division III schools such as Moody Bible Institute,
Bethel College, Grace College and Ancilla College. The ISP team, which
consists of 13 players, ended this past season with a seven-game
winning streak to finish with a record of 9-2.

Bradley said inmates cannot have any major conduct violations for a
year and must be in school or work at the ISP to be eligible to try
out for the basketball team. It's a program that many offenders said
they have benefited from.

"Drugs were my problem -- marijuana, drinking and what not on the
streets," said Thomas Fondren, a power forward and captain for the ISP
team. "I came in here, defeated substance abuse and got my GED three
months ago. ... I'm going to stay fastened to being part of this
basketball organization that Winston has provided for us. I'll keep
that tool and won't fall into the cracks by getting a conduct report
or getting a write up."

Raymond Powell and Damon Forte are also members of the ISP team who
said they used their love of the game as motivation to better
themselves.

"I have an associate degree from Ball State," Powell said. "I'm like
the first college graduate in my family. That was a major incentive
for me to stay out of trouble. But what ranks up there with my degree,
was being on the state basketball team."

"I'm attending Grace College this year,'' Forte said. ''Without that,
there's nothing else to do. It can give you more motivation to stay
positive. I want to do this because I want to play for this team."

Inmates also serve as coaches, statisticians and referees at the ISP.
They all appreciate the chance to interact with Garland.

"He could've went to any college to coach, any high school to coach or
any elementary school to coach," ISP assistant basketball coach James
Simmons said. "He came here because he wanted to help us and the
community."

Powell, a Gary native, remembers meeting Garland when he was younger.
He has looked up to Garland ever since.

"When I was like 10 years old, I got an autograph from him at one of
my basketball banquets," Powell said. "I bought a whole lot of bubble
gum to get his card because I wanted to find out who he was after I
got his autograph. When I got his card, that gave me a lot of
incentive when I was young to keep playing ball because I was like,
'Man, he made it from Gary. I know I can make it from Gary.'"

But Powell admittedly took a wrong turn in life and is now at the ISP
like so many others from Garland's hometown.

"I see a lot of guys that I knew growing up," said Garland, 43. "You
want them to eventually have an out date, but for some of the guys
here it won't happen."

And that's why the recreation activities that Garland and his co-
workers provide are so valuable to the inmates. In addition to a
basketball court, offenders have access to a weight room, pool tables
and video games at the ISP's field house. The recreation department
also organizes chess tournaments and softball and soccer leagues.

"Being able to participate in rec and being able to be a part of a
basketball organization here is a big plus for us," Fondren said. "It
builds character. It teaches people how to play together and how to be
able to work together because in this institution, it's every man for
himself."

About 71 percent of the inmates at the ISP have been convicted of
killing someone, said Barry Nothstine, the prison's public information
officer. Garland and his wife, Felicia, have three sons and a
daughter. He said he made good money as a professional athlete, so why
does he choose to work at the ISP?

"It's rewarding in some aspects, especially during basketball season,"
Garland said. "I enjoy some of the guys behind the wall. I think
there's a huge misconception about the guys who are locked up.
Anywhere you go, you'll run into some good people, and you'll run into
some awful people. And it's no exception here."

Garland and the other recreation leaders hope more basketball teams
choose to visit the ISP, so they can learn that prison is not always
similar to the way it's portrayed in movies and TV.

"You can just see it in the inmates' faces that they really appreciate
somebody taking time out to come in here to play with them," said
Donaldson, who has worked at the ISP for three years. "It goes both
ways because once these guys (visiting players) leave here, they have
a whole new outlook on what life is like behind these walls.

"You can just see that transformation. As the game goes on, it's not
inmate vs. outsider. It's two basketball teams."

But it's not all about basketball. Not for the inmates, not for the
visiting teams and not for Garland.

It's about life.

It's about redemption.

"We've got guys that come in here that aren't even qualified to make
the state team," said Fondren, who hopes to be released from the ISP
in two years. "But Winston will sit down out here in these bleachers,
and he'll have a fellowship with these guys, meaning he'll put some
type of inspiration in them to let them know that just because they
failed due their circumstances and adversity out there on the streets,
you do have another chance to change yourself."

The Winston Garland file
Age: 43.
Hometown: Gary.
High school: Roosevelt.
College: Missouri State University.
NBA background: Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 17th pick of
the second round (40th overall) in the 1987 draft. Played guard for
the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets,
Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves. Had his best season with
the Warriors in 1988-89, when he averaged 14.5 points, 6.4 assists,
4.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. Averaged 9.4 points per game in
his seven-season career. Retired after the 1994-95 season.

Indiana State Prison facts
Superintendent: Ed Buss.
Offender population: 1,679.
Location: 1 Park Row, Michigan City, 46360.
Property size: 24 acres inside the wall.
Established: 1860.

Indiana department of correction facts
(Data through Jan. 1, 2008)
Sentence lengths: 20 years or more -- 25.9 percent; 15-20 years --
10.7 percent; 10-15 years -- 10.9 percent; 5-10 years -- 22.7 percent
Top three offenses: Crimes against a person: 37.4 percent; controlled
substances: 23.3 percent; crimes against property: 20.1 percent.
Average age at intake: 32.4.
Average current age of those incarcerated: 36.1.
Percentage of males incarcerated: 91.6.
Percentage of females incarcerated: 8.4.
Race: 56.9 percent of all adults incarcerated are white; 28.2 percent
are African-American; 4.1 percent are Hispanic.

-- Information provided by Indiana State Prison public information
officer Barry Nothstine.