Death releases old convict

Press, 26 November 1982, Page 8

Death releases old convict

NZPA Columbia, S. Carolina John Davis, South Carolina’s oldest prison inmate, died yesterday after spending nearly half his 106 years behind bars. Davis, who credited his durability to right living, declined several offers of parole in his final years. He chose to remain in the Watkins pre-release centre, where he was the only prisoner allowed to come

and go as he pleased. “None of my family is alive,”, he once said. “I have no blood kin to take care of me.” Davis’s prison stay began when he got what he thought was a bad deal on a custommade suit and broke into the merchant’s home to help himself to a refund. It took several break-ins to find the right home. When the evening ended he had a

watch and about $5 in cash. > Later, he was convicted for ! what was a capital crime in f the 1920 s — night burglary. He was sentenced to life i Davis escaped briefly in 1928. He got out again in 1930 ■ and managed to stay loose : for a decade, farming or • roaming the state as a hobo. But he was picked up again • in 1940 and has been in i prison ever since. i He retired in 1963 as head

dietitian of the Central Correctional Institute. Two years later, students at a beauty school who read in an article that Davis had no living family began visiting him on his birthday every September 11. Davis became deeply religious as he grew older. His annual birthday parties were solemn gatherings devoted mainly to Bible readings and his favourite hymns.