Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 30, 1990 TAG: 9007300038
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MARION, ILL. LENGTH: Medium
The Marion Prison Camp - which adjoins the nation's toughest maximum-security federal penitentiary - houses about 200 inmates in an air-conditioned, art-deco style dormitory surrounded by manicured lawns and flower beds.
There is no fence and inmates have free roam of the grounds, including a softball diamond, weight room and tennis, handball, basketball and boccie ball courts.
The inmates can't wait to greet their famous fellow prisoner.
"Everyone here wants to meet him and talk to him," said Mark Bailey, an East Chicago, Ind., native finishing the last two weeks of a seven-month sentence.
"We are betting on whether he will be in the rec department," Bailey said, referring to the prison's inmate-staffed recreation department.
But the general manager of an inmate softball team says Rose may not be welcome on his squad.
"We don't know if we want Pete Rose on the team. The other [teams'] guys might quit," said William "Catfish" Haas, an inmate who manages the Undertakers, one of a half-dozen prison softball teams.
Rose was sentenced to the Federal Prison Camp at Marion after his conviction on two counts of filing false income tax returns that did not report $350,000 from gambling and baseball card shows.
While the Marion facility has a campus-like setting, "it's not easy time when you're away from your family," inmate Bailey said.
by CNB