DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997             TAG: 9703260444

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   64 lines

PRISON TURNS PEOPLE INTO ANIMALS, RELEASED DRUG DEFENDANT SAYS

Bruce E. Boone Sr. entered one of America's worst federal prisons, in Marion, Ill., six years ago and returned - miraculously, he believes - with a message for society: Stop sending generations of young black men to prison for life.

``You can't understand until you go inside the hell-hole where I've been,'' Boone said Tuesday after his release on federal drug charges. ``Marion is the killing fields. It turns people into animals. You can't survive there if you're weak.''

Boone, 52, said imprisoning thousands of black men engenders hatred and hopelessness in the black community. ``Clinton talks about his bridge to the 21st century. How are we going to get across it when we're all in prison?'' Boone asked.

Boone agreed to an interview while waiting to be released after Judge Robert Doumar declared him a free man Tuesday. His release followed his guilty plea in a second trial on drug conspiracy charges. It came with no strings attached: he is not on probation or parole.

The verdict in his first trial was set aside in the wake of a sex-for-testimony scandal involving the key witness against Boone.

When Boone appeared in the lobby of the federal courthouse, his sister, Yvonne, grabbed him in a bear hug that nearly knocked him over. His son, Bruce Boone Jr., followed with another hug.

The younger Boone, 31, couldn't believe his eyes, he said, when his father walked into the courtroom. In seven years, his father had turned into his grandfather.

``Hey, old man,'' Bruce Boone Jr. called out gently before court started. ``It's been so hard,'' he said. ``I thought I'd never see him again.''

Boone has changed over the years, his son said. He listens and seems to think about things in a different way.

One of the reasons, Boone said, is his decision to become a Muslim. Boone said he follows the tenets of Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam who teaches strict discipline, hard work, black unity and pride.

While in prison, Boone studied, read, and became aware of world events in a way he never had while living in Portsmouth, he said. Boone denies he ever sold drugs, despite pleading guilty Tuesday to conspiring to distribute heroin.

``I've seen the suffering, watched the news, watched what's happening to people out there,'' he said.

Asked if he would sell drugs, Boone replied, ``No, why should I?''

He had no immediate plans for the future, though he said he is a trained rigger and a carpenter and learned electronics in prison. His son said he hopes to form a construction company with his father.

If his family has anything to do with it, his old life will be left behind.

``Life is different when you're free and not under the master's whip,'' Boone said. ``You can't think clearly when you're locked away like an animal. to hold onto. A loving family is not enough.''

Boone's family lured him away from the courthouse with promises of collard greens, sweet potatoes, chicken and dumplings, corn bread, chocolate cake and pie.

He seemed to hesitate, then slowly walked out into the fresh air and took a deep breath. ``It's good to smell the freedom,'' he said. ``This is excellent. But I feel sad, too. I've left so many behind.'' MEMO: Main story on page A1.

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