1 00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:10,240 Speaker 1: Every four years, a small army of laborers works for months, 2 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: if not years, to construct the mini venues needed for 3 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: the Olympic Games. A site is selected, blueprints are drawn up, 4 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: money is allocated, and then, long before the teams of 5 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: international competitors ever show up, construction workers descend, building inspiring 6 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:35,479 Speaker 1: sites where Olympic glory will be won. When the Games 7 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:39,560 Speaker 1: are over, those same newly constructed venues are often torn 8 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:44,239 Speaker 1: down or left to sit abandoned, but not always some 9 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: find a second purpose. For instance, for the two thousand 10 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: and eight Summer Olympics hosted in Beijing, the Chinese built 11 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: this visually astounding venue nicknamed the water Cube. The site 12 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: hosted many aquatic events like swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming. 13 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:08,960 Speaker 1: Now it's a popular water park for the people of China. 14 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 1: As for the stadium for ice skating and ice hockey 15 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: built for the nineteen twenty eight and nineteen forty eight 16 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:22,759 Speaker 1: Winter Olympics in Saint Mauritz, Switzerland, well it eventually became 17 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,960 Speaker 1: a private residence owned by one man, Rolf Sachs, and 18 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: the same site that hosted the Olympic opening ceremony. He 19 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: later turned into a private garden United States has hosted 20 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: the Olympics more than any other country. For the summer Games, 21 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: there was the nineteen oh four Saint Louis Games and 22 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: the nineteen thirty two Los Angeles Games, and again in 23 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: Los Angeles in nineteen eighty four and finally in Atlanta 24 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety six. For the Winter Games, Lake Tahoe 25 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty, Salt Lake City in two thousand and two, 26 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: and one sleep hosted it twice, a small town in 27 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: upstate New York called Lake Placid in nineteen thirty two 28 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:11,839 Speaker 1: and nineteen eighty. The USA holds another Olympic record as 29 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: the host in nineteen eighty four the Lake Placid Winter Games. 30 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: The Olympic village that was constructed to house the many 31 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: international Olympians was later transformed into one of the most 32 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:28,800 Speaker 1: controversial structures in the olympics near three thousand year history, 33 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: leading to protests that would follow for years. Welcome to 34 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: Very Special Episodes and iHeart original podcast. I'm your host 35 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: Zarin Burnett and this is the Olympic Prison. 36 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 2: Welcome back to Very SPECIALTS Episodes. My name is Jason English. 37 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 2: I am usually joined here at the top by my 38 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 2: co host Zaron Burnett and Danish Schwartz podcast legends both. 39 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 2: It's just me today, but I'm going to get you 40 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 2: back out to Zaren in a second. I was just 41 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 2: going through our story ideas file. This is a mix 42 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 2: of half baked concepts, amazing facts, and more than a 43 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,959 Speaker 2: fair share of non sequiturs. There's some great Olympics facts here. 44 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 2: We aren't going to be using any of these as 45 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 2: jumping off points for very special episodes during this Olympic cycle, 46 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 2: but I figured I could share a few here. In 47 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 2: nineteen thirty two, Brazil couldn't afford to send its athletes 48 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 2: to the Olympics in la so they loaded their ship 49 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 2: with coffee and sold it along the way. We should 50 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:49,839 Speaker 2: probably have done that as an episode. Put a pin 51 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 2: in that. Until twenty twenty eight, tug of war and 52 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 2: croquet used to be Olympic sports. I think they should 53 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 2: bring both of those back. At the nineteen twelve Olympics 54 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 2: in Stockholm, future General George S. Patten finished fifth in 55 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 2: the first ever modern pentathlon. The nineteen seventy six Winter 56 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 2: Olympics were awarded to Denver, but Colorado voters rejected the 57 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 2: public financing of the games and Innsbruck had to host instead, 58 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 2: and between nineteen twelve and nineteen forty eight, art competitions 59 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 2: were a part of the Olympics. Medals were awarded for architecture, music, painting, 60 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 2: and sculpture. We actually did do an episode about this 61 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 2: during the Paris Games in twenty twenty four. I will 62 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,240 Speaker 2: link to that in the show notes. Another question that 63 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:41,479 Speaker 2: always comes up, what do they do with the structures 64 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 2: built for the Olympic Games. For that, I'm going to 65 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 2: throw it on out to Zaren. 66 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,799 Speaker 1: Located in upstate New York, surrounded by snow capped mountains 67 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: and the idyllic forests of the Adirondacks. In nineteen eighty 68 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: the town of Lake Plas It was a small, unassuming 69 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 1: mountain town of just about twenty seven hundred people. Its 70 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: scale was a key reason the Olympic Planning Committee eyed 71 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: it as a host for the Winter Games. Another reason 72 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,280 Speaker 1: was snow, copious amounts of snow. 73 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 3: Lake Placid is known as the Winter sports Capital of 74 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 3: the World. That is our tagline and that's how it's marketed. 75 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 3: And it goes back before the nineteen thirty two Games, 76 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,040 Speaker 3: back with the Grand Hotels when people were coming up 77 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 3: here romanticizing the worlderness and getting out of the. 78 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:36,479 Speaker 4: Cities for vacations. 79 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 3: They came up here and it's like a snowy tundra 80 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 3: in the winter time up here, and people are coming. 81 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 3: They're like, Okay, what are we going to do? Like, 82 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 3: we need some kind of entertainment, recreation. So that's when 83 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 3: winter sports got brought in. 84 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: That's Courtney Bastion, the director of the Lake Placid Olympic Museum. 85 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,599 Speaker 1: Courtney was kind enough to speak with us about Lake 86 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 1: Placid's long and storied play in Olympic history. The nineteen 87 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 1: thirty two Winter Olympics is a point of pride for 88 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: Lake Placid and the surrounding Adirondacks area, which played host 89 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:14,599 Speaker 1: to the international community. Lake Placid had another advantage. There 90 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 1: was also a fine collection of housing options ready made 91 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: for the international athletes who would come to compete. 92 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 4: During the time of nineteen thirty two. 93 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 3: It was also the Grand Hotel era, so we had 94 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,840 Speaker 3: a lot of Grand hotels in Lake Placid. So one 95 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 3: of them, for example, was the Lake Placid Club, founded 96 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 3: by Melville Dewey of the Dewey decimal system. 97 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: The Dewey family was the chief reason the Winter Games 98 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: came to Lake Placid. 99 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:47,479 Speaker 3: Godfrey Dewey, Melville's son, was really interested in bringing the 100 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 3: Olympics to Lake Placid. He went to Saint Maurt's the 101 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,239 Speaker 3: second Winter Olympic Games to learn all he could about 102 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 3: hosting and presenting an Olympic bed. 103 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: That bid was a complete success, and as a result, 104 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: on April tenth, nineteen twenty nine, Lake Placid was awarded 105 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: the third Olympic Winter Games. 106 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 5: Once we were awarded that, you know, our small town 107 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 5: approved all the bonds that it needed to build all 108 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 5: the facilities. 109 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: That's the Lake Placid Olympic Museum's Collections manager, Julia Hermann. 110 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: Once it was official the Winter Games were coming to 111 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: Lake Placid, the organizers faced a huge challenge, more like 112 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: a global crisis. The stock market crashed in October of 113 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine. However, that historic financial collapse didn't stop 114 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: tiny Lake Placid from investing huge sums of money in 115 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: order to construct the many needed venues for the nineteen 116 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: thirty two Winter Games. Luckily, snowy Lake Placid already did 117 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: have some key infrastructure. 118 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 3: Lake nineteen oh four nineteen oh five was the first 119 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 3: time winter sports came and then the clubs started developing 120 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 3: their own winter sports teams. They built the first stop 121 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 3: slides and ski jumps as part of the club's identity 122 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 3: and recreation and promoting the club itself. 123 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 4: And then we get into the Olympics. 124 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: Rather unsurprisingly, and despite the financial challenge, the nineteen thirty 125 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: two Games surpassed expectations. The Winter Olympics went off without 126 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: a hitch. Seventeen nations, represented by two hundred and fifty 127 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: two athletes, competed for gold. For the village of Lake Placid. 128 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: The Games were largely a success. After the closing ceremony, 129 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,200 Speaker 1: the remote mountain town was left to pay off a 130 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: modest deficit of roughly fifty two thousand dollars. That's not 131 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: bad considering the Great Depression. Fast forward to the nineteen seventies, 132 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: when the Olympic Committee was looking for the next spot 133 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: for the Olympic Games, Lake Placid was at the top 134 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: of the list of potential hosts. Again, here's Julia Herman. 135 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:02,440 Speaker 5: Part of it was sustainability. You know, we already had 136 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 5: some of the venues, we just had to update them. 137 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,199 Speaker 5: And it was also the fact that we had already 138 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 5: kind of been through the ringer on how to host 139 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 5: an Olympics how to put a bit together. 140 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 1: As Courtney Bastian explains, the residents of Lake Placid were 141 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,640 Speaker 1: eager to have the Olympics back in nineteen eighty. 142 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 3: They were proud in wanting to revive our legacy and 143 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:27,960 Speaker 3: stay involved in winter sports on a global stage. 144 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 1: The Olympics were still recovering from the seventy two Munich 145 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:35,480 Speaker 1: Games when there was a bloody terrorist attack. The committee 146 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: believed that since the small, sleepy New York village of 147 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: Lake Placid was far removed from any major population center, 148 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: it would be a perfectly safe location for the many 149 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:49,319 Speaker 1: international athletes. 150 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 5: And not a lot of host cities have the honor 151 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 5: of being a two time host city, so having that 152 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 5: honor again in nineteen eighty was great for this great 153 00:09:58,440 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 5: for this town. 154 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: When you see, Lake Placid had this one other, not 155 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: small problem to overcome. The era of the grand hotels 156 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: had long since passed. While Lake Placid certainly had the 157 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: facilities for athletes to compete the ski jumps, the bob 158 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,719 Speaker 1: sled runs, and ice rinks when it was awarded the 159 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty Winter Games, what it didn't have was anywhere 160 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 1: for the roughly eleven hundred Olympians and their coaches to sleep. 161 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:32,199 Speaker 1: Figuring that out fell to one man, Republican Congressman representing 162 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: upstate New York, Robert McEwan. He lobbied the federal government 163 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: for the money needed to construct a new Olympic village. 164 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:44,960 Speaker 1: After many false starts, finally he was able to secure 165 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: twenty eight million dollars for the creation of the new facility. 166 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:53,440 Speaker 1: And then there was one other, not small problem. The 167 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 1: federal government agreed to put up the money, but the 168 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:00,839 Speaker 1: money came with strings. When the games ended, the new 169 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: facility had to become a permanent structure, one with some 170 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: practical secondary purpose. 171 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 5: And given the amount of money that was given for 172 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,719 Speaker 5: the Olympic village, I definitely think they didn't want to 173 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:14,559 Speaker 5: see it so empty. 174 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:17,640 Speaker 4: So that was why there was that contingency. 175 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 3: With that a lot of locals, officials, and citizens. 176 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 4: They initially proposed. 177 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,559 Speaker 3: Other uses for the facilities, such as an athletic training center, 178 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 3: youth hostels, affordable housing, college dormitories. 179 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 1: Well, those were all good ideas. None of those were approved. Instead, 180 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 1: a different idea for a secondary usage won the day, 181 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:42,600 Speaker 1: but none. 182 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 3: Of those options offered as much Federal assistance in funding 183 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:48,959 Speaker 3: as a federal prison would have. 184 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: That's right, a federal prison. The agreement was that the 185 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:58,720 Speaker 1: federal government would build an Olympic village for Lake Placid. 186 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: Once the games were over, the small town would hand 187 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:05,360 Speaker 1: the former Olympic village back over to the Feds and 188 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: they would transform it into a new federal prison. 189 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 3: During this era too, there was federal prison overcrowding also, 190 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 3: and the federal government was looking for places to build 191 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 3: more prisons and for prison expansion. So we're now looking 192 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:26,199 Speaker 3: at the nineteen eighty we need housing for athletes, governments 193 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 3: looking for expanding on their federal prisons, and the Olympic 194 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 3: villages in the regulations for security were almost equivalent to 195 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 3: a medium security facility. 196 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 1: Thus the idea of the Olympic prison was born. Obviously, 197 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: turning an Olympic village into a prison was a controversial idea. 198 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 5: If you just look at newspapers or even like New 199 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 5: York Times articles from like outside of just the at 200 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 5: around ACKs, I mean, you could tell there were reactions 201 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 5: and they were concerned about the idea of housing elite 202 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,360 Speaker 5: athletes and something that was clearly designed to be a prison. 203 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:10,960 Speaker 1: Afterwards, the story of the potential Olympic prison soon moved 204 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: from headlines to the streets, and the pushback begins. After 205 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 1: this break, in the nineteen seventies, America was once again 206 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: mired in a severe economic downturn, not as bad as 207 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: the Great Depression, but the explosion of stagflation and the 208 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:40,640 Speaker 1: widening gyre of economic recession crippled the country. It also 209 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: limited the imaginations of the powers that be. It made 210 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: them shy to embrace big new ideas. In fact, things 211 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:53,080 Speaker 1: got so bad that in nineteen seventy five, President Gerald 212 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,079 Speaker 1: Ford refused to loan New York City the money it's 213 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 1: so desperately needed to avoid immediate bankruptcy. The financial center 214 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: of the world was set to go belly up. As 215 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,000 Speaker 1: The New York Times reported in nineteen seventy five. 216 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,079 Speaker 6: Treasury Secretary of William E. Simon declared that mister Ford's 217 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:15,640 Speaker 6: response to New York should be regarded as a signal 218 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 6: to the city that it take the extremely difficult political 219 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 6: actions it must take to put its fiscal and financial 220 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:23,200 Speaker 6: house in order. 221 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: Meanwhile, one year earlier, the tiny upstate New York village 222 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: of Lake Placid had been awarded the nineteen eighty Olympic Games. 223 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 1: It sure seemed as if Lake Placid only ever got 224 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 1: to play host to the Winter Games during a global 225 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: financial collapse. What tough luck for the tiny mountain town. 226 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: But this is how and why a rather strange idea 227 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: like turning the Olympic Village into a federal prison made 228 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: perfect sense at the time. The prison was billed as 229 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:01,120 Speaker 1: a cost efficient solution to an expensive problem. With money 230 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: very much on their minds, the federal government and the 231 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: Olympic Committee pushed ahead with their plans to build the 232 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: Olympic Village and repurpose it as a federal prison. But 233 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:16,480 Speaker 1: they kept their plans hush hush because they knew if 234 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 1: their plans ever leaked, activists and protesters would surely step 235 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 1: up to fight back and stop the so called Olympic prison, 236 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 1: which is exactly what happened. The plans did leak, and 237 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: as soon as the plans became public, an editor from 238 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: the local Lake Placid News wrote a story about how 239 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: he couldn't recall any public hearings or community consultations for 240 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: this new federal prison. A local magazine called frying Pan 241 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: published an article that called into question the secretive process 242 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 1: of approval for construction. It criticized how the public comment 243 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: period and the environmental review process were both seemingly shielded 244 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: from the public. The article stayed that quote, this whole 245 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,720 Speaker 1: shady deal was pulled off because of the concept of 246 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: secondary use. Such is the fine art of politics. That 247 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: same article went on to say that quote, had the 248 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 1: regular procedure been followed, there would have been a flap 249 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: before any groundbreaking. 250 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,920 Speaker 7: Instead of going through a regular appropriation process in Congress, 251 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 7: where there would be committee hearings and there would be 252 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 7: an opportunity to mark up the bill and then send 253 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 7: it to the House floor and send it over to 254 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 7: the Senate floor and have real debate, what Congress did 255 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 7: was simply take the fiscal year in nineteen seventy seven 256 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:44,200 Speaker 7: budget that had already been enacted and reprogrammed the necessary 257 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 7: funding that had already been enacted for other projects and 258 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 7: redirected it to the project in Raybrook. So and this 259 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 7: was done without public hearings, It was done without public oversight. 260 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 7: And I'll just say this completely anti democratic process was 261 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 7: used to get this project bill. 262 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:04,159 Speaker 1: That's professor Jeff Hall. He's the author of the excellent 263 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:07,119 Speaker 1: book A Prison in the Woods about the history of 264 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:10,160 Speaker 1: prisons in New York and the construction of the Federal 265 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:15,400 Speaker 1: Correction Institution Raybrook, aka the Olympic Prison. As Professor Hall 266 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:19,960 Speaker 1: points out, the heated protests against the Olympic Prison largely 267 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:23,879 Speaker 1: came from media outlets and folks who lived outside of 268 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:27,160 Speaker 1: the Lake Placid area. At least at first. 269 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 7: The local press was in love with the idea. And 270 00:17:31,359 --> 00:17:35,160 Speaker 7: this is something that you see repeatedly during this period 271 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:38,440 Speaker 7: of what we call mass incarceration in northern New York 272 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:42,879 Speaker 7: in the late twentieth century. The local press was concerned 273 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:46,920 Speaker 7: mainly with the economic impact. Many people in the area thought, Okay, 274 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:51,400 Speaker 7: we'll have an Olympic village. We'll have this federal prison. Afterward, 275 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 7: we'll have some jobs there. 276 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: Much like the rest of America, Lake Placid was mired 277 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:00,280 Speaker 1: in an economic malaise, which explains why at first first 278 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,720 Speaker 1: the new federal prison was seen as a lucrative source 279 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 1: of jobs and economic stability. It would be a financial 280 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: boon for those months when snow didn't blanket the ground 281 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:15,640 Speaker 1: and transform the area into a money making winter wonderland. 282 00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 1: But once the unvarnished realities of the project came into 283 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: full view, public opinion shifted. 284 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,119 Speaker 7: Once the environmental damage became apparent. There was a shift 285 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 7: in how the story was being covered, and I think 286 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 7: that shift also reflected public opinion of the project. 287 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 1: So that was one concern environmental impact. But there was another. 288 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:45,920 Speaker 7: Six months later, when the construction began without any notification 289 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 7: to local residents that the construction was starting. Then you 290 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 7: started to see local residents turn against the project in 291 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 7: large numbers, mainly based on the effects that this project 292 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 7: was going to have on the quality of the neighborhood 293 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 7: where they lived. 294 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: That was a major concern, how would a federal prison 295 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:12,399 Speaker 1: affect the idyllic Adirondack wilderness. To overcome this environmental hurdle, 296 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,119 Speaker 1: the federal government ended up buying a piece of land 297 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: in nearby Raybrook. The site was located across the street 298 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: from an old tuberculosis hospital. 299 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,479 Speaker 7: It was owned by the state, but it was mostly 300 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 7: forested land that was used by hikers and fishermen for 301 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 7: recreational activities. So what ended up happening, which I described 302 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,440 Speaker 7: in that chapter of my book, is that the construction 303 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:41,119 Speaker 7: was extremely destructive to the local environment, to the wetlands 304 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:45,119 Speaker 7: surrounding the property, to the local freshwater supplies, to the 305 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:50,359 Speaker 7: wildlife populations, and there was very little recourse for local 306 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,640 Speaker 7: residents or even for people who were concerned with environmental quality, 307 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:57,879 Speaker 7: because the state could step in. The Olympic organizers, of course, 308 00:19:57,920 --> 00:19:59,440 Speaker 7: wanted the facility built. 309 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: And so in the summer and fall of nineteen seventy seven. 310 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 7: The project is underway, the land is being cleared, the 311 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 7: buildings are going to soon be built. The public opinion 312 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 7: and the news media have basically turned against the project. 313 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 1: A protest group formed. It was called STOP, short for 314 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:25,719 Speaker 1: Stop the Olympic Prison. Stop wasn't a brand, it was 315 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:30,639 Speaker 1: an instruction. Stop didn't just oppose a prison. They challenged 316 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,159 Speaker 1: how it was approved, where it was built, and who 317 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 1: it would ultimately hold. STOP members took to the streets. 318 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,439 Speaker 1: They lined the road for the Olympic Torch runs, and 319 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:46,200 Speaker 1: they held signs declaring that Olympic Torch equals freedom and 320 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: Olympic Prison equals slavery. 321 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:54,399 Speaker 7: So STOP was really organized. It was a loose coalition 322 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:59,879 Speaker 7: of churches and civil rights organizations, a lot of individuals, 323 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:04,879 Speaker 7: a lot of clergy and intellectuals across the state of 324 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,280 Speaker 7: New York and including in the Lake Placid area in 325 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 7: northern New York State and its message, which for the 326 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:16,560 Speaker 7: late nineteen seventies sort of previewed a lot of anti 327 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:19,159 Speaker 7: prison organizing that would come in the eighties, nineties, and 328 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 7: early part of this century. Its message initially was mainly 329 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:29,040 Speaker 7: focused on the horrors that had been experienced at Attica 330 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:33,640 Speaker 7: in nineteen seventy one, where there was this horrific, deadly 331 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 7: crackdown on a legitimate uprising of incarcerated people against the 332 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:43,400 Speaker 7: terrible conditions they experienced inside the state prison, and there 333 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:47,199 Speaker 7: was intense concern among folks who affiliated with STOP that 334 00:21:47,359 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 7: this new federal prison in Raybrook would eventually replicate the 335 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:52,560 Speaker 7: same conditions. 336 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:58,760 Speaker 1: The dangers and doom of mass incarceration were not something 337 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,879 Speaker 1: many people focused on at the time, not at least 338 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: prior to the prison uprising at Attica in nineteen seventy one, 339 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:09,680 Speaker 1: when the governor of New York sent in armed soldiers 340 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: to put down a prison revolt. The result forty three 341 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: men died, thirty three inmates, and ten prison guards. In 342 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:21,919 Speaker 1: the following years, Attica became a major talking point in 343 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 1: terms of what goes down behind prison walls in America. 344 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: But not only that, Americans were also wrestling with what 345 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 1: kind of country we'd become. This was motivated by the 346 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: revelations that came out of the Watergate scandaled in nineteen 347 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: seventy four and seventy five. Altogether, this general distrust of 348 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: the federal government and the eye opening violence of Attica 349 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: merged in the hearts and minds of protesters and provided 350 00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:53,640 Speaker 1: language to wigld against the federal government and their Olympic 351 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:58,399 Speaker 1: prison plans. There was another major concern for STOP and 352 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:02,199 Speaker 1: the affiliated protesters, a concern that would ring familiar to 353 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:03,720 Speaker 1: listeners today. 354 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:07,199 Speaker 7: In the United States in the nineteen seventies. By nineteen 355 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 7: seventy six seventy seven, the majority of people incarstrated in 356 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,879 Speaker 7: the United States came from African American and Latino communities 357 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 7: in the United States, and mainly impoverished people of color, 358 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:24,680 Speaker 7: mainly as a result of anti narcotics laws and straight 359 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:29,880 Speaker 7: up corruption from police departments that landed increasingly large numbers 360 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,359 Speaker 7: of poor people of color in prisons. 361 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,960 Speaker 1: This was a real and tangible and tragic outcome that 362 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 1: the protesters felt they could leverage to bring greater attention 363 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: to the construction of the so called Olympic Prison. 364 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 7: Many members of STOP were pointing this out and saying, hey, 365 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:53,520 Speaker 7: like we're going to house elite athletes in this facility, 366 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,120 Speaker 7: we can use this as an opportunity to publicize this 367 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,000 Speaker 7: dirty secret of the United Lace States that we like 368 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:04,800 Speaker 7: to portray ourselves as so pure and so superior to 369 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 7: other countries. But we're going to house elite Olympic athletes, 370 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 7: mostly white, inside a facility that will someday incarcery and 371 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:19,440 Speaker 7: likely torture or men of color. And so I think wisely, 372 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,879 Speaker 7: like any activist organization would, they took advantage of the 373 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:25,400 Speaker 7: moment and they're like, Hey, this is a moment where 374 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:27,920 Speaker 7: we will get attention. This is something people will pay 375 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 7: attention to. 376 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:33,680 Speaker 1: There was another concern. Some locals feared that the new 377 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,959 Speaker 1: inmates at the prison would have families, and those family 378 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 1: members would come to visit. Some might even move to town. 379 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 7: You had this radio call in show where the host 380 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,679 Speaker 7: spent an hour taking calls from people, and that was 381 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 7: the focus was will their relatives move here? Will their 382 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 7: relatives move here and apply for Medicaid? Will they move 383 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,399 Speaker 7: here and apply for snap benefits? Will they move here 384 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,360 Speaker 7: and put their kids in the local schools? Will they 385 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,959 Speaker 7: generate solid waste? Will they cause crime? 386 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:12,760 Speaker 1: There was also one other super important angle to consider 387 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:16,280 Speaker 1: in terms of protesting the Olympic prison. It came down 388 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:20,160 Speaker 1: to three words, the Cold War. Since the Cold War 389 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:22,879 Speaker 1: was very much still a thing in the nineteen seventies, 390 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: obvious comparisons were made between how the USA and the 391 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,480 Speaker 1: Soviet Union handled the question of what to do with 392 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: an Olympic village after their Olympic games were done and over, 393 00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: And it was highly embarrassing for the USA when. 394 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 7: And it became known what the Soviet Union was going 395 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 7: to do with its Olympic housing for nineteen eighty when 396 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 7: it hosted the Summer Olympics in Moscow, they were building 397 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:52,520 Speaker 7: a brand new Olympic village that was going to be 398 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:56,919 Speaker 7: turned into apartments. So there was this strident contrast, right 399 00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 7: the United States was in the Cold War with the 400 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,640 Speaker 7: Soviet Union, Soviates are building apartments for people to live 401 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 7: in after the Olympics. We're hosting the Olympics, and we're 402 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,280 Speaker 7: building an athlete's village that will become a prison. So 403 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 7: it didn't really make the United States look too good. 404 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:16,800 Speaker 1: By this point, the protests had moved from the streets 405 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: into a surprising place, church services. The Civil rights era 406 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,879 Speaker 1: had galvanized churches and religious leaders and drew them into 407 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: the fight for human rights. Now they had a new 408 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,720 Speaker 1: battlefield on which to fight prison reform. 409 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:38,080 Speaker 7: This was time when churches were becoming more involved, especially 410 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,879 Speaker 7: in the North. We're becoming more involved in social activism 411 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:46,520 Speaker 7: around racial discrimination and discrimination against the poor. I mean, 412 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 7: churches had been heavily involved in the civil rights movement 413 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:53,040 Speaker 7: of the nineteen fifties and sixties, and I think for 414 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,720 Speaker 7: many churches in the North, this was sort of a 415 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 7: natural progression for them to sort of identify a new 416 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:02,720 Speaker 7: area which was squarely within the realm of civil rights 417 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 7: that they could get involved in. So I think that 418 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:09,399 Speaker 7: many clergy in Northern New York did sort of jump 419 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 7: on the stop bandwagon. But I think it's also important 420 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 7: to point out that the Catholic Church in Northern New York, 421 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 7: which is the single largest Christian denomination in that area, 422 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 7: was officially in favor of this project. The local bishop 423 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 7: of the diocese encouraged his clergy to give sermons and 424 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:33,640 Speaker 7: explain why the project was important for the area. 425 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,879 Speaker 1: While the Catholic Church officially supported construction of the Olympic Prison, 426 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:42,159 Speaker 1: not all of the local Catholic religious leaders followed the 427 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: party line. 428 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:46,159 Speaker 7: There were some Catholic clergy who did join stop, but 429 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:50,639 Speaker 7: many did sort of follow the diocese in supporting the projects. 430 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,680 Speaker 7: But I do think for most clergy and for most 431 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 7: sort of church leaders in the area, this was sort 432 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,399 Speaker 7: of seen as a natural progression of work they had 433 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,359 Speaker 7: previously participated in terms of promoting civil rights. 434 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,680 Speaker 1: In order to bolster local support for the prison's construction, 435 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:12,399 Speaker 1: the Catholic Church argued that the prison would actually improve 436 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:17,960 Speaker 1: the lives of prisoners. That argument came down to one word, overcrowding. 437 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,919 Speaker 1: The Catholic Church put forward the idea that quote, the 438 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: nation cannot neglect one of the larger problems of our 439 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:30,200 Speaker 1: existing penal system, namely the overcrowding of our prisons. Convicted 440 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:34,480 Speaker 1: felons are also fellow human beings who deserve humane living 441 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: conditions fully as much as other members of society. To 442 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:45,680 Speaker 1: deny therefore, the need for humane incarceration in institutions is cruel. Again, 443 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,480 Speaker 1: this was a result of the long shadow of the 444 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:53,600 Speaker 1: bloody violence of Attica. When he discusses this era of 445 00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: prison reform, Professor Hall holds strong opinions about the prisons, 446 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:03,960 Speaker 1: their conditions, and their downstream effects. For one, he's seen 447 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,400 Speaker 1: firsthand how life inside a prison affects a person. 448 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 7: My father worked as a correction officer in one of 449 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 7: the state's largest prisons, which was called Clinton Correctional Facility, 450 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:20,080 Speaker 7: and I always had a curiosity about his job. He 451 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,400 Speaker 7: seemed to hate his job. He seemed like a pretty 452 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 7: unhappy person. 453 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 1: Not only that, his father also quite literally brought his 454 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: work home. 455 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 7: He actually brought incarcerated people to our house. And is 456 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 7: actually the first time I ever encountered an African American 457 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 7: person was when he brought a van filled with incarcerated 458 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 7: people to our house while he was on his way 459 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 7: to New York City. And also, just as I got older, 460 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:47,520 Speaker 7: I knew that there were all these other prisons in 461 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,120 Speaker 7: the area where I grew up, but I didn't really 462 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:53,920 Speaker 7: know anything about how they got there, who was involved, 463 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:55,680 Speaker 7: why they ended up where they ended up. 464 00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 1: Professor Hall's curiosity about incarcerated people as well as prison 465 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:04,400 Speaker 1: guards like his father, blossomed into a lifelong interest in 466 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:08,640 Speaker 1: life inside prison and how it affects life outside prison, 467 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:13,160 Speaker 1: which raises a secondary question, how would the Olympic prison 468 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: affect the community with so many prison guards coming home 469 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 1: after witnessing or participating in the traumas that occur inside 470 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: the prison walls where they work. 471 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:28,320 Speaker 7: My father suffered from severe mental illness, from severe depression 472 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:33,480 Speaker 7: and anxiety that my mother informed me began right when 473 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:37,840 Speaker 7: he started working for the corrections department, and that many 474 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:43,000 Speaker 7: of his colleagues also took these jobs and then, for 475 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,720 Speaker 7: a variety of reasons, traumas they either participated in or 476 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 7: witnessed or experienced while they were working in these facilities, 477 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:56,239 Speaker 7: suffered severe psychological damage and to the point where I 478 00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:01,720 Speaker 7: really only knew my father when he was severely mentally ill. 479 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 7: And my father died by suicide, and I sort of 480 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:10,280 Speaker 7: attribute that to his work in the correction system. 481 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:15,120 Speaker 1: When asked if he and his father ever discussed FCI 482 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:20,000 Speaker 1: Raybrooke aka the Olympic Prison, professor Hall recalls how his 483 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:24,920 Speaker 1: father's line of thinking about it changed and evolved over time. 484 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 7: Definitely, we discussed FCI Raybrook. He did sort of come 485 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:33,960 Speaker 7: to understand the foolishness of all this prison construction, and 486 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 7: I think he also, by the end of his life, 487 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:40,360 Speaker 7: had connected the traumas he witnessed and experienced and participated 488 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 7: in to his own wellbeing. I think he sort of 489 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 7: understood the connection by that point. But that's something that 490 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:51,440 Speaker 7: state federal correctional leaders don't like talking about. Incarcerated people 491 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 7: dying in prison, dying in jail workers, dying of heart 492 00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 7: attacks at very early ages, or dying by suicide. These 493 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 7: are issues we just don't talk about, and because we 494 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:03,000 Speaker 7: don't talk about them, for a lot of people, they 495 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 7: don't exist. 496 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:08,000 Speaker 1: Remember, Lake Placid is tiny, which is twenty seven hundred 497 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:10,960 Speaker 1: or so people, with about two hundred jobs from the 498 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 1: prison facility. That means about eight percent of the population 499 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 1: would be working at this facility. This begs the question, 500 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 1: how would all the pain and trauma inside the prison 501 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:29,320 Speaker 1: bleed out into the wintertime wonderland and affect this picturesque community. 502 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 7: Nobody talks about that. Those prisons that were built there 503 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 7: were sold as engines of economic vitality for dying communities, 504 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:42,800 Speaker 7: and so anything that could call into question the value 505 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:47,240 Speaker 7: of those facilities is simply covered up, and the mental 506 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:52,320 Speaker 7: health crisis in prisons among everyone involved and their families 507 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 7: is a real thing. 508 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:58,760 Speaker 1: In a story published at the time by Common Wheel magazine, 509 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 1: the writer posed series of all the many compelling questions 510 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,920 Speaker 1: to ask about the so called Olympic prison and I quote, 511 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: would we allow American athletes to live in a Russian 512 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 1: prison at the nineteen eighty Games? Is it worth at 513 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:18,719 Speaker 1: all to place inmates three hundred miles from family to 514 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: give a depressed area a few jobs? Is such an 515 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:26,520 Speaker 1: arrangement justified? Will the TV programs on ABC in nineteen 516 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:31,960 Speaker 1: eighty be worth the macabre prison background? What is America's 517 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: sole worth? When Professor Hall hears those same high minded questions, 518 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:42,600 Speaker 1: his reply is rather trenchant. Those questions all remind him 519 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:44,640 Speaker 1: of today and. 520 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 7: Specifically how little progress we've made. We think about the 521 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 7: coming World Cup in the United States next year, and 522 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 7: more so the Los Angeles Olympics in twenty twenty eight. 523 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:05,160 Speaker 7: Stories that are underreported, such as the forced displacement of 524 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:10,400 Speaker 7: people who are unhoused or who are living in unstable 525 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:14,200 Speaker 7: housing situations in areas that will be on television or 526 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:18,840 Speaker 7: that are adjacent to athletic facilities, that will happen in 527 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:22,719 Speaker 7: the United States. So the words of Commonweal magazine in 528 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,520 Speaker 7: the late nineteen seventies, when the Olympic Prison was being 529 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:29,759 Speaker 7: planned and being built, Yes, they resonate today because we're 530 00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:32,880 Speaker 7: doing the same things, and it seems like there is 531 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:37,240 Speaker 7: a larger share of our population today that is also 532 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:40,279 Speaker 7: okay with this, Like so that if we were going 533 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:43,960 Speaker 7: to build a prison to house athletes in twenty twenty eight, 534 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,239 Speaker 7: that there would be a sizeable chunk of the population 535 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:49,920 Speaker 7: that would be like, you know what, no problem, why not. 536 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 1: We like to think that as time passes we become 537 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:58,040 Speaker 1: a better nation, one filled with citizens who've learned from 538 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:02,080 Speaker 1: the past and are made or for it. Professor Hall 539 00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:05,719 Speaker 1: indicates that may not be the case, at least in 540 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:09,000 Speaker 1: terms of how we view prisons, whether it's an Olympic 541 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:15,000 Speaker 1: prison or a regular prison. For now, let's take a break, 542 00:35:15,239 --> 00:35:18,480 Speaker 1: listen to some advertisements, and when we're back, it'll be 543 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:27,759 Speaker 1: time for the opening ceremony of the nineteen eighty Winter Olympics. 544 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,760 Speaker 1: As the nineteen seventies became history, despite all the protests 545 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:37,840 Speaker 1: from the locals and the Olympians alike, despite international critics 546 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:42,200 Speaker 1: and all the controversy, despite the efforts of local clergy 547 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:47,400 Speaker 1: and celebrities like actor Ozzie Davis, who lent his stardom 548 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:52,279 Speaker 1: to the stop movement, the Olympic prison moved forward. Soon 549 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,759 Speaker 1: after the Olympic village opened, the Olympians arrived to fill it, 550 00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:00,640 Speaker 1: and you better believe some of them realized immediately what 551 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:05,759 Speaker 1: this place really was. Julia Hermann recalls that members of 552 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:09,360 Speaker 1: the Soviet men's ice hockey team were shocked. 553 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:10,399 Speaker 4: What Fatissoff said. 554 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:12,279 Speaker 5: As a young man, you think it's going to be 555 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:16,040 Speaker 5: this wonderful celebration as in the Olympics, and instead you're 556 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:18,640 Speaker 5: treated to a barbed wire prison and watch towers. We 557 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:22,120 Speaker 5: slept in prison cells. Boris Kalov said it was a 558 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,960 Speaker 5: terrible living arrangement, just terrible. No other Olympics has launched 559 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,080 Speaker 5: us so poorly. The conditions were less than minimal, with 560 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 5: barbed wire fences and thin blankets, and then Sergei Makarov 561 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 5: had said it was atrocious. 562 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:38,520 Speaker 1: For the eleven hundred athletes. The newly built complex had 563 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,439 Speaker 1: nine hundred and thirty seven rooms, or as they'd later 564 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:45,000 Speaker 1: be called cells. Each room was roughly eight feet by 565 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:50,239 Speaker 1: thirteen feet and was intended to house two Olympians. The 566 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:53,840 Speaker 1: cells had cinderblock walls and prison doors. 567 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,960 Speaker 5: The prison doors were very heavy, so someone woke up 568 00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:59,359 Speaker 5: at six am and slammed those doors then the whole 569 00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:03,240 Speaker 5: building woke up, so a lot of the European countries 570 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:06,839 Speaker 5: were not very happy with it. Some delegations even refused 571 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:09,120 Speaker 5: to let their athletes stay on site, calling the rooms 572 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:13,040 Speaker 5: claustrophobic and jail cell like, So they actually rented out 573 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:16,040 Speaker 5: some hotel rooms or some homes within Lake Placid to 574 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:17,840 Speaker 5: house their athletes during the games. 575 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,279 Speaker 1: But for the ones who weren't so lucky, who had 576 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,360 Speaker 1: to stay at the Olympic Village outside of the confines 577 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,080 Speaker 1: of their prison cell rooms, what were the rest of 578 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:28,480 Speaker 1: the accommodations like. 579 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,080 Speaker 5: The Olympic Village was designed as a campus style, which 580 00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 5: is also a prison architecture design. So this type of 581 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:38,560 Speaker 5: design features a series of separate and freestanding buildings that 582 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:42,160 Speaker 5: are arranged around the central area that resemble a college campus. 583 00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:44,040 Speaker 5: You had your dormitories, and then you might have like 584 00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:46,799 Speaker 5: your student center, your rec center, that kind of thing. 585 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,840 Speaker 1: If you focused on just the amenities and you ignored 586 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:56,520 Speaker 1: the two eleven foot tall perimeter fences, the guard towers, 587 00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,440 Speaker 1: and the cinder block rooms with barred windows and the 588 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,960 Speaker 1: little peaks slot in the door, you could almost forget 589 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,960 Speaker 1: that the complex was intended to be a prison. Almost 590 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:09,680 Speaker 1: the amenities included two. 591 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 5: Three hundred and fifty seat cafeterias, a medical clinic, an 592 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,960 Speaker 5: entertainment center that had a theater, a cinema, a discotheque, 593 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,200 Speaker 5: a library, a full service bank, a post office, a 594 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 5: shopping center, a game room, a transportation center, and a. 595 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:27,840 Speaker 1: Chapel as well. The Olympians also were provided star studded 596 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:30,000 Speaker 1: entertainment in the Olympic Village. 597 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:31,759 Speaker 4: Fun fact I always liked to throw in. 598 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,080 Speaker 5: Dean Warwick actually performed live at this Olympic village for 599 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:35,640 Speaker 5: the athletes. 600 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,799 Speaker 1: There was also a shopping center that had souvenirs from 601 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:41,759 Speaker 1: around the world and an arcade. 602 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:44,399 Speaker 5: The arcade was also very popular with the athletes. They 603 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:47,279 Speaker 5: had just classic games from the eighties, like Space Invaders. 604 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:51,120 Speaker 5: They had pinball machines which were very very popular pool tables. 605 00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:59,440 Speaker 1: The nineteen eighty Winter Olympics opening ceremony took place on 606 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:03,840 Speaker 1: February thirteenth, nineteen eighty, and it very much captured the 607 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:05,760 Speaker 1: spirit of the times in America. 608 00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,600 Speaker 5: It was an outdoor opening ceremony, definitely a lot fancier 609 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,840 Speaker 5: than nineteen thirty two. We had synchronized skaters and we 610 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,440 Speaker 5: had a live Orchestra, and then we had the Parade 611 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,280 Speaker 5: of Nations of course, so we had thirty seven nations 612 00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:23,120 Speaker 5: in nineteen eighty, so considerably bigger than nineteen thirty two. 613 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 1: The American athletes arrived for the Parade of Nations dressed 614 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:31,400 Speaker 1: as one of America's favorite symbols of its past, the cowboy. 615 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:34,520 Speaker 5: They were all ducked out in Levi's because Levi's was 616 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:36,799 Speaker 5: the outfitter for teen USA that year. So they had 617 00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:40,520 Speaker 5: a classic sherline jacket on with a cowboy hat, Levi's, 618 00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 5: Jean's cowboy boots. 619 00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:43,000 Speaker 4: And a plaid button up. 620 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:47,000 Speaker 5: And they entered in and for the torch relay, doctor 621 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:50,960 Speaker 5: Charles Curve Arizona was unanimously. 622 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:52,600 Speaker 4: Selected by his fellow torch bearers to light. 623 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 5: The cauldron and so he let the cauldron doves who 624 00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:58,520 Speaker 5: were released, and it was just this very pomp and circumstance, 625 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:01,560 Speaker 5: exciting event harolding in at the start of the nineteen 626 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:02,160 Speaker 5: eighty Games. 627 00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:06,120 Speaker 1: To commemorate that special moment, the Olympic Museum in Lake 628 00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:10,480 Speaker 1: Placid has a display of the opening ceremony outfits and 629 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:12,680 Speaker 1: it's a big hit with visitors. 630 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:15,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, they love the cowboy hats. I think it's very 631 00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:19,640 Speaker 3: Americana blue jeans. We get a lot of positive feedback 632 00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:22,040 Speaker 3: from visitors who get a kick out of the cowboy hots. 633 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:22,480 Speaker 4: For sure. 634 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:26,920 Speaker 1: Looking back, it all very much feels like the dawn 635 00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:31,560 Speaker 1: of Reagan's America. When many folks think back to the 636 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:35,920 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty Winter Olympics, the standout moment is the victory 637 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:39,960 Speaker 1: of the US men's hockey team over the Soviet Union's 638 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:44,719 Speaker 1: men's hockey team, known as the Miracle on ice, This 639 00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:48,760 Speaker 1: was a defining moment in the mythos of the Cold War. 640 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:52,880 Speaker 5: The United States wasn't expected to even make it to 641 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:55,440 Speaker 5: the metal round in the ice Hockey Tournament in nineteen eighty, 642 00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:58,280 Speaker 5: but they defied all odds and they played the Soviet 643 00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:01,719 Speaker 5: Union in not tech the quote unquote gold medal game, 644 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:04,520 Speaker 5: but they did play them, and they defeated them four 645 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:05,960 Speaker 5: to three. 646 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:09,960 Speaker 1: That magical moment was also made far more memorable thanks 647 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,600 Speaker 1: to legendary broadcaster. 648 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:13,120 Speaker 4: With Al Michaels. 649 00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:15,520 Speaker 5: Of course, the famous call do you believe in miracles? 650 00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:17,319 Speaker 5: Kind of cementing that as one of. 651 00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:19,160 Speaker 4: The most famous sports moments in history. 652 00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:21,480 Speaker 5: I mean that happens here in Lake Placid, so it 653 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:23,880 Speaker 5: resonates with a lot of our visitors, and especially the 654 00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:25,920 Speaker 5: people who were alive when it happened, who come here 655 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:27,880 Speaker 5: as kind of like a pilgrimage in a way, like 656 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:29,720 Speaker 5: they have to come see it. All the hockey fans, 657 00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:31,680 Speaker 5: all the hockey kids know what it is and they 658 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:34,840 Speaker 5: absolutely love it. So it's event we hold near and 659 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:36,760 Speaker 5: dear to our hearts here in Lake Placid. 660 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:42,680 Speaker 1: Despite his many criticisms of the Olympic Prison, when Professor 661 00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:46,200 Speaker 1: Hall thinks back on the nineteen eighty Winter Olympics, like 662 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:50,120 Speaker 1: many folks, he also holds warm memories of the glory 663 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 1: of the nineteen eighty Games in Lake Placid. Being from 664 00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:58,360 Speaker 1: the area certainly helps, since it was nearly impossible for 665 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,200 Speaker 1: a kid not to get wept up in all the 666 00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:02,360 Speaker 1: Olympic excitement. 667 00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:06,560 Speaker 7: Growing up in an area that hosted the Olympics twice, 668 00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:08,400 Speaker 7: I was exposed to that history. 669 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:09,480 Speaker 1: Growing up. 670 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:12,200 Speaker 7: We even learned about the Olympics, the history of the 671 00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:16,160 Speaker 7: Olympics in elementary school. I think we made with popsicle 672 00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:19,600 Speaker 7: sticks built like replicas of the Lake Plastic facilities, a 673 00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:21,839 Speaker 7: ski jump and the other facilities. 674 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:27,320 Speaker 1: Julia Herman and Courtney Bastian from the Lake Placid Olympic Museum. Also, 675 00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:32,680 Speaker 1: both have personal histories and connections with the former Olympic facilities, 676 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:36,640 Speaker 1: and both are looking forward to this year's Winter Games. 677 00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:41,320 Speaker 1: When asked, if a genie's wish were granted, which Olympic 678 00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:45,320 Speaker 1: sports they'd wish to compete in, both women were quick 679 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:46,239 Speaker 1: to answer. 680 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:50,720 Speaker 5: Honestly, I think the aerial skiing is really cool. 681 00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:52,160 Speaker 4: I think that's awesome. 682 00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:55,640 Speaker 5: I loved watching Aileen Goo at the Beijing twenty twenty 683 00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:56,240 Speaker 5: two Games. 684 00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:57,840 Speaker 4: I think that's such an awesome sport. 685 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:01,319 Speaker 3: I'd probably pick two or form in bob sled so 686 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:03,320 Speaker 3: I don't have to push or anything and already be 687 00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:06,680 Speaker 3: in the sled. Everyone else can drive, and I'm just 688 00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:07,560 Speaker 3: kind of a passenger. 689 00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:14,640 Speaker 1: Once the nineteen eighty Games concluded, after the joy and 690 00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:19,080 Speaker 1: excitement and triumph of humanity, the flame went out, but 691 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:23,239 Speaker 1: the fences and guard towers stayed. The Olympic Village was 692 00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:26,000 Speaker 1: transformed into a federal prison. 693 00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:29,920 Speaker 7: There were protests outside the White House the day the 694 00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:33,480 Speaker 7: prison opened in September of nineteen eighty and in fact 695 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:37,560 Speaker 7: attacking President Carter for not doing more to stop the 696 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:41,600 Speaker 7: facility from becoming a prison, and there were protesters inside 697 00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:43,640 Speaker 7: the prison the public was invited in. I mean, this 698 00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:45,480 Speaker 7: is a part of our history that were often not 699 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:48,759 Speaker 7: exposed to, is that when prisons open, they had like 700 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:51,080 Speaker 7: almost like a furniture store was opening. You'd have a 701 00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:54,839 Speaker 7: big grand opening and catered lunch and music, and people 702 00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:58,640 Speaker 7: would come in and give speeches and drink a cocktail 703 00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:01,320 Speaker 7: and have a good time. And they had an opening 704 00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:05,160 Speaker 7: ceremony for this facility, and members have stopped because it 705 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:09,279 Speaker 7: was open to the public. Protesters showed up, but they 706 00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:12,279 Speaker 7: were very respectful, and they held their signs quietly, and 707 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,919 Speaker 7: they weren't as sported out. But they realized, even ones 708 00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:20,160 Speaker 7: who attended that small protest that they realized, like it's over. 709 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:23,359 Speaker 7: We can't really do anything at this point, but they 710 00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:24,840 Speaker 7: had to be there to bear witness. 711 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,239 Speaker 1: By that point, there wasn't much hope left among the 712 00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:32,040 Speaker 1: locals to attempt to block the prison from opening. They'd 713 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:36,480 Speaker 1: largely accepted it was a done deal. Once FCI Raybrook 714 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:40,480 Speaker 1: was filled with prisoners. You may be wondering what happened 715 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:43,160 Speaker 1: to the discothech, the movie theater, the pinball and the 716 00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:46,000 Speaker 1: video games, Like did the guards get to keep them 717 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:48,560 Speaker 1: or did they remove it all and give them to locals. 718 00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:53,080 Speaker 5: So the disco tech became the prison chapel and psychology offices. 719 00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:56,880 Speaker 5: The dining hall became a work services building, and the 720 00:44:56,920 --> 00:45:00,600 Speaker 5: athletes shopping center and became, I believe the receiving warehouse 721 00:45:00,760 --> 00:45:02,840 Speaker 5: where and make goods were inspected. 722 00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:07,480 Speaker 1: A disco turning into a chapel. Somehow, this seems very 723 00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:10,880 Speaker 1: symbolic of what was about to go down in Reagan's America, 724 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:14,360 Speaker 1: which was just coming into view with the former Hollywood 725 00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:18,680 Speaker 1: actors crushing victory over the former peanut farmer Jimmy Carter 726 00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:24,080 Speaker 1: later that same year, and boom, just like that, suddenly 727 00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:28,360 Speaker 1: the seventies were very much over. A new world was dawning. 728 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:34,400 Speaker 1: So whatever became of FCI Raybrook, the so called Olympic 729 00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:39,240 Speaker 1: prison once it opened, Did it actually transform the region? 730 00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:43,279 Speaker 1: Did it provide those good jobs that were promised? And 731 00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:46,840 Speaker 1: how did the new federal prison affect the community of 732 00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:50,680 Speaker 1: Lake Placid after the Winter Games were nothing more than 733 00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:54,800 Speaker 1: a set of warm memories. Professor Hall has his opinion 734 00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:57,520 Speaker 1: veiled in sarcasm. 735 00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:01,200 Speaker 7: I tipped my hat to Lake Placid Olympic organizers and 736 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:04,880 Speaker 7: their allies because they did an excellent job of obfuscating 737 00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:08,160 Speaker 7: what this facility was going to be used for and 738 00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:12,400 Speaker 7: successfully hiding it from large swaths of the public for 739 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:16,080 Speaker 7: the past nearly fifty years. So you sort of have 740 00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:19,440 Speaker 7: to give credit where it's due to people who are 741 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:23,160 Speaker 7: engaging in subterfuge when they're successful for that long. And 742 00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:27,200 Speaker 7: so it's too bad too, because it's still there, it 743 00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:30,920 Speaker 7: still operates. Many of the region's other prisons have closed. 744 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:34,920 Speaker 7: This one has survived and it's been as I pointed 745 00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:37,200 Speaker 7: out in the book, and folks can read if they 746 00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:42,080 Speaker 7: would like, there's been a lot of violence and death 747 00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:45,520 Speaker 7: in that facility, and a lot of what the STOP 748 00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:48,760 Speaker 7: organization worried about did come to pass. 749 00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:51,759 Speaker 1: But that isn't something that many of the locals in 750 00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:56,120 Speaker 1: the Lake Placid region wrestle with anymore. Since the federal 751 00:46:56,160 --> 00:47:00,160 Speaker 1: prison is located somewhat out of sight and thus it's 752 00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:04,120 Speaker 1: out of mind, locals like Julia and Courtney almost never 753 00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:06,560 Speaker 1: see the prison in their day to day lives. 754 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:10,200 Speaker 3: It is eight miles outside of Lake Placid, hiding towards 755 00:47:10,239 --> 00:47:13,440 Speaker 3: Saranac Lake, and you don't pass. 756 00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:14,839 Speaker 4: It like you can't see it from the road. 757 00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:17,680 Speaker 3: You see a sign and there's like a lot of 758 00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:20,759 Speaker 3: security to get even into those regions. 759 00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:22,640 Speaker 4: So yeah, it's not in our community. 760 00:47:22,719 --> 00:47:26,000 Speaker 3: It's basically in Raybrook, which is its own little hub, 761 00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:30,600 Speaker 3: which is very small. There's like DC gas station, love that, 762 00:47:31,239 --> 00:47:34,880 Speaker 3: but yeah, we don't come across it like Ever. 763 00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:41,879 Speaker 1: Despite the fact that FCI Raybrook is not an ugliness 764 00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:46,040 Speaker 1: that locals are forced to think about, it's strange legacy 765 00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:50,719 Speaker 1: does still inform the modern movement against mass incarceration. The 766 00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:54,359 Speaker 1: so called Olympic Prison has become a compelling lesson from 767 00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:56,920 Speaker 1: our not so distant past. 768 00:47:57,760 --> 00:48:02,719 Speaker 7: It should be a cautionary tail for how we organize 769 00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:07,120 Speaker 7: our criminal legal system. If we want people who are 770 00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,000 Speaker 7: in prison or in jail to come out on the 771 00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:15,680 Speaker 7: other side and lead productive lives, don't brutalize them, don't 772 00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:18,399 Speaker 7: put them in environments that are going to make their 773 00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:19,480 Speaker 7: conditions worse. 774 00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:25,720 Speaker 1: FCI Raybrook is still there, still operational. The Olympic Flame 775 00:48:25,719 --> 00:48:29,480 Speaker 1: has long since moved on, hosted by new sites. The 776 00:48:29,560 --> 00:48:34,319 Speaker 1: game's return every four years carrying the same promises of 777 00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:38,880 Speaker 1: legacy and renewal. What gets built in their wake and 778 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:42,760 Speaker 1: who pays the price is still an open question. 779 00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:46,200 Speaker 7: I hope that more people, especially around the twenty twenty 780 00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:49,160 Speaker 7: six winter Olympics. I hope that more people learn about 781 00:48:49,200 --> 00:48:51,680 Speaker 7: sort of the costs of these large sporting events. 782 00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:54,640 Speaker 1: That said, when the Olympic flame was lit at the 783 00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:58,920 Speaker 1: opening ceremony at this year's Winter Games, Professor Hall was 784 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:03,719 Speaker 1: surely tuned in to witness the spectacle in all its glory. 785 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:07,040 Speaker 7: I guess as a historian, historian's ruin everything that most 786 00:49:07,080 --> 00:49:11,240 Speaker 7: people enjoy. I can't really ignore the costs that will 787 00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:15,080 Speaker 7: be paid for the television show which is the Olympics. 788 00:49:15,719 --> 00:49:17,919 Speaker 7: And I hope that we can have a world where 789 00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:22,120 Speaker 7: we have athletic competitions, but ones that are more ethical 790 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:27,200 Speaker 7: and more humane. So I'm not against athletic competition, but 791 00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:30,279 Speaker 7: if we can find ways to not hurt people in 792 00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:31,880 Speaker 7: the process, then we should do that. 793 00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:42,560 Speaker 8: Very Special Episodes is made by some very special people. 794 00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:46,080 Speaker 8: The show is hosted by Zaren Burnett, Danish Sports and 795 00:49:46,200 --> 00:49:52,320 Speaker 8: Jason English. Our senior producer is Josh Fisher. Today's episode 796 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:55,960 Speaker 8: was written by Zaren Burnett, editing and sound design by 797 00:49:56,040 --> 00:50:00,840 Speaker 8: Jesse Niswanger, mixing and mastering by Jesse Niswanker. For School 798 00:50:00,840 --> 00:50:05,120 Speaker 8: of Humans, producers are Amelia Brock and Eily's Paris. Original 799 00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:10,120 Speaker 8: music by Elise McCoy. Show logo by Lucy Quintonia for 800 00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:13,200 Speaker 8: today's episode. Executive producers are Jason English. 801 00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:14,000 Speaker 2: And Virginia Prescott. 802 00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:18,120 Speaker 8: Very Special Episodes is a production of iHeart Podcasts.