by Daniel Cumerlato

Warden Arthur Lewis Glattke
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Arthur Lewis Glattke was the most memorable warden at Mansfield. He was coming off of a very positive experience from the Martin Davey campaign, after Glattke helped Davey get elected to the Governor’s office. It was Davey personally that appointed Glattke as warden to the reformatory. It was on the campaign that Glattke met his wife, Helen, while working alongside her.

During his time many new reforms were implemented at the prison. This included the very unique idea of using controlled radio music to keep inmates calm. Radio music was pumped into all of the cellblocks.

It’s an interesting coincidence that in the movie Shawshank Redemption (filmed at Mansfield) included a scene with Andy Dufrane (Tim Robbins) playing music and getting into trouble. If this was Glattke’s prison, he probably wouldn’t have been in too much trouble.

All was going well for Glattke. He had the respect of guards and inmates, and was getting a superb reputation in the community. That’s when disaster struck. In 1950, his family was getting ready for Sunday mass. His wife Helen was reaching for a jewellery box in the closet and knocked over a loaded handgun hiding on the shelf. The gun hit the ground and went off, fatally shooting Helen. She was rushed Mansfield General Hospital, but they were unable to save her. Three days later Helen Glattke died from pneumonia brought on by her weakened state.

There has been talk of a cover-up, and that Arthur had actually shot his wife and made it look like an accident. After reading much information about the good warden, it’s hard to believe he had any reason to kill his wife, as everybody knew he loved Helen very much. Some say it’s her death that brought on his decline.

Only 9 years later, Arthur Glattke was sitting in his Warden’s office doing some work when he started experiencing problems. An ambulance was called and he was taken from the prison. Warden Glattke was still alive when he left Mansfield. He died of a heart attack after getting to Mansfield General. The warden was a dedicated steward to the very end.

 

 

Being an inmate at Mansfield
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In 1955, an inmate, unable to take the punishment of Mansfield any longer, hanged himself in his cell.

Another inmate managed to light himself on fire using turpentine stolen from the prison furniture shop. By the time guards got to his cell it was too late. They could only watch as the man burned to death.

In 1974 another inmate named Larry Harmer fashioned a noose from his bed sheet and succeeded in hanging himself from a small towel rack. It remains a mystery why Larry wanted to die. He was only serving out a 1 to 5 year sentence for breaking and entering and was scheduled to be transferred away from Mansfield.

In 1957 a riot broke out at Mansfield involving 120 inmates. As punishment, the guards locked all the men into 20 cells within solitary confinement. These cells are small for one man to endure even an hour of punishment, let alone this many men for a full month. By the end, one man was left dead. Two violent inmates were mistakenly paired in one cell.

The stronger had murdered the weaker and neatly stuffed the corpse under the bunk bed. When the inmates were finally released 30 days later, the body was found by guards.

 

Being a guard at Mansfield
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In 1926, Urban Wilford was murdered in the line of duty at the prison. Philip Orleck had just been paroled and was free, but friendship brought him back. In an ill-conceived escape plan, Orleck returned to the jail to free another inmate.

Wilford was stationed at the West Gate when Orleck arrived. The guard tried to stop him from entering and was shot to death. The police were able to apprehend Orleck. The wannabe escape artist was executed in the electric chair at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus.

Then in 1932, guard Frank Hanger was beaten to death with an iron bar by several prisoners during an escape attempt. Out of the group, three were convicted of the murder and two of the men found themselves sitting on the cold wood of the electric chair.