Photograph taken for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "Citrus fruits growing in McAlester? That's right says Cecil Ferguson who claims to have some magical "green thumb " when it comes to growing lemons and pineapples in his back yard."

Photograph taken for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "Mrs. Willard Clift checks her confused cereus."

Photograph taken for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "has been named by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service to an agronomist position"

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Defense lawyers Ainslie Terrault, left, and Robert Brown confer prior to opening of murder trial .."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "The pardon and parole board Monday scraped a long standing policy prohibiting parole parole consideration for convicts being punished for prison role violations."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "It's been a year since a man's body was found hanging in an abandoned two-room house south of McAlester and authorities still don't know his identity."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Matt Kimes . . . one-times public enemy No. 1 died in 1945 following a traffic accident."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Prisoners can almost pull the bricks out of a cell wall by scraping away weak mortar, explains Sheriff Jim Knight (McAlester)."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Ceiling holes in women's quarters that provide an easy escape route, and an unsanitary cell are part of the jail's existing conditions."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Pitt. Co. jail, women's quarters"

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Hard core prisoners must face spending time in the main cellblock, which actually reflects recent repair work."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Restroom facilities in Pittsburg Co. jail, juvenile's quarters"

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Lack of security and unsanitary cells plague the outmoded Pittsburg County Jail."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Beam in hard-core cells, bottom floor ... all that is holding it up are the pipes on the right"

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Ardell Mesles' job of gardening is better than average for inmates, but still not equal to the freedom they miss. (In 1972, Mesles was oldest inmate in Oklahoma corrections system, at age 82, and the Pardon and Parole Board denied clemency that year, as he served a life sentence for a 1917 murder)"

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "McAlester, jail"

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Typical cell in Pittsburg County jail reflects cleanliness and sheriff's efforts to make improvements, but the jail may be padlocked next month because it's just too old."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Because of trusty status, they are no longer pasty-faced, yet they still live within the lengthening shadows of prison confinement as "forgotten men."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Stabbed by assailant who could of killed him had his heart not been a few inches lower than normal."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Producer-actor-director Cliff Robertson chats with Mrs. Ben McDonald, a prison secretary, during a lull in shooting "J.W. Coop" at McAlester, Oklahoma's State Prison."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Robert Thomas Porter, 20, McAlester, is led into Pittsburg County courthouse by sheriff's Deputy Wayne Young to confront charge he stabbed a state trooper. Highway Patrolman Doyle Southard told how he was stabbed by a drunk driving suspect then said he shot his assailant as he made a break for freedom on U.S. 69 south of McAlester on May 15."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Robert Thomas Porter, accused of stabbing Highway Patrol Trooper Doyble Southard near McAlester on April 15, 1971."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Alvie Carney marks his ballot Saturday at McAlester in the first election for chief of the Choctaw tribe while Elegnor Scrivner, right, prepares to enter the Pittsburg County courthouse to casst her vote."