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The Plain Dealer/Clarence H. Copeland

Grant Washington, 20, convicted of aggravated robbery, talks about life in the state penitentiary in a program at the Central Area Multi-Service Center, 5715 Woodland Ave.

Life in the pen

By Geraldine M. Strozier

"How would you like to share a cell with a guy who killed his mother and sister?" the criminal asked.

The man grabbed a little boy and pushed him against a table.

"So you think it's funny," he yelled. Then he asked the child how he would like to be the victim of a homosexual attack. The boy's eyes opened wide as he shook his head.

Afterward, the boy, 10, admitted he had been very scared.

"I'm going to be good," he promised.

The criminal was trying to prevent crime, not commit it.

Four men, a murderer and three thieves, lectured a group of youths on crime yesterday afternoon at the Central Area Multi-Service Center, 5715 Woodland Ave.

The four, residents of Harbor Light, a halfway house at 1710 Prospect Ave., have been convicted and sentenced to the state penitentiary and are participating in a program designed to prevent delinquency.

it's unbearable

The Plain Dealer/Clarence H. Copeland

Grant Washington strolls through the crowd at the Central Area MultiService Center that came to listen to him and other convicts describe what prison life is like.

Grant Washington, 20, was convicted of aggravated robbery. Dana Chizmarik, 22, was convicted of receiving stolen property, grand theft and aggravated assault. Cur-

tiss Ellis, 24, was convicted of two counts of attempted murder, one count of murder and four counts of armed robbery. David Farris, 21, was convicted of assault with a

deadly weapon and four counts of auto theft.

The youths listened open-mouthed to the horrifying descriptions of Continued on Page 2-B