"David." Oil painting by Allen

"Adalana." Oil painting by Allen

"The Bitch: Portrait of April." Oil painting by Allen

"Christine." Pencil sketch by Allen

"Christine's Rag Doll." Drawn by Ragen in the Franklin County Jail (Christine is holding this rag doll in above sketch).

Christine's note to Attorney Judy Stevenson

"Dr. David Caul." Oil painting by Allen

"Landscape." Oil painting by Tommy

"The Grace of Cathleen." Oil, painted in Billy's cell at Lebanon prison by Allen and Danny. (Originally signed by Billy, but note the lower right-hand corner where Allen and Danny later signed their names).

Left to right: Jim, Kathy, Billy. Center bottom: Dorothy

Billy in 1965 at age ten

Billy at the Dayton Forensic Center, February 20, 1981

Chapter Twelve

(1)

Arthur decided that the younger ones should be on the spot at the Zanesville Youth Camp. After all, it would give them experiences every child should have: hiking, swimming, horseback riding, camping, sports.

He approved of Dean Hughes, the tall black recreation director with the flattop haircup and the Vandyke beard. He seemed like a sympathetic and trustworthy young man. All in all, there seemed to be no danger here.

Ragen agreed.

But Tommy bitched about the rules. He didn’t like having his hair cut, having to wear state-issue clothing. He didn’t like being here with thirty juvenile delinquents.

Charlie Jones, the social worker, explained the setup to the new boys. The camp was divided into four progress zones, and they were expected to move through a zone each month. Zones 1 and 2 were the dormitories in the left wing of the T-shaped building. Zones 3 and 4 were in the right wing.

Zone 1, he admitted, was “the pits.” Everyone dumped on you, and you had to wear your hair cropped close. In zone 2, the boys could wear their hair longer. In zone 3, they could wear their own clothes instead of state-issue clothes after their daily work assignments. In zone 4, instead of living in a dorm, they could have their own private cubicles. Zone 4 boys didn’t have to do regularly scheduled events. Most of them were trusties, and they didn’t even have to go to the Scioto Village Girls Camp for the dances.

The boys laughed at that.

They would move through zones 1 to 4, Mr. Jones explained, by the merit system. Each of them started out the month with 120 merits to his credit, but he had to have 130 to move on to the next zone. A boy could earn credits by special work and good behavior, or he could lose them by disobedience or antisocial behavior. Merits could be removed by the staff or by one of the trusties from zone 4.