Cletus James Fitzharris was born in Akron, Ohio on October 29, 1907, the son of James and Julia Fitzharris. Dad grew up in Ohio and attended college at the University of Akron. He graduated in 1931 with a BA in Psychology.
While in Akron, he played football and had the distinction of playing on a team called “the Scoreless Wonders”. They had the best defense in the league. They made it through the whole season without a single point being scored against them. Unfortunately, they also had the worst offense in the league and didn’t score a single point, either, and they finished the whole season with a point record of 0-0. I know about this because, when I was in high school, he had received a newspaper clipping from a cousin describing that long-ago team. I took it to school to show my coach, who promptly lost it. It was one of the few times in my life that Dad really raised hell with me.
It was a revelation. Dad, who had always been in complete command of his emotions, was displaying both anger and anxiety: alien emotions in my portrait of him. He was distraught over having to let his cousin know he couldn’t return the news clip. I felt terrible about losing the article, but most about letting Dad down.
After graduating from U of A in 1931, he was selected for training at the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron. He then worked in Sales and Service and in Advertising on the West Coast and Denver. He held those jobs for two years for Firestone. This was followed by a period of over three years of night time work in the Firestone Factory while attending graduate school at USC during the day. Dad later blamed the work of heaving heavy tire molds around in the hot factory as the cause of a chronic back problem that plagued him through much of his adult life.
Dad received a Masters Degree in Sociology in 1939. The title of his thesis was "Factors Determining Transiency in a Selected Number of Boys in Residence at the Junipero Serra Boys' Club". In addition to the factory job, he held a string of other positions:
Case worker for the Catholic Big Brothers - Mar 1937 - Jan 1938
Resident Director - Rancho San Antonio - Chatsworth - Jan 1938 - Aug 1940
Parole Officer In Charge - Bakersfield - Jan 1941 - Sep 1942
Institutional Parole Officer - California Institution For Men - Chino - Sep 1942 - Dec 1942
Clerk, State Board of Prison Directors - Stationed at Chino - Dec 1942 - Sep 1944
Somewhere in the middle of all that, he went out on a blind date with a lively, pert 5”2’ fox named Genevieve. They must have hit it off, because Dad came home that night and announced he had met his future bride. So I guess there really is such a thing as “love at first sight”. Knowing Mom, it was probably “love at first smite”.
In September 1944, Dad was recruited by Clinton T. Duffy, Warden of San Quentin for a position at “Q”. Duffy, who had originally been appointed for a 30-day assignment, wound up staying for 50 years as Warden.
Dad's role was Senior Sociologist at the Reception-Guidance Center at San Quentin. He was one of the first people in California to be hired to help rehabilitate inmates rather than just punish them. He held that position for almost 3 years until he was promoted to Associate Warden, Custody at Soledad. The custody position lasted less than a year (during which he was on loan to the "Governor's Crime Commission for the Study of Social and Economic Causes of Crime and Delinquency" (whew).
In January of 1948, he became Associate Warden, Classification and Treatment (a role more befitting his specialty and interests) at the California Correctional Training Facility (CTF) at Soledad under Warden Richard McGee, another pioneer of prison reform. As the name implied, CTF was to emphasize training and rehabilitation. Dad was a natural for the position. He held that position for 6 years. Those were halcyon years for us kids, who found adventures everywhere on the prison grounds. Dad was active in the Salinas Valley community, too:
President, Soledad Rotary Club - 1953-54
Secretary, Little League at Soledad - 1952-54
Chairman of Boy Scouts - Gabilan District - 1952-54
Executive Committee Member - Monterey Bay Area Council - Boy Scouts - 1952-54
In 1954, Dad returned to San Quentin in the same capacity: Associate Warden, Classification and Treatment . Until the "big house on the hill" (the Associate Warden's residence ... known to us as "120") was vacated, we were esconced in a small home on the prison reservation designated for prison staff. That year, Tim and I attended the balance of the school year at San Quentin Grammer School, a two room building housing Grades 1-6 in one class and 7-8 in the other. Tim graduated there, a certificate he cherishes.
A year later, in 1955, Dad was appointed to the Adult Authority (i.e. "Parole Board) by Governor Goodwin Knight, a position he held for 12 years, rising to Chairman. No longer working for a prison, Mom and Dad purchased their first and only house in San Rafael. More wonderful memories there, of breakfasts around the kitchen nook, roaring fires in living room, happy hours and barbeques in the playhouse.
In 1967, he succeeded Richard McGee as Superintendant at Soledad. He held that position until 1970, when the infamous Soledad Brothers incident occurred, followed by several other tramatic events summarized in Wikipedia:
The political heat was intense, This was the era of Black Power and Black Panthers and Angela Davis and the Symbionese Liberation Army. The Department of Corrections moved Dad out of Soledad and into a consulting role to finish off his career quietly in 1972. The media circus, the killing of Judge Haley (a friend of Mom and Dad), the various trials -- including a civil trial brought on by Melvin Belli -- charging Dad (who was sick at home with the flu when the original shooting took place), the Associate Superintendant, the Watch Commander, the Sergeant in Charge and the guards themselves with violations of the prisioners' civil rights.
The California Attorney General's office defended, but was no match for "The King of Torts". New legal precedent was formed, finding that the whole "chain of command" is culpable when a subordinate commits a criminal act. While Dad didn't have to pay damages (the State did), it tarnished his otherwise exemplary career.
Back in San Rafael, he and Mom found enjoyment in retirement, especially with the Sons In Retirement (SIRs), but I don't think he ever got over the Soledad incidents. Once, a friend of mine asked him whether, in retrospect, Dad felt that rehabilitation -- the cause to which he had devoted most of his career -- could ever be successful. Dad thought a bit and then said "No". The prisons were controlled from within by the Black Muslims, the White Arians and the Mexican Mafia. Most inmates came out worse than when they went in.
Dad died on June 1, 1987 after suffering complications from hip surgery.
Cletus James Fitzharris - engagement photo - late 1930's. They were engaged for five years so they could get enough money to get married after the depression.
Dave Fitzharris (2000)
Cletus James Fitzharris was born in Akron, Ohio on October 29, 1907, the son of James and Julia Fitzharris. Dad grew up in Ohio and attended college at the University of Akron. He graduated in 1931 with a BA in Psychology.
While in Akron, he played football and had the distinction of playing on a team called “the Scoreless Wonders”. They had the best defense in the league. They made it through the whole season without a single point being scored against them. Unfortunately, they also had the worst offense in the league and didn’t score a single point, either, and they finished the whole season with a point record of 0-0. I know about this because, when I was in high school, he had received a newspaper clipping from a cousin describing that long-ago team. I took it to school to show my coach, who promptly lost it. It was one of the few times in my life that Dad really raised hell with me.
It was a revelation. Dad, who had always been in complete command of his emotions, was displaying both anger and anxiety: alien emotions in my portrait of him. He was distraught over having to let his cousin know he couldn’t return the news clip. I felt terrible about losing the article, but most about letting Dad down.
After graduating from U of A in 1931, he was selected for training at the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron. He then worked in Sales and Service and in Advertising on the West Coast and Denver. He held those jobs for two years for Firestone. This was followed by a period of over three years of night time work in the Firestone Factory while attending graduate school at USC during the day. Dad later blamed the work of heaving heavy tire molds around in the hot factory as the cause of a chronic back problem that plagued him through much of his adult life.
Dad received a Masters Degree in Sociology in 1939. The title of his thesis was "Factors Determining Transiency in a Selected Number of Boys in Residence at the Junipero Serra Boys' Club". In addition to the factory job, he held a string of other positions:
Somewhere in the middle of all that, he went out on a blind date with a lively, pert 5”2’ fox named Genevieve. They must have hit it off, because Dad came home that night and announced he had met his future bride. So I guess there really is such a thing as “love at first sight”. Knowing Mom, it was probably “love at first smite”.
In September 1944, Dad was recruited by Clinton T. Duffy, Warden of San Quentin for a position at “Q”. Duffy, who had originally been appointed for a 30-day assignment, wound up staying for 50 years as Warden.
Dad's role was Senior Sociologist at the Reception-Guidance Center at San Quentin. He was one of the first people in California to be hired to help rehabilitate inmates rather than just punish them. He held that position for almost 3 years until he was promoted to Associate Warden, Custody at Soledad. The custody position lasted less than a year (during which he was on loan to the "Governor's Crime Commission for the Study of Social and Economic Causes of Crime and Delinquency" (whew).
In January of 1948, he became Associate Warden, Classification and Treatment (a role more befitting his specialty and interests) at the California Correctional Training Facility (CTF) at Soledad under Warden Richard McGee, another pioneer of prison reform. As the name implied, CTF was to emphasize training and rehabilitation. Dad was a natural for the position. He held that position for 6 years. Those were halcyon years for us kids, who found adventures everywhere on the prison grounds. Dad was active in the Salinas Valley community, too:
In 1954, Dad returned to San Quentin in the same capacity: Associate Warden, Classification and Treatment . Until the "big house on the hill" (the Associate Warden's residence ... known to us as "120") was vacated, we were esconced in a small home on the prison reservation designated for prison staff. That year, Tim and I attended the balance of the school year at San Quentin Grammer School, a two room building housing Grades 1-6 in one class and 7-8 in the other. Tim graduated there, a certificate he cherishes.
A year later, in 1955, Dad was appointed to the Adult Authority (i.e. "Parole Board) by Governor Goodwin Knight, a position he held for 12 years, rising to Chairman. No longer working for a prison, Mom and Dad purchased their first and only house in San Rafael. More wonderful memories there, of breakfasts around the kitchen nook, roaring fires in living room, happy hours and barbeques in the playhouse.
In 1967, he succeeded Richard McGee as Superintendant at Soledad. He held that position until 1970, when the infamous Soledad Brothers incident occurred, followed by several other tramatic events summarized in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soledad_Brothers
The political heat was intense, This was the era of Black Power and Black Panthers and Angela Davis and the Symbionese Liberation Army. The Department of Corrections moved Dad out of Soledad and into a consulting role to finish off his career quietly in 1972. The media circus, the killing of Judge Haley (a friend of Mom and Dad), the various trials -- including a civil trial brought on by Melvin Belli -- charging Dad (who was sick at home with the flu when the original shooting took place), the Associate Superintendant, the Watch Commander, the Sergeant in Charge and the guards themselves with violations of the prisioners' civil rights.
The California Attorney General's office defended, but was no match for "The King of Torts". New legal precedent was formed, finding that the whole "chain of command" is culpable when a subordinate commits a criminal act. While Dad didn't have to pay damages (the State did), it tarnished his otherwise exemplary career.
Back in San Rafael, he and Mom found enjoyment in retirement, especially with the Sons In Retirement (SIRs), but I don't think he ever got over the Soledad incidents. Once, a friend of mine asked him whether, in retrospect, Dad felt that rehabilitation -- the cause to which he had devoted most of his career -- could ever be successful. Dad thought a bit and then said "No". The prisons were controlled from within by the Black Muslims, the White Arians and the Mexican Mafia. Most inmates came out worse than when they went in.
Dad died on June 1, 1987 after suffering complications from hip surgery.
I love you, Dad.
Suzi Fitzharris (Chelini) (2000)
Clete and Jimmy Fitzharris ca. 1917
Suzi Fitzharris (Chelini) (2000)
Cletus James Fitzharris - engagement photo - late 1930's. They were engaged for five years so they could get enough money to get married after the depression.