05089 - Windsor, Vt.
Mike Coxon retired from his position as superintendent of the Southeast State Correctional Facility at Windsor in November 2003. He lives in Windsor with his wife Janet and bull dog Brutus. The following is an edited interview.
Nobody ever says when they’re a kid, “When I grow up I want to work in prison.” There’s a reason for that. It’s not always a pleasant business.
I started with the Department of Corrections in 1969. When I retired, I had been the warden for 28 years. We had some really tough times, no doubt about it. In the old prison we had riots. We had escapes, we had assaults on officers. You just learned to deal with it.
My life is quieter now. I’m reading more. I’m working on a book. My wife Janet and I spend more time together, I enjoy that. I still vote, I still voice my opinions, but I’ve really left it to another generation. I’ve always believed there’s a time to do it, and a time to give it up.
A lot of people don’t know me now, and I enjoy the privacy. I miss the excitement, I miss the rush, but I’m happy. When you’re at a restaurant you can eat in peace. I can actually go to a basketball game now and people don’t know me, not anyone under 65.
If you see a former inmate in a public place there’s likely no threat, but sometimes I get letters. One guy said he saw me in church. What he wrote was, “It’s a little late to turn to God. The things you did were ungodly.” I’ve never really been afraid, it’s about privacy.
I like to work on my house because you can really see right in front of you the value of your work. In corrections you’re looking at the long, long term. You don’t see the immediate results, and you get a lot of failures.
I once had a father, son, and grandson in prison. Three generations. Sometimes you wonder if you see the value of it at all. Some people were changed, maybe. Others were protected. I know that, at least. The thing I learned was the greatest rehabilitator is age, more than any plan or program. When people get old they just get too tired for prison.
The average life span of a warden is only 59. I’ll be 66 this September.