CLALLAM BAY, Wash. — Yes, he's a convicted murderer. Yes, he's a big, muscular guy. Yes, the barbells he hefts each day in a prison gym make him even bigger and stronger.
But inmate Paul Douglas Crawford sees no reason for people to consider him a menace--nor any reason to ban weightlifting in prisons, as some lawmakers in Congress and several states are suggesting.
"This isn't about violence," said Crawford, taking a breather during a recent weightlifting competition at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center. The gym was filled with sweating, straining men, and Crawford, 46, was reveling in it.
When he got locked up 18 years ago, he weighed 195 pounds and was weak from alcohol and drugs. Pumping iron has added 75 pounds of rippling muscle to his 6-foot-3-inch frame.
"This is my self-esteem," he said. "It makes me feel I've recovered from my past. These people who want to take weightlifting away--what are they trying to say? That we're animals? That we'll never change? I believe you can change. All the tools are here for rehabilitation, and weightlifting is one of the tools. That's how I see it."
Others see it differently.
Crawford's hobby has become a target for tough-on-crime legislators determined to put the punishment back in prison by making life behind bars less pleasant. Amenities from cable TV to girlie magazines are under fire, but of all prison perks, weightlifting seems to rankle critics the most.
The image of a beefy ex-con, his muscles bulked up by daily workouts in a prison gym, cuts to the core of Americans' fear of crime and frustration with the justice system.
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"Too many criminals spend their time in prison becoming even more violent, criminal machines," said Rep. Steve Chabot, a freshman Republican from Ohio. "We need more books in prison and less weightlifting equipment."
Chabot's amendment to remove barbells and weight machines from federal prisons is part of a crime package passed Feb. 10 by the House. The Senate has yet to act on a similar proposal.
Many state and local officials are not waiting for Congress. In the past year, weightlifting equipment has been ordered removed from state prisons in Arizona, Wisconsin and Mississippi.
California's Contra Costa and Los Angeles counties removed weightlifting equipment from some of their jails, and the state Assembly ordered corrections officials to limit inmates' access to weights in state prisons.
