Episode 68 - In Remembrance of Joe Arridy at Greenwood Cemetery in Cañon City, Colorado
Jennie and Dianne are joined by special guest Casper Johnson as they revisit one of Diane's favorite cemeteries, Greenwood Cemetery in Cañon City, Colorado. They will begin with a brief history of the cemetery and then continue with the tragic story of Joe Arridy, a gentle man with an intellectual disability who was wrongly convicted and executed for a crime he never could have even begun to commit. Join us for Joe's Ordinary, Extraordinary story and how it has helped to reshape the justice system.
(Warning: this episode does contain conversation regarding rape, sodomy, and murder. While we do not give explicit details of the events, they are important to this story and may make some listeners uncomfortable.)
Resources used to research this episode include:
Colorado Prisons, Museum Of. "HISTORY OF THE COLORADO PRISON MUSEUM ." https://prisonmuseum.org/. 26 Jan. 2016. prisonmuseum.org/history/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2022.
News Staff, WSBTV.com. "Local Girl Scout spearheads effort to clean up Forsyth County cemetery ." https://www.wsbtv.com/. 23 Jan. 2022. www.wsbtv.com/news/local/forsyth-county/local-girl-scout-spearheads-effort-clean-up-forsyth-county-cemetery/U564NRUJR5BCRBIUXOUTBW23QY/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2022.
Newman, Victoria. Woodpecker Hill Tales of Cañon City's Infamous Inmates. 3rd ed., 2007. Cañon City, Museum of Colorado Prisons, 2015.
Fremont County Historical Society. Cemeteries of Fremont County, edited by Margaret Stiles. Fremont County Tourism Council, 2016.
Friends of Joe Arridy. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2022, from http://friendsofjoearridy.com/
Harmon, T. (2014, February 27). 75-year-old case still compelling today. Pueblo Chieftain. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.chieftain.com/story/news/2014/02/27/75-year-old-case-still/985033007/
Mitchell, K. (2016, May 4). Inmates' thorny histories call out from their graves in Cañon City. The Denver Post. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.denverpost.com/2011/04/06/inmates-thorny-histories-call-out-from-their-graves-in-caon-city/
Owens, D. (2016, August 17). Arc and Robert Perske has passed. The Arc of Illinois. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.thearcofil.org/arc-and-robert-perske-has-passed/
Perske, R. (1995). Deadly innocence? Abingdon Press.
Perske, R. (2009). Joe Arridy, “the happiest man who ever lived on death row.” Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 47(5), 390–394. https://doi.org/10.1352/1934-9556-47.5.390
Perske, R. (2011). Colorado Governor pardons Joe Arridy. Meridian. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://meridian-allenpress-com.aurarialibrary.idm.oclc.org/idd/article/49/3/192/1529/Colorado-Governor-Pardons-Joe-Arridy
Prendergast, A. (2011). Joe Arridy was the happiest man on Death row. Westword. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.westword.com/news/joe-arridy-was-the-happiest-man-on-death-row-5118031