Car restoration offers inmates escape

Aaron Clemens

Wednesday, June 28, 2000 | 9:23 a.m.

Not going anywhere for a while?

Inmates at the Southern Desert Correctional Center may be stuck in one place, but some escape the dreary environment by restoring classic cars.

This public/private partnership hit a milestone Tuesday when entertainer Dick Smothers picked up his restored 1963 Porsche S, marking the first time a celebrity has driven out of the prison with his restored car, prison spokesman Howard Skolnik said.

But many other cars have passed through the gates without their owners.

Among them were 15 presidential cars, including those once carrying John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower, as well as Howard Hughes and Wayne Newton autos.

One vehicle restored by inmates -- the one used by the character Col. Klink in the television show "Hogan's Heroes" -- later enticed someone to offer $12.5 million for it, but it wasn't sold.

Smothers' collection once included a 427 Cobra Mustang and a Porsche Spider 550, the model actor James Dean was killed in, but the Porsche S is the only one Smothers has kept.

"My adult children grew up in this car, getting hunchbacked as they grew up," Smothers said. "They would be very upset if I sold it."

Smothers, the straight man in the folk-singing comedy team the Smothers Brothers, was surprised when he heard about car restoration at the prison, but he supports it.

"It's a terrific way for them to be creative," he said. "Although I love cars, prisoners doing anything productive is good."

Some prisoners turn skills learned there into a career, collection restoration supervisor Dave Hoshaw said.

"I've had job offers," said Pat Ashway, 25, who has been in prison for more than eight years on a second-degree murder conviction. When he gets out in two to three years, he's thinking about working at a car museum Dave Hoshaw has in Vallejo, Calif.

Hoshaw started the shop 10 years ago this month. He is enthusiastic about the benefits for inmates and taxpayers because prison workers learn skills while paying for board, he said. There are also preventative benefits.

"Some guys get out, and come right back," he said. "When you get out with no money, maybe no family and no skills ... what would you do?"

The medium security prisoners receive minimum wage for their work, but room and board as well as child support or restitution are withheld from their paychecks.

Prisoners must have no escape attempts and get approval from the warrant committee before being admitted to the program.

The program has 400 inmates and a waiting list of three times that many.

Skolnik said there are no guards in the shop because those selected for the program have demonstrated willingness and determination to work. They also realize that if they mess up this opportunity, they can't just go and get another job, he said.

Hoshaw, who has run auto shops since he was 19, feels that the prisoners apply themselves better than guys on the street. They even fight less, Hoshaw said.

There have been only three or four disciplinary writeups in the shop's history, he said.

Prison workers have proved their trustworthiness, Skolnik said. For example, although prisoners did all of the stained glass work for New York-New York, no contraband glass from the project has been found during routine searches and shakedowns.

Private parties can secure up to 30 percent off restoration work at the prison by calling the marketing office at 486-6491, Skolnik said.