According to Benson, D Block was designated for the recalcitrant inmates because that block had a section of cells in the rear called “the hole” which was used to place inmates in solitary confinement.
“Members of the Nation of Islam awaiting their trials or transfer to another facility to serve their sentences were often placed on D Block because, in the 1960s and ’70s, prison officials were leery of NOI members because they refused to eat certain foods they spoke out against certain policies and conditions and they maintained a deliberate demeanor and discipline about themselves unlike most of the other inmates and cell blocks. So that block, became populated with Nation of Islam believers,” shared Benson.
Once Benson learned of this, he started gathering first-hand accounts of life on D Block. He interviewed dozens of former inmates asking them to share their experiences at Holmesburg Prison. What he discovered was that once D Block began to fill up with NOI members, the inmates reconstituted the hierarchy of the NOI, which existed on the outside, onto D Block. If an inmate was an officer in the local temple in the community, he transferred that position and responsibility to D Block. So they had lieutenants, captains, squad leaders, and secretaries, and these men maintained a decorum and an order of discipline not found on any other block in the prison. “It was like the US military,” Benson stated.
This discovery fascinated Benson, and he wanted to tell that particular story rather than the usual prison life tale. He found out that at first, prison officials were intimidated by the discipline and hierarchy on D Block. “Once the prison authorities discovered there was rank, order, and discipline, they originally felt threatened because these brothers had drill instructors, and they would march to and from the block. The prison authorities actually prohibited them from marching with cadence because they felt threatened by that. In prison, whoever was in charge (within the NOI hierarchy) was in charge, and there were no ifs ands or buts about it. So the prison officials decided it was better to keep them all together than let them go back into the general prison population, as a way to deter any problems since these brothers were adamant about not doing certain things.”
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