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Wyoming Stories: The Prison Warden They Called “Dad”

Micah Schweizer

In 1967, Rawlins resident Duane Shillinger was hired by the Wyoming State Penitentiary as a counselor. Later, through an unexpected turn of events, he ended up serving as warden for seventeen years. In this story, he remembers the transition from the 19th century facility to the current one, and the relationships he formed with inmates.

Adrian Shirk is a writer and editor raised in Portland, Oregon. She holds a BFA in Writing for Publication, Performance, and Media from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and is a co-founder of The Corresponding Society, and its associated journal Correspondence. Her work has appeared in Wilder Quarterly, The Airship, Packet, Owl Eye Review, and 7Stops Magazine. She's currently an MFA candidate in creative nonfiction at the University of Wyoming. Left to her own devices, she writes about American religion, architecture, geography, the remains of fallen cities, and family ancestry.
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