Guards continued working at a fraction of the usual numbers and staying on outside detail, away from the prisoners. A funny thing was happening, something “probably unprecedented in the annals of the prison reform movement,” according to an op-ed in The Boston Globe. “Peace reigned. There was a calm and peaceful atmosphere. No incidents of violence or disruption were reported.” The NPRA’s leadership became a national story, a “story of hope that even fallible and finite creatures can claim a common vision and struggle together to attain it,” Rodman wrote in his introduction to When the Prisoners Ran Walpole. The men continued lobbying for the state to grant them collective bargaining rights for their union and to address their demands. One of those demands was a pay raise for the guards, an adjustment that the NPRA understood would benefit their quality of life as much as it would the officers. “We want to see Walpole changed so it’s compatible with the street—a community prison with self-government, inmate participation, and working conditions like on the street,” …