A bank robber turned jailhouse journalist was released Thursday from solitary confinement, where he was put after reporting the federal prison where he is an inmate had become a ``caldron of fear, hatred and violence.'' Dannie M. Martin, 48, was released from the isolation unit at Lompoc federal penitentiary in Southern California where he was placed Wednesday ``for his own protection,'' said Warden R. H. Rison. Rison said the article in Sunday's edition of the San Francisco Chronicle-Examiner, which accused him of a ``gulag mentality,'' created ``a degree of tension in the prison's inmate population'' and required segregating the inmate-writer until an investigation was completed. ``I could care less about criticism of this administration,'' said Rison. ``But I have had inmates say that Martin is not their spokesman, and I'm obligated to make sure he doesn't get himself hurt. He walks around here rather freely.'' The article had the potential to set off a riot, Rison said. Associate Warden Paul Hofer said an investigation found no threat to Martin. ``There was some grumbling about the article, but it was not significant enough to keep Dannie in confinement,'' said Hofer. While he still was held in the 120-man isolation ward at the maximum-security prison, Martin said in a telephone interview arranged by Rison that he was confined in retaliation for his article. ``There is really no threat to my safety,'' said Martin, who has written 20 articles for the San Francisco newspaper's Sunday Punch section in the last two years. ``I haven't encouraged any group demonstration. I just depict things as they are ... As long as my articles have veracity, I should be allowed to depict people. The public is entitled to a viewpoint other than the stereotype put out by the Bureau of Prisons.'' Rison said that unless the newspaper allows him to tell his side in print, he will transfer Martin to another federal prison rather than risk anger among the inmates. ``It is obvious from the prison officials' comments that they are angry about the content of an article in the Chronicle,'' said Peter Sussman, editor of the Sunday Punch section. ``If Dannie Martin is being punished for that reason, it is a serious violation of the First Amendment.'' The Sunday Punch section publishes feature stories and opinion columns, such as Martin's, Sussman said. Rison has never called the newspaper asking to comment, but the newspaper would be willing to grant him space, Sussman said. In his articles, Martin ``has never attempted to glamorize or apologize for the criminal,'' said Sussman. ``In the 20 or so articles Dannie has contributed to this section, I have found him to be a sensitive observer and a fresh, powerful writer with a deep commitment to justice,'' he said.
