Forrest Turner

Forrest T. Turner (February8, 1915January5, 2001) was an American bootlegger and rum-runner who gained notoriety for multiple escapes from prison in the 1930s and 1940s. Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall gave him a full pardon with the understanding that he would speak out against crime and in favor of prison reform. From that time until his death, he gave more than 10,000 speeches to church and school groups about prison reform. He earned his living making dentures, a trade he had learned in prison.

Prison years Turner was born in McDonough, Georgia. When he was 19, he was supporting his widowed mother and younger brothers and sisters by working as a "soda jerk" in McDonough, when, according to the story he told, he accepted an invitation to ride with a friend. He said that he didn't know the automobile was stolen, but when the police stopped the car, Turner was arrested.

The court-appointed attorney advised a "guilty" plea in the hope that, since it was Turner's first offense, he would likely be sentenced to probation. Instead, the judge sentenced him to four or five years in jail. When the sentence was given, Turner responded by knocking down the bailiff and running away. He was caught when he fell into an open coal pit, and when brought back to court, he was sentenced to the chain gang. Later, Turner gave his explanation of the case to a friendly newspaper columnist. Regarding the license issue, he told the columnist that he, himself, had advocated licensing of dental laboratories "so old people and poor people can get their false teeth made less expensively," but because of his advocacy, dentists were "out to get him." He was arrested after had made teeth for a man who turned out to be a Georgia Bureau of Investigation informant. There were also claims that investigators had found drugs. Regarding this, he told the columnist, "It's been embarrassing. One of the papers said I was arrested with some drugs. It was some old Novocain that came in a dentist's bag a friend gave me some time ago. But it sounded like I was a pusher or something, and I've felt bad because I do a lot of work with young kids and I keep expecting one of them to come up with something like, 'Daddy-o, what are you on?'"

Turner ran two times for the office of representative in the Georgia legislature. He lost both times.

He died in Snellville, Georgia, on January 5, 2001, and state notables, including former Governor Lester Maddox, attended his funeral.