A Guide to the Joe Jackson Papers, 1984-1999
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 43778
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference)
Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference)
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
© 2013 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.
Processed by: Jim Greve
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Permission to publish from the writings of Dennis Stockton must be obtained from Doug Stockton, Galax, Virginia.
Preferred Citation
Joe Jackson Papers, 1984-1999. Accession 43778. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Joe Jackson, Virginia Beach.
Biographical Information
Joe Jackson is the author of one novel and six nonfiction titles. From 1997 to the present, he has been a full-time author and journalist. Jackson holds an MFA from the University of Arkansas and was an investigative reporter for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk for twelve years, covering criminal justice and the state's Death Row. He was the writer-in-residence at the James Thurber House in 2001. His foreign assignments included Russia and the Baltic republics, where he covered the bloody 1991 revolution in Lithuania. Jackson currently lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, Kathy.
Scope and Content
Papers, 1984-1999, of Joe Jackson (b. 1955) of Virginia Beach, relating to his research and co-authorship of Dead Run: The Untold Story of Dennis Stockton and America's Only Mass Escape from Death Row , published in 1999. The book details the case of death row inmate Dennis Stockton (1940-1995), as well as the escape of six fellow inmates at the Mecklenburg Correctional Center on 31 May 1984. The collection includes clippings, correspondence, drafts, galleys and a copy of the book, notes, and legal documents, including affidavits, appeals, motions, orders, petitions, and trial transcripts that were filed in the Patrick County (Va.) Circuit Court, Virginia Supreme Court, United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.
The collection also contains numerous writings of Dennis Stockton while he was a prisoner on death row at the Powhatan Correctional Center and the Mecklenburg Correctional Center. They include both fiction and non-fiction works, entitled "The Daybook" (1990), "Joshua" (1992), "Passin' Thoughts" (1993), "Bits 'n' Pieces" (1994), "Humdingers" (1994), "This 'n' That" (1994), and "The Last Chapter (1995). In addition, there are letters from Stockton to William F. Burke, Jr., a reporter with the Virginian-Pilot newspaper and Jackson's co-author on Dead Run , concerning the publication of a diary Stockton kept while he was incarcerated. The diary excerpts were published by the newspaper as "Death Row Diary" on 16 September 1984, and later diary excerpts were published in 1995. Also among Stockton's writings in the collection are diary entries from August to September 1984, and a prison newsletter he authored, also entitled "Passin' Thoughts," covering the years 1992 to 1995.