Densho Digital Archive - Takashi Hoshizaki Interview (denshovh-htakashi

<Begin Segment 27>

TI: Good, so let's talk about... so you were there for two years?

TH: Two years, a little more than two years, yeah.

TI: So let's talk about your release. Now that you've been released, what happens next?

TH: Okay, well, about time that we heard that (...) the group of us (...) are gonna be released, I remember one of the COs came up (and) says, "You're being released on a very auspicious date." I says, "Oh? What are you talkin' about?" He says, "You know, it's Bastille Day." Well, I didn't, at that time, Bastille Day, I didn't know much about it, but he says, well, he said that that was quite a famous date in, in history. And it was July 14th. Okay, so later on I really found out what he was referring to. And so we were released, but some of us (...) weren't released on (that) day because we would get what we call "good time." That is, if you're a model prisoner you get so many days removed from your sentence, and so it was, some of 'em would run into little problem with the guard, so they would lose the good time, so they came out a few days later or maybe a week later. Unfortunately, one of the fellows there who was very well liked was working as an electrician, and as he was showing his replacement, (...) accidentally was electrocuted, (and) died there. (So) there was one that really didn't get out of prison.

TI: And this was sad because it was just as he was ready to leave.

TH: Ready to leave within, say, a week or so, and that was really a sad thing that happened. Real blow. When we did get out we got our standard suits and I think maybe twenty-five dollars plus train ticket home. We gathered together and took pictures. Probably you maybe have seen the picture of us standing near the trestle at Steilacoom. Got on the train -- oh, then there were other people who lived around in the Seattle area that came out and greeted us when we got over on the mainland (...).

TI: Now, was there any feeling being free at this point? Did you, do you recall thinking or any, any thoughts of...

TH: Well, I guess 'cause we're free, fine, but (...) it was the first time that I would be (...) really by myself, away from the family, plus with the train ticket to get on the train and now to go back to L.A., to Los Angeles, again, that was another feeling that, maybe (with) a little apprehension that now here we're going back the first time. I'm traveling completely by myself, so it was kind of a mixed feeling. But it was, as you said, it was, I think it was nice (...) to be out.