Killer’s Charity Art Banned

A convicted killer who sold postcard-size paintings he created with dye from M&Ms; and brushes fashioned from his hair was disciplined for running an unauthorized business out of his Pelican Bay cell.

Donny Johnson hasn’t profited from his art -- the money is being used to start a program for children of inmates -- but prison officials said he was wrongfully engaged in a business without the warden’s permission.

Johnson, 46, has been locked up since 1980 for second-degree murder in a drug-related killing. In 1989, he was convicted of assaulting one guard and slashing the throat of another. He’s serving life without parole in the most secure unit at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, about 10 miles south of the Oregon border.

In the “prison within a prison,” Johnson lives in an 8-by-12-foot concrete cell. Meals are pushed through a slot in the door. He talks to the occasional visitor on a telephone through thick plexiglass, but that’s his only interaction with anyone.

To alleviate boredom and loneliness, Johnson turned to art and got the attention of Stephen Kurtz, a semi-retired psychoanalyst who runs the nonprofit Pelican Bay Prison Project, who began corresponding with him.

When Johnson starting sending paintings to him in Mexico about a year ago, Kurtz said he and his wife, an artist, were stunned. He became even more impressed when he learned how Johnson created his tiny abstract works.

Because he’s not allowed to have any art materials in his cell, Johnson orders “supplies” from the prison commissary. Once a month, he buys 10 packs of M&Ms; at 60 cents each. He then puts a few candies in small plastic jelly containers, adds water and soaks the candies. Johnson’s “paint” is left behind. His brush is made of plastic wrap, foil and strands of his own hair. He then layers blank postcards with vibrant colors, shapes and spirals.

Kurtz organized a showing in Mexico last month; nearly 500 people packed a gallery where a giant bowl of M&Ms; greeted them at the entrance. Twenty paintings have sold for $500 apiece, Kurtz said.

Johnson’s mother had no idea her son had any artistic talent.

“He just found an outlet for his energy,” Helen Grimes, a Hayward nurse, said.

The ramifications of the disciplinary action filed against Johnson were unclear. A hearing on the matter will be held in the next few weeks, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Johnson’s lawyer, Charles Carbone, disputed that his client violated the rules, which prohibit unauthorized profit-making activity. The inmate donated the artwork to Kurtz, who sold it and gave the proceeds to his charity.

“There’s a very large question mark over the legality and morality of what the department has done to punish an inmate for trying to better himself and better his community,” Carbone said.