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Jones first saw his “haints” (haunts or ghosts) and “devils” when he was nine and continued to see them throughout his life. He created several hundred complex drawings of houses that reveal these “haints” in cell like rooms. His drawing materials were salvaged stubs of red and blue accountant’s pencils and sheets of typing paper from the trash cans in the prison office where he worked. Later, as his drawings received favorable attention inside and outside the prison, he was given better paper and new colored pencils. Jones experimented with other colors, but preferred red and blue, which he said represented fire and smoke. Jones’s artistic production was performed from 1964-69 while he was serving a life sentence for murder in the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville, TX. Jones was convicted of many crimes, always maintaining his innocence. As his health deteriorated, his artistic output remained constant. Early in February 1969 Jones’s parole was finally granted. His health suddenly worsened, however, and he was admitted to the prison hospital. Two weeks later, on February 15, 1969, Jones died while still incarcerated. Funds from his drawings provided him with a dignified funeral, and his remains were returned to Clarksville for burial.
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