Calvin Leavy

Blues singer and guitarist, born Scott, Arkansas, USA, on April 20, 1940, died June 6, 2010, at the age of 70. Younger brother of Hosea Leavy. He is most known for "Cummins Prison Farm," a blues song that debuted on Billboard’s rhythm and blues chart on May 2, 1970, and stayed for five weeks, reaching No. 40. It was also the No. 1 song on the Memphis, Tennessee, station WDIA. In 1991, Leavy was the first to be charged under the Arkansas "drug kingpin law" targeting crime rings. According to Pulaski County prosecutors, Leavy made three $1,000 payments to an undercover police officer to page him when police were about to make a raid. In July 1992, he was convicted of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, delivery of a controlled substance, public servant bribery, and use of a communication facility—a pager—in the commission of a felony. This was the first time that Leavy had been convicted of a felony. On July 10, 1992, he was sentenced by the Pulaski County Court to life plus twenty-five years. Interestingly and ironically, his incarceration began at Cummins Prison, and, while there, he sang “He Walks With Me—Part 1 (The Story of Moses)/He Walks With Me—Part 2 (The Story of Job)” with the Cummins Prison Farm Singers.