A ‘mecca for jazz musicians,’ Lexington’s Narco Farm influenced the culture of the city

The Narcotic Farm’s effort to offer innovative drug treatment brought a unique array of patients: poets, writers and musicians called the place home during its 40 years in operation.

While they served a sentence at the Narcotic Farm, friends and loved ones stayed nearby. Some of them wound up leaving a lasting impression on the community too.

During the post-1940s era, drug addiction cast a shadow over the jazz world, affecting many of its prominent musicians. The Narcotic Farm, referred to as Narco, emerged as a pivotal institution and it transformed Lexington as a hub for some of the nation’s top jazz band, according to the Narcotic Farm documentary published in 2008.

Numerous musicians, drawn by the prospect of playing alongside their accomplished peers at Narco, sought opportunities within its walls. For some, a stint at Narco became a significant “rite of passage” in their careers, according to the film.

Narco patients helped foster ‘beatnik scene’ in Lexington

Artist Bob Morgan grew up in Lexington when the facility, which is now the Federal Medical Center, was running as Narco. He watched how the people who inhabited it changed the city’s landscape.

“Part of one of the unusual things about the culture of Lexington that is never talked about is that layer of what culture was laid in Lexington by Narco,” Morgan told the Herald-Leader. “...A lot of people stayed here in Lexington and it never left the community and then a lot of people left their mark here in the community.

Morgan referred to Lexington as a “cow town” in that era, aside from the horse business.

“There was a beat generation in Lexington that shouldn’t have been here, because the beat scene did not happen in the south, in the midwest,” Morgan said. “How did that beat scene happen in Lexington? ...I firmly believe that Narco contributed to that because all of the beats came here all the jazz musicians have not came here to go to Narco. All the people of the underground arts and culture scene on the east coast and in from all the major cities, did time here at Narco.”

Jazz musicians including Chet Baker, Howard McGhee, Benny Green, Red Rodney, Sonny Rollins, Tadd Dameron and Jackie McLean were housed at the Narco Farm.

“It was such a mecca for jazz musicians, some people just checked themselves in to play with the masters,” Wayne Kramer, former MS5 band guitarist said in The Narcotic Farm documentary.

Kramer was imprisoned at the facility for drug crimes in the early 70s, and became the mentee of former jazz trumpeter Red Rodney, who was also incarcerated at Narco.

Morgan said by the 1960s, Lexington already had a beatnik scene going for years. Beatniks constituted a social movement, adhering to an anti-materialistic lifestyle. They distanced themselves from the conformity and consumerism prevalent in mainstream American culture, opting to express their ideas through diverse artistic forms like literature, poetry, music and painting.

Other famous patients at Narco included writers William S. Burroughs Sr. and his son. Morgan met Burroughs years later in New York City, and all the writer wanted to talk about was his time in Lexington.

Morgan’s partner at the time wanted to read some of his poetry to Burroughs after a night class he was teaching in creative writing. Embarrassed to be a long-haired kid from Kentucky, when Burroughs found out where Morgan was from, “that was it.”

“He never asked about his (partner’s) poetry,” Morgan laughed. “Now, all he wanted to talk about was Lexington, Kentucky, and he couldn’t believe I was from Lexington. ...He told me stories about his days in Lexington and had me verify other stories and kept turning to my boyfriend saying, ‘Isn’t this great? He’s so great.’ I can see steam coming out of his ears.”

In his book, “Junky,” Burroughs details his stay in Lexington, and the intermingling of prisoners and voluntary patients, which he was. He recalls the discussions between all inside Narco, who gave the best tips and tricks to use and get high.

While Burroughs didn’t stay in Lexington, there were other patients from Narco who did, according to Morgan.

Community impact led by Narco patients

One influential person Morgan recalled at Narco was Lou Weinstein, a New Yorker who came to the Narcotic Farm and later managed a record store downtown after his release.

Weinstein ran the record department at Barney Miller’s on Main Street, which was “the place to get vinyl.” Morgan described him as a “tough talking, New York Jewish man with a withered arm he kept under his coat.”

“He worked one-handed and knew all the jazz greats and had a big record selection available and educated a lot of us youngsters in Lexington to jazz music,” Morgan said. “And he was a junkie and came to Narco, never got clean, and worked the rest of his life down there, you know, as a sort of mentor to the cultural scene in Lexington.”

Another impact mentioned by Morgan, was through a family member of a Narco patient. Morgan, who has been sober for 36 years, had a grand sponsor named Helen, who came to Lexington with her husband. The man was a piano player for Thelonious Monk, and Helen moved to Lexington to be close to him while he received treatment at the Narcotic Farm.

He later moved back to New York, but Helen remained and became a pillar of the recovery community in Lexington and was an equine painter that lived on North Broadway until her death.

“The users were contributing to the culture of Lexington and the people in recovery were contributing,” Morgan said.

Sidney Louis, 92, who worked at Narco as a nursing supervisor and educator for 10 years, said Narco’s socioeconomic impact on Lexington was “enormous.”

On the heels of the Great Depression, the Lexington facility was a place that guaranteed work from start to finish. It brought construction jobs, facilities jobs, guard positions and researchers and doctors from all over the country.

Not only did staffing of the facility contribute, Louis said, but the reformation of patients who learned skills there could remain in Lexington’s workforce after their release.

“There are people living at a higher level because grandma and grandpa — perhaps both — worked at that treatment center, and were able to send their children to college,” Louis told the Herald-Leader. “Prisoners and patients were able to learn a skill and went on to do better.”

Famous people continued to be housed at FMC

The Narcotic Farm ceased operations in the 1970s, and later became what is now Federal Medical Center Lexington, a hospital for ailing federal prisoners.

FMC Lexington has continued to house famous inmates, including “Chrisley Knows Best” star Julie Chrisley. “Chrisley Knows Best” is a reality show that followed the Georgia family, formerly known for their wealth acquired by real estate. The show ran for nine seasons.

Chrisley was sentenced to seven years in prison for 10 charges related to bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, tax evasion, wire fraud, and obstruction. Chrisley is still at the FMC Lexington, prison records show.

Also in the facility is Jeremiah “Jerry” Harris, 24, a former star on the Netflix show “Cheer,” according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Harris was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison in July 2022 after pleading guilty to sex crimes involving minors.

He pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge after persuading a minor to send him sexually explicit photographs in exchange for money. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of traveling for illicit sex with minors, following a trip he took to Florida for the purpose of “engaging in illicit sexual conduct” with a 15-year-old, according to the Associated Press.

Harris was a star on the Emmy-winning docuseries “Cheer,” which highlights the lives of a cheer squad in Navarro, Texas.

Up until two years ago, the stepfather of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, Mutulu Shakur, was housed at FMC Lexington too. Mutulu Shakur, previously on the FBI’s most wanted list, was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1988 after being convicted of leading a revolutionary group known as “The Family” which robbed a Brinks truck of almost $2 million and killed three security guards from the company.

According to court documents, Shakur arrived at FMC Lexington in December 2019 in order to receive treatment for stage 3 blood cancer. After 37 years in prison, Shakur was paroled for his terminal condition in December 2022. He died in July 2023.