An Amish bishop behind bars

December 4, 2012

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Sam Mullet, the renegade Amish bishop convicted on federal hate crime charges for his role in a series of beard-cutting attacks last year, has earned an unlikely nickname in prison.

Among his fellow inmates at Northern Ohio Correctional Center, the towering 67-year-old with wire-rimmed glasses, pudding-bowl haircut and retro facial hair is known simply as “O.G.”

While the term — street shorthand for “original gangster” — was unfamiliar to Mullet, he could sense that it was a compliment bestowed from across cultural lines.

“They’re calling me O.G.,” he said, smiling. “I don’t know what it means, but I guess it means something good.”

Unexpected honorific aside, he didn’t pretend to be comfortable in his new home. “I’m a stranger here. Plus Amish to boot,” he told The Daily last month in the first in-depth interview he has ever given. “How would you feel coming to Amish country and being locked up? You see guys in here with all kinds of dress and all kinds of hairstyles, but I’m the one that’s weird and sticking out.”

He shook his head. “If you’ve never been locked up, there’s no way to explain it,” he said.

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