After the knife fight, Dutton pleaded guilty in 1967 to
manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison, which he began serving at the
Maryland House of Correction in
Jessup, Maryland. Out on parole after 18 or 20 months,
[notes 1] he was arrested on robbery and handgun charges.
[6] He was sentenced on the handgun violation and sent to the
Maryland Penitentiary, near his boyhood home, for three more years.
[7] A fight with a guard added on another eight years.
[8] In reference to this, Dutton later said, "I got three years for killing a black man and eight for punching a white man."
[9]
During his prison term, Dutton was stabbed by another prisoner and nearly died. He became interested in radical movements and the
Black Panther Party.
[10][11]
Several months into his second prison term, Dutton was sentenced to six days of
solitary confinement for refusing to clean toilets.
[12] Prisoners were allowed to take one book and, by accident, he grabbed an anthology of black playwrights. He enjoyed the book so much that upon release from solitary he petitioned the warden to start a drama group for the winter talent show. The warden agreed on the condition that Dutton go back to school and get his
GED. Dutton accomplished that and eventually completed a two-year college program at Hagerstown Junior College (now
Hagerstown Community College) in
Hagerstown, Maryland, graduating with an
Associate of Arts degree in 1976.
Dutton was paroled on August 20, 1976.
[5][13][14] After his release from prison, he enrolled as a drama major at Towson State University (now
Towson University) in the Baltimore suburb of
Towson, Maryland, where he graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978.
[15] After his time at Towson, Dutton earned a master's degree in acting from the
Yale School of Drama in 1983.
[16]
