Bang! The door goes shut!

Bang! The door goes shut! In all situations it is the people that create the atmosphere or the environment within a community, and in this collective we have two distinct groups; inmates and prison administration, they are the determining factors of prison, in teleology they would be the cause in determining of purpose. Starting with the inmates; in prison there is a hierarchy of inmates, this is established by the crime each has committed, therein lies the POD boss, his personality sets the level of acceptable behavior, along with the individuals that are drawn to him, like attracts like, eventually there will be a group personality of a POD, good or bad, and this is the foundation of the living conditions of prison. To control these conditions it is a give and take between the prison administration and the inmates, what follows is an inmate’s observations of the adaptation of the Wyoming Department of Corrections. I was sentenced in 1995 just a couple of years after the creation of the Department of Corrections (DOC), so I have over twenty years of watching the proliferation of the prison administration. Like all bureaucracy its sole purpose is to spawn more bureaucracy, starting with just six (6) administrators they have expanded to four departments with a small increase of inmates. With this expansion comes a price; in 1995 the cost per inmate was $35.00 dollars per day, now in 2016 it cost just under $125.00 dollars per day. You may think with the increased cost there would be an increase of programming, but you would be mistaken, we had; Carpentry, Drafting, Electronics, Computer classes, Machine Shop, Auto Mechanic, Auto Body and Paint, along with some College classes, GED, and some knowledgeable tutors, and Welding, now the only classes to survive was the Welding class and the GED. I understand the disappointment with rehabilitation and the prevailing thought process we have now; “Nothing works” I just don’t agree with it! One of the favorite sayings here is, “The inmates that have the fortitude to take educational classes, would succeed being released from prison without the classes.” There seems to be a flaw in their thinking I should tell you I find humor in most things, if you cannot laugh at yourself you are going to live a rough life. I find most people don’t think before they speak, and some of the things they say is unbelievable, for example; I had a prison administrator tell me that their policies supersede the law, this so dumbfounded me I didn’t know what to say. So how do you argue with someone that is that stupid. Instead of the word stupid I would use the word obtuse. 7. ‘\ Which leads me to the prison administrator; I have found that there is always a mixture of personalities in every situation, but the more successful administrator is a Machiavellian with narcissistic traits, now everyone has some kind of personality disorder (it is prison) but, with the Machiavellian you get; control issues and arbitrary use of power, plus the use of management as punishment, with the narcissistic traits you get individuals that think that they are always right; under management is a hidden plan, there is the American Correctional Association (ACA); within them, there is an outline of management that is to be adopted across the United States, this was established to fill a need created by the courts; “Atypical deviation from the normal atmosphere of prison.” if every prison is the same, there is no possible civil suit against the conditions of confinement. This allows for an even more sinister process, look at; “Nutritional Guide for Adult Males in Corrections”, here is a guideline designed to fit the needs of prison, not so much the inmates, and under what ethical standard did they do this study? They are adapting to the parameters of the courts, it is a sneaky operation, let me give you an example; many years ago the cells where single occupancy and where roughly 65 square feet per cell, one state decided to build a new prison with double occupancy and they made the cells about 80 square feet, the courts said “That’s okay” now another facility had an emergency and they just doubled the single cells, and again the courts said “That’s okay”, in each of these cases the inmates lost just a little bit and this was okayed by the courts, so now we are now down to 50 square feet per cell for two people, this doesn’t sound real bad, but within that 50 feet is the beds, toilet, small table and stools (attached to the wall), hygiene shelf, and the cell wasn’t 50 feet to begin with. They take in increments. I was told once that if you have to cut off a dog’s tail it is evil to do it an inch at a time, increments. Now that you have some idea of the direction I am going let’s look at the use of psychological control; starting with “Strip search”, humiliation is used to assert dominance over an inmate, they use strip searches when a pat down or frisk would provide the same results, unless the results are to humiliate. There is another aspect to the lack of privacy and that is females watching male inmates; using the toilet, showering, getting dressed and undressed, it is power. Which leads me to another story; A friend of mine while working in the property room started have relations with the female sergeant, this went on for a couple of years, then they decided to get married (man that was a mistake!). All of the guards started harassing both of them, the inmate was sent to the hole several time under false investigations, then was <83 transferred out of state to higher custody facilities, his property would get lost in transport, there was no end in sight to the harassment. It was at this point when I started saying, “You would be better off beating up a guard then to marry one!” this joke went around the facility for awhile, I was told “You cannot joke like that!” this is when I used my go to statement; Of all the things I have lost, my opinion is not one of them! It amazes me that people think I should be servile and complacent, it’s just not part of my nature. I know that I piss them off, every time they come out with a new policy I show them their mistakes, I tell them; You don’t have the authority to do that!”, you know the “thorn in their side”, I reveal their euphonizes; safety and security, legitimate penological interest (penological is not a word), goal-oriented, demonstrated best practice, evidence based, cost effective, relevant standards, SIR (serious injury report) and conflict resolutions, all of which are management as punishment. The easiest one to recognize is “Conflict Resolution” anytime an inmate gets into an argument or a fight they are sent to segregation, under the guise of investigation, this is for ten days, after which the inmate is told, “you either sign the conflict resolution or you will go back to the hole or be sent to a higher custody level facility. Doesn’t that sound like “Blackmail”? The rest of these aphorisms are their rhetoric; goal-oriented, demonstrated best practice, evidence based, cost effective, and relevant standards, these are all “Red Herrings” they make it sound good and that is all the courts want to hear, the only relevant standard are their standards (it is good to be king), there is no evidence to support their statements, what you have here; Do as I say because I say so, it is control through information, and intimidation. I cannot research the issue, and any information that is not a benefit to the prison system is quickly determined to be a security threat! You have heard the saying “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” will this is the scenario that we have here; there is a group of individuals (DOC) that make decisions without doing any studies as to the outcome of their actions, and the oversight (the courts) have ruled almost exclusively in their (DOC) favor. No one can be right all the time! I have been lost in the high country (thought) for months only to find out that my foundation was in need! Having covered some of the underlining issues, I would like to discuss “Deterrence”, I have looked into this concept and have found their use wanting. You don’t teach people how to stay out of quicksand by throwing them into it! 733 I was given a life sentence for my crime, the courts determined that deterrence is established at sentencing; the sentence of a crime is to deter any future repetition, inflict punishment, and to rehabilitate. Crime is always going to happen; it was at the beginning and it will be at the end. The only thing any of us can do is accept the inevitable. No matter the examples as deterrence; stocks, public whipping, branding, and to the final extreme; public execution, people still commit crimes. What we end up with is two expectations that don’t work, one that projects the concept that when someone is punished for his actions this is a deterrence to others. The second expectation is that the prison will rehabilitate the inmate. Expectations are the first cause in becoming a criminal; kids are told, “You can do anything in life.” this is a false hope, so when they try and fail their expectations are crushed, some turn to drugs, some to alcohol, there are thieves and prostitutes, they all end up in the same place (prison). Once in prison the expectations go away, they (DOC) expect the inmate to fail; that is their (DOC) bread and butter, but then looks at the level of recidivism and then asks “What is an acceptable level of failure?” What most people don’t understand is the acceptance of life in prison, these guys failed on the outside, but in prison there is acceptance and they have found a home. I There is only one way to fix the problem and that is “opportunity”, at some point in time we (society) are going to have to help these kids get on the right path. Everyone needs help whether it is from a teacher, a preacher, or just a concerned individual, the need is there. Sorry about that I have a tendency to wonder off when it comes to what I think is a priority. Take the idea of punishment; “The punishment is so great as to stop you from doing something wrong!” now some people take this as a challenge, their call to arms; “You cannot tell me what to do!” they will do harm to themselves despite everyone. Oops, there I go again. Sometimes when I write I start down one path and it leads me to an unexpected revelation; I started one essay about the criminal justice system and I ended up proving it was the field of psychiatry that was the root cause of the lengthy sentence based upon their assessment of the needs of the victim; “It will take years for this person to recover.” so the ‘T4? *\ punishment must reflect the severity of the crime. To a psychiatrist everyone is a victim and needs therapy, this may take years, but that psychiatrist will be there as long as the money lasts. Which is the beginning of hundreds of studies on crime, the criminal, and the consequences, if you think about the amount of people who profit from crime; you may come to the conclusion that the powers-that-be don’t want the problem fixed. Look at the programming that is offered in prison, i.e. Anger Management, Thinking for Change, Substance Abuse, and GED, all based upon the idea that an inmate can be taught to be a law abiding citizen, by revealing his triggers; therefore you can avoid those bad triggers. This doesn’t fix the hidden values; it doesn’t even reveal that everyone has hidden values. In this cause I use a car analogy; “When the car (kids) is new it runs great it has all the potential it could possibly have, after a few years it starts knocking and stalling when you step on the gas (rebellious nature of adolescence) so you take it to the repair shop (criminal justice system) and the repairman (DOC) tells you it needs new points and plugs, you get your car back and within a short period of time it starts knocking and stalling just like before, so back to the shop it goes and the same mechanic says the same thing, “needs new points and plugs” you say, “That didn’t work last time.” He replies “That’s all we offer.” One size doesn’t fit all! I need to stop joking around and write something profound; “Even though I made a mistake, I am not evil. Can I make that determination? What about the concept; “You’ve done something wrong and you deserve prison.” I have accepted my responsibility and I do deserve punishment but for how long? If deterrence worked, then my life would have meaning, but people are still drinking and making bad decisions, so as I said before there is no deterrence. That leaves retribution; punishment for my actions, but isn’t the thought “An eye for an eye” evil? Who forgives the punisher? When someone kills another person, they are given the death penalty; the state then takes on the responsibility to kill that person. There has been several different ways to fulfill this desire; hanging, firing squad, gas chamber, electric chair, and now lethal injection, all to satisfy “Retribution”. I watched a television special on the death penalty, this guy in Arizona was given a new drug for his lethal injection; it took around two hours for him to die all the while gasping for air every few minutes. His death was not what fascinated me about the program, what was 71.5 interesting to me was the victim’s relatives that witnessed the death. I would think that most people would recoil from watching someone die, but not these two, they were Very adamant that the death needed to be more painful. This left me to question: “How violent of a killing would satisfy the victim’s family?” and “Would they feel better if they had some kind of active roll in his death?” say the state ties him to a chair and then allows the victim’s family kill him, in any manner that they desire. Would that make them the same as him or would we say that justice has been better served? I have never understood the thought; “An eye for an eye” it always seemed to be revenge not punishment. No matter how painful of a death the state inflicts upon that person, it will never erase what was done. There is one other though about the victim’s family; I have an idea that when these people are interviewed they don’t say what they are actually feeling; they say what they think the public wants them to say. Whatever gets them “approval”. I have always liked the saying, “You cannot beat someone good”. Okay, I need to get back on track; deterrence doesn’t work, you cannot point to any study done that cannot be refuted, the state says, “Nothing works” referring to rehabilitation, so that leaves punishment as the only reason to send someone to prison. Prison is inherently torturous, it is punishment and any punishment is painful. Year after year of meaningless existence is an apt definition of punishment. Pushing a rock up a hill forever!