Transcript
Dear Readers, Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; let them all be fixed upon your lips" Proverbs 22:17-18... Unfortunately, I compose this carefully written manuscript within the confines of a cubic square cell, as I am incarcerated for the duration of my life. In truth, it is beyond my control and comprehension and in my opinion, the draconian measures surrounding my case are without due process and in violation of one constitutional rights. By the way of the fourteenth Amendment. In theory, there is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot keep a man or woman in everlasting ignorance--that principle is contempt prior to investigation and to believe that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental guarantee one would be fooling themselves. Thus in essence a fool never knows what they have until it's taken away as my freedom has. Since I have succumbed to the perilous design and the snare of the beast (prison), I have been subjected to some of the harsh and cruel unjust treatment that one can be exposed to while in prison and still remain unbroken mentally. Life in its self is a daily struggle but life in prison is a never ending psychological war with many enemy fronts (different personalities with hidden agendas) to be battled with. The strong minded conscious thinking people are always trying to conquer and rule the weak minded unconscious existing beings in prison leaving deception at an all time high. The strong minded conscious thinking people are the ones that are living in prison dictating the program and the weak minded unconscious thinking people are the ones that just exist in prison being told what to do never thinking for themselves; good foot soldier that in the end get pushed to the side mentally broken. And this goes for all within the grasp of the beast (prison), (staff and inmates). I believe that the public is being deceived and manipulated into believing that the sole purpose of prison is the rehabilitate inmates, when in fact it's about the financial gain to be had at the cost of the weak minded inmates (humans), that have not fully developed mentally. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away child-ish things (I Corin 13:11). A lot of us inmates became ward of the state when we were juveniles, kids, so our thoughts and actions were as such and for most of us they remain so. They remain so because a lot of us come into the system uneducated and undisciplined, and unwilling to brave ourselves out of the false illusion that we have created for ourselves in life, which lead us to the situation that we are in today in prison. I came to realize through experience in prison that prison does more mental harm to an inmate than it does them good, and that if the inmate does not take it upon his or her self to educate themselves to become mentally strong, they will end up mentally broken and a lost soul. The books and other educational material in prison are outdated and all the self-help programs that the public hears about aren't for the overall prison population, so where is the rehabilitation in this kind of environment? How does the public expect inmates to change the way that they think when there is no fruitful educational or other programs and materials being provided to all in prison? Hope is foreign! I took it upon myself to self-educate myself through the use of books that I come across from other inmates that are determined to change the way they think. It is not easy for other inmates to do what I do, to further my education in prison, being that not everyone has good communication skills nor is everyone a people person, so they remain the same in thought and lost. I guess to really bring about change in people in prison, there has to be rehabilitation programs in place for all within its system, but I doubt that will happen being that prison's purpose is not to help the people that it holds, but to gain what they are worth. James R. Harrison
