The state of California allots 9 billion dollars per year for the upkeep of prisons

Glaros, M. A.

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The state of California allots 9 billion dollars per year for the up keep of prisons that blanket this state; there 33 mens prisons a handful of womens prisons and an equal amount of juvenile prisons. I can only attest to the environment of where I've been and the life I led within these prisons Corcoran S.H.U. (Security Housing Unit) is located on the flat landscape of the central valley of California...it is an agriculture dominant area--it is also a miserable place to house thousands of men in a cell designed for one--yet, stuffed with 2 human beings--and to add further insult the pre-fab concrete design is what prisoners call "bedrock"--meaning--both "beds" are side by side concrete slabs with a two foot space between them--thus cutting off the already cramped cell into a space not function for two grown men...the only open space is at the front of the beds a small opening roughly four foot by four foot--plus a toilet and a sink--than to top off this architectural marvel are the non insulated cement walls that absorb the heat through out the day and retain that heat until the sun sets and only releases that heat when the outside temperature drops...the cells become a virtual oven...you would think...well what about the vent system...surely there's an air system to deflect the oppressive overwhelming heat--you'd be wrong...in fact, you'd be right technically...for there is a cold air vent system...but what's not accounted for is, this state employees blocking the cold air system and siphoning that air off to their work space area--you'd think to yourself "no, this cant be right...this must be an exaggeration..." --you'd be wrong...every summer since the creation of Corcoran S.H.U.--as the temperature rises to 100--plus..for multiple days--with heat waves lasting 2 weeks straight at 110 degrees...2 men in a cell, with their bunks side by side will swelter...forced not to move as the cell they are trapped in 22 1/2 hrs. a day rises in temperature until it gets to an overwhelming condition not fit for farm animals let alone human beings... and with these conditions two men will contemplate their lives...they'll replay the idiotic choices they've made...the disappointment they've caused...the squandered life they've led...they'll smile to themselves over tiny little moments of life...they've never forgotten...little [happenstance?] that the average person discounts as they go through their daily life...but not a man trapped in a pre-fab concrete oven...he'll hold on to those lost moments with a fierce mental grip...'cuz irregardless to him wasting his life with ill decisions and illogical choices...a time in 5th grade...a moment camping...or a soft raining dawn at the beach...will be the only solace he'll have to pull him through the time spent in a cell trapped by his own incarceration--made worse by poor designed pre-fab prisons placed in ill conceived environments of struggling small towns--desperate for an economic boost prisons are [purported?] to bring...these sweltering examples of incarceration will house a whole facility of doomed men confined to a single man cell yet stuffed with 2 people...over a thousand lost souls--not innocent to violating society's laws and rules...but--still not designated to suffer a hot box environment in the central valley heat with no release...the Security Housing Unit of [Corcoran?] State Prison is designed for maximum discomfort...who cares...they probably deserve it...--some--surely do--most, though will parole...imagine a stuck dog--cramped in to a dog pen abused in his environment...the "wha-la" he's off the leash...he's free to run--odd's are he'll bolt...seek all the comfort he can accumulate in the shortest amount of time...then inevitably..as all bad dogs do...he'll bite...he'll bite with the remembrance of his ill treatment and sad days of confinement...and thus the circle of abuse is completed and the perpetual cycle of lock them up and fill them up will be one again...but alas...they're some small few...some misfit renegade...no longer content with a life of abuse and sad days turned into miserable lives...he'll stray from the pack...he'll no longer wallow in the lack of self love and self hate--and he'll cast a cautious eye to the world around him...he'll take a step back when other would take 2 steps forward...he'll reflect on a previous bad choice...while others throw caution out the window...he'll no longer be satisfied with being a statistic...he'll seek...being well...with peace of mind...with a calm soul...he'll seek to belong..to be better..to be one who gives--not takes..he'll seek to be average..to have finally broken the mold of incarceration...to finally be content within his own skin..he'll shake his head that he survived the hell (albeit man made) of prison...but he'll be done--finally.

Author: Glaros, M. A.

Author Location: California

Date: October 17, 2016

Genre: Essay

Extent: 5 pages

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