We Want To Be Rehabilitated
October 24, 2016 7:39 PM Subscribe
Inmates explain how they'd run prisons. From saving prisons money to encouraging good behavior, most suggestions have this in common: respect the basic dignity of the people behind bars.
Just like I told you, all those years ago.
2 of the 5 very good points in the article are about reducing the black market, and it correctly blames the black market as the root cause of many problems with our prison system (I realize it's impolite to say "I told you so," so I won't anymore after this).
His visitation idea is great (anything to increase visitation is critically important to successful re-entry). I'm all about longer visits and more visits (ideally contact visits) especially when there's children in the picture. If it was me I would continue to focus on accessibility though.
In my experience accessibility is the bigger stumbling block, which is why most of my support goes to organizing transportation to/from various facilities in NV/AZ. Visits are absolutely crucial. BTW prison support message board and/or local organizations are great places to find people who need a carpool driver to see their son or whoever.
But fuck what I think. His lived experience as an inmate is just as good as mine as an inmate, and that's what's important.
When he talks about "theft and immorality," he's only kind of talking about stealing from an unsuspecting guard, but he's also also talking buying banned items from guards, or extorting them in creatively violent ways from other inmates. That wouldn't pass the censors though, so he's using "theft and immorality" and "taxpayer loss." In prison, you've got nothing but time; so understand that when Richard wrote this, he had a very long time to do it and chose each syllable with the utmost care & consideration. There are no mistakes in anything Richard chooses to send to the World.
This is an issue that needs a hell of lot more discussion and exposure than it's currently getting.
Thank you for posting it, and thank you all who are engaging with it.
posted by Hiding From Goro at 10:38 PM on October 24, 2016 [26 favorites]
2 of the 5 very good points in the article are about reducing the black market, and it correctly blames the black market as the root cause of many problems with our prison system (I realize it's impolite to say "I told you so," so I won't anymore after this).
His visitation idea is great (anything to increase visitation is critically important to successful re-entry). I'm all about longer visits and more visits (ideally contact visits) especially when there's children in the picture. If it was me I would continue to focus on accessibility though.
In my experience accessibility is the bigger stumbling block, which is why most of my support goes to organizing transportation to/from various facilities in NV/AZ. Visits are absolutely crucial. BTW prison support message board and/or local organizations are great places to find people who need a carpool driver to see their son or whoever.
But fuck what I think. His lived experience as an inmate is just as good as mine as an inmate, and that's what's important.
When he talks about "theft and immorality," he's only kind of talking about stealing from an unsuspecting guard, but he's also also talking buying banned items from guards, or extorting them in creatively violent ways from other inmates. That wouldn't pass the censors though, so he's using "theft and immorality" and "taxpayer loss." In prison, you've got nothing but time; so understand that when Richard wrote this, he had a very long time to do it and chose each syllable with the utmost care & consideration. There are no mistakes in anything Richard chooses to send to the World.
This is an issue that needs a hell of lot more discussion and exposure than it's currently getting.
Thank you for posting it, and thank you all who are engaging with it.
posted by Hiding From Goro at 10:38 PM on October 24, 2016 [26 favorites]
I think it would be a good idea to get refunds for recidivists from for-profit prisons. If someone's not rehabilitated, they don't get paid. I recall Hillary said there should be no profit motive for locking people up. I also remember that Jon Oliver exposed investment brochures from the industry boasting of the high rates of repeat customers. Make rehabilitation the profit motive.
posted by adept256 at 10:42 PM on October 24, 2016 [13 favorites]
posted by adept256 at 10:42 PM on October 24, 2016 [13 favorites]
Of course there shouldn't be a for-profit prison industry AT ALL. What the hell?
posted by adept256 at 10:43 PM on October 24, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by adept256 at 10:43 PM on October 24, 2016 [10 favorites]
Of course there shouldn't be a for-profit prison industry AT ALL. What the hell?
posted by adept256 at 10:43 PM on October 24 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]
You're aware that we recently had a judge who sent thousands of under-15 kids to adult prisons to get a profit per kid? And the judge was found to be part of of the prob.
You're aware that black men in American prisons in 2016 are forced to pick cotton at gunpoint by white men on horseback, right? And that the white men proudly declare their lineage back to the slave days? And that the black prisoners are thrown into an arena with wild bulls during a rodeo?
posted by Hiding From Goro at 10:57 PM on October 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by adept256 at 10:43 PM on October 24 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]
You're aware that we recently had a judge who sent thousands of under-15 kids to adult prisons to get a profit per kid? And the judge was found to be part of of the prob.
You're aware that black men in American prisons in 2016 are forced to pick cotton at gunpoint by white men on horseback, right? And that the white men proudly declare their lineage back to the slave days? And that the black prisoners are thrown into an arena with wild bulls during a rodeo?
posted by Hiding From Goro at 10:57 PM on October 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
Just seconding that the comment link (and thread) that Hiding from Goro referred to is worth a read/revisit.
posted by Thella at 2:03 AM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Thella at 2:03 AM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Dignity. It's the value secular society is going to have to get on board with, if it wants to...you know, predict the behavior of others.
Dignity matters. Trying to optimize it away is the fundamentally toxic force everyone is sensing.
posted by effugas at 3:08 AM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Dignity matters. Trying to optimize it away is the fundamentally toxic force everyone is sensing.
posted by effugas at 3:08 AM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
and in other news, the prison strike, which never happened, appears to be over...
posted by ennui.bz at 4:39 AM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by ennui.bz at 4:39 AM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
The older I get, the more I see the inability to see the humanity of others as one of the fundamental sources of disaster and cruelty in the world. When I see someone suffering — prisoners, refugees, etc. — I always imagine myself in that position. It seems as though a lot of people instead come up with reasons it won't be them and go on to degrade the sufferers, to increase the space. How do we undo that?
posted by dame at 6:23 AM on October 25, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by dame at 6:23 AM on October 25, 2016 [10 favorites]
Of course there shouldn't be a for-profit prison industry AT ALL.
According to the ACLU, for-profit prisons "are responsible for approximately 6 percent of state prisoners, 16 percent of federal prisoners, and inmates in local jails in Texas, Louisiana, and a handful of other states." State prisons house the vast majority of American prisoners. Ninety-four percent of state prisons are run by state governments. Private prisons are a minuscule portion of the problem. Prison conditions are the responsibility of our elected officials. We shouldn't let them off the hook.
posted by Modest House at 6:35 PM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
According to the ACLU, for-profit prisons "are responsible for approximately 6 percent of state prisoners, 16 percent of federal prisoners, and inmates in local jails in Texas, Louisiana, and a handful of other states." State prisons house the vast majority of American prisoners. Ninety-four percent of state prisons are run by state governments. Private prisons are a minuscule portion of the problem. Prison conditions are the responsibility of our elected officials. We shouldn't let them off the hook.
posted by Modest House at 6:35 PM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
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But that's the rub. The prisoners think that rehabilitation should be the name of the game. So do I. But do the general population?
posted by Thella at 8:13 PM on October 24, 2016 [11 favorites]