What they rarely get right in the media when it comes to prison is how prison will change you, period. Some people find themselves and grow; others become more hardened; more likely to reoffend; and still others simply exist. These places are massive warehouses of unwanted and often misunderstood humanity. Each state is different, just as each institution has it's own flavor. Some far worse then others.
In some ways, being nearly always cut off from family and friends are hard, for many people, the shear boredom, peppered with indignities and violence, can and will mess with your head. If you entered the system already loaded with 'issues', likely then Prison will compound and twist your 'issues' into directions that are hard to explain.
For some, prison is just another home. Want to know how often a person has been incarcerated? Ask them what letter is behind their prison number. That number is issued for life, at least. Meaning that if you reoffend, you retain your number and gain a letter. I've met a few with 15 or more letters.
It also doesn't help that the politicians have been working hard over the past few decades to gut the programs meant to help inmates to come to grip with their issues; which they often fail at doing. The same doubles down for mental cases. Many states have downsized or eliminated 'mental intuitions'. Why bother getting people help 'before' they commit a crime? Because it works and the system doesn't want that. 'They' want both a revolving door so they can continue to point fingers and twist the outcome to their political rhetoric.
They also want to pack the prisons. Oh, they'll say over and over it's not about money. After all, how can a state – owned and ran prison be a cash cow? Look at where most prisons are located. In backwater areas of a state where they become the main source of good paying jobs. Perhaps not so good paying if your working for a privately owned prison.
Think on that for a moment.
The first time I heard about a 'private' prison I became confused. Privatizing something implies that there are profits to be made. Now, prisons don't really produce much, do they? Oh, here and there, sure, but really? They consume things. People, money, resources, with little to show for it at the end of the day.
Once, long ago, a progressive Iowa Warden told a room full of people. "Most people behind these walls are going to be released. These men and women are going to return to your neighborhoods, perhaps in the house next door. So, which would you prefer as a neighbor? An Offender who was treated well; given chances to learn skills or gain an education? Someone whose shown respect and encouraged to improve themselves by the examples of others?
Or, would you prefer an angry, frustrated, scared, dangerous, lost individual moving in next door to you and yours. Someone whose life experiences were made far worse by that stretch in the joint.
Which one would you prefer? And no, you don't get to quip or snip about this. 'I'd prefer they never get out' or 'Not in my neighborhood' Well, open your eyes, 'cause based up on the incarnation numbers in America, its becoming increasingly likely you know someone; live next to someone; work with someone; that did time.
I first heard Nick's story on a (BBC) Radio 4 programme called The Choice – after release Nick moved back and forth between the UK and the US, marrying two Englishwomen. His choice was that if you show 'genuine remorse' you can get early release. But how can you show remorse for a crime you didn't commit?
The cinema documentary about him THE FEAR OF 13 is on YouTube for a small fee.
True example of a man who has not let the brutal hard times break his spirit. Hard times, injustice, and emotional breakdowns may come in our way, but the person who doesn’t let those events break his or her spirit, and keep the spirit alive, choose kindness over envy, forgiveness over hatred, and growth over destruction, is truly unbreakable.
What they rarely get right in the media when it comes to prison is how prison will change you, period. Some people find themselves and grow; others become more hardened; more likely to reoffend; and still others simply exist. These places are massive warehouses of unwanted and often misunderstood humanity. Each state is different, just as each institution has it's own flavor. Some far worse then others.
In some ways, being nearly always cut off from family and friends are hard, for many people, the shear boredom, peppered with indignities and violence, can and will mess with your head. If you entered the system already loaded with 'issues', likely then Prison will compound and twist your 'issues' into directions that are hard to explain.
For some, prison is just another home. Want to know how often a person has been incarcerated? Ask them what letter is behind their prison number. That number is issued for life, at least. Meaning that if you reoffend, you retain your number and gain a letter. I've met a few with 15 or more letters.
It also doesn't help that the politicians have been working hard over the past few decades to gut the programs meant to help inmates to come to grip with their issues; which they often fail at doing. The same doubles down for mental cases. Many states have downsized or eliminated 'mental intuitions'. Why bother getting people help 'before' they commit a crime? Because it works and the system doesn't want that. 'They' want both a revolving door so they can continue to point fingers and twist the outcome to their political rhetoric.
They also want to pack the prisons. Oh, they'll say over and over it's not about money. After all, how can a state – owned and ran prison be a cash cow? Look at where most prisons are located. In backwater areas of a state where they become the main source of good paying jobs. Perhaps not so good paying if your working for a privately owned prison.
Think on that for a moment.
The first time I heard about a 'private' prison I became confused. Privatizing something implies that there are profits to be made. Now, prisons don't really produce much, do they? Oh, here and there, sure, but really? They consume things. People, money, resources, with little to show for it at the end of the day.
Once, long ago, a progressive Iowa Warden told a room full of people. "Most people behind these walls are going to be released. These men and women are going to return to your neighborhoods, perhaps in the house next door. So, which would you prefer as a neighbor? An Offender who was treated well; given chances to learn skills or gain an education? Someone whose shown respect and encouraged to improve themselves by the examples of others?
Or, would you prefer an angry, frustrated, scared, dangerous, lost individual moving in next door to you and yours. Someone whose life experiences were made far worse by that stretch in the joint.
Which one would you prefer? And no, you don't get to quip or snip about this. 'I'd prefer they never get out' or 'Not in my neighborhood' Well, open your eyes, 'cause based up on the incarnation numbers in America, its becoming increasingly likely you know someone; live next to someone; work with someone; that did time.
I first heard Nick's story on a (BBC) Radio 4 programme called The Choice – after release Nick moved back and forth between the UK and the US, marrying two Englishwomen. His choice was that if you show 'genuine remorse' you can get early release. But how can you show remorse for a crime you didn't commit?
The cinema documentary about him THE FEAR OF 13 is on YouTube for a small fee.
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True example of a man who has not let the brutal hard times break his spirit. Hard times, injustice, and emotional breakdowns may come in our way, but the person who doesn’t let those events break his or her spirit, and keep the spirit alive, choose kindness over envy, forgiveness over hatred, and growth over destruction, is truly unbreakable.
The trauma comes through in his voice 😔 May God bless and protect him, and every other innocent person who has been convicted 🙏