Following my exercise this morning, I spent more than two hours watching prison programs on National Geographic network. The first show portrayed prison gangs. The second show focused on life in high security prisons. The third show described the history of the Aryan Brotherhood, a notorious prison gang.
As I watched the television shows, I had memories of the many years I served in higher security prisons. The television shows provide a useful service by dramatizing the struggle of living in the abnormal world of confinement. What they miss, however, and what I intend to provide, is a depiction of how prison reforms can improve these institutions that perpetuate failure.
While watching the various segments, I thought about the messages being conveyed to viewers. The men in the prisons looked and sounded so dangerous that the normal reaction would be for viewers to support longer sentences that would keep such people away from society. As I’ve been writing through my other articles, my reaction to these prisons differ. I base my observations on the nearly 22 years I’ve been locked in prison. We need fundamental reforms in our prison system if our goal is to make society safer.
As prisons function in society today, they play a huge role in conditioning the negative adjustment patterns. Simple changes in prison infrastructures and the policies by which prisoners live would condition different adjustment patterns. When prison administrators extinguish hope, they satisfy a lust for revenge though they don’t contribute to safer societies.
We need prison reforms that will encourage prisoners to work toward earning freedom through merit. By eliminating mechanisms through which prisoners can work to reconcile with society and earn graduated increases in freedom, prison administrators keep these cycles of failure going. Such strategies have resulted in a prison-population surge, massive prison expenditures, and less money available for health care, education, and other social programs. We need prison reforms to change this public policy.
I will continue working to advance the cause for prison reform through my writing. This morning I wrote two blog articles. Then I began an article I’ve been invited to contribute to the American Corrections textbook. I ran 10 miles, lifting my tally to 993 miles over the past 113 days.
Saturday, 5 April 2009
PDF 
