My sweet 16-year-old neighbor is studying criminal justice and needs to write a paper on "What is life like in prison?" She does not have internet but knew who to ask...I was wondering if we could help her with a few quick posts, just identifying how we know (family member, former inmate, whatever.) I am also gonna post this in General Prison Talk.
Thanks everybody! I want these young people to really hear the truth.

My sweet 16-year-old neighbor is studying criminal justice and needs to write a paper on "What is life like in prison?" She does not have internet but knew who to ask...I was wondering if we could help her with a few quick posts, just identifying how we know (family member, former inmate, whatever.) I am also gonna post this in General Prison Talk.
Thanks everybody! I want these young people to really hear the truth.

Hi Haswtch, My name is Bernie Matthews. I have written a lot about prison, prison life and my observations whilst doing time here in Australia. Some of my writing is at PTO (possibly in the Australian and NZ forum under 'the other Side of the wall parts 1 -9') I am also published at www.onlineopinion.com.au you may be able to download and print out the relevent material that might apply to your young friend's research. Although most of my writing concerns Australian prisons it still may be applicable as first hand observations of prison life. I hope I have been of some assistance. cheers from the land down under :thumbsup:

Thanks Bernie! I have read and enjoyed your stuff, I'll pass some along to her.
Cheers back atcha from NY!
Anne

Hello my friend..I can't pass up an opportunity like this...being that I'm so outspoken and all....:):

Tell your young friend that prison is SAD for all concerned: the inmate, the family, the employees and those trying to make a difference in the US criminal justice system.

The United States is particularily cruel to its inmates. It's the only supposedly civilized country that still toots the death penalty and regularly puts prisoners, sometimes proven innocents, to death and rejoices over it!

Prison does not rehabilitate inmates. It does not promote healthy relationships between the inmates and their families - especially their children. Prison sentences do not seem to deter crime. The rapidly growing number of inmates is overwhelming - I think about 69% at last count are drug-related crimes - that the War on Drugs is a miserable failure.

The rate of recidivism is rising - inmates cannot get decent-paying jobs upon release - society shuns them and it's a vicious circle...

And now private corporations are getting involved in prison management to make a few bucks off our loved ones. They plan on building more prisons to hold more inmates to make more money by cutting "perks" to our inmates - like food, visits, phone calls, healthcare - things they can "do without" - because they're living like "country club" members. I love that one - the country club scenario. Obviously that cliche was not started by someone who ever actually visited a prison or was a guest of one!

Has, tell your inquiring friend that not everyone in prison is guilty of a heinous crime - many are in there for smoking a joint - driving drunk - taking a swing at the wrong person - not to say that they are not crimes - but it shows that not every inmate is a vicious murderer. Good people have BAD moments in their lives...but most inmates are treated equally poorly.

And finally, you did say BRIEF, right?...tell your friend that she can make a difference...when she gets the right to vote she can be informed about the legislators and others that are striving for prison reform and act to support positive prison issues.
It's never too early to start.....good for her.

Dazzler says a mouth full and every word correct. Unfortunately, there is far more that can be said about a system that is intended to demoralize and dehumanize those caught within its grasp. I am engaged to a death row inmate that is housed in Eyman SMU 2 in Florence, Arizona. I had written to Texas medium and minimum security units for years, even wrote a Super Max here once, but still did not understand how inhumanely we as a supposedly civilized nation could manage to treat inmates. However, as I am sure Dazzler understands the system’s capacity for cruelty ever continues to amaze me.

The man I adore lives in a small box. I do not recall the exact dimensions, but no bigger than 8X10’, I know. Cookie will not tell me much about what he suffers, because he wants to spare me worry. He does share some things like this small space provides him only enough room with the prison furnishings he is provided to take less than 2 steps in any direction he might turn. He is only allowed out of this box for one hour a day and for the 23 hours he is confined he has no human contact whatsoever. To make certain he feels like he belongs in the kennel he is housed in any movement outside his box requires a full body search, as I understand the procedure to go. This is one of the things he has not discussed with me as he knows it greatly upsets me that he would be humiliated in such a way, for even our visits which mean so much to us both. It brings me to the point of tears often just to consider his being completely alone in a room where the gray concrete walls are not even painted, for fear someone might figure out how to use paint as a weapon.

Alone, this is a word you must include, if you are going to write about what it is like in prison. I have wrote prisons for more than 2 decades and if any word is to be used to describe what I have found inside prison walls it is loneliness. The system now more than ever is designed to cut the inmate off from the world they have known. Though it is proven time and again that an inmates odds of avoiding recidivism are greatly increased by frequent and close family contact, it almost seems the prison system intends to provide the exact opposite. Still, it is not only the system. I have great respect for those within this forum because you have not abandoned the ones you love. Far too many inmates are not as fortunate as ours are and even so those of us who support our loved ones are limited by rules, regulation and often distance. Cookie has spent far too many years alone, which has me desperately searching for a way to relocate to be near him. It is certain that a single letter can bring the joy of tens of thousands of dollars or more that would be spent in the free world, if that letter is placed in the hands of a lonely inmate. Regular mail is a priceless gift inside the walls. Cookie has never wanted money from me, but he has expressed again and again that my ceaseless stream of letters to him has brought light into the darkness of a death row cell. I understood from friends before the precious gift a few words scribbled upon paper can be to an inmate. They are often totally alone against an uncaring and unfeeling system, with no contact from the outside world.

As for the country club life that dazzler mentioned. The inmates on the row are fed little better than the animals, the state declares them to be. In a recent attempt to save money states across the nation changed inmate diets to include what they deem more healthful things. Arizona was one of these states and it had very little to do with health. It saved the prison cash dollars, which is always held in higher regard than the well being of the inmates. Cookie has a small television set and a Walkman. And I have developed an opinion for those in society who believe a man condemned to 23 hours a day in a rat hole does not deserve even more. These so-called civilized folk should be allowed the pleasure of spending Cookies now 15 years in hell to see if they might learn some compassion. Inmates do not live the good life. Eventhough, DR inmates get one perk I think, in that they are allowed to own to own a pair of sweats. Cookies country club view is seen through a metal grate that does not even allow him to watch the sky unobstructed in the little time he is outdoors.

The discussion can not end without the word inhumanity. God forbid another soul will face the cruelty and degradation these places heap on those we are supposed to reform. But, the sad fact is hundreds are lost to its hold, as I write. Imagine a place that you get up each day knowing that nothing is yours alone. The place in that you dwell belongs to the state, the things you wear belong to the state, and the things you eat when you are fed come at the mercy of the state. Even your personal relationships in reality belong to the state, as for any minor infraction and without hearing or consideration all contact with everyone you love can be terminated on the whim of another person. Imagine a place where your only contact for weeks can be with guards that have dealt with the hate, deception and pure evil around you, until they have only one category into which they place all inmates. You are all animals, with no rights, no voice and no hope of change.

What is done to the souls of men and women in units across this nation by brutality that includes mental and physical abuse by other inmates and personnel reflects no justice at all. Nor does it resolve the problem of crime; it only teaches lost souls to become bitter, hateful souls. Inside our humane nation there lives 2 million people who have been reduced to the status of non-human, if it is not an example of man’s inhumanity to man I can not imagine what is.

I apologize I have forgot that brief was intended to be a part of this assignment. However, I hope the student realizes there is no brief answer to anything dealing with incarceration. The U.S. has devoted far more than a century to developing a system that solves nothing but daily destroys countless inmates and their families.But,let me provide a clear answer to the question.

What is like to be an inmate? To be an inmate is to exist hopeless and helpless in a world where often the more fortunate around you go mad. To be an inmate is to be less than human as you stand judged by a suposedly perfect and humane society that would never raise its hand to brutally murder, except to take the life of an inmate. To be an inmate is to look in the eyes of someone you have prayed would come to take away your loneliness for more empty years than you thought you could survive and finaly find love. Then, as reality tears at your soul have to explain to her you are afraid not that the love between you will fail, but that you will not be able to stand the guilt of knowing what she will suffer for loving a man condemned to hell.

WOW great stuff guys!!! I think I said brief just to keep from sounding greedy :) but y'all are telling it very well indeed

KrickeT - :bow: :bow: :bow: - I couldn't agree more.....