And the Beat Goes On
by Robert Jones
MCC Box 557, Westville, IN 46391-0557
As a 37-year-old man, who entered prison at the age of 16-thus
being confined for 21 straight years- I feel knowledgeable about the system:
I've had time to study it from within the walls. Two words come to mind
in regard to prison: "rehabilitation" and "debasement."
If a man leaves prison rehabilitated with a changed attitude, it's because
of individual effort. And during the time of confinement and individual
effort, that prisoner is being constantly harassed by those around him,
both staff and other aggressive prisoners! Why should any prison official
care whether you change? He's here for only one purpose-to make certain
you're securely locked inside. Sure, there are a few successful rehabilitation
cases, but they are few and far between. All you have to do is check the
statistics of repeat offenders and parole violators. That tells you that
incarceration does not change anyone. It's individual effort.
Debasement is more in line with what actually transpires in prison. Prison
officials are masters at turning young unsuspecting men into hard, unfeeling,
indifferent men. The things I have witnessed that happen to young men when
they enter prison happened only because the system is designed that way.
The rapes that happen in prison happen because prison officials "allow"
them to happen. The same goes for the drug smuggling, stabbings, and riots.
There are always plenty of drugs in prison, and since the prisoners can't
go home, where do you think the dope comes from? Riots occur because they
allow the prison administration more room to manipulate the public into
believing the prison is dealing with animals instead of men. The general
public believes anything that a prison spokesperson says.
For the most part, society can look forward to much more violence and a
more revolutionary reaction from the men getting released from prison because
prison is also a university. A man has nothing but time on his hands in
such places as maximum control complexes and segregation units. And fellow
prisoners who study what goes on in the world will lend a hand in directing
him, and he will eventually recognize that the system is corrupt, the police
are paid killers, the courts don't see you unless you have money, the court-appointed
lawyer will sell you out. And finally he will recognize how this country
was founded on murder, robbery, deception, racism and forced slavery (work
for no pay-the same as in prison). Having learned that the system breeds
corruption, he loses all respect for authority in any form.
When a man knows what the truth is, it's hard to hold him back from violence.
So the prison system is generating revolutionaries who will return to society.
In the meantime, not all men being released from prison have studied the
system, so the ignorance that led them into prison will be vented at some
unsuspecting person when they get out. Who knows how much violence an ignorant
man will use? And all the while, politicians and the news media are stirring
up public outrage and clamoring for harsher punishment . . . . And the beat
goes on.