Within our world the guards and administrative staff are like Gods. In any one of their hands they have the power to turn our time here into something nightmarish, or to let us go on about our lives (As they are) with little or no trouble. Their word is law and there is little chance to us to appeal their decisions.
Truthfully I’m okay with that. I try my best to act as I would at home and no one really bothers me. They have their job to do and most do it well and fairly, leaving the quiet ones alone. I have no complaint. Other inmates I know aren’t as fortunate.
One of my acquaintances is an inmate in the drug treatment program. He’s in his 50’s and most days is a quiet and reasonable guy. But he does have a temper. In prison that is always a bad thing. Over the last year, he’s had a few outbursts that have put him (justifiably at the mercy of the staff) and they’ve all come with appropriate punishments. No big deal. He has a hot head and he admits it. He’s been working hard to get it under control and I commend him for it.
One of the big incentives of the Drug Program in prison, and the one that draws most of the takers, is the year off. By completing the program eligible inmates get to go home an entire year early. Personally I have issue with this - mostly because as a non-substance abuser I have no opportunity to take the program, thus punishing me with an extra year in prison because of responsible choices I’ve made - but that’s not important to this story.
My acquaintance, a few months ago, was told that his father had less than a year to live. Obviously, this is terrible news, but he was relieved that because of the Drug Program he would be home in time to say good bye to his Dad in person. A small mercy but one that kept him going.
I ran into him yesterday and he was very angry and depressed. It turned out with only 12 days left in the program, he’d been thrown out. “What happened?” I asked. “Once a week, we have a fun, morale building activity in our meeting,” he explained.” Last week it was Trivia. When it was my turn I was asked to name the 3 actresses that originally played on Charlie’s Angels. I knew the first two with no trouble, but the third one wasn’t coming to me. In my frustration, I said out loud, ” I can see her. She’s right in front of my face.” And held out my hand to illustrate it. One of the staff members got very cold and told me to sit down. “ “Why?” I wondered. “At the time I had no clue. Then a week later I’m called into the office and thrown out of the program. Turns out the staff member thought I was making a sexual innuendo. I swear to God, I only had my hand up in front of my face! It was nothing sexual.” “Can you talk to the Director about it?” “I tried,” he said mournfully. ” They said there was nothing to talk about. I was supposed to leave in February. I was supposed to be home in time to see my Dad. They knew that! Now I’ve lost it because I couldn’t think of a woman’s name and because I think with my hands. I’m going to try to take it up the food chain, but by then it’ll probably be to late for Dad.”
Not being a witness to any of this, I have only his word to go on, but I believe him. He’s not the type to make sexual jokes or comments. He’s here as a sex offender and is super conscious of that sort of thing. Even if he was guilty, who in the world would think that taking away a son’s chance to say goodbye to his father was a fair punishment? The entire thing makes me very angry and really breaks my heart. I know that the staff will defend their actions, saying that he brought it upon himself and they had no choice but I really can’t believe that. So, when you read in the paper about how people who are released from prison have issues with authority figures, take this story to heart. This is only one example of how we are treated by the prison system, by the “good” people who are here to protect you from us.
Maybe now you can understand things a little better.
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