LIFE IN PRISON

WHAT IS PRISON LIFE LIKE?

Ike Griffin


Life in prison is fearful, oppressive, boring and lonely. Prisons, being institutions of great autonomy, isolation and mystery, are fearful places for anyone entering for the first time, whether they enter as an invited guest or as a sentenced felon. The first impression more than likely proves to be quickly justified for the prisoner as the pecking order of prison society absolutely loathes leaving any situation ambiguous. A newcomer is subjected to two orientations; one is a formal presentation delivered by the administration, and the other is more informal, presented by a delegation of inmates. The “new boot” is rapidly brought to an understanding of the prisoners’ code and the current pecking order in place for that particular institution. The informal presentation is often punctuated with threats of, or real, acts of violence. Violence upon inmates is strictly forbidden by prison policy, but administrators cannot protect every inmate unless that inmate agrees to a special prison within the prison called Administrative Segregation. Even there, inmate-to-inmate violence is not unheard of. Fear walks with each inmate for as long as they are incarcerated.

Prison life is oppressive because prison procedures are designed to discourage and disallow individual decisions. Gone are the prisoner’s right to self-expression through personal appearance. Clothes, jewelry, hairstyle and facial hair are all regulated. Gone is any personal wealth an individual may have enjoyed in the free world. Gone is the freedom to communicate by fax or e-mail. Phone conversations are controlled and monitored, and letters are routinely censored. Privacy is a thing of memory. Showering is a public affair and relieving one’s bowels is performed within easy vision of anyone who cares to watch. One eats whatever is served in the mess hall, like it or not, and is allowed only ten minutes to dawdle. Since it is widely accepted that prisoners have come to prison as a result of acting on bad decisions, almost all decisions are removed from a prisoner’s daily experience.

Prisoners are lonely because community is discouraged. Separation and isolation of inmates is reinforced by a negative sub-culture within the prison, where the weak are preyed-on by the strong and sentimentality is viewed as weakness. Love does not happen without vulnerability and vulnerability is disastrous in a prison environment. The only relationships prevalent in prisons are connections based on domination. In such a relationship, neither the master nor the slave is nurtured. The master is served but not satisfied; the slave is allowed to exist by serving the master.

Prison routine is boring because of the unchanging nature of everyday life. One fear-ridden, oppressive and lonely day leads to another and another until a week of the routine is accumulated and that is followed by another week and another until a month has gone by, and that month joins a procession of like months until a complete calendar has passed. Prisoners who have accumulated five, ten, twenty or more calendars are so bored they do not even recognize the boredom. They eat, sleep and move through each day as in a trance, except they are forever vigilant lest some fearful danger befall them. Depression and paranoia are the illnesses of incarceration. Distrustful eyes dart here and there taking in every possible danger, hidden in an expressionless mask of a face. No one can be trusted.

WHAT IS THEIR FUTURE?

Absent programs to help the prisoners break free of isolation, fear and boredom, their future is severely limited. If nothing is done to help them make better decisions, they will continue to make bad decisions. If they do not learn about love, they will be incapable of receiving or giving love. If they do not learn something about parenting skills, they will continue to be sperm-donors for children who will more than likely grow up to be prisoners themselves. If prisoners are not taught social skills, they will continue to be anti-social, and will return time and again to prison, there to be a spending opportunity, or rather an obligation, for public tax dollars.