I'm watching the show Hard Time right now.
It opens the world of a Georgia Correction Facility like a documentary on wild animals. Talking about the structure, discipline, and control the warden and his officers have over Georgia's toughest. I personally found it easy to say out of jail, but then again I'm really lucky. The most interesting case is this inmate named Jackson who is nothing but a failed burglar. Now he is in prison, understandably, where they have in escrow inmates who they do not know security risks. Ranging from murderers to petty thieves are thrown in the same prison, the same dorm block, the same jail cell. From lifers to people just passing through, the gamut of ppsychosis and behavior problems are as diverse as the prisoners themselves.
Jackson, with an 8 year old daughter, has only five years of time to do. He mentions on air that he just wants out of there and see his daughter again. So when he goes to the prison store (store? yeah from outside given money they can buy treats) he gets confronted by a fellow who gave him two options.
1. Give in and let the prisoner his shwag (And be known as a doormat).
2. Wait for the prisoner to come back with his buds to take by force (And greatly extend his stay).
He did the worst choice (apparently) and that was go to the guards, marking him to ALL of the inmates.
I guess what I don't understand is that is our system intrinsically designed for these people to fail and stay longer? If the answer is yes, then it's costing us taxpayers and we should probably ask for something else. Are these people doing it to themselves? Oh yeah. I've watched enough of these kind of documentaries to get the feeling that they prefer to gnaw on each other like animals then to reform. But what about the ones who really don't want to be in a dog eat dog scenario?
Monday, February 23, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
