I know not whether laws be right or whether laws
be wrong, all that we know who live in gaol is that
the wall is strong; And that each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.
— Oscar Wilde
(Note: gaol is of course jail)
This poem is true for some more than others. For a larger than expected group, this does seem like some kind of block party. I am not a psychologist or sociologist, so I don’t have the answers as to how anyone can just accept this kind of life. Maybe it doesn’t differ from the outside to them. To some like myself though, just being taken from life is more punishment than is tolerable. The things people on the outside believe; like the “free” medical care, and our supposed special meals (the only shrimp I have seen in prison is me at 5’2″) is simply false. The medical care is minimal at best, and many have died who shouldn’t have, but the media won’t cover this type story. I have my own to tell, but few to tell it to who listen.
Racism is surely alive and well, but most inmates are “of color”, and the white population gets more than its share, as seen in the smaller portions at meals (most kitchen workers are black) and the flagrant rule violations that are overlooked.
The inmates are not the only ones who act in this fashion. Staff has shown as much, if not more, hostility toward the general population, but there still you have certain inmates treated more harshly due to race (white) or type of charges.
Prison is NOT club fed, unless you work for the fed, it seems.
— Christopher M.