Plan
By Jay Goodman
Has everyone ever thought about the importance of a plan? Everything we do throughout our lives consist of plans. When we were children our parents plan was to teach us to be self-efficient. We had to learn to take a bath, get dressed, brush our teeth, and take care of our own room. Then we are sent off to school and the plan was to teach us math, reading and writing. As we started getting a little older the plan is we get involved in afterschool activities such as sports, chess club, Boy Scouts, or many other forms of programs. Naturally our mom and dad plans change as we get older. The plan is to start teaching us discipline, most kids are taught to start helping around the house, whether it’s cutting the grass, or taking out trash.
Each year our teachers plans change as well; they had to make sure we are smart enough to head off to the next year. Once we finally reach high school there were counselors who start talking to each kid alone, going over their grades and achievements, and trying to help them make plans for their future. At this time our mom and dad were usually starting to ask us what our plans are? Do we want to go to college? Are we thinking about joining the military? It really doesn’t matter which road we take, if we choose school, whatever college we go to their plan is to prepare us to leave and go off and have a career in whatever field we took. The military will naturally start planning to turn us into soldiers. Even if we decide to not go into the military or go to college, we have to make plans to get a job, or do something with our lives. Even if you decide to be a criminal, you still have to make plans of what you are going to do.
Everything we do in our lives consist of plans. My dad would tell me, “a man without a plan, is a man without a life.�? What made me think about writing this chapter was I heard my cellie say to me, “I don’t have a plan when I leave prison.�? Which made me really look at the men around me, and start looking at how the federal prison system is run.
The federal prison system doesn’t have any type of plan for the prisoners. From the minute you get here until the day you leave, there is not any structure to help guide the prisoners. No one is going to call you into an office and say, “let’s look at where you are in life right now. Let’s take a look at your past and take a long serious look at you. Why are you here? What made you do the crimes you did? What would you like to do when you leave?�? And if he or she doesn’t know, maybe help push them in a direction that would fit that certain prisoner. Then after that sit down with every prisoner and draw up a plan. Imagine if this was to start as soon as each prisoner got here. And as the months and years went by a counselor would bring each prisoner in and go over their plan. Help each prisoner to learn how to visualize their plan, and if possible, help them get started right now. I look at all the different programs I’ve seen over the years and most of them are a joke. Some of them are so stupid I can’t believe no one has tried to report them to Washington. They are a waste of the taxpayer’s money. And have about as much chance as rehabilitating someone as I do visiting Mars. The prison system is aware of this, how could they not be aware of it. I am sitting in prison and can see it; how could they not see it? If the prison system would take the time to change, imagine how many prisoners could actually change. Why I am sure someone who works for the prison system will say, there are all kinds of programs. Which is true. But what good are all these drug programs when the very people who run the prison system have flooded the entire system with drugs? I am out in the mountains of West Virginia, and there’s sub meth and all kinds of K-2 they can smoke. There is no plan to help each person who comes through these doors. Of course, it’s also up to each man and woman that comes here to meet goals and plan for themselves.
Why I do you blame the prison system, I also know that a lot of responsibility falls upon each prisoner. As I look around me in the cell block I live in, I never see anyone talking about a plan for the future. Yes, there are plenty of people talking about what they want to do, or every now and then you’ll hear someone say I’m going to do this or that when I leave. And it’s good that they’re dreaming about doing something, but what good are your dreams and ideas if you’re not making plans to accomplish them? This is the biggest mistake prisoners make in here. Everything we do in our lives; we need a plan to accomplish it. Not having a plan is like having a car without tires, you will not be able to go nowhere.
Everyone in here needs to spend time thinking about what you want to do right now while you’re here. And start a plan how you can begin accomplishing your ideas. If every person in here wants to start making plans right now, can you imagine what you could accomplish? As I look around me in prison it’s easy to see why most prisoners have two or more numbers. It’s a rarity to see someone who is actually setting goals for themselves, or making plans to do something. If you can see someone making plans, its plans to continue doing the same thing that brought them to prison.
There is one man that’s in my cell block who I’ve only spoken to a few times. And even those conversations have been very short because he is a very quiet man. He sits by himself most of the time, he’s a black dude, but he doesn’t run with any gang or state card. He doesn’t sit around with any groups; I’ve never seen him playing cards or any other games in here. But since I’ve got here almost a year ago, I’ve seen this man work out almost every day. I’m talking about serious workouts. Well, one day my cell told me his story. It seems this guy’s little brother got into trouble, and instead of letting his brother go to jail, he told the feds he did the crime. This guy was in college and had a football career. And even though he came to prison, he decided not to let that hold him back. I’ve watched him go through his workouts since I got here and it’s obvious how dedicated he is to staying in shape. He has a plan to leave prison and go right back to playing football. And it shows how serious he is, in everything he does. It would have been easy for him to have come here and give up on his dream. He could’ve got here and joined a gang or a state card and did like 95% of what everyone else does, which is nothing. But, because this man has a plan, he is focused. He will leave prison not as a gang member, he won’t leave prison with 1 foot already back in the door. All of his thoughts and energy are given to his dream. If the prison system would come up with a program that would help everyone come up with a plan, I can only imagine how many prisoners would actually be rehabilitated.
And for anyone who is in prison reading this who is doubting what I’m saying, please think about this. The last time you were in prison and you sit in here with other men talking and planning about still selling drugs, or doing whatever it is you did. What’s happened to you? For everyone who’s got three or more times in prison, what’s happened to you? Your plan keeps bringing right back here.
Knowing this is true, don’t you believe it’s time to change your plan? Because for everyone still sitting in here planning to do the same thing that brought you here, you better finally realize it’s time to rethink your plans, unless you like the place.
And for those who don’t have a plan, you better realize unless you start making some, all, and I do mean all of your lives will be spent aimlessly walking through life doing absolutely nothing. If you were to take a serious look at all of the great people through history who accomplish things, he would quickly learn that all of them set goals and had a plan to accomplish their dreams.
I remember when I first set my mind on making plans to do something different. One of the things I did was start reading books on people who accomplish great things, and studied what they did and how they thought. I remember reading one day about Thomas A. Edison. Needless to say, he is one of the greatest inventors of all time. He had an idea to create light by using electricity. He started making plans on how he could accomplish the stream. And after 10,000 failures he finally created light by a flip of a switch. Every single person around the world has benefited because this man had a plan. What are your plans? Do you even have one? If you do, are they plans that will lead you to happiness, or a lifetime of sitting in prison?
