Boozin’ For a Bruisin’

By Jay Goodman

Sitting here in this prison system at times I don't know who I get most frustrated with, the inmates or the people running this insane asylum. I am a firm believer in rehabilitation, but there are a lot of my fellow prisoners who do not want to change. These inmates are another tool the Puppetmasters use to punish the other inmates that are striving every day to do what is right. In the beginning of my book I wrote about how the Puppetmasters used inmates as guards, they themselves doing everything the real officers, rank and staff members were being paid to do. These Texas prison staff were really robbing the state and the tax-payers because they were getting paid for jobs they didn't do.

The inmates in those days were basically a gang created by the Puppetmasters, called Turnkeys. After a lawsuit was filed and won by the inmates in the Texas prison system, the Federal Court forced them to do away with the Turnkeys. Of course, the Texas prison system will always find a way to continue using the prisoners to do their jobs. At the prison unit I am currently serving time at, the administration has created a policy when dealing with the manufacture and consuming of alcohol, to the inmates it's called "Hooch", basically homemade wine. During any searches of the inmate cell blocks, if any hooch is found the entire cell block will be locked down for 24 hours. In the cell block that I live in there are 84 men, so if one or two people get caught with any of this wine, they will punish the other 82 men for the actions of one or two idiots. The reasoning behind this is, so they can try and make the other 82 inmates do the prison staffs jobs which is to punish the one or ones actually responsible for the wine.

For one the law under the David Ruiz Act, specifically states that no prisoners are permitted to have authority over another. But, as always the people who control the Texas prison system continuously show blatant disregard to any law and they have proven this over and over again. This is just another classic example of how the Puppetmasters will create a new "Rule" to manipulate the real law. Now, if these 82 prisoners that are doing good and are trying to go home get fed up with being punished on account of two others then beat these guys up, guess who will also get into trouble? Yes, the ones who never get into trouble in the first place. The prison staff are well aware of who at least 90% of the winemakers are. These inmates have usually been caught before and have been issued case after case. Instead of taking any serious action against these individuals, they will continue to leave them with the inmates who never get into any trouble. To any logically sound individual, this would sound crazy, punish 82 people for the actions of 2. To the ones controlling this prison system, it makes perfect sense.

Here we have 2 inmates causing trouble, and here we have 82 that never cause any trouble. Let's stick the 2 idiots in with the others and see if we can't get someone to hurt these guys for us. Now, we can give out disciplinary cases for fighting and that will keep everyone here a little longer. Just like it was years ago when Texas was using the Turnkeys, they can use inmates to do all of the dirty work, especially beating the hell out of other inmates. When the field bosses would get upset with someone for not picking cotton fast enough, they would continue on with thirty more minutes of work time at the end of the day, until the other prisoners would get mad enough and jump on the guy the guards were pissed off at. Then once this poor S.O.B is beat half to death, then it's O.K guys, let's call it a day.

Nothing has changed since those days, except how they use the prisoners. Their tactics are still the same, but now they manipulate the masses into doing these dirty jobs for them. Like I have said, they know exactly who the winemakers are, hell they probably have a list somewhere with all of their names on it, that's why a lot of these guys get shaken down on a regular basis. This brings me to the most logical solution. Being that you know who these idiots are and they will not cease the winemaking, ship their asses off to a more secure prison unit. I have said many times that I believe in rehabilitation, and I believe in second chances, but I also believe there is a need for isolation, and there is a need for super segregation.

Some of these inmates are ex-gang members who can not be placed in certain prisons because of fear they could be killed. I understand this, and I would never want anyone to get hurt, but these "ex-gang members" have supposedly denounced their membership from whatever gang they belonged to, and they signed a contract to not get involved in any criminal activity. Well, guess what? If a person is making wine or any other type of alcohol, it's not only a violation of prison rules, but it's against the law. People who get caught with K-2 (synthetic marijuana), have been taken to the local courthouse and charged with having a controlled substance inside an institution and given more time. Well, my question is this, the ATF, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, prohibits the manufacture of any alcoholic beverages, so why don't the Texas prison system take the same action for alcohol. Instead, they will punish hundreds or thousands of people in the case of a few jackasses who don't care about themselves much less anyone else. They could and should put these individuals that are conducting themselves in criminal activity, back in super segregation until they are sincerely ready to change. Not punish the thousands of inmates who are doing right and everything in their power to go home.

Texas has way over one-hundred prisons. It would be very easy to ship the inmates who are still involved in this criminal lifestyle and mindset to a more secure unit and put these "ex-gang members" back in super seg. Let's take a look at something else this rule of winemaking does. A guard comes into work and is having a bad day, maybe he gets into an argument with someone. All he has to do is go to a cell that is on the "Hotlist", tells the inmate that no cases will be given just give up a few bottles. Of course, the prisoner does, then the guard goes to the control picket, calls rank and then that cell block is locked down for 24 hours. All because this officer is having a bad day. We have been abused in every way possible since this rule came into effect. There are several COs here that have used this tactic to punish whole cell blocks. While we are on these lockdowns we will be fed the awesome bologna and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Anyone with half a mind should see the insanity of this shit. Why do the people in control of this prison system allow this to go on? Why do they allow handfulls of knuckleheads to continuously cause so much strife and misery for those of us that just want to go home?

Besides the stupidity of all of this, their true mission is to turn the prisoners into Turnkeys again. They truthfully do not want to do their jobs. They want prisoners to punish prisoners. The Puppetmasters at their best have created another way to manipulate the laws of no prisoner is allowed authority over another. They absolutely understand that by punishing those inmates that are doing right over and over again, eventually, someone's going to get pissed off and assault those inmates who are making the wine and getting drunk. They know this because it has happened before. Now, because of those actions people have been hurt, did that change the policy? Of course not. What's going to happen when someone gets killed because of this policy? It may have very well happened already in another prison, but if it hasn't happened yet, what are they going to do when it does? What are they going to tell this man's wife or his children? What about his mother and father? That is why I call the people controlling this prison system the Puppetmasters. They are very aware of the rules and policies, and they manipulate them constantly, not to better the prison system, but to destroy the lives of the inmates in their care.

There isn't anyone in their right mind who would create a rule that would punish thousands of people because of a few idiots. It only makes sense to reward the inmates who are doing right and working hard, always respectful and showing positive change, and to discipline the prisoners that are making the wine. If you expect inmates to change you must give them incentives. How can anyone change if they are being abused every day for years and decades? You can make any excuse or reasoning for punishing thousands of inmates because of the actions of a few bad seeds, but the end result is still the same, it's wrong. And, wrong is wrong no matter who you are.

There is a better solution, start charging these individuals with felonies, give them more time stacked on their sentences just like what is being done with those who are selling drugs and bringing cell phones into the penitentiary. The ex-gang members should be placed back into super segregation, because they have proven they are still involved in criminal activity. After several years of having these men together in segregation and under tight security, the men that are in population could work uninhibited at making an effort to rehabilitate themselves and go home. Not worrying about being punished for another man's actions, and also not worrying about being forced to become a Turnkey. To my fellow prisoners, think about how your actions will affect not only the people around you but how it may also affect your families. I look forward to the day that I can sit down with my family and friends and drink a beer with them. Due to my circumstances of being incarcerated, I have chosen not to drink, and for several different reasons.

I do not want to cause any of my fellow inmates to suffer because of me. I do not want anyone to have to face a shakedown and lose any of their property because of being a coward to accept my own responsibilities. And last but not least, I do not want to do anything that will keep me here away from my kids and grandkids one day longer than I have to. All of us that are in here should know better than anyone how precious our freedom is, because if we don't have our freedom, what do we have?.....NOTHING.