Untitled-326 by Jay Goodman

When I look around me in the federal prison that I’m in, I can’t help but wonder why everything is the way it is. I
wonder why first of all the prison is ran so terrible and I have wondered why the prisoners don’t do everything in
their power to change it. Each day I look at the daily functions of both sides and I don’t know who to be more
frustrated with, the prison system itself or the prisoners. I am sitting in the federal correctional institution in
Hazelton, West Virginia and I am truly at a loss for words when it comes to the overall functions of this prison. I
have wondered how something that is run by our federal government be so out of control? The motto of this place is do
nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, or as little as possible. If someone asks for something or needs some help,
usually their first response is “I don’t know.�? If you keep trying to find an answer, to your problem, you’ll be sent
to another staff member who will of course say “I don’t know.�?, if you continue seeking the information you need,
they’ll just get pissed and tell you to “Get the fuck out of their office.�?. It’s absolutely amazing to watch how the
administration will do everything in their power to keep from helping you. They actually spend more time trying to
avoid us than helping us.

Each building has four cell blocks, each cell block has a counselor, a case manager and a unit manager for each
building that is supposed to oversee everyone. The counselor has an office inside our cell block where we can talk
with him or her a little easier, but in an eight-hour shift, they are only in their office maybe an hour. Our case
manager has an office in a back breezeway, so the only access we have with them is a few times a week when he unlocks
the door and says “Open House.�? I have never had a problem with my counselor or case manager, I just want people to
understand how this place is run. I also understand some prisoners are difficult to deal with, but if you’ve taken a
job, whether you like the person you’re dealing with or not, shouldn’t be a factor. Our wardens here hardly ever come
around, if we do see one, it’s usually Monday through Friday at lunch time. We have like three or four wardens, why
there are so many, your guess is as good as mine. If they are here to better the institution in any way, I haven’t
seen how. I’d say these wardens probably get paid great money to do absolutely nothing, because this is one of the
stupidest run prisons I have ever seen. Just to give a great example of the warden’s ignorance, on May 12 this dorm
went to the commissary, while we were waiting, a prisoner took a small stick, shoved it through a slit in the
commissary window and took several small bottles of cologne. When the guard returned and saw the bottles were missing,
he said’ “If I don’t get the cologne back, no one will go to the commissary.�? After a few minutes, one guy said, “I
have the bottles, but I didn’t steal them.�? The commissary workers were pissed, which is understood, they went to
speak with the warden, she said we can go to the store, but can only spend twenty-five dollars. Now here is the
ignorance of her decision, for one, we are lucky to make commissary once or twice a month, two, there are security
cameras in there, all the warden had to do was go on these cameras and see who did it. Eventually they did and that
inmate was taken to isolation, but she still kept us on a twenty-five-dollar spending limit. What logic does that
make? You know from the security camera who took the bottles, that person was taken to isolation, why still punish the
entire second rang, over sixty other men who had nothing to do with what happened? Their thinking and logic make
absolutely no common sense, and just think, the wardens are the ones in charge. I have asked myself many times how
could a prison system allow mass punishment because of the actions of one prisoner, there is no logical explanation
for this, other than ignorance. Now all of the prisoners were upset over the warden’s decision and left the
commissary, then at lunch time when a few men tried to speak with the warden, she said “All of you wanted to band
together and unite by not going to the store, so you’ll have to wait until next month.�? She did not believe it to be
unfair that we were being punished for the actions of one person. She was mad because everyone left the store.

Like I have written about in my chapters a few months ago, imagine if every single employee was docked a month’s pay
for everything another employee did wrong, I am sure the entire staff would think this was wrong and they would be
correct in feeling this way, because it would wrong to punish thousands of people for the actions of one or even a
few. Even though this is prison and there are people in here doing stupid shit, there are hundreds, thousands even,
who are doing good. The majority of prisoners don’t get in any trouble, so why would they be punished for the actions
of the very few? This is why prisons have isolation, to isolate the prisoners doing bad from the ones doing good,
which makes perfect sense. If every prisoner is going to be punished for one person’s actions there would be no need
to have isolation. This is why both the state and federal prison systems created isolation, it gives the institution a
place to punish and modify a person’s actions and more importantly gives the institution the opportunity to allow the
prisoners who are doing good, that don’t get in trouble ever, who are taking programs, going to school, the
opportunity to continue doing so. How can you expect people to focus on rehabilitation, if they are constantly being
punished for other prisoners’ actions? A lot of this is common sense, but this seems to be something most of the
wardens’ lack. It has nothing whatsoever to do with security or safety, because if it did, once the people causing
trouble are put in isolation, the other sixteen hundred should be allowed to continue with their daily activities.

As I have sat here this last year and a half, almost every week I’ve been here they have found some reason to lock us
down and it’s always something that could have been handled in the building the trouble occurred in. Ninety five
percent of the reason this cell blocked gets locked down is because something bad happened, somewhere else, not this
cell block. To show how stupid our warden, Ms. Brown can be, the last lock down happened because of one man waiting in
the pill line early in the morning refused to be searched. As three guards were walking him to see a ranking officer,
they said he turned around and attacked a guard, two other prisoners said he was the one who was attacked by the
guards, but let’s say it was the prisoner who started it, he was taken to isolation, so why would this warden lock
down and punish one thousand six hundred others? What could she possibly hope to accomplish? Oh, I know, all they want
to do is lock us don, we are put in our cells if it’s snowing hard, if there is fog, if they decide to shake down a
cell block, if someone falls out from smoking K-2, if someone gets in a fight, it doesn’t even have to be a fight in
our cell block, it could happen in another building, but the entire prison system will be put on lockdown. Won’t be
able to shower for days, unable to call our family or send emails, eat out of brown paper bags, and now this idiot
wants to put the entire system on a commissary spend restriction. How is this justified? Nothing even happened in this
building, this is nothing more than an abuse of power by our warden, it’s got nothing to do with the safety or
security of our institution, it’s about locking us down so they don’t have to work.