Untitled-344 by Jay Goodman
In my last chapter, I talked about the people in here, having a second opportunity at life. Most of the people in here now have been arrested more than once, and I believe most have been to prison before. Like I said, in the last chapter, “the federal bureau of prisons should be ashamed for how they run their prison system.�? One would also believe that someone in Washington would be asking tough questions, like what the hell is going on in these presents? Why are prisoners leaving here worse off than when they arrived?
Naturally, the prison system will put the blame on the prisoners. And to a certain extent that’s a true statement. But as I was saying, in my last chapter, it’s not all of the prisoner’s fault, because it’s the gangs who are causing 95% of the problem throughout the prison system. If the federal bureau of prisons was your lemonade, these gangs by moving them to certain presents throughout the country, the other prisoners would have a chance of being rehabilitated. As it stands now, the gangs are in control, the other inmates don’t have the opportunity to grow and leave the past behind them. Because as soon as they arrive, they are confronted with having to join a gang or run with a certain group. If the federal prison system was to once, and for all, remove this problem and set the foundation for rehabilitation, I am sure there would be a big difference in how prisoners act, and more importantly, over a period of time, less people would be coming back to prison.
Are prisoners to blame? Of course, they are. It’s up to each man or woman who enters inside here to strive to do better. But almost every prisoner suffers from some type of drug problem. And there are many in here with mental issues. While everyone has to stop using drugs on their own, if each institution will keep every prison drug-free, I am sure that alone would be a good start. No drugs, no games, now that these two would be eliminated, the prisoners would be able to focus on rehabilitation. I would assume most people have this Hollywood image in their mind, how prison is, and why some of it is true, and a lot of it isn’t. There are some dysfunctional people in this place, who have this distorted view about life. Maybe they came from a dysfunctional family, maybe they learned it from friends, a lot of them are enamored with this gangster, rap, shit, and truthfully summer, just ignorant how life is. But whatever their issues are, if the prison system was to eliminate drugs, and gangs, and have programs that that would help people change their thinking, and views they have about life, it would be the start of changing the people in here. Like I said, in my last chapter, 90% of the men in here will come back to prison. The statistic people might have that number lower but trust me, they’re lying. You might be wondering why would they lie? It’s a very simple answer they do not want people knowing the truth. And the truth is the entire federal prison system is a failure. It is designed to punish not rehabilitate. And why punishment might sound good to a lot of people in the world, it won’t stop the problem facing this country. Crime is at an all-time high across the United States and it’s getting worse every year. Like I said, before, separate the people in here that are not gang members from the ones who are. By doing so there’s a good chance you can rehabilitate a lot of people.
If 90% of all prisoners are coming back, just imagine if only 50% came back this is a very realistic goal. It is a goal of the federal government should be striving for. That would also cut the prison population in half. Now there would be less prisoners, and more guards for the other persons. As it stands now there are 122 federal prisons. They are always shorthanded, which is not only dangerous for the prisoners, but the staff as well. Every week where I’m at they are closing the prison down because I don’t have enough guards. So if the prison population was cut 50%, they were closed down. A lot of prisons in the staff could work the other presents.
Also, if the prisons were cut down to 50% recidivism rate, naturally, it would cut the crime down across the United States. What good does it do to continue releasing prisoners back into society that are not ready to be released? We as a country, have to take a very serious look at what’s happening in America. This current system is not working and will never work.
All this system has done is create, lifelong, criminals. You can not expect the people who come here to change when they have been forced to live under the current conditions.
To give a good example, I know people who’ve went to the drug program. There are only so many prisons that have this program. So when an inmate signs up for it, if he is not at the prison that has this drug program, he will have to be moved to a place that does. One guy told me he was moved to Leavenworth Kansas. The first day he arrived. The whites went to him, and said, “we want to see your paperwork�? which shows why he was in prison.
Once he showed them, they said, “look, we don’t care that you’ve come here, this drug program means nothing to us. If something takes off with another group, you will either fight with us, or you will be killed.�? Even though this prisoner has decided to try and change, he will be sucked back into gang activity. So instead of focusing on rehabilitation, he was forced to focus on survival.
It’s the same with the other programs the federal Bureau of prisons have. How can people come and be expected to do good? I do understand a lot of people believe the men who come here need to be punished, which I also understand. There is definitely a need to make the men and women see what they did was wrong.
But there is also a responsibility to try and rehabilitate the people who come to prison. If not, for their sake, at least, for society’s sake. If a person only receives punishment, there is no way he will ever be rehabilitated. If you take a kid, and punish him, because he, or she did something wrong, you don’t continue to punish them. Well, while there is a need for prisons, once a judge sends us here for the next five, 10 or however, many years we’ve received. This is our punishment. We’ve lost our lives, and everything that comes along with being free. But now the federal prison system has years, if not decades, to not only help each person who comes here, but you make sure they have every opportunity to change. And this is where the federal Bureau of prisons has dropped the ball. Instead of making in these present places, a rehabilitation, they have allowed the gangs and prison politics to control each prison. They have sat back and also allowed corrupt staff members from every level to turn. These prisons into drug infested havens that have lined their pockets with money. At the expense of killing prisoners, who have died in here from drugs, they bring in here. There hasn’t been no contact visits here at this prison in years. No inmates work outside this prison, yet this place is full of K-2, prisoners are falling out every week from this trash. But no one in administration is asking the obvious question. How are these drugs coming in here? Does administration know? If they don’t know the answer to this question they are either stupid and have no business working here, or they get a kick back from the money being made.
