You Know What’s Right by jay Goodman

I have heard throughout my time in prison, everyone says, “you know what’s right.�? Which is true. Everyone in prison
understand what’s right and what’s wrong. We are all men and we should conduct ourselves as such.

But there is a flipside to this as well. If the staff that works here expects the prisoners to do the right thing,
then the people who work for the prison system should lead by example. You cannot tell the prisoners to do what’s
right while guards are flooding the prison system with drugs, phones, and abusing their position in every way. Right
now, the federal prison I’m at has been on lockdown for five days, not because of something that happened in the cell
Block, in which I live. But because of a man who we’ve heard assaulted a guard in another building. While understand,
the institution must have control over the prisoners, if they knew who is causing the trouble, or in this case, who
assaulted the guard, should it be just punishment that the person or persons are taken into isolation in punished. Why
would anyone want to punish the entire prison system because of one inmate?

Five days we’ve been locked down, we’ve had one shower, two of our meals are out of a brown paper bag, which consists
of two small packs of peanut butter, two little jelly packs. They’ve cut our TV is off, so we can’t even see what’s
going on in the world. And worst of all we have absolutely no contact with our family.

We have already been years without even having contact visits because of Covid, our only means of contact is by emails
and my phones. Now they’ve taken that away, not because of what I’ve done, or 1600 other prisoners have done. But
because one person, all of our privileges are taken away. Basically, the warden has put all of us in isolation right
along with whoever the person was that assaulted the guard. Once again, they always say to us, “do the right thing.�?

But if you’re not doing the right thing, what kind of example are you showing the rest of us? Every one of us learned
by example, and the example of the federal prison system is making has nothing to do with rehabilitation.

To give an example of what I’m saying, what about all of the guards who have been caught, bringing drugs, phones, or
any other type of contraband inside the federal prison system. Should all federal employees be punished? What if the
federal government docked all of its federal Bureau of prisons employees a month pay because of the actions of one
person? Would that be just? I am sure no one would think it was. And it wouldn’t be, no one should ever be punished
because of somebody else’s actions. I get that I’m in prison, I of all people understand the importance of the staff
having control of each prison. If something happened inside an institution, and they did not know who did it, now I
would understand the need to lock the prison system down for an investigation. But when the warden is fully aware of
what happened in who did it, there is no sense in making an entire prison suffer because of one man.

A lot of guards over the last 17 years have abuse their position. Ranking officers and wardens too. I know one ranking
officer who raped a young man over and over what if this man got out and started killing people or worked for the
prison system, and their family, would that be just? I mean after all, this raining officer uses position to torture
in rape, someone. So, if he just picked some guard, ranking officer, awarding, and kidnapped him, or her and their
children, took them someplace in brutally raped all of them and kill them, would that be just? I mean after all? He
was rate. Of course, it would not be just, no one should ever be mistreated because of the actions of another person.
But it seems like the wardens cannot seem to understand this is wrong. I am not just looking at the situation one way.
I do truly understand the frustration of the wardens when it comes to dealing with prisoners. I of all people see the
madness that goes on in here. And I to, have been mad at what I’ve seen happen over the years. I also get that a
warden wants to protect and ensure the safety of the staff. But abusing everyone because of the actions of one person
isn’t right. No one, staff, or prisoners, can justify doing something that will harm another person physically or
mentally. Wrong is wrong, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a prison or a staff member. Why no I am in prison, I have
strived to do good for almost 18 years now. There are also many other prisoners who stay out of the way and don’t
deserve to be punished because of somebody else’s actions. I truly believe one of the biggest issues is, there is no
accountability for the warden’s actions. The wardens I’m sure have to give a reason for their actions, but Washington
is not physically here to see if what the wardens are doing is justified. They can give any reasoning whatsoever to
why they decided to lock down an entire prison. From what I’ve seen over the years, 90% of the time the wardens abuse
this right they have. I’m not saying this is from my own perspective, it’s just the honest truth. And because of this,
not only do we get abused, but our families have as well. No one seems to look at the big picture, every man and woman
that’s in here is going home someday. And that biggest part of our rehabilitation is the love of our family. It’s the
love that keeps us grounded, and gives us hope for the future. Every time you lock us down for someone else is wrong
doings, you not only punish the prisoners that are doing what we are supposed to do, but you are punishing our family
as well. Like I said, “if you really want people in prison to do better, you must leave by example. You cannot expect
the people in prison to do good, you can’t punish the whole prison system because of one or two individuals, and
expect the others to learn some type of lesson.�? All you can do is breed resentment, and hate. And if the wardens
don’t understand this, I believe they are the ones with the problem. This is why every prison need someone who can
hold the wardens accountable. I have had the opportunity to speak with a few guards since I started this chapter, and
both of them said, “we don’t understand why you all are still locked down, the guard who got assaulted, didn’t even
get hurt.�? I have been writing about this type of abuse, since I got here. Everything that happens here, the warden
uses it to lock us down. Each time she says, “it’s for the safety and security of the institution.�? But if you have
the person or persons, causing the trouble in isolation, there is no reason to punish the rest of the population who
are not getting into trouble. Who are following the rules and regulations. This is why every single person has an
isolation, it’s to separate the prisoners that are doing bad, from the ones that are doing good.

There is absolutely no reason to punish the prisoners that never get into trouble. There is no logical reason for any
warden to do this, it’s stupid, it’s irresponsible, and it’s harmful to the prisoners in our families.