Entry #15 - The Illusion of Ignorance - 6.2.07
The Hurricane, Malcolm X, and countless civil rights activists. Raul Salinas. Innumerable books authored. A plethora of wall street’s most prevailing business models. Yeah, prison can be a fertile ground for budding intellect if one should choose to make it so.
This is evident in a Federal facility, perhaps more than other institutions, simply due to the type of criminal housed here. To garner the attention of the US government, you’re doubtfully charged with public urination or criminal speeding. There are CEO’s, corporate lawyers and Internet millionaires here. Martha Stewart’s broker had just transferred from here shortly prior to my arrival. Even those charged with drug offenses tend to be a tad more substantial than those found in state detention centers (although the US Attorney’s office has become increasingly petty). Regardless of what public perception may be, drug dealers are often some of society’s brightest and most tenacious individuals. The potential here is staggering.
An inmate of average intelligence likely reads as much as many college level professors. This is almost inevitable with such an over-abundance of time on your hands. The type of reading done is what varies. Many read men’s magazines or James Patterson books. However, amongst less sophisticated literature, there are many who spend their time reading the classics, medical journals, text books; I’ve even found myself carefully reading the dictionary.
There are more periodicals subscribed to in a random group of 6 inmates than a group of 10 of America’s top financial analysts. (I may exaggerate a tad, but you get the picture.) We are very well informed.
As I stated in earlier entries, the B.O.P. offers virtually no educational opportunities here aside from inmate-taught ACE courses and a vocational course on horticulture, but few of us care much for plants. (I took it and all it showed me is that while life is a miracle, greenhouses are duller than the needle on a Fisher Price record player.) Nonetheless, we find ways to educate ourselves.
It’s a shame that felons are barred from so many professional fields because, honestly, after experiencing this paradigm, we are probably better prepared to comprehend many precarious circumstances than are most laypersons. The two biggest examples of such fields are government and law.
When your entire being is contingent upon the occurrences in Washington, you tend to gain something of an understanding of the legislative process. When you’ve had your existence dragged through court you can’t help but learn a little something about the judicial system. Such has been my experience anyway…
Currently we, the inmate body, are watching closely the status of two initiatives that are in play in Congress, the aforementioned Second Chance act (see entry #10), and the Parole Bill.
The Second Chance Act would provide 6 months home confinement and 6 extra months halfway house to eligible inmates. Even just halfway house is desirable because most halfway houses let inmates complete their time under home confinement so long as they have found a job and are keeping their noses clean. The bill would also provide grant money for programs and education for ex-cons who are making the transition to go legit. The bill would cost the government $100 million. This has led some people to believe that it may be voted down due to budgetary constraints. This is malarkey. The government spends $54,000 yearly to keep a Federal inmate incarcerated. In the camps alone, there would be 7,500 inmates (conservative estimate) eligible, saving the government well over 400 million. The real benefit, however, would be the potential dent put in the recidivism statistic, which ranges in the 80-ish percentile (give or take 5%).
The Parole Bill would reinstate parole; early high-supervision release at the discretion of a parole board. In an attempt to get “tough” on crime in the 80’s, many states did away with parole. In 1984 (oh, the irony), the Federal level followed suit. Despite the fact that many states have since reinstated it, Congress has blocked its return up until now.
Both bills have finally rallied the necessary support and some level of relief seems imminent. This likely has more to do with the fact that excessive war budgets have tied up spending than it does with the epidemic overcrowding which is a threat to both the prison population as well as security. Similar bills have come and gone for many years now to no avail, but due to the shifted political dynamic, odds finally seem to favor the optimists. The biggest problem is simply the lag time.
The fact that we watch so closely has, for me, exposed the inefficiency of the law-making process. Dates when these things were supposed to be on the docket have come and gone. (Last year, the Second Chance Act was on the agenda and never made it to the floor.) In spite of my poli-sci background, I’d never before actually read a proposed bill. I didn’t fully comprehend committees, subcommittees, and the legalisms behind the veto process. Now all of the above are common parts of my lexicon. The same can be said for many of my fellows.
Between this and the fact that so many around me spend countless hours working on their appeals, I find myself privilege to the kind of invaluable education that some would pay Ivy League money to acquire. Unfortunately, I’m excluded from seeking employment in fields where my knowledge would really be useful. It’s the “Catch-22”, the bane of existence that is so ironic that one with any sort of sense has to find comical. Those with the greatest ability to empathize are ostracized.
For more info on prison advocacy and revisionist legislation, visit the following:
Please support these initiatives for the sake of families and the good of society as a whole.