What Does Going to Prison Mean?

We’ve seen a massive increase in our prison population here in the United States with some disturbing repercussions for all of us. It’s hard to justify our system of justice from the perspective of global comparison. With a mere 5% of the earth’s population, why does the United States have a horrifically overcrowded corrections system with 25% of the world’s incarcerated criminals? We’ve seen federal courts mandate reductions in crowding, even in “liberal” states like California (which just passed a ballot initiative to reduce the housing of non-violent offenders).

It’s common knowledge that in most prisons vis-à-vis male inmates, survival “inside” often depends on a willingness to affiliate with a racially-correct gang. We also know in a good-job-impaired-universe, those convicted who have served time probably face horrific employment realities, a factor that creates an absurdly high recidivism rate. Since most of these convicted criminals will, sooner or later, be pushed back into society, what we create with these “criminal higher educational facilities” will eventually be inflicted on all of us.

Brutality – enforced by a combination of a “no ratting on fellow inmates” code and the clear proclivity of too many persons of authority to retaliate against prisoners who complain – is pervasive. It seems that it is not enough to deprive an inmate of freedom, subject them to the harsh realities of prison life from bad food to horrible living conditions, but to place them in constant fear of severe violence (from fellow inmates and institutional guards as well), sexual assault and deep and constant humiliation and degradation. Isolation for weeks, months or even years – a common form of internal prison discipline with a high probability of medically-established permanent psychological damage (much like PTSD our combat veterans face) – creates even more socially damaging consequences to all of us when these wrecked human beings are released back into society.

Bitterness, a feeling that there is nothing left to lose and deep anger at a social system that placed them into this cruel and unusual atmosphere, often drives inmates even after they have been released. How can such realities serve us well and protect the general citizenry from the criminal harm that such incarceration was designed to stop?

To see how bad it can be, looking at the worst of the worst, we can look at the most corrupt and brutal prison system in the United States… in Alabama. The stink of this correctional system was uncovered, layer-by-layer, as one dedicated FBI agent simply pressed into what initially seemed like a single incident: “When FBI Agent Susan Hanson examined the claims of corrections officers regarding the brutal death of 24-year-old Alabama prison inmate Rocrast Mack, they simply didn’t add up.

“Serving a 20-year sentence for a drug conviction at the Ventress Correctional Facility, Mack died in August 2010 of severe bruises from his head down to his legs, his front teeth knocked out and his brain swollen from blows to the head… Prison guards said Mack had gotten into an altercation with a female corrections officer, and they responded and acted in self-defense while trying to restrain an out-of-control inmate. They maintained their actions were consistent with protocol and that his death was the result of a fall.

“Facing a lack of cooperation from prison officials, blatant lies from the corrections officers involved in the beatings and silence from inmates fearing retaliation, Hanson doggedly overcame the efforts to obstruct her investigation, painstakingly unmasked the truth and built an ironclad case that resulted in the indictments and convictions of four corrections officers for Mack’s death.

“‘It is a fact that there was a culture of corruption in not just this prison, but the whole Alabama prison system, and a culture that they can do whatever they wanted,’ said FBI Supervisory Special Agent William Beersdorf. ‘Through Susan Hanson’s thorough investigation and the subsequent prosecution, this case showed that no matter what your status, justice will be served.’

“The events leading to Mack’s death began when a female prison guard caught him engaged in inappropriate conduct. She hit him, he retaliated and the officer radioed for help, beginning what turned out to be a series of brutal beatings in three prison locations over a 40-minute period… After Mack became unconscious and unresponsive, and he was transported out of the prison to a hospital, where he died approximately 14 hours later.

“While an extreme example of abuse, the case provided further evidence of severe problems in Alabama prisons, one of the most overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded systems in the country, and shed further light on a pattern of brutality by Alabama corrections officers… Hanson said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alabama now is beginning to see some changes at Ventress, with ‘inmates feeling freer to launch a complaint and let it be known when their rights are violated.’… FBI Supervisory Special Agent Chris Higginbotham described the Mack case as the ‘most egregious’ violation by a law enforcement officer that he’s ever seen.” Washington Post, November 6^th.

This kind of incredible violation of just about every applicable legal code in the United States was (still is?) pervasive throughout the Alabama prison system. Corrections officers across the entire system believed that they had carte blanche to beat, assault and brutalize inmates at will without the slightest risk of punishment. The investigation continues, and undoubtedly, prison systems across the land reflect this laissez-faire attitude about allowing corrections officers to do whatever they think they need to in order to control inmates.

It’s too easy for “tough on crime” politicians and society in general to write off “protecting” convicted criminals. The “they get what they deserve” attitude fails to take into consideration the dire consequences to society in general when such persons are placed back into the world. But exactly what kind of punishment is intended for convicted criminals? Beatings are OK? Even forgetting about basic human rights (which we cannot!), we are inflicting much more serious harm to all of us by such practices than most of us can imagine.

We need to re-examine our entire criminal justice system – from what is a crime to how we punish offenders – or we are going to have to contend not only with the most expensive criminal justice system in the world (do we really want to spend our money that way?) but one of the most ineffective modes of deterrence and ultimately the most self-destructive criminal justice policies in the developed world.

 I’m Peter Dekom, and few overall policies have failed the American people more than our horrifically expensive criminal justice system.