The terror here is intentional
"Jails and prisons are designed to break human beings, to convert the population into specimens in a zoo — obedient to our keepers, but dangerous to each other." — Angela Davis.
I am often asked the question, "What is prison like?" I cannot speak for others — it would be presumptuous to answer this beyond the scope of my own experience — but I can expose some situations common to most prisoners in the United States and, indeed, the world.
The brutality and extreme harshness that exists inside the world of a prison cannot be over-emphasised. A writer cannot overstate prison's perpetual blow-by-blow assault upon the prisoner's basic senses and psyche. Moreover, since most who are incarcerated will eventually be released, there will be an even greater assault upon society in general.
Recently, while in the visiting room with my attorney discussing the merits of a legal motion, I looked past him through the wire mesh partition separating us from other prisoners and visitors.
I saw a sad scene I have come to know all too well: a prisoner, who could not have been a day over 20, and a woman who was obviously his mother, were both crying. She appeared completely, painfully bewildered as she tearfully asked, "Son, what's wrong? Why aren't you glad to see me?"
Wiping away his own tears, he turned and snapped in a tone and manner that bordered on vehemence, "I told you never to come to this place without letting me know you were coming first!"
He was clearly as bewildered and amazed as his mother as to why he was so hostile. Neither had so much as a clue as to why he was not overjoyed to see this woman whom he loved so much. I am sure they sensed it had something to do with his being in prison, but exactly what they simply did not know.
Their shock and anguish are symptomatic of a disease few people, inside or outside of prison, are even aware of. The condition does not have a name but for clarity's sake I will call it "surprise visit disease".
What they were experiencing was the effect of the son's lack of emotional and psychological preparation for the presence of someone visiting from outside prison — yes, even when that visitor was his own mother.
The situation in US prisons is such that prisoners must — in order to survive emotionally, psychologically and physically — develop absolute insensitivity towards their fellow men and women.
Thus a prisoner is not prepared for the kind of relaxed, friendly interaction that is called for with a visitor, unless the meeting is scheduled beforehand allowing time for psychological preparation. You see, under conditions of incarceration prisoners fall into the emotional and psychological pit that is prison's deteriorative daily routine.
There is an ominous atmosphere inside a prison that discourages socialised behavior. That kind of atmosphere is planted, cultivated and vigorously maintained by the prison administration.
Prisoners are often unconscious of the effects of the atmosphere on their feelings and behaviour — or, sadly, on occasion perhaps they are conscious of it and they promote its agenda. A logical consequence when the environment induces increasingly violent relationships among prisoners within the facility is that the same thing happens in their interactions with people outside prison as well, no matter who those people may be — even mothers.
In order to gear down from the rapid pace of day-to-day cycles of violence, most prisoners need a minimum of 48 hours just to get emotionally prepared for a visit. Without mellowing-out time, a surprise visit can be a less than positive experience for all concerned.
It is especially difficult when no one, including the prisoner, understands the root of his or her hostility and anger. A surprise visit to a prisoner who has not developed the see-saw savvy required to emotionally and psychologically unwind rapidly from the mental rigours of a daily prison routine can reveal a demeanour so menacing and hostile that even a mother will not recognise the angry person her son or daughter has become. This is how it is in most prisons.
Prison administrators would have you believe that they are simply in the business of warehousing bodies, but in reality not only do they warehouse bodies, they intentionally decompose the sociological equilibrium necessary for the prisoner to maintain a humane balance in relation to society.
Remember that I said "intentional". The atmosphere of continual terror and violence is not an accidental occurrence. It is deliberate and it is administratively used to control the prison population.
Terror is created and cultivated as the tool most often used to set stronger, more prone-to-violence prisoners upon weaker ones. This predator mentality is eventually taken, either unconsciously or consciously, into society when prisoners are released.
BY BRANDON ASTOR JONES
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns (include your name and full return address on the envelope, or prison authorities may refuse to deliver it). He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G3-77, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA, or email <brandonastorjones@hotmail.com>.
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