Sat, 25 May 2013 22:39:11 -0700 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/ Lussumo Vanilla 1.1.4 & Feed Publisher http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=253667#Comment_253667 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=253667#Comment_253667 Fri, 06 Aug 2010 07:05:03 -0700 joshdahl script blog.

When things come up repeatedly, you should try to take notice of them.
In the past few days, I have been coming into contact with the idea of the psychological toll of living a violent life.
Hurting people makes you start to see people as things that can be hurt.
The act of physically enforcing your will on another person (even for the best of reasons) dehumanizes all people.

So, how does this affect the superhero?
What is the mental cost of rearranging your life for the purpose of practicing benevolent violence?

Maybe I am leading Kinetic toward a breakdown. Or worse, maybe he is moving toward some kind of larger acceptance of the violence in his life.

It is exciting to see where this will end up. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=253800#Comment_253800 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=253800#Comment_253800 Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:49:00 -0700 government spy
I don't fight as much as I used to, but I probably get into more physical confrontations than the average person, imho.

When I was younger, the idea that I had power over others, coupled with personal issues and a young twenty-something mindset, I fought often, carelessly, recklessly, with little thought as to consequences or fallout.

As I got older, and had more violence under my belt and having seen first hand the results of not just my own violence, but the violence of others (on both sides of the legal/illegal fence), I just plain grew out of it.

Now, I still have to get physical with people now and again, but my goals have changed regarding using physical violence.

First of all, when I encounter a physically violent or impendingly violent situation, I stop, step back, and make sure that I am calm, even though my adrenaline has just spiked. I assess the situation (try to determine who is the aggressor and who is the victim, if at all possible. Sometimes it's easy to confuse that with who is winning versus who is losing), and I use my command voice to make the people fighting or getting close to it, to realize that they are in a public place, and that they are about to be outnumbered (vs. me plus the victim), and also to reinforce the idea that what they are doing is wrong. It's kind of like shaming a bad dog. It works more often than you'd think.

Once I put my hands on someone, my goal is to subdue them. Not to win a fight, but to either restrain them, or get them to submit. I'm not boxing someone, or getting into a macho match. I'll use a combination of wrestling moves (Greek), pressure points, hand-to-hand marshal arts or even Akido when I need to gain distance. All of these concepts are to do as little damage as possible while attempting to contain the situation. None of them include using a weapon, unless a weapon as already been introduced. Then, if I'm in public, I'm getting distance and just calling 9-1-1.

My point is, that due to the past 10-15 years of my life having an above average amount of violence, fist-fights, on the job assaults, etc., my views on actually hurting someone are very strict. If I witness someone being attacked, especially man on woman, adult on child, or hate crime, I'm getting in there and I'm going to hurt people to stop that heinous behaviour. But more often than not, the idea of "minimum use of force to accomplish compliance," is my standard. Not because it's my bureau's policy, not just because it makes sense, but because it works.

In the past two months, off duty, in public, I've had to get physical with people on the street in order to defend someone. One was a meth addict attempting to jump and old man as he got on the bus. I had to literally pick up and throw the meth head off of the bus. He looked quite shocked, and we left him in our dust. I could have taken him down and restrained him and waited for the police to arrive, but it simply ended the conflict when I just threw his ass off of the bus, and the driver did the rest by leaving him behind. Problem solved. Yes, I had to put hands on him as he was assaulting an old man. I could have physically fought the kid, but it was far more economical to evade his hands, block his attacks, and grab him and throw him, and most importantly, to let it end there.

Now, when I watch people, I do look for signs of gang tattoos, weapons, and I do try to place myself in a position where I am the most aware of my surroundings. I have to have my radar on continuously while out in public. I wouldn't say I'm on edge a lot, but I don't look at people as things that can be hurt, I look at people that they are capable of just about anything.

Now, obviously, I'm not a superhero. I'm not even an average hero. Due to the fact that I rarely carry a gun on the job, and I don't work in public like police officers do, I can't even compare myself to a cop. But I am an average law enforcement officer, and I think my mentality is fairly common. And, not entirely related, I used to be a punk kid on the street who got into too many fights in my youth. As far as relevence to your thinking, I imagine the superhero mantality is like a cop mentality on steroids. Pumped up, a bigger ego, more sure that they are in the right.

Now certain things would seriously affect my point of view. Like superhero wise, if I were invulnerable, I would take more risks with myself. As it is, I still ramain fairly conservative when it comes to my own defense.

Hopefully, this contains maybe some info that you were thinking about. But in general, I do not feel that just because a person gets violent now and again, that they just get accustomed to it, or used to it, or feel blase about it. I'd say, compared to my gun-toting Texas buddy who thinks "a-shootin people" is the answer to everything, but has never actually had to do anything. Myself, I watch a situation start, and I pause, and look around, and when I'm confident that none of the sheep around me will lift a finger, I get involved.

I do want to state, that although I am using my law enforcement experience as a jumping off point for where I get my belief system for what I do, the violent conflicts I'm talking about are (for the most part) off duty. It's one of those things, that, as you come to identify what is right and wrong to you, that moral system that you decide for yourself, at some point you have to include that it is against your moral code to stand idly by while innocents are hurt, and the rest of the people around you fail to notice or care.

I guess one of the psychological issues that arises is that even though you care so much about the victims of violence that you need to intervene, your general opinion of the public drops until you almost hate them for their sheep mentality. Or maybe that's just me. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254091#Comment_254091 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254091#Comment_254091 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 07:08:36 -0700 joshdahl
To over simplify what you are saying... it seems like you are approaching these confrontations as an approximate equal to the other people. Which is why you have to maintain your high awareness and vigilance. i will come back to that in a minute....

I have been thinking about violence form a very unbalanced point of view. Imagine coming into these situations knowing that you had NOTHING to worry about. How long would it take for you to get arrogant? And then how long would it take for you to start objectifying people?

Like you were saying about starting to see the worst in people..... imagine if you coupled that with also seeing that they could all be easily bent to your will... with no cost to you personally. How long could you stay sane like that?

Again, thanks so much for your input. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254102#Comment_254102 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254102#Comment_254102 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 07:39:18 -0700 government spy
The "least amount of force neccessary" would quickly become "shortest distance between point A and B" because this one victim you're saving at the moment is just one on a long list of today's rescues, and the perp wouldn't deserve you taking your time to ensure that you're being less than lethal. It just might stop being a consideration. The rescues, or the amount of crime you're stopping would eventually start to matter more than the human lives saved or lost along the way. Ideas like "acceptable losses" might become, well, acceptable. The human side of things, when you are risking nothing, would slip away, as you seperate yourself from the people you started this for in the first place. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254121#Comment_254121 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254121#Comment_254121 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 09:04:02 -0700 joshdahl
Starting to see people as things-that-can-be-hurt turns them more and more into objects.
Why do I need to consider your opinion when i know that it will change as soon as I hurt you?

It is a slippery slope into brutality and abuse. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254131#Comment_254131 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254131#Comment_254131 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:15:49 -0700 government spy
But yes, I think when you add the old "absolute power corrupts absolutely," it does become terrifying. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254227#Comment_254227 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254227#Comment_254227 Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:16:26 -0700 joshdahl
I meant that it was scary how easily I could imagine that slip happening. I could see myself doing that.

On top of that, as I was in the act of typing that response.....

I work in a juvenile detention facility. I can't really say what I was over hearing... but suffice it to say that I work with some amazingly compassionate individuals who come face to face with violence on a daily basis. It is amazing the power relationships that are established, and the lines that are NOT crossed. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254298#Comment_254298 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254298#Comment_254298 Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:04:59 -0700 Will Ellwood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_stress_reaction ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254528#Comment_254528 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254528#Comment_254528 Wed, 11 Aug 2010 07:05:18 -0700 joshdahl
I don't know if my characters will ever reach the prolonged exposure levels that result in Combat Stress. For their sakes, I hope not.
I did, however, use wikipedia's list of PTSD symptoms when I was writing issues 9 and 10 in which my main character comes home from the hospital after experiencing some brutality and violence close up.

It is a superhero comic book, so I didn't feel like it needed to stand up to rigorous scientific review... but on the other hand it did not feel right to just say "Whew, I am glad that's over." I know that I simplified it a bit, but I hope it feels about right. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254899#Comment_254899 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=254899#Comment_254899 Fri, 13 Aug 2010 05:37:01 -0700 government spy
You work in juvee? I work in a Federal Prison, and I wouldn't go near juvee. You've got balls of steel, man, I tip my hat to you. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255237#Comment_255237 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255237#Comment_255237 Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:12:24 -0700 joshdahl Funny coincidence. As you were posting that comment, a kid was hitting me. (maybe. Both event happened yesterday. For dramatic reason I suppose they happened at the same time)
Anyway, this kid was upset about some charges that he had potentially becoming more serious and he simply has no way of dealing with his emotions with anything but violence. So, I told him he could not use the computer sand he responded by shoving me into the wall and hitting me as many times as he could before the security staff dragged him away.

All I did was cover up and try to avoid getting hurt. (wuss!) And by the time I looked up, staff had him completely gone. Not sure what happened to him then.

But now, with a day to piece the facts together, I am starting to feel bad for him. Kind of.
I know that he is dangerous. His crimes are heinous. And he committed extremely calculated acts of violence in the time that I have known him. He does not "lose his temper", he is a kid that is in control of what he does. Plus, he's lock-up strong.

But he didn't hurt me. He just hit me a few times. Just enough to get the staff members to drag him out of there.

I think that he was so upset about something that he needed to have that emotional catharsis of a physical restraint and new that attacking me was the quickest way to it.

Also, something about me being one of the most reliable, and positive, adult males in his life... somehow... in a completely messed up way... I think it was an affectionate gesture.

Man, I never thought my life would have me assaulted by gang-bangers in the middle of teaching them how to draw The Hulk. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255325#Comment_255325 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255325#Comment_255325 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 07:05:16 -0700 government spy
"That's respect," he told me. (I'm paraphrasing, because it's been about ten years, but roguhly what he said was) If they didn't respect me, they would have messed up my face to make it harder for when my family visited me at the hospital. They would have stabbed me, or broken my arms or legs, to make my recouperation harder on me. Instead they just laid me up for a few days. Because they respected me, and didn't want to cause me any permanent damage.

It sounds crazy to anyone that hasn't worked corrections, but I've seen it more than once, and been told it by more people than I can count.

As far as being a wuss, you withstood something most people can't deal with. In an enclosed space, it's hard to defend yourself, especially against someone in prime physical shape with more experience than you. Sometimes doing what you did is the best way to survive, especially if you know help is coming. If you had fought back, it's possible that kid would have reacted more violently. *shrug* It's hard to tell. Either way, don't beat your self up over it (pun not intended); it just goes with the job. Obviously, if you couldn't handle it, you wouldn't be here. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255330#Comment_255330 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255330#Comment_255330 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 07:55:36 -0700 joshdahl
I don't feel like a wuss, I only mentioned that so that I did not come off like "I just stood there and took it and said 'is that all you got, son?' "

I have seen utterly pitiable situations.... things that might really rattle other people..... and just gone on with my lunch.
And I have seen frighteningly violent outbursts (like the one of friday) that leave me feeling bad for the aggressor. How troubled must he have been to respond that way. I am mad at him for betraying our trust, but I feel sad for him as well that he did not know any better ways to handle his emotions.

I still do not know if he will be in my class tomorrow. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255332#Comment_255332 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255332#Comment_255332 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 08:53:43 -0700 government spy
I'm sure, like me, every day you see inmates, people even, who have no hope of escaping prison, either because of their sentence, or just their attitude, or their behavior, whatever you want to call it, they are bound and determined to continue to come back to prison as soon as they leave. You kind of have to wash your hands when dealing with them and move on.

But the ones that actually have a chance, those are the ones that it really hurts to work with. Because you actually start to care, and you want to help them, when have of the time, they aren't even interested in helping themselves. In fact, most of the time, they (and their egos) are their own worst enemies. And every time they hurt themselves, and make it harder for them to get a second chance, it' hurts like you're a rookie all over again. And then you get mad at them for making you care. That's why I usually get a drink after work. Or eleven. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255337#Comment_255337 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255337#Comment_255337 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 09:39:44 -0700 joshdahl
I have to fight like hell to get him top do school work, and then he does a great job at it. He sat silently in my class for months when I first met him. I assumed that he could not read. But then buckled and wrote some great paragraphs and I was amazed. And he kept on like that. But then the day he left, he went in to teh computer and deleted all of his work. I have heard from other teachers at similar facilities that he has torn up his work as he leaves.

It is like he is afraid of any life other than one that ends in prison or early death.

And I have seen this a lot.
Kids. Little kids. Kids who cannot read their own gang tattoos.
And they live their lives locked up because they know and understand that world. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255342#Comment_255342 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255342#Comment_255342 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 10:08:21 -0700 government spy
Just curious, whate state is your facility in? How long have you been working with juvees/corrections? What led you here? Where do you plan to go from here?

A lot of the people I know who actually care get burnt out so fast. How do you cope? (Mine's drinking and bitching) ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255352#Comment_255352 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255352#Comment_255352 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:00:35 -0700 joshdahl I've been doing this for 5 or 6 years.
What led me here... huh... well, I teach and I am good at it, but I don't like all of the school structure stuff that goes along with it. So, when I found a job where I did not have to worry about community politics... just my four walls and what goes on within them, I took it.
I have a few good co-workers with whom I can bitch. Plus I have always had ego problems... as in too big. So teenagers with extremely limited vocabularies have never been able to get to me.

And then there's comic books. I really can't overstate the powerful positive impact that reading superhero comics has had on my career. Almost all of them are stories about individuals doing what only they can do, because it is the right thing to do. I get a lot out of that, and so do my students.

It's funny, as destructive, selfish, and amoral as most of them are, they almost all acknowledge the rule that you treat Josh's comics with respect.

Drinking does help, but not as much as escapism.
Writing really helps. Having my comics script project as something that is utterly unrelated to work helps re-assert my humanity.
Also, I customize and paint action figures. Sitting down in my work room and focusing on tiny, tiny, details. And doing something that makes a clear, observable, change in the world (or a very tiny portion of it) is incredibly relaxing.

But all of that does not tell how I don't get burnt out. End of the day, some people can do it and some people can't. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255581#Comment_255581 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=255581#Comment_255581 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:29:44 -0700 joshdahl
He was back in my class this afternoon. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=258748#Comment_258748 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=258748#Comment_258748 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:58:59 -0700 mister hex
I have some interest in correctional issues and I wanted to ask you both this : what kind of resources are available for ex-offenders once they're released? I'm sure the sad answer is "Not nearly enough" because anybody who's been incarcerated has had contact with violence of some sort while inside and they ALL are going to be released some day. So somebody who's been beaten up or sexually abused, what resources are available to keep them from just "repeating the cycle of violence"? And wouldn't putting more resources into these types of programs greatly reduce recidivism?

I'd be keen to hear any insights you guys might have. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=258821#Comment_258821 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=258821#Comment_258821 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:20:30 -0700 government spy
Most offenders in the U.S. are realeased into a halfway house, which, depending on the organization, can either help the inmate find a job and set up a new living environment, and keep the ex-inmate drug tested and alcohol free, OR it could be prime hunting grounds for gang recruitment and drug peddling.

Here's a link tho the BOP's Ex-Offender program list: http://www.bop.gov/inmate_programs/itb_employing_ex_offenders.jsp

All of these programs are benefited by the amount of effort the inmate has put into his own future; i.e. has the inmate completed GED or ESL courses while incarcerated, did he or she get a job and work while incarcerated, or did they wait until released and then demand that Uncle Sam provide them with room, board and a job?

There's probably a few links you could jump to in the link I provided, and that's mostly for Federal Inmates.

Now, that's all the official info. Realistically, even though some employers are aware of the Job Tax Credit for hiring ex-cons, most that do don't pay very well, or have good benefits.

As far as, would more resources help ex-offenders, absolutely. Unfortunately, we exist in a system that repeats itself . The cycle bounces between warehousing (no programs at all, lock-em-up-throw-away-the-key) and rehabilitation (the far end of which is where we provide them with college degrees and a multitude of programs). The problem is with us. When people see how much funding ex-cons get, they end up all offended that we aren't providing their children with the same benefits, and then we slide back to warehousing, until someone gets fed up with that. (I may have said all of this somewhere before)

The best low-recidivism rate I saw was actually a private prison here in Texas that doubled as a drug treatment facility. If you were serving time for a drug-related offense, you could complete a year or two of this program, and receive extra "good time" and be released early. The majority of offenders released through this program did not come back to prison. One of the problems was that a lot of drug dealers were not drug abusers, and were using this program, lying that they did have a drug problem, just to receive the extra good time and go home. Honestly, if they weren't coming back to prison, or continuing a life of crime, I could care less, although officials felt otherwise and the program was closed (for a multitude of reasons).

I don't know what they answer is, to reduce recidivism. Personally, I think that locking up all of our illegal immigrants and pot smokers is a dumb way to ensure that we have over-crowded prisons. If we changed the way we handled those two issues, we would reduce a lot of the inmate population, and through that, less people would continue the cycle. But that's bad business in America--reducing the inmate population reduces the Federal Budget, and we can't have that, can we? ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=259790#Comment_259790 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=259790#Comment_259790 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:24:30 -0700 joshdahl
From what I can tell, there is little or no attempt at keeping these kids from offending again... and almost nothing applied toward prevention.

A while back we had a young student who could barely read. He was in our school system long enough that he eventually made it to the point where he earned his diploma. All through "juvie" schools.

Another kid came from one of the hardest backgrounds I have ever heard of. Last year around Halloween i gave the assignment to write your own horror stories. He continued to work on his for more than a month and used photo editing software to make a video to go along with it. It was disturbing and emotionally and powerfully cathartic. I don't know if he realized it, but it was clearly about what he was going through. It was a bout a tortured young man dealing with his own, literal, demons. He did a great job and we all took great pride in his work. Another bright kid with a bright future.

Can you see where this is going?

They were both killed earlier this week after robbing the wrong guy. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=259910#Comment_259910 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=259910#Comment_259910 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 05:38:50 -0700 government spy
I never see the inmates I work with once they are transfered from the institution I work at. Some are released to the street, a large number are sent back to the country of their origin and the rest are shipped out to federal prisons around the country. Before an inmate is sent off of my unit, I try to meet with them and shake their hand and usually the best thing I can say is that I hope I never see them again, that I hope that they never come back to this facility again. The worst thing I can say, is see you later, implying that I think they will come back.

I have a twenty year old inmate currently, young kid, covered in tattoos, eyebrow tats, etc., who was asking me how to start a legitimate buisness. He has drug money left over that the Feds never found, and a piece of property that they didn't take. He wants to know how to put a retail shop there, like that sells shoes and clothes to the gangster-type culture. I looked up some info for him, and his response was basically that it would be much easier and cheaper for him to start importing large amounts of drugs again. That instead of going legit, doing paperwork, paying taxes, etc., he'd just have to have his warehouse and some trucks and some guys.

And we know how that will end up. I don't think he even wants to go back to crime and all of that. I think he's just scared of all of the complex details going legit would mean. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=259933#Comment_259933 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=259933#Comment_259933 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:25:37 -0700 joshdahl
I know a kid who is at another facility now who could not even read his own tattoos when he first showed up here. He is 2nd or 3rd generation gang-involved. Being locked up and getting respect for doing his time well is all that he knows. He knows how to get respect from the other residents and from everyone who works here. He knows when to be nice and when to be not nice.

This world makes sense to him. He knows what he needs to do to get the respect he needs in every situation that come sup here.

In the outside world?
There are so many variables.
To him, threatening a random stranger with violence is a lot more comfortable than ordering some fries at a McDonalds. In his mind, he does not know what he needs to do to stand in line and get his food.
How will he handle it if someone behind him bumps into him?
Too many factors that he cannot control.
It must become unbearably stressful compared to the simplicity of a violent altercation with the police.

That is what your tatted kid is going through.
He does not understand the stresses of starting a business and is afraid of that uncertainty. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=260005#Comment_260005 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=260005#Comment_260005 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:50:38 -0700 mister hex
I'm always outraged by "tough-on-crime" politicians whose rhetoric is "lock 'em up and throw away the key" because THAT RARELY HAPPENS. Most offenders get out and if all they've experienced is warehousing in a Hate Factory, then they're not going to be "productive members of society after they've paid their debt to society." (Um, what about the debt that Society owes THEM? What about the teachers who didn't even bother to teach them to read?) I think such politicians should spend some time in a corrections facility and they'd never speak that way again.

Re : Institutionalization - how common is that, in your opinion? How many inmates really are more comfortable in prison because the outside world has too many variables? Percentage wise, I mean.

Let me tell you where I'm coming from with this - I've been working on a novel about a guy in prison who is basically somebody's "punk" and I must have trashed it and started over twenty or thirty times. I don't want it to be too sensationalistic or didactic, I want it to illustrate the huge problem we have in this society with issues like crime and punishment. I want to shock people with it, make them realize that everybody gets out eventually and when this guy's walking the street again, nobody's going to see a rape victim, they're going to see a convict, a man who's angry and rightly so. And maybe make them think that "Hmm, tough-on-crime sounds great but maybe it'd be a better idea to train these people rather than just lock them up."

Have either of you ever read the book "Fish" by T.J. Parsell? He was seventeen when he robbed a photo-mat with a toy gun and got sent to a tough institution. He got raped his second day. Eventually, he got out and got into computers, made some money and I believe is now the head of Stop Prisoner Rape. It's quite a good book and it affected me deeply. I reccommend it without question.

Thanks for your time. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=260090#Comment_260090 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=260090#Comment_260090 Sat, 11 Sep 2010 06:31:53 -0700 government spy The Hot House (there's no wiki entry). It's a little outdated, things have changed physically, but the attitude is very much unchanged. You get a viewpoint from the inmates themselves, one of the inmates explains how he is able to punk out a fish.

It's an insider's view of (at the time, the most dangerous Federal Prison in the country) Leavenworth Penitentiary. It was home to Thomas Silverstein, one of the most dangerous inmates in prison today, who is exempt from the death penalty, even after murdering two (some say three) inmates and one guard, he is under a "no human contact" rule and will never be set free.

I work in an institution that the federal inmates have nicknamed "Alcatraz" because of how tough we are on security regardless of the inmates' security level. They would much rather go to a more dangerous Penitentiary just so they can (as they call it) walk free. USP's have large recreation yards where inmates can walk outside and get fresh air and exercise. Plus they have less restrictive visiting hours, better food, more religious programs, more access to jobs and better pay (average pay here for inmate labor is $0.05-$0.25 an hour). Compared to here, inamtes have much more freedom at what you would think was a higher security, and honestly more dangerous institution.

Because of how appealing USP's are, a lot of inmates really don't care about being locked up. It's less "institutionalism," and more just an acceptance of, if they are going to do time, they'd rather do it somewhere more comfortably. (Of course, if I wanted to do "comfortable time," I'd want to do it in Loeben, Austria's prison)

The institutionalized inmate, made famous by "Brooks" in "Shawshank Redemption," where life on the outside is harder to adapt to than life on the inside is primarily for the lifetime criminals, and the kids who spent the majority of their developing years behind bars (a lot like the kids we've been describing above). It's not uncommon, but it takes time to develop. Nobody's doing six months and coming out institutionalized. I'd say gang culture does make it easier for some inmates to develop their lives becoming more accustomed to prison life, and less sure of the real world, because of things we spoke of earlier, like the inmate versions of "respect" and "honor."

I might go more into this later, but I gotta go back to work... ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=265448#Comment_265448 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8700&Focus=265448#Comment_265448 Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:46:41 -0700 joshdahl
They are led to believe that a life of crime is the only way to get what you want. One very sad thing about this is that "what they want" is so... unoriginal. It is like they are selling out their lives for a shot at dreams that are not even their own. There is no longing or deep desire. Instead it is just what you do.

These kids are made into pieces in a machine very early on, and not by the schools or the government. Instead, it is the gangs and higher level criminals in their own neighborhoods. Those machines need little soldiers who willingly die and go to jail for the "cause". That cause, of course, is a constant revenue stream to the very small percentage of older criminals who are not living in prison. And, as none of these drugs are actually produced in America's ghettoes, that money ultimately moves on.

All of these lives are being thrown away just for the chance to hold on to some money for a few minutes.

I ask these kids what they would do with the money and they don;t even know.
I even ask what they would do if they had the power to do anything in the world, all they can come up with is "rob a bank".

It is very sad. ]]>