If Prison Walls Could Talk

Here’s an interesting story about a just-released report on prison reform, with a kick: it’s written by the prisoners.

The authors are five inmates, all first-time offenders, who have spent a combined 95 years in the Texas prison system.

They write from their own experiences and those of others, but many of their observations apply across the country. They write about food, medicine, discipline, parole, programming, solitary confinement, and other things. And they write well.

Here are six examples to give you a flavor. Even if we don’t adopt every suggestion, doesn’t it make sense to listen?

The intake process. It ought to help steer people toward reform and rehabilitation, but it doesn’t. Instead, it degrades them and strips them of their dignity. Sometimes, new arrivals are greeted with words like, “Welcome to hell,” and then treated accordingly. Staff may yell obscenities in their ear throughout the process, among other things. This routine demands submission but discourages rehabilitation. It isn’t necessary and doesn’t comport with the state’s mission statement.

The commissary. Stock it appropriately to reduce the black market for goods that inmates otherwise steal from the kitchen or laundry at taxpayers’ expense. Stock it with healthier foods, including fruits and vegetables, and inmates will eat them. Don’t worry about their making wine out of the fruit because they’re making the wine, anyway. “[They] make wine without fruit by using fruit juice, mint sticks, raisins stolen from the kitchen, and other black-market items procured in prison. Trying to eliminate the exceptional activities of a few by prohibiting healthy items for all serves no purpose. The wine is still being made!”

Computers and technology. Expand inmates’ access to it. You can monitor and regulate their use, but keeping them from it only impedes their successful reentry into society. “When an inmate is released, they should be familiar with the technology they are expected to interact with on a daily basis.”

Visitation. Expand visiting hours and improve the experience. Don’t make it more difficult or unpleasant for people. Nurture the bonds that inmates have with their loved ones. Don’t fleece them with surcharges on phone calls and emails.

Differences among staff. Bad officers create hostile work environments for other officers and foster bad behavior among the inmates. Good officers try to treat inmates with respect and make the prison safer for staff and inmates alike. They view inmates as people who are worthy of respect and who will one day rejoin society.

Reward good behavior. Don’t just punish bad behavior. “Giving inmates the ability to set themselves apart … would give an inmate a reason to care about his future; it would give him hope that his future can be different; and giving inmates hope about a better future will change the culture of the prison system.”