Cost of Prison

This week the food got remarkably better. Couldn’t figure out why, but one day we had “steak umms” with real French fries, tossed salad with creamy ranch dressing and brownies. Every morning for breakfast the past three days we’ve received huge slices of cantaloupe. These cantaloupes are sweet and juicy and flat out delicious.



The warden OK’d ice cream deliveries to the buildings once a week instead of once a month. We buy ice cream tickets ($1.90 each) on commissary. One ticket gets you a half pint of either butter pecan, moose tracks (loaded with chunks of Reese’s cups), Neapolitan, or strawberry cheesecake.


In the past two weeks there’s also been a steady stream of CO (correction officers) firings and arrests. The first, a female CO nicknamed “big nasty” was known to have a penchant for young inmates she snuck into the medical unit. She was caught bringing cigarettes in and selling them to inmates or exchanging them for “favors”. They marched her large, tattoo covered body off the compound. She lost her job and is probably trying to figure out how to meet her trailer payments and buy the Merle Haggard box set.


Then there was Townsend – a short CO nearing retirement – who lost his cool the other day, grabbed his crotch and said “I got somethin’ right here for you smart ass”.


Reed – a young black CO who wanted to be an inmate (really; he tried getting a tattoo in here) was fired for (1) bringing a loaded pistol on the compound; and (2) stealing jugs of cleaning supplies from the facility.


Finally, there was Pinkney – a cute, outgoing mid-20’s African American CO who worked night shift in our building. She’s been suspended for falsifying medical notes to get paid days off. We miss Pinkney. She was kind, pleasant, and easy to look at.


There are a large number of men I know who have done significant years at “real” prisons. They just shake their heads at the inmates here. These men have seen the worst: the stabbings, the rapes, the officers walking the catwalks with loaded shotguns.


In higher custody prisons, violence is rampant. There is no ice cream or cable TV. Already in the last year, two inmates have been murdered at Greensville and another committed suicide. Not here. This is a poorly run summer camp with a large percentage of spoiled knuckleheads doing time and an equally large percentage of poorly trained, ignorant CO’s guarding them. I agree with the “old heads” – this ain’t real prison.


Guys that end up here without self-discipline and a willingness to change end up focusing on comfort versus what’s important. Case in point, the inmate reps (we have a committee that meets with the warden on compound issues) asked for concerns from the inmates. Almost to a man the list focused on “big bags of Doritos, green tea; more cable channels.’” How about improved medical care? Not a word. A full time dietitian and improved meals? Nope. Updating the law library? “No, thanks. I’d rather get mint flavored dental floss.”


Guys just don’t get it. They become content being denied their freedom. They cuss the CO’s all the while they’re running “game”.


And the citizens of this great Commonwealth? They’re just as bad. The vast majority of Virginia’s inmates are non-violent felons. Taxpayers spend approximately $30,000 per inmate to house him for one year. The current state budget has Department of Corrections spending over $1 billion! And the notion that inmates are being rehabilitated during their sentence is laughable.


Fact is, prison teaches you how to be a better criminal. I’ve seen and heard more scams in the 9 months I’ve been here than in my entire life. Meanwhile, guys come up to me almost daily offering to buy me commissary items if I explain the nuances of embezzlement to them.


Inmates are housed. That’s the dirty little secret those involved in “corrections” (there’s an oxymoron for you) won’t tell you. There’s no rehabilitation, no program to help many of these guys overcome the baggage and crap they’ve carried their entire lives.


So, guys are put in dorms and sold pizza sauce and ice cream and they get to go outside and lift weights and run. If they’re motivated, they go to school and learn a trade. If not, they do their “bid” then head right back out to where they came from.


Want to reduce crime? Get radical with prison reform. Lock up the sociopaths. But for the vast majority of inmates, use a different path.


Drug and alcohol offenders? Intensive treatment. White collar crime? Community service and restitution.


There’s a whole movement under way to implement restorative justice principles. It’s a faith based initiative to reconcile and restore the victim, the community, and the offender. It’s direct, it’s simplistic, and it works.


But what do I know? I’m just enjoying some butter pecan ice cream and watching a movie on TBS.