Commissary day came and went. I got my regular order of chips, ramen noodles, refried beans, peanut butter, crackers and pop tarts. Since school’s been in full session, my meals in the building have been limited to a lot of chips (my weakness) mixed in with equal parts of ramen noodles and peanut butter crackers. Commissary also brought out the gamblers.
By Thursday night there was one major poker game, one dice game and one game of tunk underway in the building. “Big money” was changing hands: $30.00, $40.00, $50.00, won and lost. The NBA playoffs are in full swing so the parlays are drawing $3, $4 and even $5 bets. There’s a general rule in prison old heads tell you – don’t go in debt and don’t gamble, unfortunately guys don’t follow that advice.
In less than one sitting there were a half dozen guys who lost their entire commissary order. We’re on a sixteen day stretch between orders. That’s a long time to go without any food in the building. Guys get desperate and visit “the storebox”. What’s the storebox? One or two guys run a store. You need a tuna fish? Visit the storebox. Next store day you pay the box man two tunas. Some items run on specials. You can get two snickers bars by paying back three.
Like gambling, storeboxing is illegal. Guys that visit the store box never get out of debt. You’re always paying extra back which eats up your money and makes you order more on commissary day, which goes to the store man, which leaves you short, which sends you back to the box.
I just sat there and watched as guys lost everything in their boxes, cussed the cards and the dice, then headed to the “box”.
Earlier in the week we had a stabbing in another building. I try not to write too much about the violence here because folks that still stay in touch with me would worry. Fact is, prison – even at this level – is a violent place. Every week there are numerous fights; every week at least one fight involves an inmate being struck repeatedly with a master lock stuffed in a sock. Every week some guy gets his teeth broken, or his jaw or his eye socket smashed. This week was different. This week there was a stabbing. In my eighteen months here, there’d only been one other stabbing. This one could have been serious. Fortunately, it wasn’t.
Members of the “viceroys” (that’s another gang in here like the bloods and crips) were getting a “gump” (a homosexual) to bring tobacco in through the visitation room. The gump became involved with an “independent” who convinced him to bring the tobacco to him instead. This upset the viceroy leader who approached the independent. Words were exchanged; the independent said something disrespectful to the gangleader. The gangleader began pummeling the independent. The gump jumped in to defend “his man” and within seconds three other gang members jumped in, one with a blade.
Just like that, in the span of a few seconds, all hell broke loose. As I’ve written before, this place isn’t properly staffed. The officers are ill equipped to keep things like that from happening. And these things will happen. You put men on top of each other, deprive them of basic human contact, create an environment run on snitching, ignore adequate mental health treatment, and put predatory personalities in the midst of 1200 men and violence will result.
Lest you think these things happen because the inmates are criminals, read any book about POW camps. You deprive people of basic human decency and there are incidents of base human behavior exhibited.
I’m fortunate. I’ve seen a great deal in my days locked up I’m still not comfortable talking about. It’s made me realize that if Virginia wants to lock people up, they bear responsibility for maintaining a safe environment.
Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote “compassion is the chief law of human existence”. Its high time judges, DOC Directors, Members of the House of Delegates and the Governor take that to heart.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
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American prisons are better than what most POW's experience. AND POW stands for prisoners of WAR........you are not a prisoner of war, but a prisoner of your personal choice. POW's should have it better than you, they didn't choose anything other than to protect American freedom and were captured by the enemy. In your case, you were the enemy to your fellow American, were you not? You purposely did what it took to put yourself into a position to be an enemy of American citizenship. How dare you compare yourself with a POW. You have TV.....a shower, food, and your fortunate to have a nurse at times. It takes a long time to earn back the trust others used to have in you. And you need not be more comfortable or as comfortable as those Americans who live in poverty, without tv, without food, without doctors, without the money to pay for an education. You need to serve your time and then begin again on the long road back to earning your citizenship, freedom and if possible.....others' trust.
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing, I too find freedom in writing.
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When American prisons (voluntary admittance) are made UNCOMFORTABLE, recidivism rates will decrease. Those lucky enough to survive will do everything in their personal power to make choices that will keep them from ever going back.
ReplyDeleteIf America would cut the funding for prisons and give it back to the school systems in the form of increased wages to attract individuals into investing in American futures, excellent counseling for physical and mental issues, the prison populations would decrease and recidivism would become a moot point.