"Healing" Orwell Style

There was a time in America where high school students were required to read great literature in English class. Twain, Hemingway, Steinbeck were part of the curriculum. So was George Orwell’s “1984.” It’s tough to believe that I was in school before 1984, the year Orwell’s novel declared – “Big Brother” would be the interwoven with every facet of your life. It was a portrait of a world where freedom was usurped by pure, unadulterated government power. It was a world of “wordspeak” where words such as “peace” meant the exact opposite. It was a world very much like prison.

            I know, the people behind bars deserve to be treated the way we are because after all, we broke the law. That’s a great way to look at things until you – or a loved one – find yourself on the wrong end of that relationship. You’re no longer an “us,” you’re a “them.” And, there’s nothing worse than being a “them,” when all the power is vested in the “us.”

            Wordspeak is alive and well in Virginia’s Department of “Corrections” (corrections – “to effect change, to amend.” Funny, prison does none of that).  This past week posters appeared throughout the compound that our little slice of heaven here was now classified as a “healing environment.” What does that mean? We are being housed in a “kinder, gentler” facility, one where punishment ceased when we walked through the gate. Everything here is now geared to rebuilding the errant man and preparing him for “successful recently into society as a productive citizen.” Beautiful! The words bring a tear to my eye. Except …

            Except that it isn’t true. At the same time that the posters went up about “healing,” and “respect,” and “restoration,” memos were put up in the building advising the population that “Big Brother is watching” –  more video surveillance; more audio surveillance. Stricter visitation rules, general movement rules, and living area rules were put in place with the proscription: “Failure to comply will lead to disciplinary charges and a reduction in the offender’s good time earning level.” Doesn’t sound very “healing” to me.

            And that’s just the point. Prisons are not organized and operated to be places of atonement and redemption. They are filthy, crowded, violent places where control matters more than correction. They are places where individual wardens wield virtually unyielding power to put rules in place as they wish. Each prison becomes a mini-fiefdom for the warden in power and, like nations around the world; some prisons are run like Norway while others operate like North Korea.

            Can you create a healing environment when the population, largely uneducated, ignorant, and feeling bitter because of the clearly inequitable treatment meted out by the American justice system thinks the “new and improved” re-entry initiative is just a rehashing of the tired, old re-entry programs of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s? Can you create a healing environment when the Commonwealth falsely declares it’s “truth in sentencing” laws and it’s abolition of parole have made the state safer; when sentences don’t provide for sizeable early release for those truly committed to rehabilitation, taking responsibility for their actions and returning to society as productive citizens? Can you create a healing environment when those released are treated like second-class citizens denied full restoration in society?

            Prison is Orwell’s “1984” come to life. Funny thing is, the “street” is getting a whole lot like prison, what with expanded drone use by Federal and state government and with security camera use on the increase.

            Orwell understood you can’t be truly free and secure at the same time. Too often, in the name of safety and security, Americans casually cede their inherent, God-given freedoms. And, wordspeak like “Patriot Act” become common place terms all the while more freedom is eroded.

            In here, guys expect the worst. The more hopeful it sounds, the more it’s going to be used to control and add time. Perhaps Orwell was a seer because he understood what prison was all about in the 21^st century. Funny how prison mirrors life.