Comments and Notes:
2007-08-22 some quotes on roots of criminal behaviour
One inmate in particular, a man named Larson whom other prisoners would always go out of their way to visit with, seemed to be a 'thinking person'. A few quotes:
"Instead of wasting so much of the inmates' time on rec, Larson thought, Sing Sing should put a small library on every gallery so that imnates could sit in their cells and read.
....
" 'They can't love me like I love them because they don't love themselves. They don't know who they are'. These two deprivations, he maintained, along with a third one -- that of 'a good model of a decision maker to look up to' when they were growing up -- were behind most of their criminal careers. They made bad choices, and most had been taught since they were young that they wouldn't amount to much."
....
(at one point, news came that Sing Sing would be getting a new gym)
" 'I'd die to stop that', Larson said, to my surprise"
" 'You don't want to see this place improve?' "
" 'No. The money should all be put back into the poor neighborhoods, back into education for children, to change the things that send people here.'" --gv
2007-08-22 infantilizing effect
"A consequence of putting men in cells and controlling their movements is that they can do almost nothing for themselves. For their various needs they are dependent on one person, their gallery officer. Instead of feeling like a big, tough guard, the gallery officer at the end o fthe day often feels like a waiter serving a hundred tables or like the mother of a nightmarishly large brood of sullen, dangerous, and demanding children. When grown men are infantilized, most don't take to it nicely." p. 234" --gv
2007-08-22 Anne Frank's diary as a tattoo on the back of a prisoner
This same quote from Frank's diary is one that I remember identifying with when I read the book. A prisoner in for armed robbery and keeplocked for extorting other inmates, had tattooed down his back these lines of Anne Frank's translated into Spanish:
"When everybody starts hovering over me, I get cross, then sad, and finally end up turning my heart inside out, the bad part on the outside and the good part on the inside, and keep trying to find a way to become what I'd like to be and what I could be if...if only there were no other people in the world."
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Isn't that the basic problem we all face? And how to get the good back on the outside for more of the people in this world..." --gv
2007-07-04 thought-provoking
Found this to be a concrete, insightful book. The CO's have a hell of a job, at least at Sing-sing. Abuse in both directions, but at least there was some attempt to be professional. To me, understanding the ugly conditions inside a prison is a strong argument for reducing incarceration rates for nonviolent and victimless crimes, and against private prisons where there are likely lower standards and little if any oversight.
The eye-opener for me is that to run a prison, you basically have to put a bunch of adult men in a dependent position for years at a time. A friend's take when I described the prison - 'its like a Kindergarten, except the kids can hurt you'. But, at least at my daughter's excellent kindergarten, the teacher's main goal is to teach the kids autonomy, and give them as much freedom of choice as possible. Here its the reverse.
Well, I'm sure this is not new to students of prisons but in any case it is a thought-provoking book."""" --gv
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