Life in Prison Issues - Essay Example

Life in Prison Life in Prison A convict is believed to be anyone who has committed a crime and is sentenced to serve in prison (Merriam-Webster). Behind a convict's eyes is a book written by a prisoner under the pseudonym K. C. Carceral. The name itself as a hidden undertone to it as the translation means belonging to prison. This writer is facing a life sentence in prison. This is a story which creates a profound and graphic image of life in prison. Carceral writes of his own experiences inside the prison cell. The book is not a display of the life in prison alone; instead it talks of a variety of things. This is coupled with the political system, economic background and culture followed inside prisons. The writer also discusses a number of philosophies which play a vital part in this book. Carceral talks of the importance of understanding why criminals choose the path they are convicted for (Pollock 2005). The book is not the work and opinion of Caceral alone; it is coupled with the perspective of the four editors of the book. This adds a unbiased touch to the book as it is not limited to the ideas of a convict alone but also of individuals who are living in the outside world. Little is said about the crime committed that forces the writer into prison but the novel is interesting in its concept and theory for a number of reasons. The first striking thing about this novel is the politics that run inside a prison. Despite every individual being behind protective custody, the life shown by Carceral makes it seem like life in the jungle: a quest for survival. The weaker inmates are threatened by stronger ones who use and abuse the weak individuals. Like life in the wild, the weak learn to adjust to life in these tough prisons through different means. They either join prison gangs which afford them the security they lack or they pay for their protection. It is not the weakest convicts who adjust to the system. According to the book, each individual learns to manipulate their way to the system. This is used to gain advantage and survive within the prison cells. This is evident in the way the prisoners exploit the clinical tests and physicians to gain medication that will assist them in fitting and adjusting to their environment. Thus, by using these wrongfully obtained drugs, the inmates get high or sell the drugs off to other inmates to make money. Economics plays a vital role in the prison cell. This economy decides the life the inmate will lead inside the prison cell. Not only is this money important for their survival but it also helps in the conditions provided to every inmate. The text speaks of $130 being given to each inmate every month. While this seems like a phenomenally small amount to the ordinary individual, it is actually a great amount for the inmates who need not pay for housing or any other bills. This lack of expenses makes the amount given to the inmates enough to buy the basic resources they need. The inmates can choose to spend this on food, water, cigarettes or the protection they need to survive. Thus, each inmate is given the money to decide on the resources they wish to buy with their money. Apart from this economy, the convict can seek other ways to achieve to obtain their goods. Bartering is a perfect tool for gaining items that the inmates need. An instance of the goods that were traded included leather belts and laundry services, showing that the most basic of necessities are of such importance that inmates will exchange their very belongings to get them. Thus, the prison cell is also an economic world where barter and money are of as much importance for survival as they would be in the real world. An individual named Anonymous is introduced. This character is important in the non-fiction book because it allows the reader to divulge into the details of a specific person, thus allowing them to better relate to them. The first of these is the way of "minding your own business." This technique allows the inmate to protect himself by keeping out of fights that are not related to him. Another idea was to learn the language of the prison itself. Like all different areas in the world, a specific language is attributed inside the prison cells. This needs to be applied and used with the prison not only to be better understood but also to create a rapport with other inmates. An instance is words like "punk" mean something completely different in the outside world compared to the prison cells where it is supposed to be understood as a cue to fight with another convict. Emotions were also a big problem inside the prison cell. Anonymous also shows the need to be void of any expression since anything apart from a show of strength can be seen as a weakness. Reputations were also important in the jail cell just as they are in the outside world. Any individual who is seen as a snitch loses their credibility. This can lead to a feeling of distrust from other inmates and even allow them to be violent towards inmates of this reputation. Thus, what can be deciphered from the work done by Anonymous is similar to the life led in the free world: language, reputation and ability for convicts to keep to themselves, are vital in surviving in the cells. "Voices in the field" is similar to "Behind a Convict's eyes" in the idea of convicts refraining from protecting themselves because of conflicts that arise. Also similar was the economic system that was applied by both groups to survive. Not only did they interact to meet their basic means but also bartered to get their essentials. The racial divide between both was also evident. Both texts speak of how the black and white inmates preferred to be with members of their own class. Thus, both texts have a number of similarities in the prison systems that existed. Respect, hope and safety are vital elements of the inmates' lives. The guards responsible for these cells should have the power to protect the inmates and prohibit the possession of drugs and weapons to be used by the inmates. Prison facilitators try their best to provide assistance and protection to the inmates but somehow their efforts seem to fall short. Actions like strip searching greatly reduce the respect a guard has for an inmate. Along with this most convicts are able to discover the reasons behind other convicts presence in prison along with other private information. This can lead to violence within the cells between the inmates. The correctional facility should aim to protect the convicts and reduce intimidation to allow the true motives of the correctional facility to come into effect. A correctional facility needs to change the lives and attitudes of the convicts. The first thing that the guards need to do is respect the inmates. Also, the guards should try not to enforce drastic and painful punishments onto the convict because of their behavior. Instead of employing methods like solitary confinement they should aim at taking away things that can be much more valuable to the convict. This can include ideas like the amount of time a convict is allowed for recreation or by increasing the working hours of the convict. Punishments like these are sufficient to make the convict understand the consequences of their behavior instead of treating them so harshly that the entire concept of humanity is lost. Toxic shamed identity is in fact a very strong part of the inmates' lives. Their freedom is taken away, instead being replaced by lives in a prison cell. If the loss of this freedom is not enough, the individual is then subjected to standards that are far more dangerous and harsh than those in the real world. For the prisoners to be removed of the basic nescessities of life and place in cells where their very beings are unsafe is a punishment harsh enough. Added to this is the removal of any identity from the individual. Their names and personalities cease to exist. Instead it's replaced by numbers and uniforms. Very much like animals they are treated in the same way as is proven by Behind a Convict's eyes. This loss of identity and their very being is a shameful reminder to the inmate of the consequences of their actions. The inmates have no independence and are not even allowed to show any form of emotion as vulnerability is seen as a weakness that can lead to disastrous results on the person of the inmate. Unable to prepare them for the situation in a prison cell, toxic shame is unavoidable for inmates. Thus, life in prison cannot be an easy take for any individual. While the actions of these men is enough to place them in a position where their rights and freedom is taken away, the set-up of the prisons in the book prove that they do far more than place the individual in a correctional facility. Behind a convict's eyes is ample evident that the prisons imagined by the free individual are very different from the ones lived in by an inmate. References Carceral K (2003), Behind a convict's eyes: Doing time in a modern prison, Wadsworth Publishing Convict (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved August 1, 2009, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/convict Pollock J (2005), Prisons today and tomorrow (Criminal Justice Illuminated), Jones and Bartlett Publishing Read More