Prison Environment

Depending on which prison the inmate goes to, some prisons can be more or less violent and strict.  With most cases that arised in class discussions and readings, the more strict the prison system was for one facility made it more violent.  There is good and bad guards, just like there are good and bad inmates.  Nelson and Scott described prison has having a lot of down time.  There is a lot of time where nothing happens and they have to find something to do.  If the inmates are lucky there will be programs for them to release pent up energy into something that matters for the inmates.  For Nelson and Scott that was music.  For Kenneth Hartman, that was reading and going to different classes to further his knowledge in various different fields.  

When inmates have jobs, they are able to find meaning in their day.  Most times though it is meaningless work they are sent out to do.  If they work in a factory, they are making the same parts and items over and over again.  This allows them to make some money, but very minimal money if any.

Most prisons are surrounded by violence and drugs.  Prisons are also divided by race and gangs.  There is a lot of tension and rivalries.  Also a lot of drama and rumors are started.  This all stems from inmates not having anything better to do with their time.  In their down time, if they have nothing to do they will start fighting and talking crap to one another just to find something to do.  Another motivator for violence and drugs is money.  Moving drugs in and out of prisons gets inmates a lot of money.  

Staff and inmates have an invisible line drawn that separates them.  They rarely talk to each other.  Sometimes if inmates are caught getting too close to guards, they are labeled as snitches or viewed as weak.

Incarceration not only affects the offender but their family as well.  In the videos we saw, the family says they are being punished as well as their loved one.  When their loved one gets locked up the family can loose financial stability, spend lots of money traveling to see their loved one and spending money on talking/communicating with their loved ones.  Overall families visiting their incarcerated members can be a lengthy process that is not very consistent due to lock down within the prisons.  The family members can also fall victim to mental issues related to their loved ones being lock up like depression, anxiety, difficulty forming attachments, failure in school, aggression/conduct disorder, or delinquent behavior due to not having good parental care.

I think what I found most interesting this week was getting to hear and read first hand what happens within the walls of prison facilities.  Then seeing how most inmates accounts really line up with each other and being able to see the major flaws within the US correctional system.

I think having the guest speakers provide their insider knowledge was key.  I do not think there is really any other way to teach this side of the correctional facilities.  There can be countless research but ultimately who we heard from are the people getting affected by the system first hand.  All of what they said really lined up with each other in some way so even though they have their own experiences and drew different values from their own, the bottom line is that they reflected the same problems and shared similar stories.  I think the most helpful story was that of Kenneth Hartman.  I think he had time to think and analyze what he was writing so he was able to get out every single detail he want to cover.  Whereas Scott, Nelson and Mark were super amazing speakers, they reiterated the same experience Kenneth had but in a different, condensed form.