post information and opinion on Attica prison and its implications for the us prison system here
any video or music about angola prison as well
post information and opinion on Attica prison and its implications for the us prison system here
any video or music about angola prison as well
October 8, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Ben Basque Pg. 1
Attica/Pelican Bay/Angola
10/7/06
Human 6 1395
This week I feel that I have taken in so much information that I am not sure where to begin. As I am writing I am trying to digest all that I have read and connect the dots.
The film clips on prison rape and the Humane Rights Watch Prisoners Stories is horrible. We continue to lock people away with out considering the level of their crimes, sophistication of the incarcerated or even their age. Then we do not have facilities that are conducive to supervision or even enough personnel to properly supervise. We do not have a good, reliable system for inmates to report abuse and get action so the incarcerated become victims. We have not used a system to segregate lesser criminals. When Rodney Hulin asked for protection from the prison he was denied and told “you’re just a little boy, grow up.” (Rodney Hulin Story) This implied that what was happening to him was okay. Yes, he was a boy and had no business being placed in an adult prison, especially for lighting a dumpster on fire. I like what the man said about prison reform” until you have safety, hope, self esteem nothing else will matter.” (film clip) This statement is true; we need to evaluate our societal goals with the prison system. Do we want to lock away every one who violates a societal rule; do we want to lock away only the violent offender, do we want to rehabilitate the “lesser offender”? If our goal is to lock away the violent and rehabilitate the “lesser Offender” then should we be locking everyone together regardless of their crime? These are just some of the thoughts that the film clip brought up for me.
Now I move on to our links readings and Foucault. Foucault believed that prisons “failed to eliminate crime……they succeeded extremely well in producing delinquency…” (Foucault 277) This statement says to me that the penal system is self sustaining; there is an economic advantage for some communities to have the prisons. The prisons provide jobs. By making sure that we continue to have criminals in large numbers we will generate more jobs and keep people employed. Prior to this weeks reading I had not looked at our penal system from that prospective.
Ben Basque Pg.2
Attica/Angola/Pelican Bay
If our goals for prisons were really to reduce crime by punishment, we have failed. Our prisons are over crowded with inmates that are repeat offenders. Foucault saw this, “prisons do not diminish crime; they extended, multiplied, or transformed the quality of crime and criminals remain stable or worse, increase…” (Foucault 265) “the Inmate Nation is larger than ever before….prisons have nearly doubled their population.” (Time, What are Prisons For?
“The remarkable fact is not that prisons proved to be uncongenial places for moral improvement, but that it has taken so long for the U.S. to recognize and confess the folly.” (Time) I am not convinced that we as a whole have acknowledged our prison failures. Yes, we have some great activism, but it is not wide spread. Our government is responding slowly in addressing the issues. That fact that it took 20 years for the Attica atrocities to be admitted is proof of slow governmental response. Even though it has been admitted, it has still been brushed aside. The “go away”(Attica) pay out and
lack of culpabilities for the involved parties is proof of minimal acceptance of responsibility
Foucault’s theory that prisons enslave people to government imposed discipline is demonstrated time and again in the Pelican Bay Melee. Foucault’s statement “it would not be true to say that the prison was born with the new codes. The prison form antedates its systematizing use in the penal system. It had already been constituted outside the legal apparatus when trough out the social body, procedures were being elaborated for distributing individuals, fixing them in space, classifying them, extricating from them the minimum in time and forces, training their bodies, coding their continuous behavior, maintaining them in perfect visibility forming around them an apparatus of observation…” (Foucault 231) applies to the melee at Pelican Bay. “the CDC manipulates prisoner-on-prisoner violence in an effort to maintain control of it facilities.” (Melee)
Ben Basque Pg.3
Attica/Angola/Pelican Bay
The system we have in place for our prisons needs a complete overhaul. We need to look at the whole process that is our penal system and evaluate what are goal is. The moral corruption of our guards is scary. When I read the Melee at Pelican Bay I could not believe that when prisoners requested to be out in the yard with other prisoners that they got along with the request was denied because “then you’d have two groups normally aligned on the yard at the same time, they would only have staff as their enemy.” (Melee) I went on to read about where the guards used a “controlled release policy” this Policy amounts to deliberate instigation by prison officials.” (Melee) There is a clear power of coercion being put on inmates. The inmates are at the mercy of their social structure to survive and the guards are controlling all options for a retreat. Our prison system “gives almost total power over the prisoners; it has its internal mechanism of repression and punishment a despotic discipline.” (Foucault 236)
Reading the prison links and watching the videos has helped me to make more sense of Foucault. I now see the relevance of his opinions to our current penal system. As Foucault says, “in short, penal imprisonment from the beginning of the 19th century, covered both the deprivation of liberty and the technical transformation of individuals.” (Foucault 233) After reading Attica and Melee at Pelican Bay the “technical transformation of individuals” is not just the incarcerated, but also the guards. Some have been transformed in to victimizers of the worst kind. They are there to keep chaos at bay, yet some are actually instigating chaos and torture.
October 8, 2006 at 9:57 pm
i found this 3 minute video clip from the Angola Rodeo. The rodeo’s website is interesting – it talks about the history of the rodeo and says that part of the proceeds from the rodeo go to the inmate welfare fund to help pay for inmate education and recreation.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6320052148513527919&q=angola+prison&hl=en
October 9, 2006 at 12:11 am
Corinne Neuman
Prisons Today
October 8, 2006
yourmomismad@yahoo.com
Humanities 6: Section 1395
Poverty, gang activity, violence on the streets, lack of education, lack of stable employment, poor living environments, prisons, prison staff, prison inmates, prisoner, victims and their families all share similar histories of despair and hate. It seems that the more hate that exists, the more that is bred. It is the old story; of two wrongs do not make a right –unless our Government controls it. Rather than seeking evil and being hateful, we could look at things more positively and perhaps a chain reaction could begin. It may be difficult but I do not believe that it is impossible.
Attica, Angola, and Pelican Bay Prisons share their Maximum Security titles, and they all share history of prisoners uprising, and prisoner brutality. Most commonly are the riots that took place in the walls of Attica. This uprising made history in that it lasted five days, where the prisoners took control of the prison itself. I am not surprised that it has taken so long for prison officials to see that when you treat a person (or people) badly enough that they will seek revenge. I believe that this is one of the main benefits of rehabilitation programs rather then punishment programs. By treating prisoners with respect and humanity, they may seek to do the same. By offering education, they will have the opportunity to make new choices.
I compare this mythology to that of positive discipline in children. At one time, it was thought that children should be disciplined by making a child feel badly by beating, taking things away, forcing them to work. Beliefs have since changed and it was realized how we were making our children powerless, resentful, and hateful. Now, many people teach children using positive discipline. We let children make their own choices, and be help responsible for their consequences. Am I odd for seeing the correlation between the discipline our children, and punishing our prisoners? I am hopeful that as our society has changed it’s thinking in discipline for our children that in time so will that of punishment of our prisoners.
Neuman, Corinne: Prisons Today
Page 2
I do believe in Rehabilitation for those who seek to change, but what about those that do not. “What is rehabilitate?” scowls Eddie Meeks, an inmate at Statesville Correctional Center in Illinois. “You can’t rehabilitate me if I don’t want to.” (Time Magazine on September 13, 1982 What are Prisoners For, by Kurt Anderson.) I am not sure what we can do with these individuals, except offer the opportunities to make new choices. Perhaps if they could see that there was hope, and opportunities to become something better they would change their minds. To me, I see these individuals as most desperate. Perhaps they have attempted change, and have been shut down time and time again.
Guards turn a blind eye to the abuse that takes place between bars. The case of Rodney Hulin was shameful that he had to kill himself in order to escape the brutality from other inmates. A last moment of desperation for help denied, as the guard turned his back and returned fifteen minutes later, after he read the suicide notice. The psychologist for Rodney Hulin, ignored the pleas for help and said, “but he’s just a fucking inmate, he probably likes it.” A friend of mine was incarcerated for Driving Under the Influence in San Rafael. He also was also a former narcotics officer for the SFPD; however, he was locked up with the general population of inmates. No protection. This type of treatment is among many examples of cruelty place on inmates. This man was responsible for the incarceration of other individuals that he was now locked in with.
I largely believe that when a person is denied human rights, they seek to find it otherwise.
Prison Rape is the perfect example of desperate attempts seeking basic needs. According to a non-profit organization, Stop Prisoner Rape, prisoners prey upon new inmates in order to satisfy basic needs. Prisoners who are the predators do so to obtain goods, and sexual favors. Survival becomes the name of the game. Provided in the link, http://www.sfbappa.org/Awards/picturestory/picstory28.ex2.html a picture is displayed of a message describing gang activity within the jailhouse. I cannot imagine myself going to such lengths to pass a message, and displays the desperation felt by inmates.
“Insurrections and slaughter shock everyone and surprise nobody,” from the article What are Prisoners For, by Kurt Anderson. Everyone shrugs their shoulders and goes about their business. Society is hardly bothered by tragedy that occurs in the prison walls. Is it because that they are afraid of associating themselves with prisoners? Afraid they won’t conform to the society that they have tried so hard to conform with? Or, is it more of a feeling that these prisoners deserve what they get? Personally, I feel that it is a mixture of everything.
When I read excerpts of prisoner brutality, uprising, etcetera, I tend to personally compare them to war and massive killings. The uprising at Attica has me mentally comparing the war to that of Vietnam or even World War II during the Holocaust. So many people die, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. All in the name of hate.
“I’m there with the football up under my chin. That football better stay there. If it fall, you will die sooner than you expect to die,” as recounted Big Black a victim of the Attica Prison uprising. I continue to compare this treatment as a prisoner of war, but the enemy is our government and the soldier is only a guard.
Hate continues to breed hate, and crime continues to breed crime. As the cycles continue, our prison systems continue to punish the criminals and turn a blind eye. I am disgusted with the blood, and the sex, and the crime. I am hopeful that one day that it will stop, but I don’t think it will until people will give each other the time of day. Prisoners are not much different than you or I, and believe it or not we are ALL only one-step away.
October 9, 2006 at 12:11 am
Corinne Neuman
Prisons Today
October 8, 2006
yourmomismad@yahoo.com
Humanities 6: Section 1395
Poverty, gang activity, violence on the streets, lack of education, lack of stable employment, poor living environments, prisons, prison staff, prison inmates, prisoner, victims and their families all share similar histories of despair and hate. It seems that the more hate that exists, the more that is bred. It is the old story; of two wrongs do not make a right –unless our Government controls it. Rather than seeking evil and being hateful, we could look at things more positively and perhaps a chain reaction could begin. It may be difficult but I do not believe that it is impossible.
Attica, Angola, and Pelican Bay Prisons share their Maximum Security titles, and they all share history of prisoners uprising, and prisoner brutality. Most commonly are the riots that took place in the walls of Attica. This uprising made history in that it lasted five days, where the prisoners took control of the prison itself. I am not surprised that it has taken so long for prison officials to see that when you treat a person (or people) badly enough that they will seek revenge. I believe that this is one of the main benefits of rehabilitation programs rather then punishment programs. By treating prisoners with respect and humanity, they may seek to do the same. By offering education, they will have the opportunity to make new choices.
I compare this mythology to that of positive discipline in children. At one time, it was thought that children should be disciplined by making a child feel badly by beating, taking things away, forcing them to work. Beliefs have since changed and it was realized how we were making our children powerless, resentful, and hateful. Now, many people teach children using positive discipline. We let children make their own choices, and be help responsible for their consequences. Am I odd for seeing the correlation between the discipline our children, and punishing our prisoners? I am hopeful that as our society has changed it’s thinking in discipline for our children that in time so will that of punishment of our prisoners.
Neuman, Corinne: Prisons Today
Page 2
I do believe in Rehabilitation for those who seek to change, but what about those that do not. “What is rehabilitate?” scowls Eddie Meeks, an inmate at Statesville Correctional Center in Illinois. “You can’t rehabilitate me if I don’t want to.” (Time Magazine on September 13, 1982 What are Prisoners For, by Kurt Anderson.) I am not sure what we can do with these individuals, except offer the opportunities to make new choices. Perhaps if they could see that there was hope, and opportunities to become something better they would change their minds. To me, I see these individuals as most desperate. Perhaps they have attempted change, and have been shut down time and time again.
Guards turn a blind eye to the abuse that takes place between bars. The case of Rodney Hulin was shameful that he had to kill himself in order to escape the brutality from other inmates. A last moment of desperation for help denied, as the guard turned his back and returned fifteen minutes later, after he read the suicide notice. The psychologist for Rodney Hulin, ignored the pleas for help and said, “but he’s just a fucking inmate, he probably likes it.” A friend of mine was incarcerated for Driving Under the Influence in San Rafael. He also was also a former narcotics officer for the SFPD; however, he was locked up with the general population of inmates. No protection. This type of treatment is among many examples of cruelty place on inmates. This man was responsible for the incarceration of other individuals that he was now locked in with.
I largely believe that when a person is denied human rights, they seek to find it otherwise.
Prison Rape is the perfect example of desperate attempts seeking basic needs. According to a non-profit organization, Stop Prisoner Rape, prisoners prey upon new inmates in order to satisfy basic needs. Prisoners who are the predators do so to obtain goods, and sexual favors. Survival becomes the name of the game. Provided in the link, http://www.sfbappa.org/Awards/picturestory/picstory28.ex2.html a picture is displayed of a message describing gang activity within the jailhouse. I cannot imagine myself going to such lengths to pass a message, and displays the desperation felt by inmates.
“Insurrections and slaughter shock everyone and surprise nobody,” from the article What are Prisoners For, by Kurt Anderson. Everyone shrugs their shoulders and goes about their business. Society is hardly bothered by tragedy that occurs in the prison walls. Is it because that they are afraid of associating themselves with prisoners? Afraid they won’t conform to the society that they have tried so hard to conform with? Or, is it more of a feeling that these prisoners deserve what they get? Personally, I feel that it is a mixture of everything.
When I read excerpts of prisoner brutality, uprising, etcetera, I tend to personally compare them to war and massive killings. The uprising at Attica has me mentally comparing the war to that of Vietnam or even World War II during the Holocaust. So many people die, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. All in the name of hate.
“I’m there with the football up under my chin. That football better stay there. If it fall, you will die sooner than you expect to die,” as recounted Big Black a victim of the Attica Prison uprising. I continue to compare this treatment as a prisoner of war, but the enemy is our government and the soldier is only a guard.
Hate continues to breed hate, and crime continues to breed crime. As the cycles continue, our prison systems continue to punish the criminals and turn a blind eye. I am disgusted with the blood, and the sex, and the crime. I am hopeful that one day that it will stop, but I don’t think it will until people will give each other the time of day. Prisoners are not much different than you or I, and believe it or not we are ALL only one-step away.
October 9, 2006 at 2:00 am
Jade Dant
Angola/ Attica
10/8/06
Italianbooty143@yahoo.com
Online 1395
I just had all of my work deleted so now I have to restart this stupid paper thing. Wow, I must say reading everything has sent my mind in a million directions. Whether reading about Attica or Angola stirred many feelings about prison systems. For research on Attica I am reading a book called Iron House, by Jerome Washington. This book is about stories from the yard both comical and sadly true and one of my favorite quotes says, “When the Man take your name and gives you a number, the first thing you have to adjust to is not who you are but how many digits you have become”(3). From reading all of the required material I have realized that all inmates are is a number. That number allows guards to remove the human aspect and use the body for what they want when they want. Foucault would call this numbering system bio-power that segregates and measures. Foucault says, “People become numbers that are in turn registered in a system that tracks their movements on a grid.”
The prison population is growing at a rapid rate about 170 a day according to the article What Are Prisons For? The experience of the prisoner doesn’t change whether you are a convicted killer or just a drug user. Those with non-violent crimes are subjected to hard core killers who treat those as a piece of meat. So what about money to separate these prisoners, well as a matter of fact Prisons according to What are Prisons For?, a max prison cell costs up to $ 78,300 a piece. Now since we have to build new prisons because of public outcry for hardening punishments increasing felon charges to be 40%
Jade Dant
Angola/ Attica
longer keeping prisoners there beyond their time to leave. Now identical crimes have been found to range in punishment times almost four fold in some cases. So how are inmates supposed to take the system seriously if it is so biased in nature and not to mention racist. Foucault believes prison system is meant for punishment not rehabilitation. It is there to create “docile bodies” with which can be manipulated outside of prison as well as inside.
With prisons being overcrowded with a majority of black inmates, with white red neck guards attacking prisoners whenever feeling the need, and poor conditions with people sleeping on the floor and only having 25 cents a day for hard labor. All of this is a recipe for disaster, especially at the famous Attica. A riot broke out with hundreds of prisoners taking over the prison because on duty were only 100 guards for all the 2,250 inmates in a 55 acre vicinity. The prisoners were tired of being treated worse than dogs this proved in a guard talking to an inmate in Attica, “So what if this food is unfit for canine consumption? The Mess-Sargeant said. ‘We ain’t feeding dogs, we is feeding you,’ and added, ‘The SPCA can’t squawk about that.”(63 Iron House) Conditions were terrible, no wonder a riot broke out with demands to at least be treated like people with First Amendment Rights. Coercive power was used way to much and soon after pushing far to long with violence, violence comes back. So the riot continues until Reagan gives the okay for troopers to come in a shoot everything including hostages, well he didn’t say kill the hostages, but the reckless behavior of the police wound up with nine hostages killed. Then they tried to lie about it saying the hostages were killed with knife slashes to the throat while later autopsy concluded that is was bullet wounds. Foucault says that the prison system was now all about taking away a person’s freedom. Taking away a person’s freedom is like taking away everything. Prisons do a damn good job of taking away freedom leaving just a bottomless pit to be filled with discipline. Though it may no work out at first, but it gets to everyone one way or another and sometimes freedom is given between inmates who kill each other because only then are they free.
October 9, 2006 at 2:21 am
Donna Blanchard
Attica Prison Riots
October 8, 2006
moxiedonna@gmail.com
Human 6, Section 1395
The Attica Prison Riot of 1971 was met with public outrage, which brought about long overdue prison reforms including changes to public policy and administration. The riot lasted from September 9 to September 13, 1971 and ended when New York State Police stormed the prison and opened fire. During the riot thirty-two inmates and eleven guards were killed, the majority of which were killed during the State Police’s reclaiming of the prison. Then-New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller was publicly ridiculed for his severe response to the riots and the subsequent bloodbath that could have been avoided.
At the time of the riot, the vast majority of prisoners being held in Attica were African-American and Latino while the guards were mostly Caucasian. The guards at Attica were racist and openly hostile toward the inmates. It is believed that the guards were intimidated by the growing prison population and they used what tactics they knew to keep physical power over the inmates they feared. The coercive and brutal power the guards held over the inmates was their only defense and they used every tactic they could to intimidate – banging their riot batons on the walls, racial slurs and physical violence. Inmates had been complaining about their treatment and conditions in which they were forced to live which included solitary confinement for petty offenses, denial of religious freedom and being limited to one shower a week (even when most of the inmates had very physical prison jobs). Treating people like animals and forcing them to live in animal-like conditions does not project the right kind of power between guard and inmate. The Attica that Warden Mancusi ran gave his guards almost complete control over the prisoners in any way they saw fit. I believe Warden Mancusi, who has been described as “unimaginative and old-school” (Time magazine), knew that the way he ran his prison was going to end and he resented the changes that were imminent. Warden Mancusi ran his prison using the “good ole’ boy” system of racism and ridicule and it is hard to imagine that he didn’t expect some sort of rebellion. Violence begets violence and I don’t believe most people will allow themselves to be treated horribly without some sort of way to fight back.
During the initial riot on September 9, prisoners overtook and beat the guards and employees before moving them into D Yard and protecting them from other prisoners. The prisoners formed protective “human chains” around the hostages and provided them with as much comfort as possible. The hostages were protected, from escape and other inmates, and were given medical attention and meals. On the first day, ten of the most injured hostages were released in order to receive the medical care they needed that could not be provided by the inmates. There was virtually no violence over the next few days while the inmates negotiated with officials, including New York Corrections Commissioner Russell Oswald. Oswald came into the prison, into the midst of D Yard and the hostage situation, to meet with inmates and negotiate their demands. I believe the demands were simple enough and, as previously stated, something the inmates should have already had. Commissioner Oswald had been recently appointed and was working to reform New York correctional institutions. He had already been meeting with officils to work on fixing some of the major problems at Attica prior to the riots.
The melee on the morning of September 13, 1971 is still cause for debate today. The New York State Police swept into the prison with orders from Governor Rockefeller to kill everyone on the catwalks, where the hostages had been moved. Admittedly, this order was given before the hostages had been moved and the police followed it implicitly. But the order should have been amended when the hostages were moved. I can only describe what happened that morning as a bloodbath. Inmates and hostages alike were shot and killed and some inmates were shot multiple times at close range. Reading how some of the inmates died outraged me. Being shot in the eye multiple times after having already been shot in the chest is nothing more than gross overkill. Even after Attica was reclaimed, law enforcement officials continue to torture and beat inmates with no provocation. They even went so far as to release false facts to the media regarding the hostages’ causes of death by saying they were killed when their throats were slashed by the inmates. Instead, the hostages who were killed during that bloody day were killed by gunfire.
I know that I come across in some of my other writings as somewhat cold and very pro law enforcement but reading about Attica shocked and appalled me. I worked in a jail for a number of years and never once saw the officers I worked with treat the inmates the way they were treated at Attica. We did have rules that needed to be followed but those rules were fair and allowed for both the safety of the inmates and the officers. We did open mail but only to extract money for the inmate’s commissary fund and to make sure no weapons were being sent. I never sat and fully read or censored a piece of mail and never opened a piece of legal mail. The inmates were allowed to shower twice a day if they wished and had access to telephones most of the day. They were also allowed to go to the gym and library twice a week and given opportunity to use the legal library. There were religious services and even GED classes to help the inmates work toward a better life upon their release. The jail I worked in was far from perfect but there was a measure of respect between the inmates and the officers. This respect was definitely lacking at Attica and I believe it was the cause for the riots.
October 9, 2006 at 2:48 am
Dawn Rash
Attica and Angola Prisons
October 4, 2006
Dawnkrash@hotmail.com
Humanities 6 online
Then Chief Justice Warren Burger makes a statement that says it all when he said , “The criminal justice system has broken down and inhumanity and injustice permeate the treatment of those convicted of crime.” When the Attica Liberation Faction took over the prison they did so as a last resort to the inhumane treatment from the guards and deplorable living conditions that they had been forced to endure over a long period of time. Victims of years of oppression will eventually rise to fight for their lives. With the exception of transport to a non-imperialist country and amnesty, the demands of the prisoners were all related to humane treatment. Warden Vincent Mancusi should have been replaced in my opinion because he condoned the inhumane treatment of inmates if not through word, though silence. Which is worse? Of the 2,250 inmates incarcerated at that time, 75% were African-American or Puerto Rican. Three hundred eighty three guards were European-American. Political climate at that time was extremely racist. Muske did not even want an African-American running mate for fear that he would loose the election for presidency. That attitude speaks for the times. The conditions in Attica and many other prisons were not managed with the goal to rehabilitate and cure the inmates. The secrecy and independence under which the prisons were managed also added to the demise of the inmates.
After all was said and done at Attica, it was the government officials and prison guards who were proved to be negligent and vicious. Although the hostages were held at knife point, in the end it was not the rebels who killed them. The national guard who stormed the prison shooting without clear view killed the hostages and the ringleaders, according to the Time article, Dawn Rash- Attica
whether they had surrendered or not. Oswald and Dunbar leaked the lie to the press that all of the hostages had been killed and mutilated by the inmates before the attack. The prison officials tried to cover the story up, but Rockefeller came clean. To add insult to injury, upon regaining control of the prison, the guards beat the inmates in retaliation. The only positive action to come out of the Attica riots was the attention brought to the public regarding the corruption in our correctional system. It would be difficult to witness this stand off without questioning the inhumanity in the treatment of inmates in our institutions.
According to Jeff Beck, the director Prison Visiting Project, Correctional Association, thirty five years after the riots in Attica, some progress has been made, but there is still far to go. Improvements have been made in the areas of communication between inmates and staff, services, rehabilitation programs and substance abuse programs. Staffing is still an ongoing issue at Attica. Attica now houses 63,000 inmates, 80% who are African-American or Latino. The number of staff has not grown at the same rate. There are many inmates who are not enrolled in the programs that are geared to help in the rehabilitation process. Also, because of the high numbers, medical care is inadequate. In a survey of 1000 inmates in 12 prisons, the abuse inmates receive at the hands of the guards is still the worse that Beck has seen. The survey indicated that 1/4 of the inmates report physical confrontation with guard and 60% reported verbal abuse. There is still the problem of retaliation for complaints. In order to change the system, Beck says that more active leadership from the new executive team approved by the next governor in the areas of monitoring the prison with cameras and engaging inmates in productive program.
Angola on the other hand, a prison that was once referred to as, “ the bloodiest prison in Dawn Rash-Attica & Angola
America” now according to the prison’s home page is a progressive prison that is proactive in rehabilitation. Angola Prison not only has a full medical facility, onsite college, industrial shops and farms, it maintains a professional rodeo. The profits from the rodeo are dedicated to the Louisiana Penitentiary Inmate Welfare fund. This fund is allocated to education and recreational supplies. Angola has five camps that are each staffed with a warden and his staff. Angola also support its own radio station and magazine. The most positive program in my opinion is the Pre-release program that is offered to the inmates within 5 years of their release date. This program ranges in topics from anger management to parenting skills. It seem that an inmate serving a sentence in Angola would stand a much better success rate in rehabilitation than that of an inmate serving a sentence in Attica.
In reading information about prisons, the inconsistency in method of incarceration is outrageous. I don’t understand how the criminal justice system can have so many different modes of operation from state to state. It seems to me that if a prison like Angola can demonstrate a successful turn in operations, other prison officials should follow their example to better serve the inmates in prisons across the country. Releasing inmates who are not equipped to function in society is not beneficial to anybody. Ninety five percent of all inmates will eventually be released back into our communities. Wouldn’t money be better spent in truly rehabilitating inmates than simply housing them again and again?
October 9, 2006 at 5:32 am
Page 1
Crystal Pardo
October 7, 2006
Angola & Attica State Prison
Pardofam4@sbcglobal.net
American Cultures 1395
Angola State Prison located in Louisiana was once known as the bloodiest prison in America, but is now known as a place of hope. The land in which the prison resides on was purchased in the 1830’s by a man named Isaac Franklin. By the 1950’s, the prison was known as one of the very worst prisons around. In 1952, 31 inmates cut their Achilles’ tendons in protest of the hard work and brutality. In 1972, the Governor and the U.S. courts ordered the prison to clean up once and for all.
The prison is still operating today and is considered to be the largest prison in the U.S. The prison land is on 18,000 acres and is close to the Mississippi border which causes constant flooding. The prison holds 5,000 inmates and has over 1,000 people employed there.
The prison now hosts a rodeo every year in April and in October. The inmates also produce the award winning magazine “The Angolite” in which they are free to publish whatever they choose and it is offered to the public. The prison also hosts a museum with all of their exhibits such as the old electric chair named “Gruesome Gertie.” This electric chair was last used for the execution of Andrew Lee Jones on July 22, 1991
A song called “Grown So Ugly” by Robert Pete Williams is known as referencing Angola. Williams was imprisoned in Angola State Prison so his lyrics consist of basic facts from what his experience was there and also for the other inmates. A few books have been written about the prison, but one that is titled “Cain’s Redemption” is known as the moving true story of the Warden at Louisiana State Penitentiary. The book is a powerful portrait of the legendary prison and the inspiring people on both sides of its gates.
Through minimal research on Angola State Prison I found it to be an incredible place to serve time at. Despite it’s horrible past and all the history behind it, I think this prison has made a turn for the best. I am sure there is so much more information out there on this prison, but to sum it up I learned that it was once a horrible place to be and now seems like a positive environment for the people that are there. Most prisons consist of a bunch of people living together to just serve their time, but at this prison and all that it has to offer to the inmates it almost seems like they are a big family working together. It would be nice to see other prisons offer more things like publishing a magazine, having museums and a rodeo so that the inmates could spend their time in prison more wisely and not have so much free time on their hands to hurt each other.
Page 2
Angola & Attica State Prison
American Cultures 1395
Attica State Prison located in New York is known for the horrible attack that took place over thirty years ago. It started out as a spontaneous riot then quickly became a highly organized rebellion. Orders from New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller sent about 500 state troopers in to the prison to attack. The troops fired more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition in nine minutes. The assault left 39 people dead, including ten guards who were being held as hostage.
Within minutes, the state retook the prison. But the repression was far from over. Prisoners were stripped naked and forced to crawl in the mud and walk on broken glass. They were physically assaulted, burned with cigarettes and threatened with castration and death. These torture practices continued for months.
When I think of the torture that these inmates had to go through I wonder where a person’s rights fits into the world. Yes what the inmates did was wrong to start the riot and try to take over the prison, but if that was to happen today I can’t imagine any prison torturing the inmates the way they did at Attica.
The prison tried to cover up how they tortured the inmates because they were afraid of what society would say or think. I guess it’s true what they say about something bad having to happen in order for something good to come out of it. I think this riot and how the Governor responded to it at that time was a lesson to the prison system on what not to do. I understand that over time things change and so does the prison system, so yes things have gotten better and some torture has stopped but not all. We still use execution and other forms of punishment that are ways of torture, but will that ever change?
It’s interesting to me that all prisons are run differently. I have visited two different prisons before and the person that I went to see in both of these prisons told me how different they were as far as receiving mail, visitation, yard time, privileges, eating and many other things. This person even told me of what prisons he would never want to end up in because of their reputations.
I think our prison system and all the prisons within it should all be on the same page. I know we can’t take back the past of all the horrible things that have happened and the people that were tortured in any prison, but we can learn from those mistakes and try to make things better for the future. Prisons should offer more ways of rehabilitation rather than sticking people into a place where they can only destroy themselves more.
October 9, 2006 at 5:52 am
Melissa Cook
Angola Prison and Attica Prison
Oct 8, 2006
eskimomissy@comcast.net
Human 6, Section 1395
Before this assignment I did not give much thought to Prison life or have much exposure to prison except for the Hollywood portrayal of them. The quote from the article The Shame of the Prisons, “But the system remains as immutable as prison concrete, largely because life behind the walls is still a mystery to the public”, definitely pertained to me. After reading the different articles and looking up information on the internet I am a little overwhelmed. I also didn’t realize how messed up our jail system is. In the same article it states, “52% of all people in jails have not yet been convicted of any crime. Of those, four out of five are eligible for bail but cannot raise the cash. Because courts are overloaded, unconvinced defendants linger in crowded cells for months or even years.” The just does not seem fair, to keep a supposedly innocent until proven guilty person in jail because the system is so overloaded, is just wrong. The conditions of the prisons are much worse. The article What are Prisons For? talks about prison as a punishment, and how the punishment can range form easy time to hellish time. “The experience of a given prison is indiscriminate: the car thief endures the same, day by day, as the angel-dust wholesaler and the habitual stomper of schoolchildren.” The prisoner is stripped of all his or her rights, goes to prison and becomes a number. This reminds me of Foucault and his theory of Bio power and diving practices. The guards are in power and the prisoner is just a number to be tracked and separated. It is a wonder how anyone can be reformed or rehabilitated in jail or prison. This shows by the high percentage of repeat offenders who usually end up back in prison. The prison system clearly needs to be reworked and changed. In The Shame of Prisoners it states “The failure of the American prisons, humane or inhumane, to change criminal behavior is hardly their fault alone. The entire American criminal justice system shares the blame.” And even if the person is somehow reformed they are unlikely to land a good job, because who wants to hire an ex-con or let them handle your money and be in charge of a business. In the same article it states “This also teaches ex-cons that crime pays because nothing else does.” All these thoughts are scary. It seems as if once you get into the system that you are basically screwed, and even if you get out and try to better yourself you are still screwed because who is going to hire you. I sure hope that I never mess up and end up on trial and not be able to afford a good defense.
The article about Attica was very disturbing. The conditions that the prisoners had to live in were appalling. It was no wonder they had a riot to try to correct those conditions. I feel like if I was in the same boat I would have rebelled too, especially if no one was listening to me or seemed to care. The massacre that ended the riot is unbelievable. The needless killing of the prisoners and guards is astonishing. And then to have not a single guard or anyone there at the Attica Riot was ever tired or convicted for wrongful death or torture is just wrong. It is hard for me to believe that no one was ever held accountable for all the killings.
October 9, 2006 at 2:20 pm
I guess I messed up. I didn’t realize that Pelican Bay/Prison Rape was for next week……
October 9, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Crystal:
“Through minimal research on Angola State Prison I found it to be an incredible place to serve time at. ”
I definately got this impression also, but I wonder if that is how prisoners view it. I have a strong feeling that brutality still exists, but that the prison has just created a better image of itself?
October 9, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Missy:
I took particular interest to your quote,
“Yes what the inmates did was wrong to start the riot and try to take over the prison, but if that was to happen today I can’t imagine any prison torturing the inmates the way they did at Attica.”
I have an opposite view, in that I do believe it could happen again. While I do think that things have improved, I think there is enough evidence to support continued prisoner brutality. With that, the chance for rebellion is high. I just think that our society is so caught up in our individual lives that nobody looks up to take notice, and we are spoon fed info by the governement and media.
October 9, 2006 at 10:28 pm
Ben:
I agree with you on what you said about how we continue to lock people away without considering the level of their crimes. Like I mentioned in my paper, the person I use to visit in prison was first sent to a maximum security prison with people doing life because the other prison he was supposed to go to was too full. So this person spent 4 days in a facility with people who had committed murder and he was in there for a possession charge. There seems to be something wrong with this picture.
October 10, 2006 at 7:52 pm
Corrine:
I agree with your statement about children needing postive displine relating to punishing the prisoners. This may be far fetched, but I feel that if the priosners had postive displine or any displine for that matter groiwng up then maybe they wouldn’t have turned out they way they did and in prison. My daughter is in preschool right now and the main focus of the school that she goes to is how to get along with others and how to function in society; i.e. the classroom and teachers. This is a lesson that she is learning a young age and will hopefully carried with her for the rest of her life.
October 11, 2006 at 4:28 am
After reviewing about the Angola prison I wonder how other institutions view Angola’s approach to imprisonment. I wonder if inmates of other prisons feel that they are being cheated out of other benefits that they could be receiving if they were in Angola’s population instead of at another prison.
I personally think that this approach is a worth while cause to help life time inmates lead a somewhat fulfilling life but I still go back to the thoughts that maybe they are given just a little too much. A rodeo? A think that’s a bit much for a person who should be serving time for a crime that they committed. What do you think?
October 11, 2006 at 4:36 am
Donna,
I also saw that video and found it interesting. But, what are your feelings on the idea of prisons being given the privilege to ride in a rodeo?
Don’t you think this is a bit much?
I think back and feel that we can kind of relate this to the Gladiator days. Prisons were given the opportunity to fight in the Gladiator events. This was a privilege. But the privilege came with a consequence. As almost all Gladiators perished during their events. All was entertainment to those who were not imprisoned. Now we are applying the same basic concept but with out the maximum consequence of death.
I am not sure I agree with this part of Warden Cain’s approach.
October 11, 2006 at 4:44 am
Crystal,
Although I agree with you at some level want to challenge your ideas. Your paper stated “It would be nice to see other prisons offer more things like publishing a magazine, having museums and a rodeo so that the inmates could spend their time in prison more wisely and not have so much free time on their hands to hurt each other. ”
Now personalize this statement. What if your brother or sister was raped or killed by someone and that person was now serving a sentence at Angola? This person as a privilege is now given the opportunity to fulfill a life time dream of theirs to ride a bull in a rodeo. How would that make you feel? Would you still think that this is a good idea?
I know personally looking at some of the programs that Angola offers I feel can benefit the inmates overall but to allow for such privileges as participating in a Rodeo I feel has gone just a bit too far.
I think we need to take a look at both sides not just the side of the prisoner but also the side of the victims and their families. There are two sides to each story and I think we are only focusing on one instead of both.
October 11, 2006 at 9:54 pm
Shanea:
Yes I do agree that if a person is incarcerated that it is a time of punishment, but from what I know from people who have served time in a prison is that prison is a place where they would get into figts, stabbing and other problems. So personally I feel that if inmates had other ways to spend their time, they may have less violence in prison. Don’t you think so? A rodeo may be something fun, but the inmates helped plan it together so I feel it was something productive for them.
October 12, 2006 at 2:44 am
Anyone up for a in class meting or a study group? i keep getting more lost
Oh the fun of online
October 12, 2006 at 8:10 pm
I got the same feeling about Angola as some of you. The programs they provide and the treatment of prisoners seems like a huge improvement from the past. It is an interesting point to ask if other inmates at other prisons feel they are being cheated out of the Angola benefits. I feel like the nations prison systems would be more effective if they followed what was going on at Angola. The only way for real rehabilitation to happen and be affective is if the inmates are afforded opportunities as they would outside prison walls. The more we treat them like ‘normal’ human beings, the easier it will be for them to get back into the swing of things once they are released. Otherwise, they will get used to the tough life in jail and bring it with them to the streets.
Shanea, I see what you are saying about looking at the side of the victims. I would feel horrible if the murderer of my family member was allowed all those freedoms. It’s never happened to me so I can only guess that’s how I would feel but I have to disagree in some part. I think everyone deserves a chance to better their life. A lot of the prisoners came from places where they never had these opportunities and all they ever saw was poverty or violence. That is no excuse for a criminal but at least they are able to find something that keeps them out of trouble, besides being in jail, and put something positive in their life. I agree with Crystal that it is something productive for them to do. I feel for the victims but part of the purpose of prison is to rehabilitate and Angola seems to be providing a good method.
October 13, 2006 at 12:53 am
Comparing Angola and Attica they seem to be two different places now adays. There a lot more freedom in Angola and i wished more prisons would take up that idea of reform. I wonder what the statistics for re-entry are from Angola, like whether many can make it out in the world without commiting another crime?
October 14, 2006 at 3:48 pm
I agree with Corrine when she talks about how a person who is denied rights will seek to find it elsewhere. Every person needs some sorce of power to feel alive. It is unfortunate that the flip side of power is the weakness of others who get over powered.
Jada’s statement about prisoners becoming numbers and therefore losing their human aspect is another negative side to our criminal justice system. Once humanity is lost, the objective to heal or care is lost as well.
October 14, 2006 at 7:34 pm
Dawn Rash
Rape in Prison & Pelican Bay
October 8, 2006
dawnkrash@hotmail.com
Humanities 6 Online
Foucault discussed five major critiques of the prison system that are still repeated almost unchanged to this day. Detention causes recidivism in that they were producing delinquents, not “corrected individuals.” Prisons bring together delinquents who collaborate with one another, making prison a setting for “anti-social clubs”. The status and marking and surveillance that come with being in prison promote recidivism and the prison indirectly produces delinquents by throwing the inmates family into destitution.(265-268) He also discussed the seven universal maxims of the good “penitential condition” which included such criteria as isolation by age, mental attitude, and stages of transformation. Work and educational programs are both essential to rehabilitation. (269-270) In researching Pelican Bay Prison, most of maxims are missing, at least when pertaining to the SHU inmates, which in turn reiterates recidivism rates.
I found an interesting contrast of information in the home page of Pelican Bay Prison and an excerpt, The Crime of Punishment, Pelican Bay Maximum Security Prison, by Cory Weinstein and Eric Cummins from the book, Criminal Injustice. In it’s mission statement, Pelican Bay State Prison boasts that it fosters innovative and collaborative environment that maintains safety and security for public, staff and inmates as well as speaking specifically to how it addresses gang members. The home page was quite short compared to the home page of Angola State Prison. It was definitely geared public image and no tolerance of infractions. Weinstein and Cummins wrote that while inmate to inmate violence is reduced in SHU, the level of mental and physical abuse perpetrated by guards against prisoners is extreme. Constant harassment, sensory
Dawn Rash-Pelican Bay
deprivation and isolation drives some inmates to aggression and others to insanity. I was appalled by the lack of human contact allowed inmates. Monitoring is done by video and speakers. The amount of money being invested in these state of the art prisons indicates that reformation doesn’t seem to be a priority as much as detaining inmates. These SHU’s target the Latino population and the message is clear that if you are affiliated with any gang, or even alleged to have gang affiliation you will be spending your sentence in SHU. According to Weinstein and Cummins, prisoners subjected to imprisonment in SHU will be released back into their communities untrained, untreated, poorer and more disenfranchised that when they left. Isn’t that a great recipe for recidivism? The never ending cycle continues.
While I was unable to view the video clip about Rodney, I did read all of the information on the web site. I will never understand how a child can be sentenced to an adult prison. This case is wrong on so many levels. First of all, the crime was non violent in that nobody was hurt. If someone had died, I would understand a steep punishment, but even then not in an adult facility. Any judge sentencing a child to an adult facility has to know that he is serving that child on a silver platter to acts of rape and violence, as do the prison officials who did nothing to help this poor child. Rodney was given a death sentence for lighting a garbage can on fire. What is even more horrifying is that no actions were taken to punish the rapists. What was the message to the public supposed to be in sentencing this case?
The stats on prison rape are astounding. Prison authorities claim that sexual abuse is exceptional, not a systematic problem, but that is far from the truth. The inmates have their own bio-power and hierarchy that set the rules of incarceration for the prison population.
Dawn Rash-rape and Pelican Bay
The dominate don’t view themselves as homosexual, but as power. Most rapists are not homosexual, nor are their victims. A friend of mine was sentenced to CYA many years ago. After his release we had a conversation that flashed back to my mind when reading this material. He said that he had to be a person who was brutal while incarcerated, one that I would not recognize and that he didn’t like. He did not go into detail for reasons that are obvious to me now, but it was clear that there is no middle ground just as this material indicates. The most heartbreaking point is that young offenders, (often first time offenders) are sentenced for nonviolent crimes and then housed with overpowering violent criminals, are broken spiritually and physically. Stats in the Human Rights Watch say that 35% of men raped in prison are severely impaired. Suicide is the third cause of death in prison, following AIDS. ( Both a tragedies from rape) It angers me that little to nothing is being done to stop this heinous cycle. Prison guards turn a blind eye and the burden of prove is nearly impossible to accomplish. Also, the victims of rape have to deal with retaliation from both the rapists and the guards who shown to be negligent. Again, the fact that prisons are not maintained on a consistent system throughout the country is brought up as one of the factors of getting a handle on rape and violence in the prisons.
October 15, 2006 at 12:53 am
Jereme Robinson Page 1
Angola & Attica State Prison
October 13, 2006
Preludekid212@aol.com
Human 6 – Section 1395
Foucault has one strong belief about the purpose of the prison systems. He believes that they were not used for the right thing, which is rehabilitation. The prison system to him is used to punish and make criminals into better criminals who will only get worse. Foucault says two very important quotes that prove this point: “Prisons do not diminish the crime rate: they can be extended, multiplied or transformed, the quantity of crime and criminals remains stable or, worse, increases…” (1975: 265). “Detention causes recidivism; those leaving prison have more chance than before of going back to it; convicts are, in a very high proportion, former inmates; 38 per cent of those who left the maisons cetrals were convicted again…” Foucault’s Point is kinds proven when you read about the history of Angola prison and how bloody it was. When I was reading some stories about Angola prison it sounded like a war zone and was creating even more evil people and I’m sure during the time punishment of inmates were a little different then now.
Angola State prison which is located in Louisiana had a pretty bad reputation until the late mid 1970’s. The prison was known as the deadliest prison in American, which only the badiest of the badiest went. Angola State Prison is still operating and has turned there bloody reputation around to a very positive prison where many people have found hope and rehabilitation. The Prison in the largest prison in the United States, holding over 5,000 inmates daily. I found information in the Angola State prison website about rehabilitation programs that the prison now offers that were proven to be very successful.
Jereme Robinson Page 2
Angola & Attica
The prison itself also offers a lot to care to the inmates by having a full medical facility Farms that are ran by the inmates, college programs to those who want to learn, and also the world famous Angola rodeo. The rodeo is donation events were all the profit earned goes to a Louisiana Penitentiary inmate welfare fund. These funds go to education and supplies in the prison. Angola Prison has one of best program to be established into a prison system. The program is called the Pre-release Program were starting from 5 years before their sentence is up the inmates can seek counseling in many different fields like parenting, anger management, and violence.
When reading information about Attica prison I really wasn’t happy with there programs. I think it’s because I read information about Angola first and saw how that prison really focuses there energy in rehabilitating inmates and not punishing them. Attica Prison is located in New York and houses most of New York’s badiest criminals. I was reading about the famous riot that took place inside the prison and really proved to me the theory the Foucault was talking about. The riot started as a basic prison riot but grew into a historic organized rebellion where after it was all said and done 29 inmates were killed but police and 10 guards were killed during the riot. After the riot was done the inmates that survived had no idea what they had coming to them. Reports show that the prisoners were stripped of there clothing and forced to walk on broken glass. Other reports show that the prisoners were even physically assaulted and burned several times with cigarettes. Foucault talks about torture in the prisons system and that shows you there that it does occur. I know the inmates started it first by rioting and killing 10 guards but prison guards and suppose to be professionals and to overcome there feelings. Attica Prison really hasn’t become much of a better prison. There are no reports since this incident where inmates were assaulted but they just don’t really have the goal of rehabilitation within the prison system. If I have the choice between Angola and Attica prison I would 100 percent pick Angola prison?
October 15, 2006 at 12:59 am
Corinne – I totally agree with what you said about how you can not rehabilitee someone if they don’t want to be. I believe that these programs only work for some people. It’s like with alcoholics, you can’t make them stop drinking and get help if they don’t want the help you are giving them. There should be like an “I don’t care plan” for those people…….Just kidding but you really made a strong point there.
October 15, 2006 at 6:08 pm
Ryan McGraw
Prison Life in Attica…
Through Foucault’s Ideas
10.11.06
The more I read about prison life the more I find myself going back over and not really believe what I read. It’s hard for me to understand the percentages of people and issues that are not cared about or even looked at. It seems that the government is just over looking a lot of things that it ought to be concerned about. I loved the quote in the article The Shame of Prisons bin Time magazine that said “Something is clearly wrong with a system that spends $1 billion a year to produce a failure record that would sing any business in a month.” I think it’s an excellent way of putting the system of things if you ask me. The deeper and deeper it got the more scared I was to read more because it seems like the prison system is like an “alternate universe” to everyone. There are a few expert people that really understand what is going on and talk about the huge differences that people pretend to understand. Everyone, being government officials in power that are able to do something about this information, just nods there head and agree and all sit around a table deciding to even believe what this person is saying. A whole lot of talking is going on, but a whole lot of action is not.
It was interesting to me that this article was written in 1971, and it was saying that prisons were just starting to see the light of overcrowding, but no one was really thinking about that situation. Everyone was already trying to figure out what really happened in the prison system. In a few of the articles I was shocked to find that people were dedicating there time to studying the affects of positive encouragement in the pinal system by helping inmates find ways to better themselves. I could not believe what two people had produced out of 10 prisoners. Think if that system was here today, how many people would it take to motivate one prisoner? How much money would it cost for these programs? I remember our guest speaker talking about an investment fund, and I cant quite remember all of the details but it seemed like he was talking about putting money into a certain fund when the prisoners got in to a mutual fund of some kind. This would expand the money for the prisoner, the prison, and for when the prisoner got out of jail he would have something to try and live on, instead of just walking out cold turkey with nothing but $150 and the shirt on his back. Why can’t the government focus on these programs? What is stopping them from doing so? Oh that’s right; the prison system is a business. I just wonder who is cashing in…
“…Law was not the path to social reform…” (Time 1971; American Notes) Its like hitting a golf ball and having it land in the lake, symbolizing the prison system. You never want to aim for the lake, it just always seems to find a way there. Once in the lake you basically forget about the ball and either get another one and try over, or just skip the whole all together. The ball symbolizes a person, being hit with a club, which would symbolize American Law all of which called the game of golf, would be symbolic to life. It almost seems to me like at some points during the prison riots at Attica state prison they were all playing a game of life. They had been using one stroke for to long and wanted to change it up and even the score. I never agree with life for a life, but its really sad that so many people had to die, in order for the public to see what a debauchery that whole prison system had becoming. Even Foucault believes that society cannot imagine a non-corporal punishment; we have to do right by locking up and forgetting about them, rather then reeducating people. This I believe, in support of Foucault’s ideas, that Self Referential Power is the most important issue in prison society today. Nothing else matters, or even worked as it has clearly shown us as well as education and believing in self worth. As Foucault says, it all “begins with the subjects own desire to become an auto-disciplinarian.” This is true for life, not just a correctional facility. The only way you are going to get anyone to listen or respond to anything you say or do is reaffirm there own self worth as how they see it, not as how you see it. “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink”, and this is where I think in lies the problem. No matter how many days and how many times you cram down an inmates throat that he is the scum of society, he will then always believe it, and never want to change. Over time there is a scab and the body recognizes this and changes itself to adjust to outside forces being verbal or mental. This in turn creates an introverted person that attaches to other introverted people and creates a domino affect. Now imagine if we could learn from Attica state prison, and instead of letting it get to a blood bath, educate, so next time prisoners don’t even think about killing or stealing, they think about how much better life would be if they could go have a beer anytime of day, because they are actually worth something as a human being. People may argue the point that they are in there for a purpose, because they did a crime, but we must remember even animals with brains thousands of times smaller then ours who are put in cages eventually grow rough, mean and disconnected. We test hair products and everything else on dogs and other animals, why can’t they help us understand how caging up people for long periods of time react? Oh wait we can, it’s called a zoo.
October 16, 2006 at 2:10 am
Ben Basque Pg. 1
Attica/Angola Revision
10/7/06
Human 6 1395
Reading the Louisiana State Corrections web site Angola seems to be a model for a reformed prison. It clearly has some great programs, but reading the web site Free the Angola Three @ http://www.prisonactivist.org gives a more sordid view of the “reformed” Angola prison. You can actually make donations to the cause of the Angola 3 locally in Santa Rosa.
Angola Prison had a history of being a terrible place and in 1975 it was ordered to make serious changes in its way of doing business. According to prison activist “there is a long tradition at Angola of families from West Feliciana Parish that worked for the penitentiary, inheriting jobs and positions, and maintaining the culture of racism, violence and corruption. (www.prisonactivist.org/angola/31years) From what I can tell this kind of thing no longer goes on at Angola. It appears that Angola does still have some “dirty little secrets”. From 1972 – 1975, 40 prisoners were stabbed to death and 350 more were seriously injured by stab wounds. (prisonactivist.org) During this time three men Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King Wilkerson “organized to protect and empower the weaker inmates and united prisoners together to demand better food, humane living conditions, eliminate armed inmate guards and to put an end to sex slavery.”(prisonactivist.org pg. 3) They also founded the only official prison Black Panther Party. Because of their activism they were set up by corrupt officials and put in solitary confinement. In 2001 Wilkerson was released because his appeal verdict said that he had been denied his constitutional rights to a fair trial. He served 29 years in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. This is not something from long ago this just happened and it still happening to the two other men. When you read the State web site it sounds like all the old wounds are rectified, but then you read the activist site and there are still unresolved issues from the past that have not been fixed.
As prisons go it seems like Angola is a better situation than most. They have education, medical care, self improvement curriculum and job skills, but it is still not a perfect place and there is still room for improvement.
Foucault believed that prisons “failed to eliminate crime……they succeeded extremely well in producing delinquency…” (Foucault 277) This statement says to me that the penal system is self sustaining; there is an economic advantage for some communities to have the prisons. The prisons provide jobs. By making sure that we continue to have criminals in large numbers we will generate more jobs and keep people employed. Prior to this weeks reading I had not looked at our penal system from that prospective.
Ben Basque pg. 2
Attica/Angola Revised
If our goals for prisons were really to reduce crime by punishment, we have failed. Our prisons are over crowded with inmates that are repeat offenders. Foucault saw this, “prisons do not diminish crime; they extended, multiplied, or transformed the quality of crime and criminals remain stable or worse, increase…” (Foucault 265) “the Inmate Nation is larger than ever before….prisons have nearly doubled their population.” (Time, What are Prisons For?
“The remarkable fact is not that prisons proved to be uncongenial places for moral improvement, but that it has taken so long for the U.S. to recognize and confess the folly.” (Time) I am not convinced that we as a whole have acknowledged our prison failures. Yes, we have some great activism, but it is not wide spread. Our government is responding slowly in addressing the issues. That fact that it took 20 years for the Attica atrocities to be admitted is proof of slow governmental response. Even though it has been admitted, it has still been brushed aside. The “go away”(Attica) pay out and
lack of culpabilities for the involved parties is proof of minimal acceptance of responsibility
October 16, 2006 at 2:19 am
Shanea- I can see your point about the Rodea actually seeming like a reward and in some ways it is, but another prospective is that the Rodeo has been going on since even before the reform in 1975. It has grown and brings in needed money for the prison. If they were to hold a “fund raiser” and hire cowboys they would not get the same return on their investment. By having the inmates “proform” they are helping to give some finacial support to themselves. Here in California we use inmates to fight fires and help in the community. We have work camps that are staffed by the Department of Corrections and Calif. Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection. This too can be seen as a reward, but they are paying back to society in a messurable way.
October 16, 2006 at 2:25 am
Jereme and Corinne- I agree with you that all offenders can not be rehabilitated. I feel we need to make at least one attempt at rehabiltation. If they don’t want it okay. If we don’t rehabilitate we are going to have to continue building prisons.
October 17, 2006 at 11:28 am
Jerome – I completely agree with your point that prisons do not rehabilitate everyone. In all of the stuff I have read in the past few weeks it amazes me how the number of people who are recidivists, especially the prisoners who are treated poorly while they are inside. Obviously there is something amiss with the prison system if the number of people on the inside is growing instead of shrinking.
October 17, 2006 at 11:34 am
Ben – Your statement about Angola being far from perfect made me wonder. Is there a perfect prison? I mean, perfect for the guards and employees is definitely not going to be the inmates’ version of perfect. While some guards might think that complete confinement with no yard time or visitation would be perfect (because it would make their jobs easier), it definitely isn’t humane. And while the inmates might think that being free to roam around and do what they want all hours of the day and night, that’s not really the definition of imprisonment and confinement. The question would be – is there a happy medium and will we ever find it?
October 17, 2006 at 6:21 pm
I read a lot about problems, but where are solutions to any of these issues. As i just read about pelican bay before comming back to this, I find that the only light at the end of the tunnel is more money for prisons. because thats what this is all about right? im sure we have all seen shawshank redemption. its obvious that people will do anything to stay a part of the things they value the most. sooooo how about give a human something to value. prison in most cases is suposed to correct mental issues by giving them time to “think about what they have done”. so how about this, our youth is being brain washed by MTV and reality shows, and i know im a victim. i buy beer because of brand, i wear trendy clothes because thats what you do. if prison is so much a society, why not advertise in there to. advertise to a much more controled atmosphere and well, yes, brainwash the convoluted minds that are running down more and more everyday. go ahead say it sounds bad, but really, who is stopping the media from raisin our kids? im sure not. so why not adapt society outside, to life “inside”. figure it out?!
October 18, 2006 at 12:46 am
Ryan~
Do you honestly believe that you don’t have control over your choices? You aren’t being brainwashed, you are making conscious decisions to be a part of what society considers “the norm”, i.e. hegemony – cultural force plus consent.
I do agree that the reform programs need more money, but I don’t think a commercial or other advertisement is going to convince tax payers to contribute anymore than we already are.
October 18, 2006 at 3:21 pm
I never said we didnt. but my point is that i find it interesting how we can be so heavy influenced to do one thing or another. take for instance our position with Korea. if you didnt watch tv or read the paper would you be scared that there might be a nuclear war? im saying that the perspective of media puts thing in our head, conscience and even sub-conscience. and who is to say the “norm” is even right, or if its just your perspective of the word. or even societies expectation. again im not saying i dont have a choice, because of course i choose what to do with my money. but out side sources help us to determine where it should go, like the media. so why not pump some of that to a more worth while cause. you know we have the money. i mean didnt the offer 5 million an episode per person to friends before they all decided to stop shooting? What do you think?
October 18, 2006 at 11:35 pm
Ryan I love your idea of inside out brainwashing. If those that are in prison claim to be so shaped by the environment they grew up in and blame that on the reasons and forces that put them in prison then why not brianwash them in the other direction? If they were so easily brainwashed to begin with would it be just as easy to brinwash them with some other way of life through media? Doing things can be easy but undoing them is a whole nother ball game.