"Happy" Father's Day--in Prison?

  "Happy Father's Day!" I heard ringing out, back and forth, Partridge Family style, between guys in the hole during count time this morning. Huh, I thought to myself. What is there to celebrate about being a father? You're in the hole, in prison, and you can't even reach out to your kids. Great fathers. (Eye roll.)

Earlier, on my way to breakfast, someone cheerfully wished me a Happy Father's Day, too. I started to reply like a real Scrooge. After all, my father died a few years ago, and I've been one of the lousiest fathers I know. I'm not even sure I can call myself that any more. 

Knowing this guy and the dozens that would follow are simply trying to inject a little joy into the day, I replied, "Thanks. Same to you." But my heart wasn't in it. My heart was too weighed down with regret to feel any joy. 

God knows I've been accused of being a terrible dad, and I'm not in any position to argue. But being a dad was the best thing that ever happened to me. Yes, I failed miserably at it, but I can never deny that being a dad brought me more joy in life than anything I've ever done. 

Still, I live daily with the complex emotions of regret and nostalgia. I wish I had been a better father. I wish I had been the father I'd always wished I had. I might have felt judgmental towards the deadbeat dads in the hole, but I feel far more judgment towards myself. 

I'll never be able to make up for these lost years, and I'm not sure I could ever earn the title "Dad" again, but I've never lost the pride I had in being a father. 

To all the dads who stayed the course, who were there for their kids when most needed, who have earned the privilege of being called Dad, Happy Father's Day!

Reactive Lawmakers Work to Make Michigan's Prison Crisis Worse

 

Michigan has had a crisis in its prison system for years now. The MDOC is severely understaffed, and it's been that way for a long time. Last I heard, they are still short over 1000 corrections officers. Despite the prison population declining from a high of over 50,000 prisoners to just over 32,000 today, the staffing problem persists.  Additionally, Michigan prisoners serve, on average, longer than prisoners in any other state in the Union. We also have a very large population of lifers and people serving sentences long enough to be life in prison (plus some!). Some of these statistics are because Michigan has no form of good time for prisoners to earn time cuts. Another reason is because Michigan has long mandatory sentences for several crimes.  Recently, several out of touch lawmakers introduced a package of bills in the Michigan House that would result in a drastic increase in our prison population, mainly because of more, and much longer, mandatory sentences.  House Bill 5704, and its attendant bills, would increase the sentence lengths of dozens of crimes, making minimum sentences mandatory and leaving open the possibility for excessively long sentences, even up to life in prison. For more than two dozen crimes, this bill would increase the minimum sentence. For example, illegal possession or transportation of a firearm by those with specific prior offenses currently has a 5 year maximum sentence. This bill would change that to a 5 or 10 year *minimum* and allow up to a life sentence for the same crime. Retail fraud currently carries a 5 year maximum sentence, but this bill would make 5 years a mandatory minimum and allow up to a life sentence. For retail fraud?! What are these lawmakers thinking? For some crimes, this bill would double the current maximum sentence and make it a mandatory minimum (i.e. a 10 year max would become a 20 year minimum). Felony stalking, which currently has a 1 year max, would become a 2 1/2 year minimum, and allow up to life in prison.  In addition to setting mandatory minimums for these and other crimes, this bill would allow up to life sentences for the following crimes: Assault, battery, domestic violence, home invasion, interfering with a witness, child abuse, accosting a child for immoral purposes, child sexually abusive material, embezzlement, escape from a correctional institution, malicious threatening, false pretenses, discharging a gun from a motor vehicle, manslaughter, larceny, kidnapping, fleeing and eluding, various criminal sexual conduct charges, identity theft, welfare fraud, certain drug possession or distribution charges, medicaid fraud, and personal protection violations. Yes, the courts could sentence you to life in prison for violating a PPO under this ridiculous bill. None of these crimes are okay, obviously, but mandating longer sentences is not going to solve anything. It will only make the prison population and staff shortage problems bigger. Furthermore, scientific studies have already proven that longer sentences do not make communities safer. Crime must be addressed, and even punished, but longer sentences will not solve the problem.  While most states are slowly aligning themselves with current scientific conclusions about criminal justice reforms, Michigan is doing just the opposite. Why are our lawmakers so out of touch that they still believe, even in the face of staffing failures, that longer sentences will be more just and the solution to crime? It demonstrates a lazy approach to problem solving and a complete lack of touch with reality.  I hope that the Michigan legislature will ignore this bill like they have all the good criminal justice reform bills that have died in committees this legislative calendar. It isn't worth the paper its printed on. Maybe if they'd seriously consider reforms that would reduce the prison population without endangering communities, they'd actually begin to solve problems instead of creating them.

Observing the Dehumanization of Prisoners in Crisis

 Sleep deprivation, bright lights, nakedness, exposure, and isolation. You might think of these as devices of torture used by various countries (including the U.S.) in military situations. And so they are. But they are also used by the Michigan Department of Corrections to deal with "difficult" prisoners. 

When a Michigan prisoner threatens self-harm, has a medical emergency that requires monitoring, or has a mental health crisis, the Department puts that prisoner on observation. Sometimes, observation is even used as a punishment for threatening behaviors. The prisoner is stripped naked, given a quilted smock with velcro, and placed in an isolation cell. The cell has cameras, and the lights are bright and left on 24 hours a day. 

At SMT, the "isolation cells" are in my housing unit where hundreds of prisoners walk by, ogling the isolated prisoner throughout the day. The isolated prisoner is able to communicate with other prisoners by shouting through the grated bars, but there is no privacy, even when the prisoner needs to use the bathroom. Because the isolated prisoners are allowed to keep nothing in their cell, they even must ask for toilet paper if needed. 

These prisoners are denied showers, deodorant, and even soap to wash their hands, for sometimes a week or more. They must wear the same smock until they are released from observation. They are also allowed one quilted blanket (no pillow), and no socks or underwear, even in the coldest months of the year. When our housing unit lost heat and other prisoners were issued extra wool blankets, prisoners on observation received one extra quilted blanket. They continued to have to sleep on a bare plastic mattress.

Prior to about a decade ago, prisoners on observation were observed by corrections officers who sat outside their cell, monitoring their every movement. Most of the time, officers were paid overtime to sit with these prisoners, and it cost the state "too much" money. 

To save money (and thereby allow expansion and extension of the observation program), prisoners were trained as "Observation Aides" and paid $3.34 for a three hour observation period (less than 3% of what it would cost to pay an officer for the same time period). The training consists of a one hour class that focuses on the technical aspects of observation. These prisoners are allowed to talk to the observed prisoner, but they are discouraged from offering advice or "counseling" the prisoner in any way. 

Most Prisoner Observation Aides (POAs), as they are called, will engage the observed prisoner in conversation if prompted, but few try to initiate interaction with these prisoners. Their training provides no focus on therapeutic engagement. The goal is simply observing the prisoner to prevent self-harm. 

When medical staff check in with these prisoners, usually twice a day, the check in involves the following (often after waking the prisoner): 
"[Prisoner Last Name]. Do you feel like harming yourself or others?" (The answer is almost always, "no.") "Okay. Here's your medication." A psychologist will then check in with the prisoner every few days. Only a psych can release the prisoner from observation.

I fail to see how placing a suicidal prisoner in isolation is therapeutic in any way. Isolation, sleep deprivation, light torture, and the shame of exposure would make most prisoners feel MORE suicidal, not less! I get that some of these prisoners simply need a little time to get through their difficult thoughts, but these conditions are dehumanizing, and they certainly don't encourage a person to have hope. 

But, since prisoners are seen as commodities, numbers, and not as people with dignity, it doesn't surprise me that we are treated in such dehumanizing ways. Prisons are full of people with mental health issues, since Michigan closed most of its mental hospitals decades ago. Furthermore, prison is a hopeless and terribly depressing environment, so the stream of prisoners "needing observation" never ends. We could, and we should do better.

There's Nothing Special About Prison Food

"I was really looking forward to that holiday meal," Roger bemoaned. "But, man! I was sorely disappointed!"

Our Memorial Day meal is one of the few "holiday meals" served in prison. It's supposed to be "special," a welcome break from the monotony of prison's bland fare. Or at least that's what people new to prison, like Roger, think. 

Today's meal sounds decent on paper. Two hot dogs, coney sauce, beans, coleslaw, potato wedges, condiments, apple crisp, and ice cream. The problem is, the half-cup of beans were crunchy and tasted like they were half way burnt and half way freezer burnt. The potato wedges were baked "fries" that were rubbery and undercooked. They also had a strange, dull brown hue to them. The coleslaw was half-way decent, but it was no KFC slaw. One plus was the one ounce of relish and one ounce of coney sauce with our dogs. It's the only time of the year we see either. 

The desert wasn't too bad. The cold crisp wasn't crispy, except the apples that were undercooked. But it was edible, and the half a cup Styrofoam container of ice cream was good. We also had two hot dogs rather than the one we get with our normal hot dog meal. 

If you were to look at our prison menu, you'd probably think we were eating pretty decent most days. But the reality is quite different. It's so different, in fact, that most officers no longer will even eat the free meal they're offered. 

For example, the menu says we get "French toast" once a week or so. The French toast is really a thin and very dense piece of bread pudding that resembles French toast about as much as Monopoly money resembles U.S. currency. 

Our menu also includes Salisbury steak, which is nothing more than a single meatball (which prisoners call "cat head") that tastes suspiciously like it isn't meat at all. It also comes with mashed potatoes and gravy, but the potatoes, which we get with many of our meals, are never washed. They're so gritty with dirt they're inedible (unless you're hungry enough to eat them). They are also rarely mashed. Most of the time, they are just cooked so much and have so much water added to them, I call them dishwater potatoes. 

The menu also says we get turkey ham with beans and rice. The turkey ham is just bologna, and the beans and rice are mush. The meatballs and rotini noodles aren't bad if the noodles aren't overcooked and if you don't eat the meatballs or red sauce included. Yes, I'm talking about eating plain noodles. 

Furthermore, every meal includes some sort of vegetable, according to the menu. This usually consists of animal feed quality corn, or overcooked green beans, or (thankfully) edible carrots. Or it may be "salad," which is basically browning lettuce with a "ranch dressing" that is very heavy in garlic. 

I suppose on a day like Memorial Day, I shouldn't be complaining about the menu in prison. Instead I should be honoring the men and women who have given their lives for our country. At least I'm still able TO eat, even if it's barely edible prison food. 

One thing's for sure though. You'll never hear me reminiscing about the "good old days" in prison when the food used to be good (I do hear these stories at times). Nope. I'd rather use this horrible food as just another motivator to live my life right and stay out of prison. As Roger has recently learned, there's absolutely NOTHING to look forward to in prison, except getting out one day.