Set up to Fail, but Still Responsible for One's Choices

So many of the outcomes in our lives are the results of choices. It's a common human condition, I suppose, for us to choose badly, and then to have to live with the consequences of those choices. For those of us in prison, we're living with the consequences of our choices prior to prison. Yet, we're also living, even now, with the outcomes of our choices in prison. 

Yes, things beyond our control happen in our lives, and often those things influence the choices we make. But it's the space between what happens to us and our responses to those things that really matters. That's where our choices lie. 

I believe that we are responsible for our choices, even those choices where the circumstances outside of our control almost pushed us into the poor choices we made. Socialization matters, in other words, but it does not remove our responsibility. That's a difficult thing to articulate without sounding like one is minimizing responsibility.

I know a man, I'll call him "T," who is in prison for the second time (at least). When he was around four years old, he witnessed his mother stab two people to death. She then turned the knife on him and tried to stab him to death, but he survived. His mother is serving multiple life sentences in prison. These circumstances were completely out of his control, yet they affected him and shaped him into the person he is today. 

T's first prison sentence was for stabbing someone (who lived). It's not surprising, given what happened to him. But he is still responsible for the crime he committed. His experiences did not determine his choices, but they certainly influenced them. 

T's father is also serving several decades behind bars, so he was raised without his father and without a sane mother. He also has autism, which led him to be socially and intellectually stunted. He's now a perfect target for gangs to use him for their dirty work. Recently, he ended up in segregation (the hole) exactly for that reason. Still, he made choices and now lives with the consequences. 

We cannot excuse T's behavior due to the experiences of his life. He is still responsible for his choices. But neither should we dismiss the experiences that shaped him into who he is today. His entire life begs for compassion. If he is to change his choices, and thus his life, in a positive direction, he has to address his childhood trauma. 

While the Michigan Department of Corrections has psychologists and social workers, their case loads are overwhelming. Some are fantastic (from what I hear), while others aren't so great. Furthermore, their "help" is a documented part of each prisoner's official file. There's no patient confidentiality, so many prisoners with past traumas choose to not get the help they need. 

I recently heard a statistic, that somewhere around 40% of prisoners have a documented mental health problem. With statistics like this, and with childhood traumas like T's, it's no wonder that so many prisoners return to prison again and again. No cognitive behavioral therapy classes are going to solve the underlying problem when it is a matter of untreated childhood trauma and mental health diagnoses. 

Prisoners are complex people, like anyone else, so solving the "crime problem" is going to require complex solutions. Longer and harsher sentences aren't going to solve the problem, and neither is excusing bad behavior because of one's past. Partisan solutions only deepen the problem. The solution lies, instead, somewhere in the combination of compassion and accountability.