Prison's Epidemic of Dishonesty Among Prisoners and Staff

 The other day, I was talking with another prisoner about how often we hear people lying around us in prison. It's definitely at epidemic proportions. And most of it is absolutely unnecessary. 

I've always viewed honesty as an extremely important character quality. Of course, that didn't stop me from living a lie and holding a double standard about lying. Looking back, I don't know how I justified to myself holding honesty in such high regard while I practiced exactly the opposite. It makes no sense to me. 

I'm sure my own disgust at my prior dishonesty has only served to reinforce my view that honesty is critically important. Yet, I'm surrounded by lies. 

Many prisoners lie about everything. They lie about their conviction, about their "innocence," about money they owe to other prisoners, about their substance use in prison, and even about their past "successes" prior to prison. I've heard prisoners lying on the phone to their loved ones, usually about other relationships, money, and their activities in prison. 

The friend I was talking with about lies in prison said he even recently heard another prisoner tell someone on the phone that he found a rat's head in his food. The prisoner was trying to secure money, purportedly for food so he didn't have to eat in the chow hall. What he really needed the money for was more likely drug debts. 

It's true that prison food is terrible. It's the lowest quality food I've ever eaten, and it is often cooked poorly. The potatoes are always gritty from not being cleaned properly, and what little vegetables we're fed are usually animal feed quality and overcooked. But we don't have rat's heads in our food. 

One time in fifteen years I found a maggot in my food. It was a terrible experience and made me question all the food the prison fed me. It didn't help that I was accused of planting the maggot! As if I'd know where to even find a maggot... But cases like these are relatively rare. 

Prisoners aren't the only ones who lie in prison. Prison staff routinely lie to prisoners, and the entire system lies to the public and the legislature. Other prisoners call it "spinning" when a staff member lies to them. I call it what it is: lying. And it's at epidemic proportions even among prison staff. 

Nobody really holds any of these liars accountable. Prisoners often get away with lying, though sometimes another prisoner will call the liar out on his BS. Sometimes staff attempt to hold prisoners accountable for lying, but that seems highly hypocritical, given the frequency of lies among prison staff themselves. 

For prisoners to really change their criminal thinking and behaviors, they must make a commitment to deal only with the truth. We can't expect honesty to be modeled by prison staff, but developing the character of honesty shouldn't depend on others doing likewise. 

People convicted of crimes already have a trustworthiness problem, so if we're to recover, or build for the first time, trustworthy reputations, we have to begin by committing to the truth. Sometimes the truth is difficult, but when you're honest, you don't have to worry about keeping your story straight. It's a much more comfortable way of living. Trust me, I should know.