Two-Tiered Justice in Prison Protects Prison Staff While Punishing Prisoners

 I know I'm stating the obvious, but prisons exist as a punishment for law breakers. When people can't or won't abide by society's laws, jail or prison sentences are a likely consequence. Obviously, then, prisons are full of people who don't like to follow the rules. 

What isn't so obvious, though, is that it's not only the prisoners who don't like to follow rules. Prison staff doesn't either. 

I've been rather astonished and frustrated by how commonplace it is in prison for administrators and officers to completely ignore the rules (including laws and prison policies). Meanwhile, prisoners are held accountable, through the use of misconduct tickets and potential sanctions (time in the hole or loss of privileges), for refusing to follow the rules. 

Some prisoners like to file lawsuits against the Department of Corrections for their rule breaking. Often these lawsuits are dismissed because administrators and officers are usually protected by "immunity" claims. There's very little accountability. 

Additionally, prisoners can write grievances and, in fact, are required to file three steps of grievances before we can file lawsuits. These grievances are heard by a coordinator at each prison who, in my fifteen years of experience in prison, nearly always rubber stamps grievances, denying them. Step II grievances are heard by the Warden's office and Step III grievances are heard by administrators in Lansing, both of whom also rubber stamps denials.

When prisoners try to hold prison administrators accountable, even for gross violations of policy, those prisoners are labeled a nuisance. Often, a prison will deal with nuisance prisoners by using "diesel therapy." They'll simply transfer the prisoner to another prison to make it difficult for that prisoner to follow through on grievances. This also (rather effectively) seeks to dissuade grievance writing.

To be transparent, some prisoners do abuse the grievance process and write frivolous grievances, sometimes many of them. But many other prisoners are simply trying to resolve an issue where prison staff violated policy or where prison conditions necessitate the grievance. It doesn't matter, though, how valid a grievance is. The result is almost always the same. Denied! 

I don't know how prisoners are supposed to learn that their consequences have actions and that being held accountable for bad behavior is a good thing when prison staff protect themselves from accountability. 

News reports, of late, have highlighted accusations of a two-tiered justice system, as if it's something new. That's the way the justice system has operated for a very long time. It only matters to the public, though, when someone with power makes the claim that he's being unjustly treated. What about all the powerless people in prison (or those facing prison) who have been, and sometimes continue to be, treated unfairly? 

I don't know how to fix these systemic problems in the justice system. They are deeply entrenched. But, I do know that justice is measured not so much by how the system treats the powerful, but by how it treats the powerless. If we want to be a country known for its just treatment of citizens (and non-citizens), we have to start by making sure those who work in the justice system are held accountable to the same standard as those it holds in punishment.