I can see both sides of this, plus another, maybe more frightening dimenstion.
On the way out of Straight, I chanced to spend a couple of months (I think) in Cobb County and then Macon County juvenile detention centers. These were supposed to have been among the toughest in the country. Not for the calibur of inmates, but because of the strict and unforgiving staff.
Well, the first day was horrible! I cried and was absolutely terrified! But none of the things I was afraid of ever actually happened. It was boring, to be sure. Endless games of gin rummy in the day room to the soundtrack of endless daytime TV. But, once a week, we got to spend an hour down the hall in a classroom, where a real teacher would help kids study whatever they wanted or not, so long as we were quiet and respectful of those others who did want accademic help. I realized that this was probably the very same facility where my sister had spent about 6 weeks and I spent my time reading all of the Jules Verne books in the library. By comparison, day for day, juvenile detention was an absolute vacation!
But that's not the same thing as a 20 year sentence in state prison. Given the choice between another stint in the mind-fuck-mill and a long prison sentence, well the only reason I might choose prison would be to demonstrate against mind-fucking. But (and here's the third dimension I mentioned above) don't look now, but they're implimenting the Program in our prison, jail and parole and probation systems!!
Ask Ed Forchion about that. Ask anyone who's ever spent time in a Florida prison how they go about disciplining inmates who complain, foment dissent or otherwise don't go along with the program. One of the first tier punishments is to make the inmate sit bold straight and still on their cot for a number of hours, staring directly at the wall in front of them. If they're not in that position or if they're humming or otherwise seeking diversion when the guard checks the surveilance monitor or looks in the door, they start all over again, sometimes with hours added. For almost any crime, an inmate can reduce their sentence and gain other inducements by going through the boot-camp and/or the therapeutic community based work release program.
So, at this point, it's almost 6 of these vs. half dozen of the other. Some of these folks
are in the Program
and with a 20 year sentence!
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.
--Charles Austin Beard
