And in respect of my earlier point Re: unfavourable conditions vs barbarism, an important point, is that such an environment as fostered by the latter, with an inmate constantly having no choice but to watch their backs against hostile encroachment upon personal space and if (or rather, WHEN) it happens, to demonstrate with extreme violence. Not only violence sufficient to end the immediate event, but also, in a 'dramatic' kind of way, to ensure that others seeing the event take place are made aware that the same would happen also to them, were they to try the same thing. To send a message that any messing with the person subject to attack will be met with extreme retaliation; this will, once become an ingrained pattern of behavior as it must do as a survival adaptation in such an environment of constant and unpredictable hostility, become the default response of the person in question without pre-release (or preferably during their incarceration mental healthcare accessibility that goes beyond simply continuing to medicate already diagnosed schizophrenics [and thats about as far as it gets inside], here, even in by far the best conditions)
The vulnerable, are as good as dead. And god help anybody who is LFA who were to get banged up, unless they were physically strong enough to beat the aggressor senseless or if not then of a very heavy-set build so as to deter people from trying merely by sight.
Even after putting weight back on, I was forced to fight for my life on a near daily basis. Until transferred, after something bad happened to somebody who attempted violence upon my person for the last time I was prepared to merely fight against, to max-sec at a different prison entirely, I don't remember there being a single day, other than those spent in solitary (the prison staff may not have known this, but this was to me, being autie, not a punishment, in fact they could well have used it in my case as a reward for good conduct, I'd actively try to get myself sent down the block since it meant not being surrounded by thugs, not being surrounded by the worst parts of society (bar the paeophiles. The vulnerable do have the option of requesting protective custody, but that means being housed in the same wing as the nonces, and it being assumed that the person in question IS a paedo, regardless of the reason. And its probably as unsafe as being in the main wings or more so. At least in the main section of the jails youre not likely to find ground up glass or poisons in your food, or human excrement. Never been in such 'protective' areas myself, but housing the vulnerable (for any other reason) with the sex offenders seems to me like a gross injustice way above and beyond the sentence handed down judicially as a function of legal due process, knowing that other, non-pervert offenders will take any and every opportunity available to make suffer, wound or kill anybody in this area of 'protective' custody. And from what I know of it, although never having been in this environment myself, having the only contact being through those in the hospital wing the screws themselves aren't particularly shy about joining in if they get the chance and cannot be seen to do it, and they certainly, from what I've been told by other inmates, won't lift a finger to break up a fight until it becomes obvious to all of the staff that permanent and serious injury or/and potential fatality is going to be the outcome (I.e they don't want the paperwork for somebody dying on their watch))
Once conditioning, and having to use that conditioning for potentialy many decades, its going to become ingrained deeply and a first response, making post-release violence more likely. And for those without a home to return to, being kicked out onto the street with nothing but whatever they are wearing, and whatever commissary they have at the time (I.e food, tobacco etc.) that gives them next to nothing to survive on, and their most basic need-food (water of course being more accessible without cost) an immediate concern, they are liable to get caught committing petty crime such as shoplifting just to put a meal in their stomachs, and when on parole, if caught, then sent back to serve the rest of their sentence, because they committed a further criminal offence, although petty, and for the direst of reasons (I.e do so and risk getting caught, or starve)
The employment prospects for ex-offenders are poor to near nonexistent for as long as the conviction is declarable so earning money legitimately is made extremely difficult also, leaving people with little recourse, getting hungrier and hungrier, weaker and weaker by the day unless the individual is extremely lucky. That is of course, for those either without family or those who do but which will not take the back.
If it wasn't for the fact I had family, and a place to return to, that is the situation I would myself have been forced into. I'd have had to steal, just to continue supplying my body with the carbohydrate and protein it needs to continue to function and have been on the street with nothing bar a few plastic bottles of drink, a few candy-type snacks of little nutritive value and some tobacco, papers and matches as well as the clothing on my back, were I most prisoners. I was in a sense, lucky, in that my family sent in, at my request, my personal stereo and music CDs, plus TIHKAL, PIHKAL and some other books. And during family visits, they'd buy food from vending machines and give it to me rather than eat it themselves, as well as send in some money for me to buy commissary food, and tobacco, since I couldn't do heavy manual labor courtesy of the joint injuries of old, and nerve damage resulting from the surgery I had on it and resultant mobility issues. (in the affected area of that leg its caused two effects, loss of sensation aside from pain, and below this, a constant and severe spasm of the calf. And inside I was denied even the myorelaxant I take to enable me to move properly and stop the calf muscle from being in severe, unremitting pain, the med in question also being somewhat hazardous physically to suddenly cease, being liable, in addition to subjectively most unpleasant rebound symptoms, to cause a massive and prolonged spike in blood pressure that in a severe case, or in the case of somebody with other cardiac or vascular issues could cause a heart attack or stroke)
There is a HUGE difference between 'negative reinforcement' and 'inhumane barbarism'
Jack-have you seen it from both sides? Have you ever had to stab somebody or stamp on somebody's face repeatedly just for the 'privilege' of sitting in your own cell to get some peace and quiet rather than going to the central communal mess-hall to consume your food, and to avoid having that food contaminated or outright stolen from you after a beating? Is this something you would condone as part of a judicial sentence?
