For the past three years of my life I sat in an old, filthy, vile cell. It wreaked of god knows what anymore. I would have done anything to leave this place. I would not even mind being moved to solitary confinement, at least the I would have a change in scenery. The only thing I would look forward to every day was the one hour of recreation we had outside. It was nothing like my old life, but I deserve to be in here.
My first day in here was nerve wracking. I was nervous to see how I would be treated, and who I would have to spend the next twenty years of my life with. Luckily, I was not placed with a psychotic maniac. Vince, my cellmate and I rarely talked when I first arrived. He did not seem as if he wanted to hear my life story, so I
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I thought what I had done was bad, but knowing that I would sleeping in the same room as an accomplice to murder, slightly scared me. I told myself to ignore what Vince told me, or else I would bring it up and say something stupid along with it.
After being in here for six months I did not feel as bad as I thought I would. I never had any problems with other prisoners, and my cellmate was my friend. I thought life was going great, that prison was not so bad, but I guess I was wrong.
Everyone who was new in here was terrified, so I would never get caught up with them, but not this guy. His name was Mike Ruther. Mike was moved here for good behavior from maximum security. I had known who Mike was before coming here. Everyone did. He was found guilty of two acts of second degree murder, and was sentenced 45 years in prison with parole in 30 years. I was trembling. How could someone decide to move a person like Mike him into a place like this. Everyone was talking about him. No one here would ever even think of going up against him.
As he was walking past me to go into his cell he overheard me saying I was scared of him. When someone like Mike Ruther hears you are scared of him, he will strive to make you tremble by just looking at him. I regretted saying what I said the moment it went out my
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Everyone had gone into the room ready to watch the movie. When I went in the restroom I saw one guard waiting outside for me, but when I came out no one was there. I was slightly worried, but I did not think to much of it. As I was walking downstairs to go to the screening room, three guys walked up to me. To my surprise it was Mike and his prison gang. I was nervous. My heart beating a mile per second. I thought I was going to die. That is when it came to me that Mike payed of the guard to leave so no one would see him. He pulled out a small pocket knife and started threatening me. I was scared for my life. Terrified to be honest. Right when the sharp blade of the knife grazed my neck, Vince walked in with a guard. Mike and his gang played it off and walked away. I was so grateful of what Vince had done for me. I would probably be dead if it was not for him. Without saying a word, Vince walked straight back into the screening room to continue to watch the movie. I wanted to thank him for saving me, but I was unable to find
sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The case against him was largely
What disturbed me is that although the prisoners have committed a crime, it is wrong for the wardens treat them like “animals”. It is astonishing that the inmates are able to survive through each day. If I was expected to eat the rotten food, I would choose not to eat, which would have eventually lead to starvation. I am aware that the feeling of starvation is unbearable, it’s almost like if there was something stabbing through your guts. Previously mentioned, I would rather just get shot because if I was an inmate in the cell, I would end up not eating anything at. This will then lead to death, whereas getting blasted by a gun would be faster and significantly more
Solitary confinement treats prisoners like animals by locking them in a secluded cell by themselves. Many of the prisoners may develop psychological disorders due to being isolated with no human interactions. Many taxpayers pay for the amount of time they stay in solitary confinement. The conditions of the confinement can be harsh and brutal to many of the inmates. What if you were put in solitary confinement with these conditions, would you want others to experience the life that other inmates have gone
Since the early 1800s, the United States has relied on a method of punishment barely known to any other country, solitary confinement (Cole). Despite this method once being thought of as the breakthrough in the prison system, history has proved differently. Solitary confinement was once used in a short period of time to fix a prisoners behavior, but is now used as a long term method that shows to prove absolutely nothing. Spending 22-24 hours a day in a small room containing practically nothing has proved to fix nothing in a person except further insanity. One cannot rid himself of insanity in a room that causes them to go insane. Solitary confinement is a flawed and unnecessary method of punishment that should be prohibited in the prison system.
The effects of prolonged isolation for inmates in confinement cells are obsessive-compulsive tendencies, paranoia, anger-management issues, and severe anxiety (Sifferlin, Alexandra). Along with the basic concepts such as food, water, and shelter, there are two other basics that Dr. Terry Kupers states are required for human wellbeing: “social interaction and meaningful activity. By doing things we learn who we are and we learn our worth as a person. The two things solitary confinement does are make people solitary and idle” (Sifferlin, Alexandra). Isolation and confinement remove prisoners’ ability to perform significant tasks and act as a part of society. This dehumanizes the inmates because they are no longer able to understand their role as a human being. One inmate, Jeanne DiMola, spent a year in solitary confinement and expressed her thoughts while in the cell: “I felt sorry I was born … Most of all I felt sorry that there wasn 't a road to kill myself because every day was worse than the last" (Rodhan, Maya). In DiMola’s opinion, a death penalty more than likely would have felt more humane than the isolation she experienced. Another prisoner, Damon Thibodeaux, stated, “Life in solitary is made all the worse because it 's a hopeless existence … It is torture
Solitary confinement was created by the Quakers who thought prisoners would use the time to reflect and study the bible. Even they thought it was a bad idea after seeing its effects. It finally went out of practice for awhile but since is used around the world for people the guards don’t want to deal with. With solitary confinement a person is kept in a room the size of a king sized bed for up to 23 hours a day. Which can cause severe and permanent brain damage. In one case of Kalief Browder "He was held in solitary for almost two years before his case was completely thrown out. He never even went to trial, but still suffered through solitary. After he was released, his family said he would just hole up in his room for days. He committed suicide,” (Gonnerman). He was arrested at sixteen years old for robbery and this is what happened. Human are social creatures, take that away and it can cause mass hallucinations, and
While in solitary confinement, prisoners develop anxiety, depression, fear, irrational anger, suicidal ideation, social withdrawal, and mood swings. Prisoners can be murderers, but they don’t deserve to be tortured by putting them in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is supposed to correct a prisoner’s behavior, but what they don’t realize is they aren’t correcting but making it worse. According to Atul Gawande, prisoner’s loose ability to initiate any behaviors or stop behaving if they have been in solitary for more than months and in some cases extreme restriction can cause prisoners fantasies of taking revenge or trying to suicide. As Brayan Stevenson stated in All God’s Children, one of the prisoners described as a “cutter”; he would use any sharp thing on his food tray to cut his risk of suicide and attempt many times while he was in isolation.
...ple. Before this experience, I do not think I could have ever said I respected a convicted burglar or any criminal. These were humans who made incredibly bad decisions, but that does not mean they do not deserve a second chance if they are willing to change, some aren’t, but I emphasized for the prisoners who were. Prison is a lot of their second chances. “I am lucky to still be alive, if I were not here (in prison), I most likely wouldn’t be alive,” exclaimed one prisoner. This experience allowed me to be thankful for the life I was given, the home I grew up in, and how my parents raised me. I cannot say I would not walk into a prison frightened and with preconceived thoughts again because I would be lying. I have been taught by society to be scared of these people, but I am thankful I can say I did meet kind, remorseful prisoners waiting for their second chance.
The guard kept walking and mumbled something that sounded like spoiled brat. I rolled my eyes, and knew my trick had worked. I opened the message app on my phone and texted Brantley, my life long best friend, the message read, “See you at the coffee shop in DC. I’ll be working if you need me.” “Okay,”was his response.
Prisons exist in this country as a means to administer retributive justice for those that break the laws in our society or to state it simply prisons punish criminals that are to receive a sentence of incarceration for more than one year. There are two main sub-cultures within the walls of prison the sub-culture of the Department of Corrections (which consists of the corrections officer, administrators, and all of the staff that work at the prison and go home at the end of their day) and the actual prisoners themselves. As you can imagine these two sub-cultures are dualistic in nature and this makes for a very stressful environment for both sides of the fence. While in prison, the inmates experience the same conditions as described in the previous
Imagine sitting in a tiny cell for the years at a time slowly but surely losing your mind. This is what many prisoners in the American prison system face today. Solitary confinement is when an inmate is isolated from any human contact, often with the exception of members of prison staff, for 22–24 hours a day, with a sentence ranging from days to decades. This cruel and unusual punishment is used by prisons daily throughout the country. Atul Gawande, a surgeon, public health researcher, and author for The New Yorker writes the article ¨Is Long-Term Solitary Confinement Torture?¨, successfully convincing the reader that solitary confinement is nothing less than unreasonable torture.
I stood there just staring I could not move. Every time I moved o\n took a breath I felt him getting closer. Quickly, I had to do something but I did not know what. I feel like he has a gun or a weapon but I do not know for sure. I was 5’4 and 87lbs., and this guy had to be at least 6’9 and 250lbs.. There was no way that I would win in a fistfight so I just had to sit there and hope he would not see me hiding. I decided to run, I got shot in the leg.
With out actually being in prison it is hard for a person to grasp what it would actually feel like. The media gives us some idea but they are usually sugarcoated and do not give an accurate portrayal of prison life. A constant routine and hours of boredom constitute part of prison life. It is unfortunate that some people in our society are so bad that they have to go to such a facility.
It was dark that night, I was nervous that this dreadful day was going to get worse. Sunday, October 23, 1998 I wanted to start writing this to tell about the weird things i’m starting to see in this new neighborhood. Gradually I keep seeing pots and pans on the sink suddenly move to the floor. I would ask my sister but she is out with my mom and dad getting the Halloween costumes. When they got home I didn’t tell them what I saw because i've seen Halloween movies and I have to have dissimulation otherwise the ghost will come out and get me first. October 24, 1998 I think I got a little nervous yesterday with the whole ghost thing. 12:32pm, Went to eat lunch with the family today and I go to get my coat. I heard the words furious and madness,
Once upon a time, I saw the world like I thought everyone should see it, the way I thought the world should be. I saw a place where there were endless trials, where you could try again and again, to do the things that you really meant to do. But it was Jeffy that changed all of that for me. If you break a pencil in half, no matter how much tape you try to put on it, it'll never be the same pencil again. Second chances were always second chances. No matter what you did the next time, the first time would always be there, and you could never erase that. There were so many pencils that I never meant to break, so many things I wish I had never said, wish I had never done. Most of them were small, little things, things that you could try to glue back together, and that would be good enough. Some of them were different though, when you broke the pencil, the lead inside it fell out, and broke too, so that no matter which way you tried to arrange it, they would never fit together and become whole again. Jeff would have thought so too. For he was the one that made me see what the world really was. He made the world into a fairy tale, but only where your happy endings were what you had to make, what you had to become to write the words, happily ever after. But ever since I was three, I remember wishing I knew what the real story was.