Heidi Ruesch
CJ
A Prisoner’s Justice
There are a couple of reasons why I chose the topic that I did. First off, I have always loved the
TV show prison break. It is one of my favorites, in the end of course you are rooting for the
inmates but it is because Lincoln is innocent of the crime and he will be executed for a crime he
did not actually commit. I know that TV shows always exaggerate things and make them more
unrealistic then they actually are but I still love the show and wonder sometimes how
exaggerated it actually is. This is also a topic that i have learned a lot about because I dated a
man that went to prison. I will be using part of his story throughout my paper as well. I have
always been intrigued with the life of a prisoner and how they live their life carrying out their
sentence. To me the real justice isn’t just, you are sentenced to five years but it is actually the
five years that he is in prison for the crime he committed. I think understanding what the inmate
is going through during that time, in some ways makes you see the justice that he really gets for
committing the crimes. I loved that in the textbook there was a whole chapter on the life of an
inmate, it was my favorite chapter to read about and this is the basis of my paper.
I would like to talk about my ex; for the sake of privacy issues we will say that his name is
Brandon. Brandon served his time in Utah. He was 19 years old when he was convicted of sexual
assault. He was convicted of raping a girl that was 24 years old. He told me that it was a mutual
thing and that he would never rape anyone. I do actually believe him because while we were
dating he never ever tried anything with me that I didn’t want him to do. I dated him for a whole
year before he told me that he did time. I am the type of person that was going to wait to have
sex until getting married and I never once felt like I was in danger or that he would rape me. If I
told him to stop, he stopped right then I didn’t have to ask twice. Now maybe he learned from his
prison time and wouldn’t make the same mistake twice or sometimes I think that women know
that they have the advantage and that people will think that a man raped a woman if the woman
says so. I think that it is important that men are absolutely punished if they rape a woman but I
think sometimes people may be in prison for being wrongfully convicted.
There is one part of the prison life that I never really liked and that is how other inmates will try
to hurt or even kill another inmate that maybe they don’t like or they got offended or whatever
the reason. In prison break there is one scene when John Abruzzi wants information from
Michael Scoffield and so he actually gives money to a guard so that he can have some alone time
with him. In this scene he cuts off two of his toes. Now this may be exaggerated a little bit but
our textbook even talked about inmate to inmate brutality and talks about a penitentiary in New
Mexico were “Prisoners killed thirty three of their fellow inmates, and nearly two hundred others
were tortured, beaten and raped.” In the same chapter there is a quote from an anonymous jail
inmate that says that “I’ve seen seven stabbings, about six bashings, and three self-mutilations.
Two hangings, one attempted hanging, any number of overdoses. And that’s only me, in just
seventy days.” I understand that maybe the guards don’t see some of this and that there are only
so many of them and maybe they are doing the very best they can.
One thing that Brandon said was that the guards in Utah were pretty fair and tried to keep an eye
out for misconduct or inmate brutality. He said that they did however give the work to people
that were willing to snitch on other inmates or be the guards informants. If they had info that
would help the guards to see and hear about what was going on with other inmates then they
would give them special or better treatment and they would give them the better work. He said
that there was a time when he was allowed to work and he made about $40 a month working 5-6
hour days about five days a week. This is not a lot of money but I do think that considering that
they are inmates and they are doing time they shouldn’t be in prison making a lot of money so it
seems fair that they can still make a little but not a ton. He told me that he would spend the
money on commissary. This is extra soda or snacks or soap or a sewing kit or other things like
that that you can buy extra with the money you made while at work or that your family puts into
your books, also known as account. He said that he was able to work in the kitchen where they
would prepare and serve food. The inmates would usually eat in their cells so that not more than
one unit was out at a time, it was easier for no confrontation.
One other thing that I also would like to address is prison rape. In our textbook, chapter 14, it
talks about prison rape and how they tried to take a survey of how many inmates in prison and
jail are being raped. They state that they took three surveys, the first showed 7,444; the second
showed 90,000 and the third showed 216,600 inmates. Brandon said that this was a huge
problem in prison between inmates as well as guards and inmates. Mostly though between
inmates, he said that if the guards actually caught you having sex with your cell mate or whoever
it may have been that they would separate you immediately and that you would be written up.
After about 48 hours they would have a hearing with guards and the warden about what to do
with you. Most of the time something like that would lead to being written up, which if you get
so many of you could be put into a higher security facility, but you would also usually go to lock
down. This is when you would be by yourself and in your cell for 47 hours out of 48 only to
shower basically. Usually it would be about 30 days Brandon said for this kind of behavior but
other than catching them in the act they didn’t do anything to prevent or stop it from happening.
Last he actually heard they were looking into getting condoms in prison to at least help a little
with the problem rather than doing something else to prevent it in the first place.
I know that the book also states that inmates that are subject to rape are the “punks” those at the
bottom of the prison power structure. I think that prison break does a great job of showing this as
we see who the victims of rape are in the show, the same that the book describes as those that
may accept rape by one particularly powerful inmate in return for protection from others. So out
of fear for their life, and usually the nonviolent offenders, these men are being forced into it for
protection. We saw this in prison break when “t-bag” forces these kids to do whatever he wants
and they get protection from other powerful people in the prison. One actually goes as far as
hanging himself which I do think is something that shouldn’t happen. The book also states that
many prisons do not offer sufficient medical treatment for rape victims, nor does the prison staff
take the necessary measures to protect obvious targets of rape-young, slightly built, non-violent
offenders. Furthermore, it states that correctional officials are rarely held responsible for inmateon-inmate violence.
I also read in an article published by Yale law and policy review that a woman they call “Jane”
was serving time for being a prostitute, she says in her own words, “The guards are relentless
sexual abusers, wielding the powerful weapon of their authoritative positions to take advantage
of any inmate they desired. The guards, male and female alike, forced sexual relationships upon
the female inmates and offered special privilege for inmates in return for coerced sexual favors.”
She goes on to say further in the article that “The scars such trauma leaves behind dramatically
alter the lives of scores of women and men, and, once outside prison, they can also negatively
affect the public at large.”
Another thing going along with guard misconduct that I would like to address is the use of drugs
in the system. Brandon told me that the way drugs got into the prison was because the guards
brought them in to sell to the inmates. He said that they would make so much money that way.
They would buy some drugs on the street that only cost about $40 and then when in the prison
walls they would turn around and sell it for $500. They would make a huge profit plus they were
helping destroy the system by being the ones to take in the drugs for the inmates. This was one of
the most unbelievable things that I heard Brandon say in his interview with me. I was shocked
that the guards would actually do this. Also they would sell cigarettes and not even real ones but
ones that they rolled themselves that they could maybe get five puffs from and they would sell
them for $5 a cigarette and they made a ton of money this way.
This brings me to my next thought about what inmates should be with what inmates. The book
talks about four types of prisons: maximum security, supermax prisons, medium security and
minimum security prisons. How closely does the criminal justice system look at who they send
to certain facilities and why they are specifically sending people with such different crimes,
some non-violent and some extremely violent and having those people in the same prison.
Someone who rapes and kidnaps children or murders people should not be in the same security
level as someone who stole something without violence. The person should of course do time but
not in the same facility as someone who murders innocent people. In prison break they use this
example as a kid that is 18 who steals a baseball card from his friends dad and sells it for some
party cash. The card ends up being worth $500,000. The kid clearly didn’t know that or he
wouldn’t have sold it for like $30 to have a party, it is still a crime and he should do time but
they put him in a facility with child molesters and murderers that are looking for a “punk” kid to
rape or someone to beat and kill.
Brandon told me that in Utah at least where he was they were good about keeping people
separated if they were really dangerous. If the prison knew that someone coming in was affiliated
with a known gang they were separated immediately from everyone else to try to keep things
under control. They were put into the STG wing of the prison and that helped at least keep some
peace between inmates and helped separate some of the people that committed more serious
crimes. He did say though that people would still hide their shanks in the mattress. He said that
was the most common hiding place, they would cut a hole, hide their shank or drugs and then
with a sewing kit that they bought from the commissary they would sew the hole back together.
In closing I would just like to add that the justice doesn’t end at the time of release. It goes on for
a while after serving time and being put back into society. Brandon has to still register as a sex
offender. I do understand that people have the right to know who they are living by if they want
to look it up to see if there are any by them but he was actually attacked in his home one night.
People broke in and beat him half to death; he was taken to the hospital and was badly beaten.
He was there for a few days. He also has had the hardest time getting a job or an apartment.
People see that he is a felon and they won’t hire or they fire him when they find out or he is
declined approval for living conditions. If we don’t want people to recommit crimes there has to
be a line drawn somewhere for helping people get back into society and on their feet or they will
relapse and go back to committing petty crimes or even something more dangerous or serious.
There is a point when justice has been served and they need help to become a good crime free
citizen, at least those that only committed a crime where they should be set free, some people
should be locked up forever with no chance of parole.
References:
-Brandon: a convicted felon that I interviewed.
-Criminal Justice: Produced for Salt Lake Community College. By Gaines/Miller
-Developments in policy article; Rape and Sexual Misconduct in the Prison System: Analyzing
America’s Most “Open” Secret. Yale Law and Policy Review, Inc.
-Prison Break: TV series running four seasons.