by Kenneth M. Key
Many may wonder what really happens to a man once he comes into these prisons. I’m here to tell, having observed for over forty years, that many simply self-entomb themselves doing nothing from day to day, just waking up to wait for the horn to sound and announcements for today.
They go to the chow hall, where they are allowed roughly fifteen minutes to eat, engage in the table gossip, and then back to their cell-tomb to wait for the next horn or announcements, and that’s their day.
In the interim of the day, if you were to walk with me in your mind, you would see various Cell-Slugs who simply live in their cells, standing at their bars, brushing their hair endlessly for hours, stalking various female officers as they walk to and fro throughout the day. Many are glued to their TVs watching various shows, awaiting the horn.
When yard is allowed, what you will see is the sectioning off of people in custody, to talk about the various happenings that took place on a particular show.
There are those, who are in custody, who walk around like the walking dead, without a care or concern for what is going on and have simply adjusted and are okay whichever way the wind of the day goes.
There are those in custody who watch the news all day and then come out and give commentary and take the position of a moral compass, yet not taking responsibility for their own deplorable acts that have changed lives forever. Inside he is still as cold as ice and everything is simply a facade.
Then there is the gang element, struggling and competing for control, for what very little commerce is left in the prison. You see in Illinois where I reside, most of the heavy drugs, drinking, and sexual activity is really at an all time low.
The prison-crats exploit the numbers for money provided by federal grants, claiming all is on the increase, but it’s not. The prison is now filled with so many snitches that it’s virtually impossible for the gangs or individuals to launch any real successful venture in prison without Internal Affair (IA) getting the information.
All that is left is a small pot of gambling, and the payouts aren’t that great. You will lose more than you win overall.
There’s the occasional hustle of someone selling a few vegetables or seasoning out of the kitchen, a ten-pack of peanut butter, a dollar a bundle, but the real hustling for the most part has completely dried up as well.
Then you have the bottom feeders of hustlers, who sell toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, all items the prison provides, but even that is not enough for a man to survive. I reside in the worst of the worst, Stateville Correctional Center. Don’t believe me, go to jha.org and review the monitoring reports.
Don’t have to worry about dying at the hands of a person in custody; the lead paint, the water, and the openly growing mold in the showers and elsewhere will certainly do many in, over time.
Trust that everyone from the Director down knows of these problems, either by way of being sued, letters or the news. Our prison is like the schools of Detroit, in need of repair and everyone is aware.
There is no more compassion or concern for the living conditions that now consume people in custody here at Stateville, than the children of Detroit who have been drinking lead based water for over a year and a half plus.
These are the things a man faces when he comes to prison, and if they are surveyed around the US, I assure you these, and more that I expanded upon, exist in other prisons.
What happens to this man when he enters prison. He’ll take a mandatory TABE Test, and if he fails, he will be placed on a school list of which he’ll wait several years before he has a chance to learn anything. This will also prevent him from getting more interesting jobs in the industry that require reading comprehension, math, and so on.
Unless he’s motivated to learn on his own, his dumbing down will continue and what you’ll find are men locked into an era, maintaining the cultural tradition of the time they were convicted. Holding on to the same language, lifestyle, coping skills and never evolving from there.
You will find men who are twenty-five through thirty still acting like they are in their teens and the obvious growth and development, or should “I say “lack of,” is very visible.
Then there’s the person in custody who simply causes whatever interference they can, in a gang or not. They are intimidated by intelligence, especially by those who are part of a movement that is taking place all over the US in penal institutions and has for some time.
This renaissance is catching on, and these renaissance persons in custody are now coming together. Who are they? They are men serving time and motivated to change the mindset of communities and prison environments, especially where it concerns the youth.
They are the artists, jailhouse lawyers, poets, and writers. These renaissance prisoners are individually and collectively engaging in the rebuilding of the men incarcerated into men of integrity and moral standing. They are manifesting new traditions and sometimes revamping old traditions in the building of the character of this new man, hoping that it will not only resonate and translate with the man on the inside, but the youth as well.
It’s the man in custody’s choice to change the narrative, understanding that in order for change to occur, one must be the change and understand it’s a universal law of life, that what doesn’t grow becomes stagnant and dies.
