10-06-2011, 10:53 PM
Well, Jan, I can say that on the surface, what you see on NatGeo is pretty much on the mark as far as how things go on a day-to-day basis in most maximum security prisons. Rather dramatized, yes, but I understand that they have to have a "sizzle" factor for prime-time TV.
What they don't show is the staggering incompetence and corruption that takes place in most prisons. It doesn't show the:
Drug smuggling
Officers shacking up with inmates
Rampant incompetence among most high rank running prisons
What I mentioned happens in pretty much all prisons, the only thing that's different is the degree to which it happens from prison to prison. Trust me when I tell you that the only thing that's preventing another Texas Seven from happening is the fact that the great majority of offenders actually want to get out, if only to do more dirt on the outside. Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against prisons - goodness knows we need them. And most of the people that work in prisons are good, hardworking people who don't get paid nearly enough to deal with the daily stress in the average prison, much less a max security unit.
The major problem I have with prisons, is that there are too many of them. For that, we have the War On Drugs (which should be called The War on Some Drugs and Certain Types of Users), which isn't going away anytime soon, unfortunately. As long as we keep locking up 17-, 18-, and 19 year old's up for piddly drug offenses, and turning them into hardened criminals by the time they get out, our problem with this situation is only going to get worse. Just my two cents
What they don't show is the staggering incompetence and corruption that takes place in most prisons. It doesn't show the:
Drug smuggling
Officers shacking up with inmates
Rampant incompetence among most high rank running prisons
What I mentioned happens in pretty much all prisons, the only thing that's different is the degree to which it happens from prison to prison. Trust me when I tell you that the only thing that's preventing another Texas Seven from happening is the fact that the great majority of offenders actually want to get out, if only to do more dirt on the outside. Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against prisons - goodness knows we need them. And most of the people that work in prisons are good, hardworking people who don't get paid nearly enough to deal with the daily stress in the average prison, much less a max security unit.
The major problem I have with prisons, is that there are too many of them. For that, we have the War On Drugs (which should be called The War on Some Drugs and Certain Types of Users), which isn't going away anytime soon, unfortunately. As long as we keep locking up 17-, 18-, and 19 year old's up for piddly drug offenses, and turning them into hardened criminals by the time they get out, our problem with this situation is only going to get worse. Just my two cents
"Logic is all there is, and all there is must be logical."
"Truth is logic, and logic is truth."
"In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely." - Hunter S. Thompson
"A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on. A psychotic is a guy who's just found out what's going on." - William S. Burroughs
"Truth is logic, and logic is truth."
"In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely." - Hunter S. Thompson
"A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on. A psychotic is a guy who's just found out what's going on." - William S. Burroughs