Ujamaa ujamaa. This is Dontie S. Mitchell, better known as Mfalme Sikivu, reporting to you from Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, New York.
I know this guy incarcerated with me, named Chris. He’s a white guy I met in the lower library. He’s a clerk there who has helped me a few times with things I needed done, mostly involving my efforts to reach young prisoners with my UFD [Ujamaa Fraternal Dynasty] message. Chris came to prison as a kid after making a series of unfortunate choices. He’s now 45 years old, and may potentially spend the rest of his life in prison. You would think, after looking at his rap sheet, that this man is a monster. But when you delve deeper into his circumstances and see what he has accomplished on his own in his self-development, you become hard pressed to maintain that opinion.
I was talking to Chris the other day and he said something that was profound and that puts the lie to the idea of retribution as a central goal of imprisonment. Chris said, and I quote, “I’m faced with the real possibility that I may die in prison. So, the idea of rehabilitation means nothing to me. But I do all the things I am doing to improve and better myself because, 1) I take full responsibility for the quality of my life under my current circumstances, and 2) I live my life as if every day is my last.”
Chris has accomplished a lot since he finally committed to change and betterment. He’s completed every mandatory drug treatment and anger regression training program. He’s earned a paralegal certificate and an associate’s degree in Latin and Liberal Arts and Humanities, with honors. And he’s earned even more college credits, and is currently enrolled in the Bennington College program here at Great Meadow.
Chris was in Honor Block and participated successfully in the Family Reunion Program. Both Honor Block and the Family Reunion Program were designed to encourage and reward prisoners for good behavior and for successfully completing mandatory programs. The Family Reunion Program has proven to be a positive — has proven to have a positive impact on prisoners, as it allows prisoners to spend time on a trailer; three days, with their family or their wife. Despite this, after the Clinton escape in 2015, DOC’s removed Chris and all prisoners with an escape in their past from Honor Block and the Family Reunion Program. This decision had no rational basis in sound prison management. It was a face saving move. DOC’s decided to punish a whole category of prisoners for the wrongful acts of two other prisoners who had no history of escape, until they actually did.
What all this revealed is that DOC’s culture, perpetuated by high level departmental staff, is that regardless of what a prisoner accomplishes, he can never rise above his or her path. What we’re destined that — somehow we’re destined to be failures. This calls into question whether DOC’s mandate to correct criminal behavior is merely for show. Does DOC’s really believe in its programs they purport are to reform prisoners? There are corrections staff who believe most prisoners are animals who are better off getting old in prison and dying. How can such people be trusted to correct criminal behavior when they don’t believe it’s possible?
Prisoners like myself and Chris prove that even violent offenders can be reformed and rehabilitated. But we had to do this on our own, because, as in Chris’ case with being removed from Honor Block and the Family Reunion Program, and in my case with me still waiting on clemency, DOC isn’t committed to our growth and development. How then does DOC hope to improve prison behavior when it limits our prospects to improve ourselves by denying us things worth living and doing good for? Tune in next time for more. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram @freedontiemitchell. Share your questions and comments. Thank you for listening and God bless.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
