Hello, this is Dortell Williams with a prisoner’s perspective called; “Let’s Talk About Prisons.” Prisons are dark, drab, abandoned stations of miserable and taxing punishment. Prisons are filled with society’s outcasts; mainly minorities, the poor, the mentally ill, and the unlearned. We are exiles that society views, in its very distant site, as irrelevant. However, no matter how distant or far removed these hellish places are, prisons and the people who are crammed within, are more relevant than anyone could ever imagine.
For instance, when we talk about the state’s infrastructure needs, we can’t ignore the fact that California has erected 43 multimillion dollar penal institutions, including camps and juvenile facilities, just since 1984, with plans for more. Yet, when it comes to comparable education facilities, learning centers proven to stave off the need for prisons, we are woefully lacking. In fact, across the nation, states reluctantly dole out an average of $7,000 per pupil to teach our kids. Yet they eagerly fork out upwards of $40,000 a year to merely warehouse a near predictable number of failed adults. And while money isn’t always the answer, budgets will often indicate where our priorities are.
Prisons are also relevant to teacher pay. We often hear of college-educated teachers having to sacrifice from their personal purse, to instruct our kids. There always seems to be a lack of funding for supplies. In contrast, several prominent newspapers have reported that prison guards, whose only academic requirement is a GED, are wheelbarrowing in 100 grand or more with overtime. Again, when it comes to state services, expenditures can be very telling.
Likewise, society’s homeless problem is also related to incarceration. According to the latest figures, over 744,000 Americans have nowhere to live. Factor in the 600,000 to 700,000 prisoners released every year around the country, and relevance parole is very close to home. Prisons are also frighteningly related to society when the health care needs of prisoners are grossly neglected, and the byproduct of that neglect is released back into the public, in the form of communicable diseases. Indeed, it’s easy to attempt to shove the subject of prisons under the rug, but the inevitable social winds will always, in some form or fashion, blow that rug, flapping back, while unleashing all of its dust, dirt, and crud from underneath. So, yes, for society’s sake, let’s talk about prison. With a prisoner’s perspective, this is Dortell Williams. Please leave comments at dortellwilliams@yahoo.com.
These commentaries are produced by Noel Hanrahan at Prison Radio.
