RK Newsletter #27 March 12, 2000
©copyright 2000
THE GREAT BIG RULE BOOK
This is to say " hi " to all of you, my friends back home. I'm
still on that
grand trip I set forth on some two years ago. It continues to
be a fun
adventure I must confess. I have no regrets. The decision that
set me off
on this trip was a good one.
As all of you know, I am no longer in America. My trip is to a
completely
alien land, somewhere, I like to say, on the other side of
outer Mongolia.
I am traveling through the California Prison empire.
My comments today have to do with life under the rule of that
empire. Please
do not read them as complaints. As I report on the dangers of
this world I
do so in the sense that, to survive, one must recognize danger
when one sees
it, then, act as necessary to control the risk.
The thing to remember in prison is that there are no rules of
any sort to
protect you. You are not a citizen of their country. You are
an exile. You
have been abandoned. You have no rights.
I myself have no trouble with this. This is almost exactly the
way the
Japanese ran their prison camps. You were alive under the
Japanese because
they had a certain use for you, and that was the only reason. I
found that
world livable. I survived in it.
So, here in California's prison world nothing has changed. Your
country has
forgotten you, really this time; under the Japs it just seemed
that way.
You still have no rights of any sort.
Yet, there is one small but quite significant difference here.
That is this;
you are worth a lot more as a live prisoner than as a dead one.
This is
something you can bank on. In a way, this is your one right.
Why are you worth more alive than dead? That's because the proud
prison
empire gets its river of gold from the State for protecting the
State's
citizens from live people, from dangerous, but, necessarily
live, people. To
its shame, the Great Prison Empire can count only the live
bodies as it bills
the state.
There is another minor but extremely interesting difference
between the
Japanese and the California Prison operations. The Japanese
always knew they
were in the right. They saw no need to apologize to anyone or
make any
effort to to justify their actions. They were acting in the
name of the
Emperor. There was no way that could be wrong.
Amusingly enough, that's where the vaunted California Prison
empire
stumbles.
In spite of its quite powerful prison guard labor union, in
spite of the
money it plows back into the political arena it still must live
with the
fact that it is in the final analysis, accountable to the people
of the
State. All very embarrassing to these proud men. But they have
to make the
best of it. Here is how they do that.
The solution here it is simple. You design an operation where
no one will
ever be held accountable for his own actions. This is not too
hard to do.
All you have to do is give him lots of rules in a great big rule
book. Make
the rules a bit vague, then give him the authority to use his
own discretion
in interpreting them. This should relieve him of all
responsibility for his
own actions.
This way he can justify everything he has done by saying, " I
only followed
orders. I always did what I was told. I have broken no rules.
I have done
nothing wrong". These are famous words. They have been heard
in every
notorious war crimes trial since the turn of the century.
Pontius Pilate couldn't have said it better.
Does all of this sound a bit pessimistic to you? Actually it's
not. It's
facing reality. I have complete confidence in my ability to
survive here in
prison, largely because I know what not to depend on. I know
that the rules
are written for " them " not for " me". I do not see this
recognition as
being a sign of pessimism. I see it as a sign of a survivor ".
I will survive.
Richard Keech
semper fi
(for previous letters see the web site)
Richard Keech 