Newsletter #29 3-26-200
©copyright 2000 RK
EDITORS NOTE: The prisons in which Richard was interred before
CMC were
continually beset by "incidents' requiring lengthy lockdowns
where the men
were stuck in their cells often for weeks at a time. Often
these "incidents"
involved inmates being shot by guards. Since Richard has been
in CMC there
have been almost no lockdowns, and none lasting more than a day
or two. And
absolutely no shootings! I have a box full of letters written
from those
prisons which I will be putting on computer one of these days
and sharing
with you, his faithful readers.
THE PEACEFUL PRISON
I'm sitting in the "Day Room" at the moment. It's a little
after
lunchtime. I plan to skip my lunch today, as I do most every
day. Not
because the lunch isn't good; it is, but to simply keep myself
from eating
too much.
If I ate everything they gave me here, I'd be as fat as
a butterball.
As it is, I eat just about half my breakfast, no lunch, and
about three
fourths of my super. I'm still holding the same weight (160
plus).
This problem, from what I can see in my limited prison
experience, is
unique to CMC-EAST. It's because the staff at CMC treat us
prisoners like
human beings. CMC is a good prison!
The funny thing is, this spirit of good will, this
treatment of
prisoners as human beings is seemingly in conflict with standard
California
prison management philosophy.
Prison staff training, one hears, calls for an arms
length
relationship, a gloved hand treatment that considers prisoners
to be a type
of dangerous animal. Staff personnel are told that they are
always "at risk"
when in close contact with the prison population.
For the average prison staff worker this attitude
towards the
prisoners is easiest to maintain if he convinces himself that we
prisoners
are not members of the same species, to be blunt, that we are
not human.
This California prison approach to the philosophy of
prison
management seems quite logical. Certainly the courts who sent
these men to
prison believed them to be too dangerous to be allowed to roam
free in our
society. It is therefore quite logical to treat them as
dangerous, as less
than human, as animals. If it's so logical, then what's the
problem?
Well! From what I have seen as a prisoner, this is
fallacious logic,
this is wrong.
This is the same logic that says that the best way to
train animals
is through the use of fear. You beat a dog, you whip a horse.
Yet, in this
matter animals get the benefit of the doubt since modern animal
practice
tells us that a system of kindness coupled with rewards works
much better in
training animals. If it doesn't work with animals, it for sure
doesn't work
with human beings. CMC does it differently. CMC runs the most
peaceful
prison in the State.
CMC is to be commended for its bravery in daring to do
the right
thing even when it conflicts with the historic guidelines laid
down by its
tradition bound management.
As I gain experience in the prison world, I've come to
understand
that prisons are seen by the public as a necessary evil. Both
words deserve
to be underlined here. For all of their problems, they are
necessary, they
still are evil. They will always be around.
I take comfort therefore in finding myself in a prison
somewhat less
evil than most. For this I am deeply grateful.
My problem is really not with the prison system, in
spite of all its
faults. My problem is with a society whose laws would let a
daughter be
killed by another man but would not let the father intervene to
save her. My
problem is with a society that believes that the death of a
battered woman is
not too important, a ten year sentence crime at best, but that
the death of
the man who abused her, although done to save the woman's life
warrants a
punishment of 35 years in prison.
Richard Keech
Semper Fidelis
Richard Keech 