Inside perspectives
Prisons have become mental health asylums. The data is overwhelming. While researching my last post about Dorothea Dix, an early advocate for mentally ill prisoners, I learned more about the how mentally ill persons are treated in prison populations. I also became aware of parameters that proscribe the legal rights of mentally ill inmates.… Read the rest
It’s easy to lose your mind in prison. The insane world of forced routine accentuated by culture clashes, boredom, and the loss of personal freedoms can cause people to question their sanity. In February 2005, I wrote a quote from John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row in my personal journal. Sitting on my bunk on a cold and dark winter day, I was looking for a way to express my depressed mood.… Read the rest
We live in exasperating times. With a let’s-make-a-deal president in charge, what’s ensued is a frightening roller coaster ride of deceit, corruption, and incompetency. There’s a long list of substantial failures, including health care reform, the deregulation of Wall Street and environmental controls, hateful immigration ploys, the alienation of world allies—need I go on?… Read the rest
I never really learned about crimes and the criminal mind until my time in prison. I studied criminal law in law school in an intellectually sterile context. Law students learn the elements that constitute criminal conduct from textbooks and lectures. Using the Socratic method of questions and answers, students learn the puzzle pieces that constitute jurisprudence.… Read the rest
I did short time. By the prison calendar, a person serving less than five years is a short timer. My years in prison also put me in the but-for-a-minute (of time) category. “Hey Roseman, man, you’re only here but for a minute.”
Inmates who have done or are doing from six to ten years are in the category of a piece of time.… Read the rest
I ended my previous blog, Et Tu Tattoo, with questions that caused us to look at prison tattooing in different ways.
- Tattooing is forbidden in California prisons (and other systems), so why are prison tattoos so prevalent?
- What does a tattoo artist need to set up shop inside a prison?
This blog post focuses on the work of photographer Steven Burton, whose photographs capture the results of digitally removing ink from heavily tattooed skin. I find the photos compelling. If you’re like me, your eyes will dart back and forth between the pictures.
Prison tattoos (tats or ink) are complicated works of art.… Read the rest
Prison officials are paranoid. They must be—real danger comes with the job. Walk through a haunted house on Halloween and you expect something to jump out and scare the crap out of you. Prison staff—guards, medical staff, administrators, and contracted laborers—work in an environment that can become hostile in a blink, any time, any day.… Read the rest
I watched a lot of cartoons as a child. I remember the zany poundings, loud kabooms, and characters falling 100 stories with only a momentary gaze. You remember Goofy bouncing and dusting himself off after being plummeted by an adversary before dashing into the next scene. I didn’t always laugh when most kids would.… Read the rest
The prison conditions that led to the 1971 Attica prison uprising remain rife in today’s prisons. Overcrowding, poor healthcare, lousy food, racism, and poorly trained prison personnel churn within the caldrons of our prisons. Add to the brew elements of contrived inmate humiliation and shame, as well as lack of education and job training, and a single spark will blow the top off.… Read the rest