There's no CHICKS!

"We should place the elderly in prisons."

The elderly are already in prison. There is no age limit for coming here, and many of the elderly who are here now, were young when they first arrived. I myself have been here fr 25 years, and when I got here, everyone used to call me youngster. I had all my teeth, all my hair, and I didn't need bifocal lenses to see. Now, that is not the case. I have rotten away in this place while my Dad grew old and died. My Mom will be ninety years old this year and my fondest wish is to get out of here before she dies. Because, you see, once they get you in here, the don't want to let you go. It's like a motel, all the beds need to be full, and the feds give the states money for every one of us. If you had a motel like that, where someone was paying the bill, and the only way to check out was through you, would you let anyone go? I think not. The state is greedy, and they want every penny that they can get. Another thing, there's no chicks around here!

"They will get a shower a day."

Yes we do get to shower. Except on lock down, and then it's once every three days. That is if it's a hundred and fourteen degrees, or ten degrees. Lock down is where you have to take everything you own to the gym, turn your back and allow some Boss with a third grade education paw through your stuff, and throw away everything they don't want you to have. You don't even get to find out what they deprived you of, until you get back to your house. By then it's too late to do anything about it. If you raise any kind of hell about it, they will put you on the wall, gang up on you, gas you, and beat you senseless. Oh yeah, and there's no chicks around here!

"Video Surveillance in case of problems"

Three years ago the ACA came to this unit to perform an inspection. This inspection determined whether or not this unit is up to par to receive federal funding. They gave this place a triple A, Double Plus Plus rating. At the time of the inspection, in administrative segregation, a humungous black man was repeatedly raping and battering a small white youngster. The white youngster had committed the sin of not snitching on something that the powers that be had thought he saw. They put him in segregation and picked his celly. When the white boy finally got a note to a SSI, he had been in the cell with this monster for a full month. I'm not going to describe the shape he was in, but suffice to say that he was in a very uncomfortable position. This is a fact and there were hundreds of witnesses. This is not a special thing here either. It happens a lot. Video surveillance does not curtail problems. There are animals in here who are smart enough to beat them. And Oh yes, there are not any chicks in here!

"Three meals a day"

I just came from supper, and we had spaghetti with meat sauce. Pinto beans, corn, carrots and apple sauce. The spaghetti has less than a spoonful of meat in it. Literally. The beans sounded like someone loading a gravel truck, when they hit my tray. The corn was cold, the carrots were cold. The Apple sauce was delicious. My sister asked me what we were having for dinner, once in the waiting room. I started telling her the items on the menu. I got to the Northern Beans and she said she liked them. then she started telling me all the things that she puts in them when she cooked them. I stopped her and told her that when they cook them here, they put them in a pot, put water in them , and cook them until they are slightly done. I hate them, and everybody I know hates them. Breakfast is seved at 4:00 am and if you get up to go it ruins the rest of your day. We are forced to work, and get into much trouble if we don't perform up to a certain level. That level of performance is deemed by someone else , not you. Dinner is served at 10:00 am, and supper at 4:00 pm. If you have no money, like half the population, it can get pretty hungry-some between supper and breakfast. And if you sleep through that, then when dinner rolls around, you're ready to eat them crunchy beans. You have to stand in line for everything., and meals are no exception. For Christmas, we stood outside, in the snow, for forty-five minutes. It was so cold I couldn't hardly eat. We had Brisket and it was so full of gristle that I couldn't hardly shew it. The best thing on the tray was the cornbread dressing, and it was as dry as a powder house. Then you've got a boss standing over your shoulder, from the time you sit down, hollering about hurry up, hurry up. Please remember that I'm telling you all this in a nice way. These officers do not talk nicely to us. They are very hateful. Meals are no fun in here. And then you've also got to remember, There's no Chicks in here!

"Access to Library"

We do have access to a library. I have read more than a thousand books, and I am very grateful for the library. I wish more people partook of the library. Be a lot less hassles in here.

"Computer"

You're shitting me right? We don't have access to computers. Period. And there's no Chicks to be seen. Absolutely none!

"TV"

We do have television, but for the most part you can't watch what you want to watch. It's hard to fathom the stupid things that these people want to watch. Sometimes for the hundredth time. Believe me, there have been more fights over the TV's than just about anything else I can imagine. I'm not talking about a fist fight until you're winded, I'm talking about full fledged stabbings, with serious bodily injury. I've seen a dude get his head kicked in so bad that when they put him on the gurney they couldn't keep his head on the pillow. It looked like Jello trying to roll off of there, so they finally removed the pillow so that his head wouldn't slide off on the floor. I seen seven Mexican dudes stab a black building tender so many times that he bled out before the boss could get the gate open. Then when the boss got the gate open, he assessed the danger, and slammed it back. The television in here anyway, is a trap. You don't want to have any part of the television. There are chicks on the television, but there's no chicks in here.

"Doctors on Site"

I've seen a doctor before in here. He was walking down the hall, and supposedly was drawing a check. We get to see a PA, a Nurse Practitioner. It is their job to see that you get the minimum of care to keep you alive, so that the state can keep drawing that check from the feds. An old man, who lived next door to me, fell down one day on the sidewalk. He kept complaining that his wrist hurt something fierce. He went to the infirmary repeatedly, for three weeks. He finally had to have his family get in touch with the ombudsman's office, file an official complaint, go through the inmate liaison office, then through Texas Tech Medical, the hospital administrator, through the doctor you are so proud of and then through the PA, who talked nine kinds of mess to this 65 year old man, for going around them and "putting their business out", before he finally got a cast put on his arm. By then it was too late, and the arm had to be re-broken. Now he's gimping around here and don't know if his arm will ever get well.

A dude fell out of his bunk, upper bunk, here awhile back, right at count time. When he hit the floor, the sound he made caused the officer counting to holler about making noise at count time. The prisoners in the day room finally got the boss to check on him. The boss told him to get up and he couldn't do it. He went and got a sergeant, and they declared him OK. This was at one o'clock count, just past noon. At supper time, someone went and told the captain, and he brought the nurse to the dudes house. They declared him OK and drug his mattress off his bunk and laid his head on it. He's still laying on the concrete floor. His celly raised so much hell, at a great potential to himself, because these bosses don't put up with much guff, that they finally came to look at the dude again at midnight. He died shortly after that. He'd lain there for eleven hours, with a concussion. His brain finally expanded enough to kill him. His celly was locked up and blamed for the whole deal, and the only way he finally got out of it, was because he was in the day room when it first happened.

I've seen a man choke to death on a peanut butter sandwich, in the school house. The Boss wouldn't let anyone give him CPR and when it all came out, TDC said that he shouldn't have had a peanut butter sandwich in the school house anyway.

I've seen a man die on the sidewalk, gasping , choking and screaming for help, and he just left the infirmary. Massive heart attack. They'd told him it was heart burn.

The list goes on and on . You do not want to go to the infirmary in here. And if you do, it will cost you a hundred dollars. Many of us, in here, receive, from our families, twenty to thirty dollars a month. Needless to say a man doesn't want to give up a yeas worth of monetary gifts from his family, to go to the infirmary. Now there are chicks in the infirmary. But you better not talk to them, and you can get the dickens beat out of your for "wreck less eyeballing" if you're caught looking at them, for a glance. So basically, they ain't no chicks in here.

"Medication if needed"

You're kidding right? If you are dying, a horrible death, you can get an aspirin. If you cut yourself at work, we are forced to work, and you ask for a band-aid, you will get a case for, "committing an unsafe act". They do give us high blood pressure pills. It's a simple diuretic, though, just something to keep you alive, to keep the check coming in from the feds. Of course, sometimes, the pill window is run by a woman, but you can't talk to them. So again, basically, there's not chicks around here.

"Gym"

We've got a gym, but they took our free weights. Now there's a place where a ball game and a hand ball game take place, on the same court. simultaneously. There's a weight machine, but there's four hundred men on each machine. And then you only have access to these marvelous facilities, if they've got enough bosses. This is a favorite excuse of the bosses. ' Not enough bosses to have gym' And another thing, there's no chicks in the gym.

"All paid for by you and I"

If you pay taxes, then yes. The state is duping you out of your money. Of course, you are the ones who voted the people in who told you that they would "Lock 'em up and throw away the key". It costs money to make stupid mistakes like that, and you can't blame anyone but yourself. Believe me, I am here, and I blame myself, I feel so bad about it, that I can't hardly see straight, if I think about it. For the past twenty five years, it's been like riding a snowball down hill. Just keeps getting bigger and bigger. But I can't get out of here, even though I have an associates degree, and only two cases in all that time, I get denied parole, time after time. My fondest dream is getting out of here and taking care of my mother. It kills my soul that I can't. Of course, I got that associates degree before they took the PELL grant from us. Now we can't get any more education, unless we can pay for it. You can get educated here though. You can be divested of a whole lot of ignorance about how good it is in prison, if you just stay here for a very short length of time. And if you decide you want to partake of that education, all you've got to do is stand up and say so. Somebody will take it upon themselves to teach you what you need to know, in very short order. The only way to survive in here is to keep in mind that the next one might be you

Believe me, you don't want to send the elderly to prison. This is not a good place. And we are not treated better than the elderly. Lots of people have opinions, and can back them up with all kinds of facts. It's when you check the facts, that you find that they have come up short on actual knowledge. Please don't wish this place on anyone, let alone your grandmother. She don't deserve to be humiliated on a daily basis, for the rest of her life. And that's what this place is all about. Humiliation. Separation. Deprivation.

"It is said that it is better to be thought a fool than to open ones mouth and be known a fool".  The absurd posting that we should put our elderly in prison and our prisoners in retirement homes reflects ones shear ignorance, and in this instant case, stupidity.

A quick look at Federal Reports and Federal Supplements reflect the  cruel and inhumane treatment of the nations prisoners, from the lack of basic medical care which results in needless deaths, to the brutal beatings at the hands of correctional officers. Before posting such an absurd statement, take the time to do a little research, read the federal reporters and supplements or better yet log on to www.VERA.ORG  and read the recent report titled "Confronting Confinement, A Report of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in American Prisons" , which involved federal judges, state judges, prison system commissioners, unit wardens, correctional staff, psychiatrists, psychologists, all opined the cruelty and failure of the prison system. 

Daniel Boorstin, a former Librarian of Congress, once stated, "We risk being the first people in history to have been able to make their illusion so vivid, so persuasive, so 'realistic' that they can live in them. We are the most 'illusioned' people on earth."  Sadly the individual that posted such an absurd comment lives in a world of illusion  and does a disservice to our elderly. Lets pray that our elderly never have to experience an American prison and the cruelty and inhumanity that transpires on a daily basis all in the name of rehabilitation;  just another illusion.

The Russian Czech Stephen W.

A few words to those who would place the elderly in prisons. What type of crime is it to get old? Look out! You will all get old one day too! Put them in prison because you think things are so good in prison? You have no idea what goes on in prison. People get beaten and stabbed over TV programs. You better like sports because you are old and weak and you watch what someone else (younger and stronger) dictates. Don't complain because someone will shut you up.

Sure sometimes we get a hot meal, but a cold meal is more the norm. Sometimes on lock down we eat cold sandwiches for up to 20-30 days at a time. More often than not the hot meal has been cooked to the consistency of mush. It doesn’t really matter because usually it doesn't have any taste at all. No salt, no pepper, no spices at all. Try it sometime, just cook a soy burger with no condiments or beans with nothing, vegetables that have no distinguishing characteristics - mush. Drink water or weak cool-aid for months on end. How about cold pancakes for months. Are your eggs green? Is your oatmeal watery? How about grits with no sugar or anything to go on it?

We do have a pretty good library, but no computers.

Yes we have a gym and we can use it on a regular basis. But it isn't the most popular place. Who wants to stay healthy when you don't have any reason to? Not a high percentile. Good health should be encouraged. It would save the taxpayers money.

Doctors? Not so many! Usually it is a nurse practitioner who couldn’t care less if you live or die. They only give you the minimum health care that is required. If they don't like you – tough luck, you won't get anything you need.

You might want to remember or realize that not everyone in prison is a mass murderer or serial rapist. Most are people who made a mistake or through the use of drugs or alcohol have messed up their lives. Many in prison are just like you. Do you drink and drive, do you use a little dope once in awhile? Watch out its not hard to end up in prison. Have a little compassion, a little mercy on your fellow man. But for the grace of God, go I.

You wouldn't want your Mother or Father in prison, Trust me on that.

A prisoner in Texas.

“We should place the elderly in prisons. They will get a shower a day, video surveillance in case of problems, three meals a day, access to a library, computer, TV, gym, doctors on-site, medication if needed, all paid for by you & I!

Put criminals in nursing homes. They have cold meals, lights off at 7pm, two showers a week, live in a small room and pay rent at $4,000 a month!!! It's pretty sad that we treat prisoners better than the elderly.... lets not forget, you can get a better education in Prison than at school!” 

I recently saw this post on Facebook and  felt that the best people to answer this were incarcerated in prisons. I do advocacy work for men in prisons in Texas so I wrote to them asking them to give their opinion on this post. I received some very thoughtful letters. I am posting them here for people to read so that everyone can get a better understanding of what it is like to be in prison. 

One very interesting fact is that there are thousands of elderly already in prison. Many of them have been there since they were very young. These elderly are costing the tax payers thousands of dollars and are receiving sub standard care. They would be much better off in nursing home and would cost the taxpayers much less money. 

Please read the statement of these men and think about what we can do to change the way our prisoners are handled. As you can see, these men are not complaining about their punishment, just the lack of understanding of how things really are.