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Recently, I ran into someone on Facebook who thought comments demanding Ethical Treatment and Human Rights were “funny.” I later found out both of her parents, The Smiths, work for Barry County Sheriff’s Department, which explains a lot about her miserable attitude and lack of constitutional understanding.
Also an interesting and mildly amusing note, they were involved in Richelle Spencer’s campaign.
In a stunning lack of emotional intelligence and clear incompetence, she literally used a laughing emoji to “attempt” to make her point. She made multiple uninformed and offensive statements, believing Prison is “like a hotel” and that “it’s easy” for Incarcerated Individuals because they get air conditioning, cable, a gym, and good food.
This person is not only young, but has grown up in the sheltered Barry County. A county riddled with addiction issues. She will likely live her whole life and die in that county, never challenging or changing her world view. She is not college educated and likely never will be. She will believe whatever a political tells her to believe rather than challenge bad narrative.
Long story short: for H, cognitive dissonance and tunnel vision were in full-effect.
This is the willful ignorance I try to be patient and educate people through. But you can’t always break through and get people to the other more humane side.
And sadly, sometimes, this is what is placed into office. Cue Judge Mike Schipper.
These beliefs and statements are ignorant and harmful.
These lies come from blowhard politicians so they can keep their buddies in Prison Industries paid. It’s very big business. And everyday, these shameless people say it to people who can’t be bothered to fact check. It’s a lie that society needs to stop repeating, and that politicians should be fined for. Very few politicians, small town cops, judges, prosecutors, etc. take time to actually visit prisons and know what the true conditions of prisons are before condemning people to spend a significant portion of their lives there. It’s barbaric.
Although this person lacks critical thinking skills and has no desire to learn, I don’t regret the conversation; it gave me inspiration to write this piece. To challenge this archaic small-minded thinking.
There are MANY ways that prisons are awful, but I’ll go with the basics for this post.
No, prison is not like a Hotel, H. It is psychological Hell for the incarcerated and their families. And somehow, we as a Country feel it’s appropriate to inflict this kind of horrible trauma on people.
The Food
The food is disgusting and barely edible. Bologna sandwiches and “cat head” meatballs are staple meals in the Michigan DOC. The prepared food is also quite literally watered down.
Water is added to things like rice because it’s “too thick.”
People have to supplement with junk food from the Commissary Catalog or they would otherwise waste away.
No Air Conditioning
There IS NO air conditioning; prisons reach smoldering temperatures during the summer.
“Good!” a “Tough on Crime” believer might say.
But guess what? Correctional Officers have to sit in those conditions too. Would you want to go to work in that all day?
There’s Cable but Families Pay For it, NOT Taxpayers.
Yes, there is cable, but prison is definitely not a hotel. Not everyone has a TV. Incarcerated people have to buy their own. And the cable bill is paid out of the Prisoner’s Benefit Fund, BY FAMILIES.
Taxpayers are not footing the bill.
There is SO much wasted time and potential in prisons. If people have jobs, they are paid pennies.
Most incarcerated individuals make less than a dollar a day to produce products for the State of Michigan that they turn around and sell for significant profit, like hospital mattresses.
What’s truly disgusting and unnecessarily evil, is the unfair and unequal burden placed on mothers and grandmothers of incarceration-impacted parents, as women are expected to now care and provide for children alone without help.They are ridiculed when they have to apply for financial assistance and called ungrateful when they state whatever financial assistance they do receive is simply not enough.
Yet there’s a vast majority of politicians who fervently claim that they care about unborn babies, only to refuse food, clean water, and basic human rights such as education to them. They incarcerate their parents, and around and around we go, repeating a cycle where only the people in power benefit.
So, What do Taxpayers Pay For? Cruelty.
Taxpayers in Michigan pay an average of $48,000 per year to inflict this pain on people and families. Most of the DOC budget goes toward upkeep of very old, poorly kept buildings.
So what are taxpayers getting for their money? Malnutrition, mental abuse, emotional distress, and splitting up good families.
This experience as a whole has made me question so much about life, societal expectations, and the way that we as a culture are told we should be living.
Everything Most People Believe about Prison is a Lie.
The Criminal Justice system is in no way fair. If it were even a little bit fair, Ryan would still have hearing in his right ear.
Judge Michael Schipper would not have given him a fake plea deal; he would be an honest person and let him come home.
The Current Public Perception is Politicized and Dangerous.
In Blind Injustice: A Former Prosecutor Exposes the Psychology and Politics of Wrongful Convictions, Mark Godsey discusses just how skewed public perception is and how this impacts juries.
He quotes renowned Criminal Justice Scholar Professor Keith Findley in saying:
The presumption of innocence is under constant assault from jurors’ natural assumption that if someone is arrested and charged with a crime, he or she must have done something wrong. It is also vulnerable to the media frenzy around high profile cases, the fear-driven politics of crime, and the highly punitive nature of our culture and the innate cognitive processes that produce tunnel vision and confirmation bias.
Indeed research suggests that the presumption of innocence exists more in theory than reality. In studies, mock jurors predict a 50 percent chance of voting to convict – before hearing any evidence. Other research shows that while simulated jurors initially assign low probabilities of guilt, they abandon the presumption of innocence promptly as prosecution evidence is introduced.
The public narrative is being driven by people in places of power who have everything to win and nothing to lose, while the rest of us are punished and taxed.
It’s Horrible but We Can Fix This.
I wish the system really was fair. If it were, my husband wouldn’t be scarily thin. He would be safe and working on building our woodworking business, teaching Scout groups about woodworking; that was the plan.
I am so angry that anyone, especially Barry County Michigan in our family’s case, send so many people to jail and prison when diversion programs are most cost effective and beneficial. They could resolve the issues. They could treat people humanely. But they won’t. Why?
Because Judges and Prosecutors profit financially and in their careers from excessive, wholy unnecessary court cases. Which is sad, because you could automate laws in a system as business rules and save a literal shit-ton of money.
People deserve better.
In Closing: A Call to ACTION
Write/tweet/call/send smoke signals to your elected leaders, have these hard conversations with people, expose what prison really is, and demand that we start treating people with dignity.
Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time before this happens to you, too.
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