Stop Resisting
Pt.1

Woke up the other day and pulled a batch of some of the best wine I've run across in prison. By 6 PM I had witnessed three C.O.s kick the shit out of a drunk captain who had been accused of no more than making "too much noise" for the past few hours. I felt bad that it was my wine that had caused his black out, but better that he could not recall how he received the busted ribs and broken jaw.

These cells are small and champed. And we are on 24/7 lockdown. How long do you think you would last before insanity set in? A week? A year? Try three years, eight months, and counting. And I think it's only due to the alcohol I've managed to thwart insanity for this long. I mean, everyone needs some type of escape from the grueling pressures of everyday life. Right?

In the free cipher (the world outside the prison walls), people have the opportunity to fashion whatever reality they please. Whereas in here, the form of reality has been fangled through the accumulation of centuries of tired social counter measures at pacification. And although these institutions are called "Corrections and Rehabilitations", they are merely warehouses that isolate and either pacify or drive insane large members of our citizens.

This form of punishment is not fit for criminals. How not? you might ask. Shouldn't rapists, robbers, and murderers be locked away in order to protect the good and innocent? Yes, there needs to be a system for correction, but if rehab means to restore, and restore means to give back or return to, then knowing many of those locked up will be returning, shouldn't we make sure Corrections and Rehabilitation work hand in hand? And why not hold the public accountable to help do away with the need for corrections and instead rehab or reinstill anything? We should focus on properly instilling morals, values, and direction from the get go. Also, so-called corrections institutions should be infused with programs that are truly being designed to correct.

This should be the concern of all people because it ultimately affects all of us. We must take a more direct and active approach to quell crime, and ask ourselves: "Why do we fail or neglect such a large portion of our society?"

I'll leave you to ponder that as I try to give an answer subsequent posts. For now, let me continue our exposure to some of the horrific sights that go on daily inside a Super-Max institution.

Lockdown 23 hours a day for five days a week. For the other two days (Tuesday and Friday), there's absolutely no movement, no shower, no rec. And though something "fun" and "exciting" generally comes to mind when one thinks "recreation", in here it means being taken out of one's cell for placement in one of two "rec" cages. Both 10x10, one with a basketball and net, the other with a dip and pull up bar. Neither allows you to see the light of day. The one for outside "rec" is surrounded by 18 ft. walls.

Next you are in a pod with up to seventeen other captives. The doors are so solid and fit so snug in the door jam that to even speak to one another, you must yell at the top of your lungs. Not only holding us physically captive but our own thoughts and words too, and ultimately our growth.

Lastly, sensory deprivation, no education opportunities, censorship of printed materials, screening of cultural-prolific music, serving of small food portions, high commissary prices, high phone prices, and the enforcing of petty rules like "don't pass anything"—all contribute to antagonism and insanity instead of correction or rehabilitation.

You may call us criminals and ask if it is 5-star treatment that we desire. I would have to say no! It's only a chance to grow that many of us seek, and we are held back from. Thus we remain angry, bitter, and suffer mental and emotional instability.

Would you rather us not continue to victimize? Reach out! And give one the opportunity to reach out to those prone to become criminals without prevention. Don't leave them isolated. Don't leave me isolated.

If you have the means or ideas to foster change or development, do so. Rather than continue to blindly accept that the system works. If you believe it does, google the current recidivism rates.

Thanks for reading.
Thanks for understanding.

In harmonious truth,
[signature]
2013

You can reach out to me either through jpay.com or
Quincy Young A568671
OSP
878 Coitsville-Hulabard Rd.
Youngstown, OH 44505-4699