Date: 08/31/2019 05:51 PM CDT
Subject: inmates - the flip side

While the staff are dealing with changing the "us against them" attitude among their peers, you have "inmates" that seem to be set on doing as much wrong as they can get away with.

More than half the men here understand what is at stake and how it can help us, our families, our state and will impact the next two decades of recidivism.

Then there are those... criminally minded individuals.

I am doing my laundry one morning before classes, knowing that I have plenty of time to finish and be on time to class. A guy walks up, pulls out the wet laundry from the dryer, and puts his own in, leaving the wet laundry in a pile on top.

My first thought was violence and anger, so I step away for a moment to think through the options.

I decide to take the hit. I will be late for class and stay to take care of whomever's laundry is wet and piled up. But I have to talk to this guy. After calmly explaining that his selfish actions will make me late for school and is very inconsiderate, he starts to lecture me about the "ways of prison." I respond that I am aware, but we can choose to be the better thing and not continue the cutthroat, selfish mentality of the "prison way."

It was like talking to a puddle of water. He didn't care and couldn't see beyond his own selfishness. This is the kind of attitude that will likely bring him back to prison. It is also the attitude that triggers violence in prison.

I was proud of myself for not going there. It could have easily triggered a violent response in most cases.

If this program fails, it's because of a small handful of criminal inmates like that.

While the majority are striving to do better and prove the value of the program, they have to tolerate the criminal mind and walk the edge of the "prison way" because the "system" rewards those with bad behavior, punishes everyone for the actions of a few, and have no accountability for an individual's poor behavior. The clash of attitude