June 15, 2011

Prison Jealousy

It really is a shame when you have people in such a low position in life as being forced to be a prisoner. But the worst shame is when you have a prisoner who is in such a low position that not only are they not doing anything really to better themselves, but they belittle other inmates who wish to further their education!

And this is a common problem.

A lot of guys that I'm locked up with are actually content with where they are and just want to sit around and watch TV, play cards, or go up to the church and pretend that they believe in God and they're good Christians and Muslims. I say these things because I see a lot of them go up to the church just to meet their "boyfriend" in another dorm or to pass contraband. It really is its own subculture.

But there are a few inmates who are actually doing good and for the right reasons, like trying for a high school diploma. There is one certain individual who I have in mind who I'll leave unnamed. He's working on getting a diploma through a correspondence college, but a few of the other guys, one mainly, who are assistant tutors at the prison school keep hounding him about why he wasted over seven hundred dollars on a correspondence school when he could go up and get prison GED for free. So out of jealousy they're ragging on his choice of school. Which doesn't matter. The point is he's doing it.

He just isn't a morning person and the prison school is, of course, in the mornings. The choice he's made in a correspondence school has allowed him to study when he wants, not just when they want.

They should give the guy credit where credit is due, not make fun of him. Jealous because he has family on the street willing to invest money into his education and not just trust it to the state and a school run by inmates who already had the GED testing suspended once because the teachers had allowed students to cheat—just so they could meet a state quota.

This is just me venting.

I'll attempt to convince this student to continue his education, despite what the ex-crack heads are trying to do to him. Education is the best thing for anyone. No matter what form it comes in.