🔵 By Richard Smith. Photo by lauragrafie.
My name is Richard Smith. At the time of this article, I have been incarcerated for almost sixteen years in North Carolina. Long before I was incarcerated, I hated all those in prisons. I thought the were the scum of the earth, who deserved no mercy. I had a kill them all mentality. What I saw was that no matter how much time a person did in prison, they came out the same or worse.
I believed the judicial system was impartial, just, and rarely made mistakes. I believed all police officers were benevolent and only had good intentions. I believed that if prison guards were mistreating inmates, the inmates were only getting what they deserved. I believed in a solid good v. evil world. Revenge plus some was justice. In short my idea of justice ranged from draconian to Hollywood revenge thriller movie.
Politics, Hollywood, and personal hurts from others forged this mentality. I did not believe in forgiveness or rehabilitation. I’m not alone in this. America itself has a revenge culture. It’s so bad, America has had to create laws to regulate revenge. Revenge porn became popular until it was made illegal. Popular revenge now is getting a “revenge body” or success and flaunting it in the face of those who hurt you. Musicians take their revenge through their music. Revenge plots are always popular in books and movies.
Now that I have been incarcerated I know why people walk out of prison the same or worse. The problem goes far beyond the aforementioned. This problem has multiple issues that seem to work in a pernicious harmony. The problem begins as soon as a person gets arrested. The media reports the crime and arrest. Accused is synonymous with being guilty, therefore influencing possible jurors has begun. Too many times does a person get arrested before a formal investigation is done. Once official charges are given, the magistrate typically gives a person as many charges as possible related to the crim. District Attorneys care more about their conviction rate, than they do about justice, so if an investigation proves the person innocent or just no evidence, that’s when the “plea bargaining” and threats begin. “If you don’t take this plea, you’re facing X amount of years,” or, “Take this plea or we’re going to fry you.” Public Defenders rarely tell their clients the full extent of their rights and entitlements under the law. Another reason District Attorneys don’t want anyone to walk out of jail without taking a charge, is because the person can then sue the city for wrongful arrest. Despite the fact the law states that everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty, you are treated as guilty until proven innocent and that has a financial cost most people can’t afford. Attorneys are expensive and finding one that will actually fight for you is like playing a game of roulette. Canteen in the jail is ridiculously expensive. When I was in jail, the cost of food and hygiene items were two to three times more expensive than they were on the street. They were even making a profit on postal stamps. Until the government got involved, it cost my family almost thirty dollars for a fifteen minute phone call because they were out of state.
If people are considered “innocent” and District Attorneys care so much about justice; then why are people treated this way? Innocent or guilty, prisons need people in them.
Here in North Carolina, rehabilitation is part of what the Department of Adult Correction advertises. This is nothing more than virtue signaling and false advertises. One would assume that a part of one’s rehabilitation would be to create or restore trust and respect for the system and those in authority. Yet after going through the judicial system, one comes to prison with a negative view of police, District Attorneys, Public Defenders, judges, detectives, and guards only to have that negative view proliferated by prison guards and staff. There are some guards and staff that care about inmates, but they are the minority. When dealing with prison staff or guards all questions are answered using what I call the 4D system: Delay, Defer, Deny, and/or Deceive. Delay: “Ask me later.” Defer: “Go ask someone else.” Deny: “I don’t know anything about that.” Deceive: Make up a lie.
When it comes to being written up, your write up is considered public knowledge. If your write up is dismissed, that is considered private information. NC DAC Policy.0600. What this means I that if you are written up, your record will permanently show this. If that write up gets dismissed, your record will only show that you were written up. Some times a write up is dismissed because it’s proven that a guard lied or got caught seeking retribution. Why would the prison system want that to be private knowledge only? Getting a write up can cause you to lose your work assignment. Having write ups can prevent a person from getting high trust work assignments. A write up also cost an inmate 10 dollars, segregation time, and restriction on canteen. Sometimes a person loses their job and taken to seg before a write up is proven. Sound familiar? The current cost of living in prisons is ridiculous. Most jobs in North Carolina prisons pay .40 ct to $ 1.25 a day. There are a few jobs that pay $ 5.00 per day. I currently make a collar a day working maintenance. My job requires me to be able to read electronic schematics, troubleshoot appliances and machines, metal fabrication, welding, tile work, concrete work, electrician work, plumbing HVAC work, and carpentry. Apparently that’s only worth a dollar per day. I do have a benefactor on the outside who pays for all my phone calls and sends me enough monthly to pay for good hygiene products. If it were not for this person, I would not be able to speak to my parents on a weekly basis, which is currently $ 2.00 for a fifteen minute phone call. Speaking to my mom once a week and to my dad once a week is $ 208 per year. I only make $364 per year. A good brand of tooth paste cost 4-6 days worth of wages. Good deodorant cost four days wages. If it were not for my benefactor, I would have a hustle. Those who do not get money from an external source typically have a hustle which varies from writing letters, making art, to stealing from their work assignment. No one should have to hustle in prison to maintain healthy communication with family and be able to afford decent hygiene and maybe a few snacks, but a tube of toothpaste, a stick of deodorant, a bar of soap, and a bag of coffee should not cost 2-3 weeks worth of wages. Indigent hygiene items, which are available, are very low quality.
The current atmosphere in prison creates a sense of dependency and hopelessness. The only responsibilities anyone has is to bathe and clean your cell (if a cell, some prisons are open dorms.) and go to work if you have a job assignment. I don’t have children, but these that do can’t pay child support. No one can pay to any other prior to incarceration financial obligations, which in turn makes getting credit upon release difficult. Having certain charges or sentences prevent a person from a lot of education programs, even some work assignments.
At the time of this article, ass proposed laws in North Carolina that deal with crime and punishment are to make prison sentences longer. The only people who are getting MAPP contracts (a contract for parole), are people who were sentences under what inmates call “the old law.” These people have been incarcerated for 30-40+years. Yet some of those people are being denied a MAPP contract due to someone’s feelings. Take Dennis Wood for example. Dennis is 75 years old, a Vietnam war veteran, has only one write up, been incarcerated for over 41 years, has held high trust/skill jobs, took all the classes the state said he should take, he’s a brilliant engineer with schematics of is inventions, expanded his education through the prison system, has been eligible for parole for 21 plus years and is still denied. Men who have life without parole or just a long prison sentence look at this and say, “Why do good? Even if the laws change, this state will not let anyone go.” This has a very deep impact on all inmates minds.
Right now there are inmates who have stayed write up free, maintained a high trust/skill job, prevented a institutionalized mind, and have fought hard to become the person they wish they had always been. Some of these men have life without parole. I am one of those men and everyday the following questions come to our minds: “Has what I have been doing worth it? Will the law ever change? Will I ever get a second chance?” Some of us as right now have amazing support systems and enough youth and strength left to be a productive member of society. Yet our political leadership, who ignores or delights in how the system is now, delight in business as usual.
A lot of ex cons have hard time finding a decent job after release from prison because a lot of society does not believe a person can change. This plus the aforementioned revenge culture and the mindset towards convicts, like I used to have, puts ex cons at a severe disadvantage when re-entering society. Whether a person was innocent or guilty, going through the legal system and prison leaves one jaded toward authority and the government. Then, in a lot of cases, ex cons can’t get a job, can’t get credit, they return to the lifestyle that got them incarcerated in the first place. Then politicians use the recidivism rates to push the narrative that people don’t change and need longer sentences.
In a Bible belt state such as North Carolina, seeing hypocrisy is easy. There are a lot of political leaders in North Carolina who claim to be Christians. Yet the laws that they propose don’t show the love of God, but would make any pharisee beam with pride. The overall theme of Jesus’ message is let all those who can be redeemed, be redeemed. Jesus pardoned and restored people in life and in His parables. Jesus was a leader who led by example. So if the goal of being a Christian is to become like Jesus, then why are not these politicians even trying to be leaders of societies outcast? Some of the Bible’s greatest heroes were murderers such as Paul and Moses. If Peter and the Christian community of then, had the same mind set as our Christian politicians, then none of Paul’s writings would be in the Bible. These people are also massive hypocrites when it comes to themselves, their friends and family. Suddenly the accused just made a mistake, but they’re good people and should get mercy. I have met children of police officers who were guilty of murder. One got 16-20 years. The other got five years. It’s all politics. Why can’t these people be just with everyone and create a system and laws according to the faith they claim?
The outrageous prices GTL charges for communication with those on the outside and other major contracts that corporation have with NCDAC prove that individuals and corporations are profiting greatly off of inmates and their families. It has been this expense that has inspired me to write the following poem: FOR NC LIFERS
It is my hope to all who read this gain an understanding of why recidivism is as high as it is and why people walk out of prison the same or worse than when they went in and why some people return to crime. Convicts don’t need to be coddled, but they don’t need to be treated like crap nor their families pay extortion level prices for communication and a few creature comforts. People in jails should be treated as innocent. Justice should be impartial. Rehabilitation should be the norm in prisons, not the anomaly. The only reason rehabilitation should be hard in prison is because change and dealing with ones inner demons can be difficult.
I know that some people are not redeemable, but that is their choice. Some mental health cases excluded. Most people in prison have release dates. It is not worth investing in them so they don’t hurt anyone else and/or themselves by returning to a lifestyle that got them incarcerated? Give the incarcerated a reason to change and purpose, and most will follow.
May good change come.