Being a minor egomaniac, the attention you have been giving me has been very gratifying and I deeply appreciate it. However, I would hate this to overshadow the fact that I am merely one amongst thousands. Guilty of our crimes, we still struggle against a system which is fundamentally unjust and bereft of humanity - the very qualities we are accused of.
Today I received a letter from another prisoner which reminded me of the relative ease in which I live my daily life. He is in the High Security Estate, but rules prohibit my naming him. But like me, he has attempted to send out material for the web, only to have his mail stopped.
On the back of ‘intelligence’, he is then accused of bullying other prisoners. This obviously not being sufficient pressure, further ‘intelligence’ is used to make a claim that he is a man of some influence on the landings. Because of this, he has been placed in segregation indefinitely and now faces several years of those conditions.
The Prison Service loves ‘intelligence’, because we are unable to see sufficient detail to challenge it. It has none of the safeguards of formal disciplinary proceedings and no limits on the privations that can be inflicted in its name. There are essentially no barriers against its misuse, and it is regularly levelled against those who the system fears.
Don't take the spotlight off me. Broaden it and throw illumination on more people, more abuses. Remember, if you will, that I am but one of 85,000 and many others suffer more. Remember particularly this un-named prisoner and the struggles he faces for attempting to speak to the wider world.
Hmm. Maybe he had actually bullied someone? Maybe your 'us and them' viewpoint is slightly off the mark because you have grown up in the prison system and it has warped your perspective somewhat? When you are out and rub shoulders with everyday people, who have not all committed heinous crimes then you may change your perspective. That prisoner must be in high security for a reason.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you are right Anonymous, maybe you aren't. We can't tell while an unjust systme of "intelligence" is used to punish indiscriminately.
ReplyDeleteWe try not to put people in prison without evidence, why is it suddenly ok to punish inmates without it once they are convicted?
I guess' intelligence' was what was quoted to ensure the saftey of the female prison officer that was in danger of being raped (http://prisonerben.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-moral-dilemna.html)
ReplyDeleteIt just sounds like a necessary evil sometimes.
Does this prisoner have family and would they have more rights than he does in terms of being told exactly what evidence there is against him?
ReplyDelete@anonymous. You have a touching faith in the system. Of course there is an us and them thing, for the perfectly good reason that it is us and them. And if you believe that they wont abuse official processes to screw over a prisoner they dont like, then you are severely ignorant about prison.
ReplyDeleteFrom Fred
ReplyDeleteMadalbert is right - the prison officers do all sorts of 'strange' things to people with no apparent reason to it. Prisoners should be treated with respect, honest and decency - example is the best way to show people how to behave and to encourage them to behave in a way that is acceptable to the community.
From Fred
ReplyDeleteMadalbert is right - the prison officers do all sorts of 'strange' things to people with no apparent reason to it. Prisoners should be treated with respect, honest and decency - example is the best way to show people how to behave and to encourage them to behave in a way that is acceptable to the community.