Of course I am hardly unique in having a perspective on prison life. Each prisoner has his views and those views are shaped by his experience. And the way that imprisonment is felt by each person is different. In that sense, perhaps, my voice is unique. That I was the only one to have the gumption to blog adds another layer of uniqueness. That I was the only man I knew who served from ages 14 to 47, yet another unique feature. That along the way I developed an academic bent, yet another. But my voice may, because of this history, be unique but that should never imply that it has some special standing. As I said, each person who passes through the Gates develops his or her own view.
The weight of imprisonment, the "pains" are differentialy felt. A short term prisoner feels the eight less. If he has a ready supply of Private Cash (moneys sent in), even less so. He is able to sit back and take advantage of the improved physical conditions of prison whilst ticking down his calendar to his certain release. His world is a small one, concerned with his neighbours and his TV schedule. Whatever irks him can be endured easier because of the certainty of his release date.
The view of such prisoners is that prison has vastly improved over the past couple of decades. And physically, this is true. TV's, showers, in cell toilets, being called Mr by staff. The patina of civilisation has indeed grown thicker with the passing of time and on this surface, facile, understanding then some prisoners may be tempted to revert to a silly holiday camp comparison.
The reality for those who serve more than a passing sentence is far different, for they invariably become enmeshed within the modern bureaucracy of control that grew up alongside the improved physical conditions. The IEP system, for example, is a charter for staff bullying. Why risk a career by being violent when you are able to strip a prisoner of a meaningful existence with a few strokes of a pen? And the second great burden is Offender Behaviour Programmes, a perpetual cycle of demands without end, each course leading to further "problems" being uncovered that lead to...the next course.
There are those prisoners whose horizons fail to stretch further than their TV or toilet. They fail to appreciate, for instance, that the latter means that they eat and sleep in their own private loo. The voices of these are as pertinent as my own; though whether their insights can, or should, have as much weight is for their audience to decide.
Prison has changed. It invariably changes with the social and political structures within which it is situated. On the surface this can appear to be a genuine improvement. But the essence of imprisonment remains constant, and any who claim otherwise are speaking from blinkered ignorance.
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Good, (informative) post, Ben.
ReplyDeleteInformative? Yes, but once again all it informs us of is one mans opinion .....
ReplyDeleteHaving your arse smacked, often smarts....get over it!
DeleteOh Dear, Here it comes again. Can you elaborate on your comment??
DeleteFrom what I understand, it IS NOT one mans opinion. It appears to be just your opinion.
Arse smacked?? How can entering into discourse with the esteemed blogger and him disagreeing with the poster's comments equate to the poster having his arse smacked??
ReplyDeleteThe fact remains that Ben has an opinions, and blogs it in an open forum, if the forum ( or its supporters) cannot stand dissent it brings the validity of the forum into question IMO.
On a completely different note it also begs the question of why some followers adopt such a slavish devotion to the thoughts of just one man. To quote monty python " he's not the messiah, he's just a naughty boy"...
One wonders how and where this devotion began? Who knows??? Prison often makes for strange bedfellows doesn't it?
Ha! I wonder whether you'd mind popping over to the prison officers' forum, where Ben has just been banned, and post this comment there?
DeleteOh dear wigarse... That response was in no way relevant to the points raised; do try harder
ReplyDeleteI believe the relevant phrase is:
Delete"...if the forum ( or its supporters) cannot stand dissent it brings the validity of the forum into question IMO."
Fair point; my apologies
Delete'it also begs the question of why some followers adopt such a slavish devotion to the thoughts of just one man.'
ReplyDeleteNothing 'slavish' about it. Bens thoughts mirror my own. He just makes a far better job (than I could) of getting the salient points across.
Are you on the early shift?
Not on any shift... Self employed, work when I wish, say what I feel. Don't need to rely on anyone to form my views for me.... Go try it Darby, release yourself, free your mind and your arse will follow!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean like the guy Ben overheard? Of course the guy is entitled to his opinion but I'm guessing you tend to agree with him based on the premise that in "your day" it was harder. Is that it?
DeleteAs the mixed-raced bastard child of a rapist who was born in a 'mental hospital' Eleven years after my Mothers reception, I can assure you, that I learnt to look after 'my own arse' at a very early age.
DeleteEh?? As I ye resting as your biography may be, that's all irrelevant Darby. What I said was ( to paraphrase) free your mind, and the rest will follow.... Or - in other words- let go of ben's shirt tails, form your own opinions and post em!!!
DeleteUnless of course, you have no opinions on imprisonment because you have never been inside?
The above facts aren't 'irrelevant' if, as they were, the first steps on a long road that took me (Via the 'Care' system and its ‘Homes’) on a direct route to Detention Center, Borstal(s), Y.P. and many years (in some of the darkest corners) of our prisons.
DeleteIt’s not about hanging on anyone’s shirt-tails. It’s more about having enough experience/s to know when someone is telling it *exactly* as it is.
I have opinions, but fortunately, people such as Ben (and one or two others!) mean I can keep my uneducated arse out of the way.
But that's the whole point I'm making. It's not someone telling it "exactly as it is" is it? It's someone telling it exactly as he thinks it is, therefore this blog ( as is the nature of any other blog) is subjective and not definitive.
DeleteImpressive back story though Darby, I remember borstal closing in 83 following the 82 CJA and being replaced by YCCs, unfortunately I was over 21 so landed my arse in the scrubs when my wheels fell off.... So how about speaking up and sharing your own insight into the system given that you appear to have been so deeply immersed in and affected by it?
Of course everyone's opinion/experience of Prison is different. And when people like, Anon (Below) happen to sail through their couple of months bird without incident, it’s easy to understand why they are often left wondering what all the fuss was about.
DeleteThe fact is, they leave, having experienced nothing of the underbelly of the system, and as thus, their views (regarding prison as a whole) are distorted.
The Holiday Camp myth continues....
P.S. It's precisely because of my own 'deep immersion' in the system that I relate to so many of the subjects/scenarios that are broached upon. It's also the reason I believe that I have the right to say; Ben says it as it is.
I suppose I should add that although I can relate to everything Ben writes about, my own experiences differ in that I served many short sentences (of around the 3yr mark) back-to-back. I nearly always lost most (if not all) of my remission, and as someone labelled 'Subversive' - many of those sentences were served almost entirely down the block.
DeleteI never indicated that I sailed through a sentence of a couple of months without incident; a closer examination of my original post will reveal that I spent most of the 80s inside, what I did say was that I was staggered to see the difference in conditions when I returned last year.
DeleteThus it is easy to see why some people (such as loud man) may view prison as a holiday camp.
However, the whole point of the post was to raise the question of not whether Ben is qualified to comment on prison, but whether or not he has the right ( which I note he didn't exercise, possibly because he is unsure of whether or not he indeed possesses such a right) to inflict his opinion on loud man in an attempt to "engage with and enlighten him" ?
'I never indicated that I sailed through a sentence of a couple of months without incident; a closer examination of my original post will reveal that I spent most of the 80s inside'
DeleteHow could I possibly know that the post by Anonymous September 29, 2012 10:10 PM was written by you? There are no clues....even upon 'closer examination'.
That's why it's always helpful to use a name - *any* name!
....how about, Onanist!
DeleteLove your blog Ben! I reckon you, Jailhouse Lawyer and Prison Widow should blow every one out of the water and do your own newspaper!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell, my prison experiance was very different to Ben's, I agree and also disagree with things he writes. I did just a few months, and have never laughed so much in all my life. Met some amazing people, whom i am still in touch with, i also came across people i hope never to see ever again, for me it was a holiday camp, What an eye opener too. And what an priceless education. What i didn't like was the shit that comes with it, court case, putting my family through it, and having to deal with terminally stupid probation. Well, that's my opinion as an ex inmate.
ReplyDeleteInteresting description of prison as a "holiday" camp. Not a description I would have ever thought I'd see.
DeleteGoing back in the conversation to the original comment on the 'Big Ears' post, I believe that argument being made was that since Ben only has his own experience to work from, he has no insight to offer someone who may or may not have been in prison for one or more short sentences.
ReplyDelete1) it is pure speculation that the individual in question had ever been in prison. I certainly held similar opinions at one point, having never been in prison, and I am sure I am not unique in that.
2) reading Anon(10:10)'s comment about finding it a "holiday camp" while only serving a few months, and Ben's point about encountering the prison bureauocracy differently depending on the length of the sentence, I think it's fairly clear that prison on a short sentence, and prison on a life sentence are very different experiences. Someone who has served short sentences telling a lifer that prison is "not that bad" still probably falls flat, since what I see here implies that prison is easier to handle for people serving short sentences.
3) as such, someone claiming that prisons are "holiday camps" without qualifying what they mean, is making an unjustifiably sweeping statement. Such a generalisation claims to speak to a universal experience, which any hypothetical prison history the individual may have still would not justify. On the other hand, challenging whether such an un-nuanced view can be universally applied (which I believe was what Ben was aiming for) doesn't involve claiming any sort of monopoly on the truth. So far as I can tell, he never claimed to be offering any more than his own opinon and experience, and was simply annoyed at someone else's exaggerated and poorly supported statements.
If I'm misrepresenting anyone here, please let me know, but on the basis of my current understanding, I'm not totally clear on what Anon's issue was with the post.
The issue with (that part) of the post "big ears" was that if mr loud man believes that prison is a holiday camp (whether that view is based on personal experience, previous time inside, or just blind ignorance) it is his right to hold that view. It is abundantly clear that Ben doesn't think that prison is a holiday camp but that doesn't give him the right to set the record straight for mr loud man.
DeleteIt seems as though I may have touched a nerve with Ben and some of his more ardent followers and their response has been to suggest that the length of sentence and amount of negative experiences during the time inside will influence the views held about imprisonment by those subjected to it; of courses this is correct, but what doesn't seem correct is one person setting out to grasp a monopoly on opinion and insight into imprisonment, and it is even less palatable ( almost bordering on napoleonic arrogance) to assume that the imparting of such insight and opinion will result in the scales falling from the eyes of the less enlightened
I doubt he was expecting to change the man's mind just by stating his opinion and backing it up with "and I was in prison, so there!" Rather, I assumed he was thinking of engaging in an argument, which he believes he could win. I can see how the former scenario comes off as presumptuous, but I don't think the latter can be considered anything worse than a tad arrogant, and that, only if his assessment is unrealistic.
DeleteAs to whether or not he has the right to 'set the record straight' for mr. loud man, I agree that he doesn't have the right to go up to a total stranger and interrupt the man's dinner to argue with him (which he did not do). However, I do not subscribe to the idea that opinions are inviolate, simply by virtue of being someone's opinion. No one has the right (or, for that matter, the ability) to *force* you to agree with them, but trying to convince people to change their minds is another thing entirely, and I would argue that anyone has the right to do that (provided the attempt does not cross over into harassment.)
Ben, you mentioned "gates", as in Prison Gates! I reckon, with all of your struggle through your present life, you are eligible to pass through those higher gates, wherever they happen to be? The password, Ben, is Left! ;D
ReplyDelete