A Lesser Form of Human

By Sam Conti

In “Animal Farm”, George Orwell describes a horrifying human event: the oppressed becoming oppressors. “Some animals”, he wrote, “are more equal than others.” I feel Orwell was saying while the government, using the media, blames one group for all of society’s ills no one pays attention to the laws our law-makers are breaking.

While it may be tempting to blame inmates for all that is wrong with America, forcing inmates to pay for their own incarceration goes against both the spirit and the letter of the Bill of Rights. If society could only focus on what’s right with this country, and not give in to the fear mongering of the Prison-Industrial complex, maybe we would then concentrate on prevention instead of punishment.

Recent media coverage continues to elicit mean-spirited views against those who are incarcerated. People behind bars are still people and part of what makes us Americans is defined by how we treat them. The current movement to make inmates pay for the theft of their humanity is not only mean-spirited but counter productive. Only a small percentage of inmates have jobs, and those that do earn about a dollar a day. So where is the money to come from? Should families pay for it? Prisoners currently must buy food from venders to supplement their diets, and many are forced to buy their own clothes. Some families spend thousands a year on phone calls alone, and on most days prisoners must chose between “med” line, and lunch.

There are approximately 10,000 inmates in Massachusetts. If every one of them has a total of, say, ten supporters or family members each, then 100,000 tax-paying supporters understand and are sick of phony tough-on-crime rhetoric. These supporters should let their elected officials, as well as the public, know what prison really is.

For better or worse prison is an industry that earns its capital from the dehumanization of human beings, I believe it is modern slavery. Putting aside that every major religious tradition teaches that no one has the right to punish anyone else, the question becomes is mass incarceration about public safety, or state-sponsored revenge?

According to experts as diverse as Senator Jim Webb, Judge Dennis Challeen, Professor Nils Christie, and authors Steven Donziger, Dorothy Rabinowitz, and Robert Perkinson only a small fraction of prisoners, approximately 35%, actually pose a danger to society. The rest are fodder to win elections and create jobs.

Men and women are sent to prison AS punishment, not to BE punished. Is the public aware that prisoners sleep on pads an inch thick, are denied contact with their family and are forbidden the intimacy of couples? Are they aware that prisoners live regimented lives with no joy, no comfort, and substandard nutrition? Prison medical care has been questioned by those more qualified than this wrongly-convicted man, and it is not uncommon to suffer for 6 weeks, waiting to have a tooth pulled. I won’t even discuss overcrowding.

Does any right-thinking person believe that forcing human beings into kennels makes them “penitent”? Do we “correct” anyone by denying them what defines them as human? Do we teach patience by forcing them to stand at attention several times a day, or by constantly requiring them to wait in long lines? Do we make prisoners less angry by forcing them to live in violent environments or by abrogating the things that make them human? Do we help anyone by sending them back to society unable to secure decent housing or earn a living? Does anyone have the right to marginalize another human being?

A wrongly-convicted man is perhaps unqualified to answer these questions but he is uniquely qualified to ask. If you made a mistake or were wrongly-convicted would you want to have to pay to be a lesser form of human?

Sam Conti is an inmate at the North Central Correctional institution in Gardner, MA.