Today, many prisons have become a major landscape in the United States, so people call the United States a prison country. There, Texas has the largest prisons of any state in the United States. The prison in Beeville is considered the most dangerous prison in Texas. Still, little was known about conditions in the town's jails until Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joseph Hallinan recently visited one of the town's most dangerous prisons and uncovered the secrets behind them. This article is an excerpt from a book called "Up the River" written by Hallinan after visiting several prisons in the town. It allows people to better understand the appalling shady story of how this country that claims to have the supremacy of law abuses prisoners through this reporter's first-hand information.
1. Beeville built a prison city
The small town of Beeville is located in the densely wooded area between San Antonio and Corpus Christi in southern Texas. There are two prisons in this small town. One prison, located on a recently closed former Navy base, is called Garza Detention Center, and the other is called McConnell Detention Center. Beeville, like many other prison sites, is a remote place. Even the Garza and McConnell prisons, which stand side by side, are so far apart that it would take you an hour to drive there. The reporter went to these two prisons for many reasons, but the most important one was that he thought he could see with his own eyes the differences between the old and new prisons.
In Texas, people still treat prison building as a century-old project. Many of the cells are often known for the prisoners housed there. The crops were grown by prisoners, and while they were working, they were closely monitored by prison guards with loaded guns and ammunition on horseback, followed by a group of ferocious wolf dogs to prevent the prisoners from escaping and facilitate timely pursuit.
You know, Beeville is a small town with only 13,000 residents but 7,200 prisoners. This ratio of residents to prisoners is not greater than anywhere else in the United States. But some ardent advocates for the town told reporters they are still eager to add more inmates. Just like other small towns in America that reporters have learned about, they are seeking to turn their communities into prison centers, just as some American cities have become synonymous with specific products, such as Detroit as the Motor City and Pittsburgh as the Motor City. It became a steel city.
2. Run the prison as an industry
McConnell Prison was run by Warden L.W. Woods. L means Leslie, but no one calls Leslie Warden. He was tall, about 1.8 meters tall, but when he put on his hat and boots, it was hard to tell how tall he was. He has light blue eyes and a smooth, hairless face. When he spoke, he always seemed weak. His lips moved slightly, and it was almost impossible to tell that he was speaking.
Woods is famous in the prison industry for detaining wardens. His motto was to lock people up and never let them out. In Texas, there's a bit of a religious aspect to it. The state has perhaps the largest number of prisoners per capita in any state. According to statistics, the prison system in Texas is so large that one in every nine prisoners in the United States is currently detained in a Texas prison. And the number of prisoners is increasing every year. To meet the need to house more inmates, the state has built more than 100 prisons since 1980. The state projects it aims to house 155,000 inmates, which would make it the largest prison system in the United States. When a reporter asked Woods if this would cause him trouble, he said dismissively: "In my opinion, it needs more!"
In 1996, the United States ** * A budget of $24.05 billion is spent on prisons, which costs an average of $55 per prisoner every day. However, for some reason, prison costs are much cheaper in Texas. Take McConnell Prison, for example. It only costs $43 a day to house an inmate, a figure that makes the prison director very proud. He said smugly: “We have turned prisons into an industry.
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3. The segregation area has become a hell for prisoners
At McConnell Prison, there are approximately 2,806 inmates, 504 of whom are currently isolated in what is known as the Administrative Segregation Area (ADSEG). Places. Administrative segregation is essentially a modern version of the ancient practice of segregation cells being installed in prisons to separate troublesome prisoners from the general population. But in the past 20 years. , the use of administrative segregation became increasingly popular, and the consequences ended up being very serious.
In Texas prisons, there are three levels of administrative segregation for most incoming prisoners. Prisoners are required to be killed in the third-level administrative isolation cell area, which is the most severe prison area.
Prisoners in the third-level cells do not have deodorant, shampoo and toothpaste. , they can only get some baking soda to clean their teeth, and other things are given as prizes to those prisoners who behave well. However, in the administrative segregation area, many prisoners suffer from mental distress. , some prisoners are called "desperados" because they often want to end their lives by dying, and some prisoners are called "throwers", who often throw their feces at the guards, and "throwers". "The punishment is very severe. The prisoners will be stripped naked and put on paper clothes, and their normal meals will be suspended for a week. Instead, they will only be provided with a hodgepodge of food every day, such as providing the prisoners with a little food, bread and other bakery items." Grilled food.
In 1999, a federal judge found that Texas' administrative seclusion zones were in fact incubators of mental illness and that they led to cruel and unusual punishment. The practice was actually unconstitutional. His findings were based largely on the testimony of criminal law experts, including Craig Harnay, a nationally recognized expert in the field of criminal psychology. p>
Hanai visited administrative segregation areas in three Texas prisons, but not McConnell's prison. He described what he saw as unprecedented despair and hysteria among prisoners. Testimony stated that in numerous instances, inmates smeared their faces with feces and in other instances, individuals urinated in their cells and the floor was covered in urine.
Ha. Nye tried to talk to some of the prisoners, but they all seemed incoherent, often mumbling or screaming. Some seemed hostile, furious, and others stuck their hands out of the wall. In short, Hanai testified, the state's administrative quarantine was terrible. , “It’s the worst I’ve seen so far, as bad as it is. ”
At McConnell Prison, the administrative segregation area includes a guard cell with a chart on the wall listing the inmates living in each of the total of 504 cells. The cells are numbered in alphabetical order, such as Room A, Room B, and so on.
This chart is color-coded to show each inmate's race and affiliation. Gangs. Since virtually all prisoners are gang members, and all gang members are actually divided by race, the prisoners here are separated by race, white versus white, black versus black. Vail is located in South Texas, and many of them are of Mexican descent, so they are actually members of the Mexican Mafia or a gang called EME.
As soon as you walk into the F room. Entering a primate cage. It's filled with loud noises and hoarse sounds that make one feel dangerous and vulnerable. Most of the sounds are indistinguishable. The sounds were groans of torture, and some came from deep inside the room, like the dull sound of the prisoner's feet rhythmically tapping on the iron door of his cell, trying, perhaps, to break the block that was blocking his way out. The iron gate, through which his food was passed.
Third, by kicking the iron plate hard, he can attract the attention of the guard, which can interrupt his long and boring life in the administrative separation area.
Accompanied by the warden, the reporter entered the administrative isolation area in charge of Major Brian Rodion. The slight, dark-haired major explained that Room F was filled with soldiers who were low-level members of their respective gangs. In Room A, where the leader of the gang was imprisoned, it was relatively peaceful. "
He told reporters that although they issue orders to others and to street gangs, here they don't want to be scuffled. They don't want to be restricted. So on the surface they don't cause trouble.
He said, "These guys. He nodded towards Room A, "Control the smuggling of drugs from here." "The men in Room A heard what he said, but remained expressionless. As long as the reporter stayed there, they remained unmoved. McConnell's prison houses some of the most brutal inmates in the Texas prison system. .
“Most prisoners are serving at least 45 years in prison here. "Many are life sentences," Rodion said. As a result, administrative segregation cells are known as the most dangerous places in Texas. Every day, his officers report 10 to 12 violent assaults. Guards have to wear glass shields to protect themselves from inmates throwing feces, urine and Food, which is often disgusting. One guard is still lying in the hospital. He was shot in the upper arm by a 7.5 cm long metal arrow shot by a prisoner with a homemade leather slingshot, which allegedly severed an artery. The rubber band that shoots metal arrows was hidden in his pants and underwear in advance.
4. Guards have become a job hunting dream
The terrifying American prison McConnell Prison is now hiring. There are 834 employees, 570 of whom are guards. After 18 months, a guard working at McConnell Prison can earn $2,027 a month, or $24,324 a year. The average annual salary in the United States is $8,600. , a good income in a country where 1 in 4 people live in poverty, and these dollars are a boost to the local economy
Now there is a new one opening in the town. ’s movie theater, called Taco Bell, and there are three farm agencies, where there was only one before.
“We shop here, shop here and live here,” Rodion said. "This is our home. "This is why Beville people are willing to live here. The work of prison guards is quite stable and not very mobile, unlike the navy soldiers who were here before, who were more mobile, living in the city and spending money in the city.
After leaving McConnell Prison, the reporter drove through the town of Beville and went to interview Charles Gordon, the official in charge of training the state’s labor correctional officers. This training center is like McConville and Garza. The facility, also located in Beeville, aims to contribute to the town's goal of becoming a prison town as early as possible. Soon, Gordon said, the center will become the largest training center for correctional officers in the country. It will be able to train 12,000 people a year. Guards may be one-third of all correctional facility guards employed in the United States in a year. The requirements for labor camp staff are very low, as long as they have an academic degree equivalent to a high school diploma, or higher, and they must be old. Over 18 years old, with a clear resume. Trainees will undergo 120 hours of school instruction, usually 10 hours a day for 12 consecutive days, and then they will receive 80 hours of on-the-job training.
37 Trainee Eli Farbaugh, 20, is a divorced mother of four. Like other officers-in-training, Farbaugh has taken a civilian job as a supervisor at the Fort Stockton jail in Picos County. Position. It is reported that Fort Stockton is a small prison that has only been open for 2 and a half years, and the security measures are the lowest. So far, Fabao said that there has been no riot in this prison.
The job was so attractive that Farbault was willing to leave her four children with their grandparents, 400 miles away. She said she sold nearly everything she owned before coming to work at the prison. Real estate, but she said the job is 100% remunerative, unless you're buying a house and you're paying for it yourself.
As an official in the labor camp, she will always have a stable income. She expects to be promoted to captain this year, which will bring her monthly income to $3,009. In addition to her salary, she received two free meals a day in prison. Her sons get a haircut for just a dollar. She sends her clothes to the laundry room to be washed, and pays only $5 once a month. However, being a caretaker is not easy for a divorced mother.
Donald Links is also a student who participated in discipline training like Fabao. He has a strong body and a sullen face. He also took up prison work because of the attractive salary offered by prison guards. Links had been wandering around doing temporary construction jobs and living in a motor home with his blind wife. He is 54 years old this year, which is obviously too old for those applying for labor camp management training. He is already past the retirement age of many prison directors. When a reporter asked why he wanted to be a prison guard, he said, "Oh, my wife and I have been married 28 years, and we've lived in a motorhome for 19 years." He looked at me hard. "Do you have any other better ideas?"
In another 10 years, after retirement, he will be able to obtain medical insurance, which is a very valuable benefit. He said he was willing to work for a while between killer and robber. At the age of 54, his biggest wish is to take the initiative to find a job and buy health insurance.
The third person to participate in the training is Crescencio Reyes, who is only 20 years old this year. But he is already a father of 2 children. Like Fabao, Reyes currently works in a prison. He is an assistant physician at McConnell Prison. "McConnell's situation is terrible," he said, "and that's what I expected." When a reporter asked him why he tolerated such an environment, he shrugged and said, "It's a welfare job. "If you stay here, your income will always be considerable. If you keep moving, you will get better social benefits. What else do you want in Princeton?" In his book "Punishment and Inequality in America," university psychologist Bruce Westen puts it this way: If a prison only affected the inmates it held and no one else, its impact would be much smaller. But in fact, the two million prisoners in the United States affect the taxpayers who support them, the prison guards who guard them, their families, and the society they will return to in the future. Everyone is affected, but not to the same extent.
For much of the twentieth century, one in 1,000 Americans was imprisoned. Since the mid-1970s, the prison population has continued to grow. Seven out of 1,000 Americans are now imprisoned. This is already five times the historical standard and eight times that of most Western European countries.
In those in their early thirties, the probability ratio of blacks to whites being imprisoned is 7:1. Among whites, the ratio of the probability of being imprisoned is 7:1 for those with only a high school degree and those with a college degree. 20:1. There is a view that incarceration helps maintain social security. From 380,000 inmates in 1975 to 22 million today, the crime rate is indeed on a downward trend. The homicide rate fell by 43% in the 1990s. Maybe yes. The value of a safer society is obvious and immediate; the cost of incarcerating too many prisoners is theoretical and vague.
Wisten's greatest achievement is to no longer let the issue remain obscure. He believes that the large number of prisoners is an important factor causing inequality in modern society. Incarceration has a greater impact and goes deeper than segregation on the basis of race and class—it is the use of walls to separate the disadvantaged, especially black people without survival skills, from Americans. And when violent criminals are imprisoned, more than half continue to commit non-violent crimes while in prison, especially selling drugs. Their chances of becoming husbands, fathers, and having a normal job again are greatly reduced.
As of 2000, the odds of high school dropouts being incarcerated had tripled compared to two decades earlier. And there are huge differences between races. Among high school dropouts in their mid-thirties, more than 60% of blacks have gone to prison or have criminal records.
Wisten warned that this would result in "a collective isolation of black youth from the rest of American society." The life of the lower class blacks is miserable, but the racial inequality among prisoners in prisons is particularly prominent. For example, when the unemployment rate for black people is twice that of white people, they are eight times more likely to go to prison. We tend to think of prison as a by-product of the tragedy of poverty; Wisten saw the former as the source of the latter. The result of the prison population's explosion, he wrote: "is that poor people are getting poorer and have less and less hope."
Part of the reason is that prisoners have very few prospects of finding work and making money in the future. dim. The period between the ages of 20 and 30 is when men most rapidly increase their income, expand their skills and social relationships. Those opportunities are greatly diminished and stained for those in prison. Deva Paje, a psychologist at Northwestern University, conducted an experiment in which people with similar conditions were asked to apply for jobs. The difference was that some of them had a prison record and some did not. The conclusion was that a prison record reduced the chance of a second interview by half among whites and by two-thirds among blacks. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Wisten concluded that a prison sentence can reduce a person's job opportunities and pay, thereby reducing annual income by 30 to 40 percent. For blacks, average lifetime earnings dropped by $86,000 (whites also lost more, $114,000, because they were paid more than blacks).
4 The outlook for families is equally worrying
The prospects for family life are equally worrying. A prison sentence reduces a black man's chances of marriage by 11 percentage points. Whether married or not, most imprisoned men have children, making the prison population a constant source of young men with bleak prospects. From 1980 to 2000, the number of children whose fathers were incarcerated increased sixfold, to 2.1 million. Among white children, the rate is about 1 percent, while among black children, it's closer to 10 percent.
You may think that these people - drug dealers, thieves and the like - have little to do with their children except that they are fathers in name. But in fact, nearly half of them still live with their children while in detention. And the amazing thing about such parents is that no matter how bad they are, their kids still need them anyway. Prisons seem to be for the purpose of building a good society, imprisoning so many people and marginalizing them from society, but in fact what they are doing may be destroying the good society they are trying to build. Wisten believes that "detaining a large number of prisoners may be contradictory to trying to control crime."
There is not no good news. Since 1980, prison murders have dropped by more than 90 percent. But at the same time, there are still not enough activities, training, and drug treatment programs for prisoners. If policymakers were once too credulous about the role of reeducation, they are now too dismissive.
5 Prisons are almost like mental wards
Simply physically separating prisoners from other social groups (which is commonly known as solitary confinement) is only the first method of punishment. The consequences of this step have been shown to be "detours leading to the deterioration of psychological conditions." From 1995 to 2000, the number of prisoners in solitary confinement increased by 40%, to 81,000. Although the number of homicides has dropped, serious violence remains common and prison breaks are common.
And some really bad news: Prisons are pretty much modern psych wards. According to the most conservative estimates, 16% of prison inmates suffer from mental illness, which is about 350,000 people, and the true number is likely to be twice this number. Not only do mental illnesses make patients more miserable, they also make prison facilities more crowded and place greater demands on prison guards.