In Middletown We Trust

Connecticut to open prison for inmates of ages 18 to 25

So, we shared this story this afternoon from the Hartford Courant, and then the Middletown Press came out with the story as well. I agree, the prisons in Connecticut, are just that, prisons. In no way are they Correctional Institutions, as they would have you believe by the name of basically every facility in the state, and yes, they are terribly overcrowded, due mainly to the Judicial System’s malicious use of incarceration for low level, non- violent, offenders, causing said overcrowding.

Believe it or not, there are, on a regular basis, inmates sleeping on the floor of gymnasiums, and other larger rooms, that they may or may not describe as “Dorms”. What this is in reality is, 120 Men or Women, grouped together, sleeping in a 4 inch thick mattress, on the floor, and they share 3 toilets, and the same number of showers. You can say what you want, that these are criminals, and they deserve what they get, and so on and so forth, but we tend to forget one major thing: They’re human beings!!!

As much as it may pain you all to hear this, 95% of Inmates are going to get out of Prison at one point or another. When you “Warehouse” Inmates instead of actually reforming them, you contribute to the problem, not solve it. Prison is not, and it never was intended, to be a place to warehouse people that broke the law, and remove them from society. Here’s a reality check; Prisons, or Correctional Institutions, are part of Society whether you agree or not. It’s a fact. And as part of society, we have a responsibility to reform these men and women, through programs in drug rehabilitation, domestic violence, mental health, sexual behavior, or whatever other issue that bring people to break the law, and end up in prison in the first place. Currently, we don’t do that, and we have a recidivism rate of 50%. It there a wonder why? Absolutely not. Because no one cares.

Now, we are going to build a prison for Inmates between the ages of 18 and 25 years old, for what Connecticut’s Correctional Commissioner, Scott Semple, says “The prison also would protect those inmates from abuse and manipulation by older prisoners.”

I’m sorry, Mr. Semple, but perhaps you just landed in that job straight out of high school or college, because that reasoning, is f!$%ing idiotic! I can imagine that the average person doesn’t know what it’s like in Connecticut’s Prison’s, and that’s about the most unfortunate thing about this whole thing, because if you did, as Mr. Semple I hope would, you would know that that kind of thing rarely happens anymore. Again, I’m sorry to disappoint, but prison in Connecticut is nothing like you’ve ever seen on TV or in the Movies. Connecticut Prison’s are businesses, where employee’s go to work, mostly the Correctional Officer’s themselves, and their job is to watch over, and respond to any problems. Period. Other than that, prison’s, from an inmates point of view, operate like any other community. There are rules and lines you just don’t cross, and you live your life in accordance with those rules, until your time is done. Then you go home, hopefully to never return. No one there is taking advantage of anyone. Fights do happen rarely, because let’s face it, disagreements happen, like they do anywhere. As to other heinous acts that you’d imagine happening; it really doesn’t, because it isn’t tolerated by those same “older inmates” that Mr. Semple is trying to protect the younger ones from.

My prediction: Well, ask anyone who works, or has worked at Manson Youth Institute in Cheshire, CT. That facility is the same type of facility that’s being described here, and the overwhelming opinion is that the “Kids” at M.Y.I., as it’s often referred to as, is pure anarchy. The kids there only have so much oversight from the Correctional Officer’s, and staff, and left to run their own “community”, I’ll go out on a limb and say that the most fights, assaults, thefts, and overall Administrative Directive Violation’s, occur at this facility. And now you want to make another one. Good luck with that.

Well, no one is bothering to reform any inmates anyway, so why should anyone be worried that the State is building another facility, where, if it runs anything like M.Y.I., parents may not get their “kids” back, because someone serving a life sentence, and happens to be under 25, has now stabbed another inmate to death. This is the reality we are dealing with people. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.