Introduction
What is an exchange course?
Exchange for Change is a non-profit organization that gives voices to the incarcerated of South Florida through the medium of writing. This writing is used as a tool that helps many people in their journey of healing, through expression and exchange of ideas. The progression that occurs through this learning exchange can change the whole trajectory of one's life as well as the perceptions of those living on the outside.
On this webpage we aim to use our specific experience with Exchange for Change to explain the lies behind our prison system: specifically how a system that was created to rehabilitate instead causes increased harm and crime in our nation and focuses on monetary gain over true improvement.
Lack of Healing within prisons
How the lack of mental health resources, a focus on punishment over rehabilitation, and an architecturally and systematically ineffective approach to healing affect the incarcerated.
Within the American prison system, there is a lack of focus on mental health, even though mental health problems are a common reason why people end up in prison. There is a lack of consideration about why people commit crimes and what systems in our society lead to those crimes when considering punishment. Even when there is a focus on mental health in prisons and treatment is offered, there are issues regarding trust and methods of evaluation.
Methods of Evaluation
"When I entered the Department of Correction I was screened for my educational and psychological aspects. What was my skill level and knowledge, and was I gonna hurt myself or others. It is easy to skew these tests... My classification officer is supposed to be like a social worker for me, but they just ask me some questions, from an algorithmic computer survey yearly, and then I go. They ask stuff like how's my family relationship, do I feel easily intimidated, am I a leader? Basically, I try to read between the lines. If I answer this or that then what does it mean? Will I be put here/there, labeled this/that, made to take/do this or that? I don't trust the system and told my officer this. I felt that if I answered certain ways I would be pigeon holed." (Graphite Pencil, 4/11/2022)
The Need to Build Trust
Although there are resources available to the incarcerated who struggle with mental health issues, there is a huge lack of trust within the system- that one might be categorized incorrectly or punished further instead of helped. Therefore, these programs are not able to truly rehabilitate and get to the root cause of any issues, since those being evaluated are afraid to be honest. In prison reform, it would be important for mental health resources to cater to one's situation (including their crime and offense) instead of generalizing.
The Need to Move Closer to Rehabilitation
Within the American prison system, there is a priority to punish instead of rehabilitate. As Graphite Pencil wrote in his letter on 4/4/2022, "I understand the officer isn't my friend but couldn't we at least partner in rehabilitation? In making society better?" Although authority is important within prisons, when people feel like they are locked in a cage and in far less control than others, there is nearly no room for rehabilitation. The system actually prevents betterment by these methods, and requires rethinking.
The Need for Restructured Space
Many prisons in America operate based on a panopticon model, where there is constant supervision and surveillance on the incarcerated. There is an overwhelming power dynamic, showing prisoners that they have the least power in this system. The incarcerated are "in a cell with frosted windows, several times behind three locked doors" (Graphite Pencil). This creates a feeling of hopelessness among inmates, as the architecture of the building fosters feelings of isolation and entrapment. These feelings do not promote healing nor rehabilitation among the incarcerated.
Lack of support after imprisonment
$50 and a bus pass and how criminal records affect housing, voting, and job opportunities on the outside
"After a long period of incarceration, even when those in prison have taken opportunities for betterment, they still struggle to find housing, jobs, and education on the outside. Overall, this does not create a system where success after prison is easy, or attainable at all." (Ruby Russell, 4/3/2022)
For the success of an inmate going back into society, doors need to be opened, such as "housing, cash assistance, food stamps, college loans, etc. However, a criminal record bars many from accessing these tools! Bad enough that one has been oppressed for 10-20 years in prison, may have restrictive probations and expenses from that, all in the name of safety and further retribution, but the person isn't given the chance to reestablish. It is no wonder some just give up and stay criminals." (Graphite Pencil 3/28/22)
"We're not really rehabilitating anybody, we're really just warehousing"
The resources that are given to those formerly incarcerated upon release barely scratch the surface of what would be needed for a smooth reintegration to society. The video below shows Florida State Senator Jeff Brandes and his views on reintegration.
Key Points to Understand
"Today, what happens is the day they get out, they get 50 dollars and a bus pass. And basically sent away. And if they don't have any skills, if they don't have the ability to get a job because they're a prior felon, or housing because they're a felon, they're going to be homeless shortly after they leave. And then they're going to be going out committing other crimes."
We are left wondering: Why haven't these policies changed?
The prison system, as it is, benefits the economy through cheap labor and how racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, public perception, and control are related to imprisonment.
The Prison Industrial Complex
At the end of the day, when we speak of the prison system, we have to take into consideration the fact that this system is working in a conscious manner at this point. It is the "Prison Industrial Complex" as Angela Davis puts it (79). It actively seeks out crime cycles because it now relies on prisoners for their labor to provide conglomerations deeply entrenched in these systems.
"The exploitation of prison labor by private corporations is one aspect among an array of relationships linking corporations, government, correctional communities, and media" (Davis 86)
The data is there to back up these claims as well. "The fact, for example, that many corporations with global markets now rely on prisons as an important source of profit helps us to understand the rapidity with which prisons began to proliferate precisely at a time when official studies indicated that crime rates were falling" (Davis 87) Thus as noted in Zucchini's letter response to Graphite Pencil, "how is it that a system so big can be operating in a manner that is so under the radar?" (4/4/22).
When the general public thinks of a community of people as inherently bad or as Graphite Pencil puts it, "an unwanted element, a disease, in society as a criminal" (2/14/22), it's easier for us to turn a blind eye to the way they are being treated. In this case, both political figures in charge of our prison systems and the general public outside of them, still carry around these false and mistaken images of every prisoner as murders, or evil geniuses because that is the current narrative the media and most educational institutions have painted them as.
"The news is so quick to cover crazy crime stories without giving the criminal any time of day or any human understanding. Obviously there are some crimes that are flat out intentionally wrong, but many times stories are made for the sake of creating an audience and that doesn't really help our story either. What if we got more of your writing and your stories out there?"' Zucchini to Graphite Pencil (4/4/22)
It's much easier to fool masses of people into perceiving every individual who goes to prison is inherently bad and heartless , than it is to explain to everyone that every single human experience is different -from their upbringing to their culture, to the amount of love/support they had around them growing up- so one can see why when speaking of prisoners, we are only ever concerned with the specific action they did or how long they were sentenced for. These tendencies to as a result to characterize individuals based off what they've done rather than in well-rounded view that takes into considerations the trauma one may have experienced further leads to these rigid and almost never-fading stigmas about prisoners.
"It's the law of "out of sight, out of mind". Unless we are directly affected by something, we don't consider it or we are ignorant to it" Graphite Pencil (4/4/22)
Slavery Never Ended
Another key thing to keep in mind when discussing our prison systems and the need for reform is that prisons at this point have transformed themselves into a system that's been intentionally keeping secrets from us for decades now. Many voices of the incarcerated are silenced and restrained because they seek to remain under the radar.
Graphite Pencil Reminds Us: Exemption Clause of the 13th Amendment
How can we fix a system that is working exactly as it was designed to?
Evidently, the prison industrial complex has formulated itself into a key and essential tool for not only America's racism but for capitalism as well.
It had turned from what once was believed to be a rehabilitative institution into a mechanism to allow this nations deepest desires to stay up and running; profit and prejudice. The system knows what it's doing and has little interest in changing that. Our prison systems at the end of the day are now a form of stable economic return, cheap labor, and a simple environment for racism, sexism, homophobia etc. to flourish on. That being said, the key component missing in this push for true reform, is the presence of real and strong prison voices in our society. What is meant by that is we need to change the current narrative we have towards the incarcerated from one that is jaded to one that is understanding, sympathetic, and forgiving.
The potential for Reform
How can we fight for reform? What pieces of the system need to change?
The truth of the matter is that the majority of individuals who end up in prison are fully capable of learning from what they did, getting back up, and successfully integrating back into society, but it's our systems that make it hard for them to do so. As formerly mentioned, most individuals get little to no assistance to find a place for themselves back in to society post-conviction. They are treated like lost causes finally being released; they are no longer the prison's problem. What kind of system, supposedly intended to heal its people, would do this? How is it productive to leave people worse off than they were before?
If prisons were more reformation based instead of focusing on isolation or constantly reminding people of their wrongdoings -- which more often than not leads to feelings of worthlessness and self-hate -- maybe then we could truly recognize a fall in our crime rates. But does the system even want to see this fall in crime rates?
Providing the right type of support
Imagine if we had professionally trained social workers who know how to deal with cases like suicide, drug abuse, or even domestic abuse, instead of police officers with little to no training in that field who end up finding it easier to imprison the individual who called seeking help instead of referring them to systems that can, will, as well as genuinely would like to help.
What if instead of simply locking someone up and programming their brain into thinking they're worthless, hopeless, and doomed, we actively met with them. We checked up on them not just to transport them from cell to cell, but to ask them about how they're doing, what they need, or if they need help. The point was never to dehumanize each other, let alone treat another human as inferior and even animal like. The point of punishing anyone in the first place is so that they see where they went wrong, so that they actually learn from their mistakes by reflecting and actively putting in the effort to grow from them.
"How can we expect people to ever grow from the past when all they’re faced with are constant reminders of it? It just makes no sense to me. In class we were talking about whether the prison makes the prisoner or if the prisoner makes the prison and I couldn’t help but think that the prison makes the so-called “prisoner” because it restricts them from being able to reflect, forgive, and forget. When a child does something their parents don’t like, they usually don’t get reminded of it for the rest of their lives. The child gets reprimanded, given time to reflect, and then has a conversation with their folks in which they are forgiven, as well as given another chance to grow or in other words prove that they learned from their mistake. In what way do our prison systems do this?" Zucchini to Graphite Pencil (2/27/22)
"I seek to understand my failure and not to have my nose constantly rubbed in it. That's more punishing than anything. It's degrading and destructive. It is not conducive to the dignity and decency necessary to heal. Everyone has a measure of pride and wants to save face. If I'm fixed then they lose job security" (Graphite Pencil 4/11/22)
At the end of the day, prison reform is so much more than adding in social workers, expanding access to everyone incarcerated, but it is also about addressing the hidden secrets involved as well such as racism. Without getting the voices of those who truly undergo this experience however, we wont see the change we desire. The change that these people, any human being, deserves. Enough "its all about the money"... It's time for It Is ALL About The People.
"I hear your call to being a prison activist for reform in changing the culture and perceptions of us by being a voice. This class is one way thats being done. You are hearing me, you on the outside, and what you learn you can carry and influence circles that we in here cannot" (Graphite Pencil 4/11/22)
Works Cited (Text and Video)
Davis, Angela Y. Are Prisons Obsolete? Seven Stories Press, 2011.
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. “State Sen Jeff Brandes.” Youtube, 1 Jul. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZTRgF0fP4o&t=49s
UM letter exchange between Zucchini and Graphite Pencil
UM letter exchange between Ruby Russell and Graphite Pencil
Works Cited (Images)
Cobb, Jelani. “The Man Rewriting Prison from Inside.” The New Yorker, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/the-man-rewriting-prison-from-inside/amp
Cusack, Annabelle. “Understanding the Prison Industrial Complex in the US and UK: For Beginners.” Medium, Medium, 16 Aug. 2020, https://medium.com/@annabelle_67699/understanding-the-prison-industrial-complex-in-the-us-and-uk-for-beginners-efa66d383785
García, Eric J. "Drawing on Anger: Portraits of U.S. Hypocrisy". https://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/books/drawing-on-anger-portraits-of-u-s-hypocrisy-by-eric-j-garc-a/article_81411a51-79ce-5f49-88ec-ebc539ca14f3.html
Health Care - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/Posters_E_A3_Ebook.pdf
How Is the Prison Industrial Complex a Problem in the US? How ... - Quora. https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-Prison-Industrial-Complex-a-problem-in-the-US-How-would-you-solve-it
Samadi, Sana. “Zoos: Prison or Paradise? - Youth Are Awesome.” Youth Are Awesome -, 16 Oct. 2014, https://youthareawesome.com/zoos-prison-paradise/
Simpson, Adam. “Panopticon.” The New York Times, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/books/review/the-panopticon-by-jenni-fagan.html.
“The Prison Industrial Complex.” The Center for Church and Prison, Inc., 13 Dec. 2017, https://churchandprison.org/documents/the-prison-industrial-complex/
Thomas, Iago. “The Prison-Industrial Complex.” ALEC and The Prison-Industrial Complex, 13 Dec. 2017, https://alecandrace.wordpress.com/2017/12/13/the-prison-industrial-complex/
Credits:
Created with an image by Joeprachatree - "Homeless person with help sign "