Twice in my life I was given a private prison tour by a family member working in the Texas prison system. Once right at the beginning of his career and once at the end, decades later, when he was back in the same prison he started in as a junior guard, this time as warden. The prison has (had) a "death row."
Both times I was struck by the oppression and depression of the system.
The inmates standing in a strict line to go to the showers. The inmates stand to the side of the hallway always(!) inside the yellow line designating the distance from the wall they are allowed to exist in. Very few look up or even around. They hold their clothes and toiletries as instructed.
The men in the rec room look away from the TV to study us as we walk by. Particularly on the second trip. I can only imagine what they're thinking. "Who is that guy walking with the warden and his two deputies? Is something going to happen?"
The different cell types. The violent prisoner in chains giving me a death stare as he's lead down a hallway by two guards. Death row. Ad seg. The dining hall. The shops. The yard. The towers. Etc. Etc. It was half prison-movie cliché and half concentration camp documentary. Thoroughly depressing, particularly how that environment changes both the inmates and the guards.
Such a good subhead, "All the world's a cage" - Kicking myself for not having thought of it myself...
Twice in my life I was given a private prison tour by a family member working in the Texas prison system. Once right at the beginning of his career and once at the end, decades later, when he was back in the same prison he started in as a junior guard, this time as warden. The prison has (had) a "death row."
Both times I was struck by the oppression and depression of the system.
The inmates standing in a strict line to go to the showers. The inmates stand to the side of the hallway always(!) inside the yellow line designating the distance from the wall they are allowed to exist in. Very few look up or even around. They hold their clothes and toiletries as instructed.
The men in the rec room look away from the TV to study us as we walk by. Particularly on the second trip. I can only imagine what they're thinking. "Who is that guy walking with the warden and his two deputies? Is something going to happen?"
The different cell types. The violent prisoner in chains giving me a death stare as he's lead down a hallway by two guards. Death row. Ad seg. The dining hall. The shops. The yard. The towers. Etc. Etc. It was half prison-movie cliché and half concentration camp documentary. Thoroughly depressing, particularly how that environment changes both the inmates and the guards.