How can people prefer prison to real life?

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How can people prefer prison to real life?

Posted November 05, 2009 08:46:16
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+2 raves FencerCat November 06, 2009 02:51:57

Some people's lives are so hopeless that it looks better on the inside. And once people have been on the inside for a long time, that's the culture they understand, and the outside is a fearful place.
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+1 raves
Sookie November 06, 2009 15:26:40

Many times, we fail to see that people often turn to crime where there is a necessity (whether we as a society deem this as a justifiable necessity or not).

However, whether the choice is made on a financial, social or emotional level, this "need" often outweighs any consequence that may result from it. Other than the odd individual, I don't believe that anyone really "wants" or aims to be a criminal.

Once someone has been institutionalized for some time, the factor of "choice" is removed, there is no longer a necessity, the life-skills required to "make it" are handed to them and... as Melly said, they form families and bonds that may otherwise be non-existent.
+1 raves
mikestice to Sookie November 06, 2009 16:37:48

I agree yet don't condone the actions. Choice is the reasons were are above the animal world. when we revert to animal-ism to satisfy needs that may or may not exist to an open society we intentionally request to be stored someplace until our priorities become focused or, we learn to form those family ties and find the security of a 6' X 9' cell and an open courtyard. To remain above the animal kingdom, people must reevaluate what they do and say... or it will be the bleakness of incarceration and removal from society.
+1 raves
Sookie to mikestice November 06, 2009 17:18:10

I agree wholeheartedly. I don't justify or condone their actions or the choices they make. That said, understanding these things, we come to realize that perhaps the "bleakness of incarceration" in actuality, fulfills as well as eliminates the necessity to make these poor choices.

Excellent question, by the way.
mikestice to Sookie November 06, 2009 17:35:51

Thank you, it is appreciated and the number of raves you allowed me. I appreciate your thought redress of all my questions, however.
+2 raves
FencerCat November 06, 2009 02:51:57

Some people's lives are so hopeless that it looks better on the inside. And once people have been on the inside for a long time, that's the culture they understand, and the outside is a fearful place.
+3 raves
mikestice to FencerCat November 06, 2009 02:53:38

Bad choices bring bad results...
+1 raves
FencerCat to mikestice November 06, 2009 02:56:28

Yep. I can't imagine it myself. I'd probably die in the first week if I ever had to be in prison.
+2 raves
mikestice to FencerCat November 06, 2009 02:57:23

My death would be heart failure before I get there.
+1 raves
FencerCat to mikestice November 06, 2009 02:58:54

For me, probably someone would grind glass into my food because I'd be so unresponsive from shock that they'd think I had an attitude.
+2 raves
mikestice to FencerCat November 06, 2009 03:00:30

I will not, repeat NOT, be going to one of them.
+1 raves
FencerCat to mikestice November 06, 2009 03:04:16

Oh, I have no plans to ever do anything that would put me in jail.
+2 raves
mikestice to FencerCat November 06, 2009 03:08:13

i can't see it, either.
+1 raves
twocrows November 05, 2009 19:34:55

there is such a thing as institutionalization. when it's all you know, everything else becomes fearful.

watch The Shawshank Redemption. it gives a [fairly simplistic, but still -- ] look at institutionalization.
+1 raves
mikestice to twocrows November 05, 2009 20:49:34

Saw "The Shawshank Redemption." I have "American Me." American Me gives a better understanding of why. But I still have a poor understanding of the draw, infatuation of this stuff. There is a documentary at the end of the movie, how they shot the movie in East LA and what the actors (gang members and prison inmates) thought about their lives in crime. To them it is not crime, but a way of life. I cannot fathom any of that kind of thinking.
+2 raves
melly~I'm friggin' giddy. November 05, 2009 16:41:54

For long-timers, bonds happen, families appear. Often, the prisoner still lacks the life skills that led them to incarceration in the first place.
We all long, in some form or another, for what we know.
+2 raves
mikestice to melly~I... November 05, 2009 16:43:36

Yes, but somewhere along the way if you were as tough as you say, wouldn't you want a different life style???
+2 raves
melly~I... to mikestice November 05, 2009 16:47:36 (edited)

From most of the books I have read, and I have studied prisons and prison life for quite some time, it takes a lot to switch gears and adjust to life on the outside. I am specifically talking about long-timers. They have learned how to survive in prison--very different from the survival skills needed for the outside world. I think that prisons create more criminality--or corruption of character--than rehabilitate.
+2 raves
mikestice to melly~I... November 05, 2009 16:54:44

That is why I wanted to know. the penal system sucks in its present form. We need to do something to force change and turn the stats around.
+2 raves
melly~I... to mikestice November 05, 2009 17:07:13

I couldn't agree more. For profit prisons are even worse. Many people think that prisoners deserve nothing. While I can't exactly reconcile the idea of educating prisoners and not educating people before they become prisoners--they have a captive audience. So why not try to actually rehabilitate rather than further dehumanize?
You can tell why I love More's Utopia so much...it is what led me to study the penal system. Prison reform is a passion of mine.
+2 raves
mikestice to melly~I... November 05, 2009 17:09:53

Good passion. Teach them not to be criminal and save everyone around them. There are minds that just won't accept and there are the "Serial Killers" but when they are weeded out, you could get the majority to accept a new role in society.