How many of us after committing our crimes came to prison having the highest degree of integrity? Any integrity at all? If most of us are completely honest, upon entering prison we had no integrity at all. If we would have had a good, healthy moral compass, we would not be in the system and in the predicament which we find ourselves in now.
Most prison sentences are labeled by the courts, society, and prison staff as “second chances” or “rehabilitation”. This term can be defined as restoration of a person to a useful place in society. The term does not expound on the state of mind or a mindset in which a person returns to society however, a person could conclude the person should not return to society in the same way or manner in which they entered the system.
Integrity and morals come into play in the penal system more often than they do in society because the offender’s life is played out “on stage”. This occurs more often than not while incarcerated. In fact, often the pattern of behavior which led the offender to prison, is often, the same pattern of behavior on how the offenders lives out their incarcerated life. There is often no real change in some offender’s behavior; they fine tune their skills such as manipulation, lying, and gas lighting.
If the offender lied, manipulated, and used people, in society, they are still doing the same now. There is a very small fraction of the prison population who are working on themselves and committed to having a better moral compass to lead their life. In fact, those offenders usually stand out, becoming targeted by other offenders, staff and correctional officers as being “Bible thumpers” or ” goody two-shoes”. The rest of the individuals continue to live life as they were doing prior to becoming incarcerated.
This behavior and lifestyle is hazardous to return to society with. The offenders are often found to be worse off than they were originally. The problem with this behavior in the penal system is that this is the behavior starts at the top of the food chain,, and proceeds down to the offender. Those at different levels on the food chain have either had their moral compass corrupted by the system they find themselves working in the system or their behavior was always corrupted. This meaning they are no better than the offenders, they just were not caught yet.
Yes, corruption and accountability start at the top. Top of the institution and the top of the hierarchy of jobs for DOC (Department of Corrections). This may not be a surprise to you if you are from Louisiana or have spent any significant amount of time in the justice system.
Coveted jobs, and positions within the penitentiary are so important that those offenders who are within those jobs often will do unspeakable or unthinkable acts to maintain these positions. They will often make correspondences disappear for specific work areas, make specific offenders be removed from church lists, lists for school, and rehabilitative classes, making them ” disappear”. The free-world supervisors and others in authority on the food chain over these “coveted jobs” see but do not see. They lend a blind eye.
Do they truly lend a blind eye or are they allowing this manipulation and gas lighting to continue?
Often, more so than not, this is exactly how the penitentiary is run, and no one speaks on it for fear of retaliation. So, where exactly is the rehabilitation and behavior change? Where is the true accountability? The staff, correctional officers and other offenders who look past these behaviors hide them or condone them are just as guilty as the manipulative, arrogant, lying offenders and top position authoritative people within the institution.
In each of these cases all we can do is pray for those individuals and hope one day they change their ways. We must do this for them to receive a true heart change, being rehabilitated so that they may eventually return to their families and society.
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