Make Yourself Count

By Sean Steele

In early America, people in positions of power enforced corporal punishment to punish people accused of crimes. Corporal punishment involved the brutal acts of cutting off the hands and ears of the accused and, in more extreme measures, public hangings, and decapitations. However, over time, the English settlers who were enforcing the law grew somewhat of a conscience and began to enforce a new form of punishment with the rise of the prison system. This new form of punishment would constitute personhood suffering and it operated to reduce people accused of crimes to sub-human beings, left with their own thoughts to brood in their wrongs. In addition to this new system, it was designed to deprive a person of their natural rights such as liberty and heterosexual relationships. Modern day prisons now operate off this new system.

The new system may seem less cruel than the corporal punishment systems of yesteryear. However, after close examination, we will begin to learn that they are equal in their cruelty and that the enforcement of personhood suffering harms society longer than any other form of punishment. To take a man and strip him of his power and freedom, then to warehouse him without any desire to rehabilitate him or make him a better person, places burdens on society more destructive than the accused criminal himself; he can become a sponsored, more sophisticated criminal through the omissions of a system designed to protect the society that the accused criminal was removed from. The fact that modern day prisons function under a deliberate system of inertia and anti-rehabilitation systems proves this claim.

But this article is not about bashing the system or blaming it for failures; I only mention the above to prove the urgency of what I am about to say. Because of the cruelty of the prison system and its inhumane agenda to reduce actual people to sub-human population surplus, it becomes imperative that we, as prisoners, must save ourselves and not allow ourselves to become victims of a merciless system. Instead of allowing a system to reduce us to nothingness and to ridicule us with propaganda and exaggerated stories of incorrigibility, we must step up and make ourselves count.

Making ourselves count is the apex of our salvation. It involves placing our lives into our own hands and making sure that we become valuable to society because we have added value to ourselves. We hear our critics – staff members inside the prisons and people in society bash us all the time – but, as many of us know, we hold more happiness than many people, and we own and suffer from our mistakes. While people who criticize us hide behind their clean records and mask their true sufferings, we endure daily humility for our condition. This shame that we endure strengthens us and makes us into powerful human beings, without the lifeless paperwork of empty degrees or licenses. These facts place us in a greater position to be better people. But first, again, we must invest in making ourselves count.

How do we make ourselves count? We do so by refusing to dwell in the misery of our conditions. We must see our conditions as temporary, even if others tell us we will be in prison forever. Our freedom starts with our mind state. We must think like we are either planning to stay or planning to leave our horrible conditions. We must decide whether we are going to fight our cases, or fight our demons inside a cage forever. Then we must educate ourselves in fields we want to be skilled in. If we want to become lawyers, we must study the law. If we want to become artists, we must study drawing. If we want to become writers, we must study grammar and creative writing techniques. All these things can be done while we are incarcerated. Then we must apply our learned skills in service to people in our communities, so they can see our worth and know that we have really changed for the better, thus gaining support for our value.

Our change for the better can’t be stopped by our naysayers, and the support for our value cannot be ignored because of its benefits. While our naysayers sit and brood over their hate for us, our better selves will begin to touch lives that will transmit the happiness in us to other people in the world. The craft of making yourself count turns into an example for future generations, who will inevitably face struggles and harsh circumstances themselves, and will ultimately inspire them to carry on, despite the odds that they face. We can save whole generations just by making ourselves count.

By making ourselves count – despite the fact that governments and corporations have invaded our lives and exploited our suffering – we will gain confidence to face our struggles and carry on despite any future odds. So, if you are currently sitting in a cell, or if you are free but others are using your past against you, do not panic. Defy the odds by making yourself more valuable than the people who condemn you. This will give us all credibility and will transform the narrative making us all worthy of the free-world; we will understand what it means to be responsible with our freedom and will never be imprisoned again. Make yourself count!

Sean Steele