Dear All,
My entries have been spotty, but rest assured the journaling has continued, sometimes even with a vengeance due to the many, senseless lockdowns. Senseless for me, as I think that I am trying to work very hard towards a successful re-entry, God Willing, and try to assist my Peers wherever and whenever I can.
Our Peer Success Team at Aliceville has suffered immensely as we cannot have our regular meetings, due to the many lockdowns, nor have our regular compound wide workshops and activities as planned in our calendar of events.
We have however tried to keep continuum in the small-scale workshops in the units, where we have mainly been scrapbooking, journaling, coloring, all focused on parenting and maintaining family ties from within prison.
I do not have small children, but due to lockdowns, my family and I have suffered a lot because we were not able to be in touch with each other. On some days, we were let out for an hour or 2, but then 130 deeply frustrated females per unit would line up for the phone, the computer, showers and hot water and ice. I felt very frazzled and mind you, I had just been incarcerated when COVID hit the world and the prison system, so I know what lockdowns entitle and I thought I could deal with all of that again.
But when I tell you, that prison staff can make a HUGE difference during lockdowns, it is a fact as I can speak out of my own experience. When you’re locked down within a small space, de facto having to eat, drink, pray, work out in a bathroom, having a tap on the small window in the door and a staff member asking you whether you are OK or whether you need anything, makes a difference. When staff comes around and slips an inspirational quote or a colouring page under the door, makes a huge difference. When staff gets you the toilet paper or pads you have asking for since early morning, makes a huge difference.
When you are told that you are getting locked down for whatever reason, it makes a huge difference.
In my opinion, a total lockdown should be avoided at all cost. Unfortunately this past week, that has been scenario in many prisons across the US, keeping incarcerated people completely in the dark. We were locked down, only fed sandwiches for a number of days. In all honesty, a hot meal would have been greatly appreciated, but the most crucial thing that was taken from us what the communication with our loved ones. Our video calls and phone calls were forsaken, small children waiting by the phone, grandchildren waiting to see “Gamma” on the screen, kept waiting, mothers, fathers, siblings, spouses, who are already doing time with us, were kept waiting for reasons unbeknownst to any of us who had to undergo these lockdowns. We all know that time is valuable and fleeting, why does that not count in the prison system??
Having support from family and friends is imperative to rehabilitation and successful re-entry.
As a businesswoman, having led many businesses in my career, my first and most important lesson in business dynamics was ‘anticipation and projection’. If it is a known factor that there will be an ‘X’ number of people incarcerated in a facility, ‘Y’ number of staff and resources will be required to run such facility safely and successfully.
Having lockdowns because of staff shortages is simply unacceptable and a hazard for all parties concerned.
And yet, the buses carrying new ‘Adults-in-Custody’ keep arriving like clockwork. This has to change, reform is required, in other parts of the world, prison reform has proven to be so successful, why is this not being implemented faster in the US? The taxpayers’ money is going into a deep void, not making the US a safer place, as we can see on the News every day. 2024 Was the most violent year in the US in history!
Crime prevention is where the focus should be as well successful rehabilitation.
A Peer Success Team can do a lot, but the BOP and their staff as well as policy makers are the ones to make a world of difference.
