When five galvanized steel poles spring up in front of the house one morning, every prisoner in the unit reels with indignance. My thought: what harm will a few more fences do? Never mind the futility of getting outraged at what can't be controlled, I don't see how rendering our existing boundaries as real, tangible barriers hurts anyone.
We're already bounded by so many fences, not least of which is the lethal
electric one that surrounds this place. The administration decided several
months ago that each housing unit would get its own little recreation area,
complete with pullup bars, dip bars, and a gate that opens onto the
institution's main walkway. Once they're enclosed this way, prisoners assigned
to one unit will no longer be able to slip into another unit and get up to
mischief – the thefts, assaults, and daring little social calls that they
currently do.
Accidental trespass is possible, too. Just the other day, as I was about to
leave for work, I saw a resident of 5-House enter my wing and gaze around,
wearing a very confused expression. He groped for the ID card clipped to his
chest, as if to hide the yellow 5-B dot signifying him as an interloper in 6-B,
then beat a hasty retreat. (In his defense, all houses at ERDCC do look the
same.) This sort of thing soon won't happen anymore, after the fence project is
finished.
"You won't be able to go nowhere except service and programs," one
disgusted prisoner says to another when I pass them on the walk. "Ain't
gonna be no more skating."
In my twenty years locked up, I've skated four times. Each time, I stepped out
of bounds only because an obstinate guard wouldn't let me go where I was
actually supposed to be. I just walked out, ignoring their shouts to come back.
Technically, I suppose, this wasn't skating at all but occupies a gray area
that could've resulted in a conduct violation, which might or might not have
stuck at the hearing. Some people consider it their personal duty to skate
multiple times each day, just for shits and grins.
"It's bullshit," says the other prisoner to the first. "How we
supposed to get anything done?"
People who behave like him are the very reason these fences are called for.
Patrick Henry famously said that those who give up their freedom for safety
deserve neither. I don't see these fences as a curtailment of anything, merely
a reinforcement of what's already in place. If anything, I see this fence
project as the institution making good on its promise to maintain safety and
security. ERDCC is so lax about so many things. A little more enforcement of
rules will do everyone some good.
As long as it works for the safety of everyone involved👍
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