VAGABONDS, THUGS AND THIEVES:

When most people think about prison and prisoners, the older folks think of Jimmy Cagney movies and maybe the Shawshank Redemption. Others think about Tom Hanks in The Green Mile. Still others think about Guantanamo Bay or Iraq's famous Abu Graeb prison. These are the prison settings and personalities that stick in the minds of the public, young and old.
There is however, a much larger segment of American society with much more common roots, that calls prison home or the place they have chosen to work for an entire career. There are Inmates and Outmates who ply the hallways and housing units of county jails and state and federal prisons in every state of the country.
The inmates range from the incourageable, violent adolescent to the predatory child molesting grandfather who looks like Chris Kringle. They spend days, weeks, months or years in small cells and large dormitories, serving sentences for violating the laws of a society that largely prefers the "out of sight, out of mind" attitude toward a growing segment of the American population. It appears that in difficult economic times, it is more cost effective and less problematic to incarcerate criminals than to rehabilitate them and reintegrate them into society. Many segments of the society are neither eager nor prepared to receive a newly released inmate, particularly with a history of crimes of a serious nature. In days of high unemployment, many busineses are laying off their employees as demand for their products or services declines.
An inmate close to his discharge date, whether at the end of sentence, being released on Parole or Probation or leaving prison to a Half Way House or Transitional Supervision, is like emerging from hibernation. He will face the bright sun and scorn of a society that lacks the will and the resources to accept a population of former inmates with questionable backgrounds and skills. Everything about a newly released inmate is suspect. What was his crime? Was he dangerous? Is he dangerous today? Does he have skills? Is he willing to work? Is he willing to learn? Can he be trusted? The questions never end and the doubt never completely disappears.
In upcoming blogs we'll take a look at the inmates while they are incarcerated, what they think about and what they do. We'll learn about their keepers, the correction officers, counselors, doctors and nurses. We will examine the communication skills, used and misused and we will delve into the lives of those who return home each day and those who will never go home.
You are welcome to comment, especially family members of inmates. We will keep the information generic and will not "Out" anyone. This can serve as a forum to inform, to decrease anxiety and doubt and a place to ask questions of a realm that many do not understand.
More next time. J.B. Imhoff