All a Brother can do is Try to be hard in Jail
Mega jails are the pits of Hell, yes you read the title right.
I just finished watching a documentary about a Mega Jail in Florida and was shocked by the practices that go on in jails like this one. I can't believe the conditions inmates are forced to live under. The conditions they impose on inmates don't point to inmates being rehabilitated.
I want to explain that more; When I say inmates don't seem to live in conditions where they can be rehabilitated, I mean it's almost impossible.
When it comes to the type of jails and prisons that was focused on in the documentary, most of the inmates housed in these types of facilities are forced to live based on survival. There's no way they can concentrate on anything other than staying alive and going by the codes that are set by other inmates. The correctional officers have very little control and will make that clear "at the drop of a hat". Just to maintain order they allow the inmates to have their own set of rules and only intervene if an inmate snitches, which rarely happens because death is attached to the word.
Most of the inmates in Miami's Mega Jail are pretrial inmates and are awaiting trial and sentencing. Unfortunately some inmates have to wait years, for their cases to be processed.
Miami Mega Jail houses those convicted of violent and non violent crimes in large cells together. These cells hold 24 inmates each, contains 12 bunk beds and 2 toilets. Each new inmate entering a cell is like a fish amongst sharks and has to fight to prove himself. Inmates must live like savages to survive and they make that very clear.
The sad reality of life and human nature are displayed by these inmates who's brains "snap". They snap and create a separate reality that they try to find pride in. It's a coping mechanism that helps people under extreme pressure and confinement deal with their life. However, it does not help them become rehabilitated. In fact it does the opposite and normalizes their negative mentalities.
In the documentary, an inmate who says he was sentenced to 90 years, speaks about it with a sense of power and being more of a man because of it. Another inmate notes the fact that you have to fight for everything in jail. Many inmates even have to fight to keep their sneakers. During the documentary there were a few times 'taking someone's sneakers' was discussed, and I could not help but have flashbacks to the chaos that inflicted many areas after the Michael Jordon's, Jordon sneakers came out. I couldn't help but ask myself how many of the people who stole and robbed other people's sneakers came from jail? After-all it's standard and part of the code of survival and respect to steal someone's sneakers in jail.
Why do I bring this up? Well, I want us to realize that men who go to jail or prison, don't just serve their time and come home. These men bring with them all the behaviors and mentalities they learn while locked away. When they do this it changes the ENERGIES of our environments. It becomes a vicious cycle because the ENERGIES they come home with transform the mentalities of those in their surroundings. Then they go to jail, come home, and do the same.
This is why in this era, jail has defined hip hop culture. One, because we allowed it, two, it's due to what I just stated above. Many mentalities that people live by in the hood come from jail and they're based on savagery.
One inmate in the documentary admitted that once you do a lot of time behind bars, you go back on the outside and won't let anyone disrespect you without becoming physical and wanting to fight. You become conditioned to think that not fighting means you are allowing someone to disrespect you.
Once again, he is taking extreme situations he faced behind bars and applying them to everyday life, an environment that is different. If someone disrespects you in everyday life, you can walk away particularly if it's a stranger. You could walk away and more than likely never see them again, that's not the case behind bars.
I wrote this article to introduce you to this documentary so that you can see the conditions inside jails that are so overcrowded, they house many men in one large cell. I wanted to point out the dangerous and mentally harmful conditions this causes. Again, conditions that are often brought back to the community.
I will be addressing many aspects of prison, based on the ENERGIES I absorbed in this documentary and others, including:
- Should Women Work in Prison
- Should Private Prisons Be Monitored by the Public
- Should Companies be able to Hire Prisoners
- Why are There So Many Prisoners Today
Louis Theroux Documentary Miami MegaJail Part 1 and 2
To watch the documentary Part 1 Click Here for Full Screen
Part 2