BOP: Not Only Cruel and Unusual - Insensitive, Vindictive AND Just Plain Ridiculous

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/BOP-Not-Just-Cruel-and-Un-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Alabama_Arkansas_Corruption_Don-Siegelman-140606-891.html



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BOP: Not Only Cruel and Unusual - Insensitive, Vindictive AND Just Plain Ridiculous
By Joan Brunwasser
Life Arts 6/6/2014 at 17:55:48

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Joan Brunwasser: Welcome back to OpEdNews, Judy. What's on your mind today?

Judy White: Prison employees, a unique breed of purely abusive beings. As we have discussed before, Forrest City employees are especially unprofessional in endless ways. Only at Forrest City have prison employees been allowed to come to "work" less professionally dressed than employees at Walmart or Waffle House or any fast-food restaurant. While taxpayers provide uniforms for federal prison employees, that's just wasted money at Forrest City, where the prison employees are allowed to wear t-shirts and jeans, fishing hats and ball caps.

And while visitors are constantly and summarily - and illegally - denied visitation with their imprisoned loved ones at the whim of prison employees, those prison employees are allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights through statements on shirts that are abusive and demeaning to the prisoners for whom they are supposed to be setting positive examples. The BOP claims they do not allow the abuse of prisoners, assuring the public and the powers-that-be in Washington that they "respect" prisoners. What a lie.

JB: What do you mean? Are you talking about something specific?

JW: Last month, for instance, a federal prison employee in Forrest City had the poor judgment to wear a shirt proclaiming "IF YOU BUILD IT" - depiction of prison complete with razor wire - "THEY WILL COME", meaning prisoners, of course. The sentiment demonstrated by the shirt and its wearer is a perfect illustration of what prison employees are interested in: more prisons, more jobs and money for more and more prison employees/union members.

Is that statement representative of our federal government, particularly at a time when the need for "justice" reform is moving to the front burner, in no small part because of the unaffordability of imprisoning more people than any other nation in the world? The shirt demonstrates not only disrespect and a demeaning attitude towards the prisoners and the public, but a narcissistic perspective that it's all about jobs for prison employees. In fact, the federal prison's only legitimate claim to success is at providing jobs for sociopaths and individuals who would be otherwise unemployable. With a dismal record of rehabilitating anyone and a high rate of recidivism that translates into "We'll leave the light on for you" (as one prison employee told a man who had paid his debt to society and was being released), it is clear that prison employees understand that more and more prisoners are needed to provide more and more jobs for the "prison industrial complex."