What stayed with me most was the shift from morality to physiology. The piece refuses the comforting illusion that degradation rehabilitates people. Hunger changes the nervous system. Isolation changes the nervous system. Repeated humiliation changes the nervous system. The image of someone not seeing a blueberry for five years says more about institutional failure than a thousand policy debates. What makes this essay powerful is that it keeps returning to something painfully simple: if we keep feeding people like they are disposable, we should not be surprised when despair returns to society altered into violence.
There's something about a reply to these posts that could be a post themselves. Thank you for reading, and for seeing the truth. The world needs more of you. 🖤
thank you for bringing this to our attention. I did not know about Maine's program, but it seems like a good one. It makes perfect sense that if you treat people like human beings by feeding them actual food rather than slop, they start acting more like human beings.
When I was a prison nurse, they actually had a soap factory that the inmates could work at, and a garden that they cultivated for their food. They both had the added incentive of creating a sense of pride and sense of accomplishment in the inmates, which was definitely a bonus for their mental health. Those programs make sense and seem like no brainers for both the prison and tax paying populations.
Did the inmates get to eat what they produced in their gardens? In Michigan, it is a requirement that anything they pull in is donated and not consumed on site. In fact, they are punished if they eat any of it. The sense of accomplishment and pride is real!!
My mouth is hanging open & it should be b/c I've been following your work long enough to know that "what is reasonable" and "what happens in prisons" are not the same things. But WTF would they not allow prisoners to eat any of the food they raise?!? (I'm 100% sure the answer has something to do with "punishment" and yes, the complete similarity to the slavery system is noted!)
When I worked at summer camp as a cook, we were required to meet certain standards with our meals - inclucing protiens, fruits and veggies, and dairy. It's shocking to me that prisons aren't held to that same standard.
What stayed with me most was the shift from morality to physiology. The piece refuses the comforting illusion that degradation rehabilitates people. Hunger changes the nervous system. Isolation changes the nervous system. Repeated humiliation changes the nervous system. The image of someone not seeing a blueberry for five years says more about institutional failure than a thousand policy debates. What makes this essay powerful is that it keeps returning to something painfully simple: if we keep feeding people like they are disposable, we should not be surprised when despair returns to society altered into violence.
There's something about a reply to these posts that could be a post themselves. Thank you for reading, and for seeing the truth. The world needs more of you. 🖤
Thank you for writing it the way you did.
Some truths become harder to ignore once they’re spoken plainly. 🖤
thank you for bringing this to our attention. I did not know about Maine's program, but it seems like a good one. It makes perfect sense that if you treat people like human beings by feeding them actual food rather than slop, they start acting more like human beings.
Go figure, right?! My son often says that if it makes too much sense, the DOC isn't interested...
Your son is right! Don't get me started on gate money. That is, by far, the easiest way to garuntee additional criminal behavior.
When I was a prison nurse, they actually had a soap factory that the inmates could work at, and a garden that they cultivated for their food. They both had the added incentive of creating a sense of pride and sense of accomplishment in the inmates, which was definitely a bonus for their mental health. Those programs make sense and seem like no brainers for both the prison and tax paying populations.
Did the inmates get to eat what they produced in their gardens? In Michigan, it is a requirement that anything they pull in is donated and not consumed on site. In fact, they are punished if they eat any of it. The sense of accomplishment and pride is real!!
My mouth is hanging open & it should be b/c I've been following your work long enough to know that "what is reasonable" and "what happens in prisons" are not the same things. But WTF would they not allow prisoners to eat any of the food they raise?!? (I'm 100% sure the answer has something to do with "punishment" and yes, the complete similarity to the slavery system is noted!)
When I worked at summer camp as a cook, we were required to meet certain standards with our meals - inclucing protiens, fruits and veggies, and dairy. It's shocking to me that prisons aren't held to that same standard.
They are held to standards, and those standards are not only out of date but appalling.
Great info and a lot to chew on!
No pun intended, NotTom? So much to chew on.