From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst
26 January
LIFE IN PRISON, PART THREE
Let’s look at the position of the inmates in my prison
classroom a little closer.
Almost by definition he’s young which means he has virtually
no perspective. So when he eventually hits the streets after his first
conviction he’ll end up getting locked up again - and think it's no big deal.
After all, as they say, "everybody's doing it." (He DOESN'T think
"only losers are doing it" because his friends are included, and
they're no more losers than are your friends and mine, right?) Anyway, he’s
back inside, back where he’s come to feel comfortable - life on the streets,
frankly, is actually scary since it forces him to provide just about everything
for himself (food, shelter, a future, everything) whereas back inside prison he’s
gotten comfortable relying on three hots and a cot. Without his even realizing
it, he has become, as they say, a consumer of correctional services - he gets,
say, a two-year sentence, then gets paroled, then inside the space of a
baseball season [maybe by 7:30 the night he gets out!] either gets a new beef
or violates his parole and he’s back for 18 months. Next thing he knows he’s 56
and, looking back, he can’t remember spending a complete baseball season on the
streets since he was 12.
In short, he’s going to do a life sentence, drip-drip-drip, on
the installment plan.
Talk about delusional!
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