VIOLENCE
Can you share any experiences of violence in prison that have changed you?
Throughout my time in prison I have observed countless acts of violence. Some have been committed by prisoners and some by staff using excessive force. I have also observed staff go into secluded areas, remove their communication radios, and fight over disputes while prisoners watched out so that other staff members did not see it and report it. On a few occasions staff members and prisoners have agreed to fight in a prisoner’s cell to resolve a problem while people looked out so they didn’t get caught. The violence I have seen prisoners commit, has been against other prisoners and staff. I have seen fights, people being hit with locks, stabbings, and razor slashings. There has been no shortage of violence I have seen during the past 29 years.
Two incidents that had a profound affect on me over the years involved prisoners being murdered by other prisoners. The first incident occurred in the mid-1990’s at the State Prison of Southern Michigan in Jackson, Michigan. It was one of the most violent prisons in Michigan’s history and closed in 1997. Shortly after my arrival there, a prisoner I met at another prison only a year earlier was stabbed to death in my housing unit.
The incident impacted me deeply not only because I knew the prisoner who was killed but also because of how he was treated afterwards. At the time the prisoner was locked on the bottom floor of an enormous five floor cell block. He was stabbed in the midst of traffic during dinner meal time while prisoners in the unit were walking to the chow hall. He continued walking down the hall after he was stabbed and collapsed on the floor and died.
After collapsing, the prisoner remained laying on the floor while other prisoners continued walking around him to and from the chow hall. It was as if nothing ever happened. As if no one was laying there on the floor in plain view — it was just another day in prison. Prisoner movement was not interrupted by staff and things continued as normal until medical staff were called to try and assist him. By the time they arrived it was too late.
I was 21-years-old at the time, and this was the first time a murder occurred at a prison I was housed at. Violence had occurred at other prisons I was at but not a murder. Being in such close proximity to the murder of a prisoner like this made me realize just how much lives are devalued in prison and how easily someone can lose their life. It also showed me what a prisoner’s death meant to other prisoners and staff and how they were able to so easily just keep things moving along without interruption.
The moment I observed this, I recall immediately promising myself that I would never allow myself to descend into such a dark and uncaring space that devalues human life. It bothered me to see everything that unfolded and I remember the difficulty I experienced trying to process the incident for several weeks. No matter how I attempted to analyze the situation, none of it made sense. I had to eventually arrive at the conclusion that it simply wasn’t supposed to make sense. A year later another prisoner was killed in the same housing unit who was only weeks away from being released back home.
Another prisoner murder that really impacted me occurred the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility, in Jackson, Michigan, in the mid-2000’s. In that incident a prisoner was taking a shower in anticipation of receiving a visit from his family one day, when he was stabbed and killed in the shower. According to prison staff , the prisoner’s family was in the visiting room lobby waiting to see the prisoner when they were notified about the tragic news.
When I learned about what happened I remember thinking,
“This person’s family will never see him again. He will never have the chance to go home. He lost his life in the worst place someone could possibly die.”
The incident made me reflect about how so many families suffer from the tragic loss of a loved one due to senseless acts of violence. I was saddened by the experience even though I didn’t know the prisoner who was killed. Most of all, I was saddened for the prisoner’s family who had the tough job of trying to reconstruct their broken lives and return to some semblance of normalcy without him.
When I was a teenager, death wasn’t a subject I thought about or one that was discussed in school. Young people do not understand subjects like death or remorse. They lack maturity and have an underdeveloped sense of responsibility. They haven’t developed the capacity to regulate impulsive behavior and their lives are frequently led by the pursuit of sensation seeking and heedless risk-taking. Most teenage boys, surrounded by toxic models of masculinity, think they are invincible and don’t consider the consequences of their actions. This is why they make so many mistakes and bad choices when they are young. It wasn’t until later in life that I understood more about these these subjects after years of conducting extensive research, talking with therapists, and taking a grief and loss class.
I believe if people could learn about these things earlier in their development, it could help reduce violence and create a less violent culture. It would help young people grow up having a greater respect and appreciation for life instead of having to learn about it after years of having their lives impacted by violence and tragedy.
