Secrets Lie Within

Prison Cruelty


Oddly enough, I have really enjoyed reading the pieces based on the topic of prison.  Although it is never a place I would want to even visit, I find the secrets and stories very fascinating.  Once of my favorite places I visited when I was younger was Alcatraz.  I found the history so interesting, and the stories they told of how inmates tried escaping and the families of wardens who lived on the island as well.  I know today things have changed a bit since Alcatraz has closed its doors, but there does still seem to be a bit of corruption.
I do believe the statement that the general public doesn't know too much about what goes on in prisons is true.  I think a large part of this mystery has to do with the fact that society does not want to know.  As the piece mentioned that the guards think of prisoners, not as people, but as the crime they committed, society does the same.  It is hard to think of them in any other light, they did a bad thing and now they should have to pay the price.
Reading about the social network within a prison was interesting as well.  The story of the "illegal" piece of pie that made it all the way from the Warden's kitchen into the solitary confinement cell was fascinating.  Especially since it was still in good shape some three days later.  The article also made it a little bit more understandable as to why many of the guards resort to physical roughness.  The fact that the prisoners already have had their rights revoked makes it difficult for them to be punished.  Although I do not like to hear of people getting hurt, the line of thought does make more sense to me now.