Let the Revolution of the Heart and Mind Begin

March 1, 2013 - Uncategorized

I have a friend who acts as though his sole purpose in life is to keep me rooted and grounded in reality. A reality that says “prisoners have absolutely no societal value.” Whenever I share ideas of ways society can be improved upon my friend is faithful to remind me that “they ain’t never gonna’ let the nuts run the nut house.” What he means is: incarcerated citizens have been deemed unfit to participate in a conversation reserved for free and civilized men. When a prisoner begins to express ways to solve institutional conditions or problems, it is interpreted as a threat to the system of controls. These free thinkers are typically classified by correctional administrators as “radical inmates” because they “speak a language of revolution and may be versed in the writings of ‘great’ revolutionaries of the past.” (1)

Try to envision what our world would look like today if we ignored the messages of past revolutionaries. What if, while confined to their cells, they gave in to the voices that tried to silence them? People like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas (Mahatma) Ghandi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the apostle Paul have influenced our lives and changed the course of mankind in times when nations and peoples find themselves on a road destined for self-destruction. These peaceful non-conformists spoke with a wisdom that our society and its leaders cannot afford to abandon.

In his fight against oppression and injustice, Martin Luther King Jr. wrestled with the question of how the struggle against the forces of injustice is to be waged. We would be remiss if his conclusion does not strike us with a hauntingly prophetic relevance. King said, “As you press on for justice, be sure you move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Always avoid violence. If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long night of bitterness, and your chief legacy will be an endless reign of chaos.” (2)

Today newspaper headlines read, “We have lost respect for life” (3), and “Stop the killing” (4). In Detroit “more than 2,000 parolees and probationers” live in a community that has become “a hotbed for killing in the past year.” (5)

A writer for the Detroit Free Press, Luther Keith, expresses the frustration of a city held siege by crime and violence, “We have marched, protested… built memorials of grief… blamed the Mayor and City Council… blamed poverty and unemployment… blamed out of control youths and parents who don’t parent… formed task forces, commissions and study groups… taken to the streets hundreds strong, patrolling neighborhoods… declared on numerous occasions that ‘the killing as to stop’. We have filled our prisons. None of it has been enough.” (6)

But have we done all we can? I don’t believe we have. The first principle of problem-solving tells us to look into the core of the problem to make a proper diagnosis. Most often the solution to the problem is within the problem itself. For example, when a person suffers a venomous snake-bite he is treated with an anti-venom which is made from the toxic venom of the very same snake that poisoned him. There are prisoners who, once were part of the problem, after undergoing a transformation of the heart and mind, now are able to offer practical and innovative solutions to some of society’s pressing challenges when considering the causes and effects of crime and punishment.

My purpose for developing this forum is to present you with prisoners’ perspectives. If we, prisoners, are “the problem” we should also be able to provide practical insights that may lead to solutions. I believe free and incarcerated citizens, working together, can rediscover a respect for life, find ways to end the suffering so we all might be granted the opportunity to realize and fulfill that purpose for which we are created.

So, each week I will present you with a topic question and a working hypotheses to consider. Since information and resources are limited for prisoners, I hope that – if you are willing to join me in this endeavor to reconstruct our community – would contribute a comment or resource, in support or opposition, to the forum for further consideration.

If punishment, suffering, degradation are deemed deterrents, the best means to reform the criminal and prevent crime, then, is to let prison go backwards to the pillory, the whipping post, the gallows, the stake, to corporal violence and extermination! But if the dawn of Christianity has reached us, if we have learned that lesson that evil is to be overcome with good, then let the prisons and prison systems be enlightened by this law of love.” (7)

SOURCES:

1. Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction (6th ed.); Frank Schmalleger, Ph.D., p. 38
2. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.; Edited by J. M. Washington, p. 10
3. Detroit Free Press (DFP), Gina Damron; Detroit Sees Highest Homicide Rate In 19 Years; 2010
4. DFP, Luther Keith; Stop the Killing; February 10, 2010
5. DFP, Gina Damron
6. DFP, Luther Keith
7. Zebulon R. Brockway; The Ideal of True Prison System for a State; October 12, 1870.