"There is something very compelling about the "choices" we make in our lives that manifest a great deal of sorrow and regret or immeasurable pleasure and joy. The problem is, the majority of us spend most of our life somewhere in the middle until a "split second decision" usually determines our fate."
This statement has been resonating in my spirit over and over for the past three days since my visit to Central Prison in Raleigh, NC. CP is a federal penitentiary housing the state of North Carolina's most complex and diverse inmate population. With over 1,300 prisoners and 1,000 guards, CP is a veritable city unto its self.
Inside the towering 65 foot high and 35 foot wide perimeter wall are the worst of the worse perpetrators against humanity. There are murderers and rapists and pedophiles and thieves of every ilk, but at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself what is the goal of the institution? What choices do we make as reformers to change laws to make it so these men can re-enter society on a "level playing field" or do we maintain the status quo? How do we "rehabilitate" a man who has never been "habilitated" in the first place? What type of person does it take to objectively administer effective and unbiased treatment to a man who has terrorized his community or viciously raped and murdered a little boy or girl? I would define that person as a "professional!"
As we walked the ominous halls of the prison for what seemed like miles and miles; from prisoner intake to the mess halls to the mental health ward and even "death row," all I could think about was what would make a man do something that would allow him to end up in here? When you do crazy stuff; when you rob people and kill people..you have to know you are going to prison! The Warden of CP is Kenneth Lassiter. He is unlike any stereotype of the hard ass, uncaring executioner popularized in modern media circles. On the contrary, what you see is a man of compassion, conviction and unparalleled drive and determination to change the man in order to change the prison. Not his words..these are mine!
One man responds to a question of how much time he has with the nonchalance of flicking away a gnat, "I got 35." I walked away thinking, "35 months ain't so bad (relatively speaking). He's only 23 years old; he's got plenty of time to make a change." Then the Warden burst my bubble, "No Nick, 35 years! The man has to be in here for 35 years!" My knees buckled! I said, "What? He said "35" like it was nothing. He obviously made the choice to de-magnify his sentence in his mind as a coping mechanism. Choices. Wow!
Another inmate discusses how adulthood choices landed him on "death row." He said, "I was at a party and smoked some crack. I didn't know what it was. My friend gave it tome me in a pipe and I smoked it!" Someone asked him, "You mean to tell me that you smoked something that someone gave you and you didn't ask what it was? And you were how old at the time?" He responded, "29 years old!" We all looked at other in disbelief. This man has rationalized that the crack pipe caused him to commit murder and end up in prison, but refused to come to grips with the fact that it was a poor decision and NOT the "crack" that got him locked up! Choices. Wow!
The Warden is focused on behavior modification techniques and psychological profiles and models all aimed at getting the inmate to examine his choices; whether his destiny be the "needle" or the "psych ward" the goal is the same.. to try to make him a better man today than he was yesterday. When you have a man who is sentenced to life or multiple life sentences or even death by execution, the chief administrator has to be a "Teflon Man" with regard to emotional immersion into each case. Mr. Lassiter has mastered the art of "compartmentalizing" each individuals cause; his assessment and conclusion of his life and offers real talk and hard truth to the man in question. I asked him, "How do you take that much time listening to a mental patient who is rambling on and on about nothing?" He just smiled and kept on walking at a brisk pace. The "answer" in his smile said to me, "I was just looking for that one moment of clarity in his mind where he might "hear" what I was saying to him and make a better choice today!"
This is my impression of a prison system that is not perfect but is striving for perfection in relational behavior modification techniques. What does that mean? It just means that the Warden cares about the men in his prison. And for those men that choose to do better, there is a system in place to help them do their time with dignity and have a chance to become contributors to society. For others, who choose the darker path, their fate has already been sealed and the mantra that states, "you can't save everybody" comes to fruition!
As one of the men on the walk-through I am still speechless from the experience. The faces of the men, young and old I saw there still and will forever haunt me. To know that many of them may never, ever get to walk or know the life we who are free have. The destruction of their lives all have ONE common thread, a choice, one small bad decision that was made led to another bigger bad decision and cascaded down a road to destruction, and death.
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