PRISONER EXPRESS

What can you say when you see a friend on a collision course with disaster? It's worse when the principles he is standing up for are right. In his situation I might have done the same thing so couldn't give him the good advice he needed. So, I was left watching the flight of a falling starr and now I can only hope that he will, like the phoenix of mythology, rise from the ashes of destruction stronger.

This is as common in prison as curses and hatred. A vindictive female officer spit in my friend's supper tray because he laughed at what other prisoners were saying to her. Who can blame him for jacking the tray slot to force a supervisor to come talk to him so he could report Ms. Roper's conduct? The rank even admitted knowing she was probably guilty. He got a disciplinary case anyway. Disobedience can't be allowed or prisoners would come to think they had a right to humane treatment.

My friend, a twenty-three, is young and still expects the world to be a utopia that values fairness. For the first time in his five years in prison he was a bout to get his good time earning class. That requires a whole year with no major disciplinary cases, but now those months of good conduct are gone, blown away in an instant. Jacking that tray slot was the only way he could see a supervisor and they didn't have to punish him. They did though. Have to wonder if he still thinks it was worth the consequences.

Probably not.

The next day he was told to pack up. He was being moved to level three because his level one privileges were being taken away. I'm sure he was disgusted at being punished when he couldn't see he had done wrong. The choice he made in making them move him the hard way was justifiable. At least then he could feel he got rolled for a reason. Officer Mann egged him on in the most unprofessional manner. He told him, "don't cop pussy like you usually do," and 'be a man not a ho.'

They finally came. There was Sgt. Groom, a camera operator and five big officers in riot gear. Still they were not brave enough to open his cell door until they had sprayed him down with pepper spray to force him to submit to handcuffs or suffocate. Then they all laughed and joked about what tough guys they were. Not hardly!

Today, I write to send a message to my friend as well as all the other prisoners who may take a stand for principle or pride. To fight on their ground, by their rules, is a formula for failure. Prison is designed to see us all fail unless we become complaisant. Each of us must find a point of balance where we retain our dignity without allowing ourselves to be forced into failure. Only those who attempt nothing never fail. Don't give up when you fall like a Starr from the sky. Rise from the ashes anew, tempered by the flames and made stronger than before.