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November/December 2007 Massachusetts Chapter JDC

The Aging of our Prison Population

Luis Perez

I am 56 years old and I read my own future. One consequence of the aging of the prison population is the indifference of the DOC and prison administrators who have direct knowledge of an individual’s personal rehabilitation and whether or not a prisoner had learned from and grown from his or her crimes.

One sad aspect of this is that we don’t have a system based on morals and values. On the one hand, there is a position of being tough on crime. On the other, you have serious problems such as corruption, law enforcement officials being arrested, white collar crime with the Mass. Big Dig being the biggest crime of the century, child abuse within the church, and the FBI working gangsters. Even the federal government has set a very bad precedent by allowing a gangster to plead guilty to 20 murders in exchange for a 12 year sentence, just to convict a single FBI agent on corruption charges in a political scandal.

Another consequence of aging is that I am a dead man walking. The public has demanded stiffer sentences and the cost of maintaining this increasing prison population is astronomical. I have seen prisoners serving life dieing. In fact, yesterday, October 3, 2007, Jerry Sussan died as a prisoner.

The younger prisoners cost the system $35,000 per year, while older prisoners on average cost over $70,000. For those over 60 years old, the cost may rise as high as $85,000 as a result of medical complications, which is more than the average for nursing home care. No wonder the Medical Contract reached to more than $300,000,000.

Older prisoners have health problems that require expensive medical treatments. Prison hospitals simply cannot provide the necessary staff and equipment to care for chronic health conditions that worsen with age.

There has been a great change in the average age of prisoners between 1998 and 2007. In 1998, 7.2% of the 1.8 million prisoners in federal, state and local jails were over the age of 50, up from 4.9% in 1990. Undoubtedly, in the past 9 years this number has increased to 2.2 million prisoners in custody and 5.9 million prisoners in the U.S., including those on parole and probation.

To more prisoners, life term means dieing behind bars, regardless of whether you have been rehabilitated or not. A survey by the New York Times found that about 132,000 of the nation’s prisoners, or almost 1 in 10, are serving life sentences. The number of lifers has almost doubled in the last decade, far outpacing the overall growth in the prison population. The Boston Globe, on 9/23/07, reported that $60 billion is the annual cost to maintain America’s Correctional Institutions, roughly seven times the figure of the early 1970’s.

It is a big business and we can’t even get a job that could pay minimum wage so that we can play a role in taking care of our families. The U.S. has created something never before seen in its history and unheard of around the globe: a booming population of prisoners whose only way out of prison is likely to be inside a coffin.

Is there any answer to this growing dilemma? Yes! Older prisoners could be released to smaller more appropriate community facilities where their needs and their health concerns could be more cost effective. A simple band-aid approach might be just to release these older low risk prisoners. Is there any basis for such a proposal? Yes! The federal sentencing guidelines enacted by Congress does exactly that in Title 18 U.S.C. s 3582©. The Court, upon motion of the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, may reduce the term of imprisonment if the court finds the prisoner is 70 years of age and served at least 30 years in prison. As part of this recommendation, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons makes a determination that the prisoner is not a danger to the safety of any other person or to the community in general.

The fact of the matter is that Massachusetts is indeed behind schedule. Life sentences certainly keep criminals off the street but does the cost of keeping them locked up justify what may be a diminished benefit in Public Safety? By conservative estimates, it cost #3 billion a year to house America’s lifers. And as prisoners age, their medical care can become very expensive. The Massachusetts Criminal Justice System already allocated the $823 million for fiscal year 2007.

Inner Peace

Jenner A. Gamache

For nearly my entire life I have been an “abuse reactive” person. Whenever someone harmed me, I would react almost instantly. From age 4 to age 20, and from age 20 to age 35, I have performed this behavior. In fact, once I was on my own at age 5, I developed what I coined “my world”, a falsehood of disturbed beliefs, lead me to think that I could protect and control “my world.”

My whole childhood and adult years up to age 35 have been a living lie. The truth is that “my world” was fake. I could not protect myself, or control my environment by myself. I needed help; my family was not there to help me.

Now at age 45, a whole 10 years later, I have developed a peaceful response to almost all situations and yes, it is true that I have lapsed a few times within those 10 years. I own that, but I do not give up. I go back to the basics and strive to be good.

From age 35 to age 45, while here at the Mass Treatment Center, my brother and Chief Michael was teaching me Native American history. He kept wanting me to join the Native American Circle now known as the “Native American Spiritual Awareness Circle” or N.A.S.A.C., but I declined to join. Then one day in 2003, I did join. I don’t remember why, but again that’s not important now.

Since 2003 I have accepted Native American Spirituality as a foundation for my spiritual growth. Native American spiritually incorporates intertribal teachings of all Native American history and ceremonies.

Through believing and practicing Native spiritually on a daily basis and walking my sacred red path, I have developed an “Inner Peace” within myself. At first I was caught up in making sure others knew or saw me in my peaceful ways. But spirit has taught me that I need only to be peaceful within and then my inner peace will be seen. I don’t personally address spirit as totems, elements or parts of a medicine wheel. I address spirit as spirit and I recognize and respect them as spirit.

I believe in the Great Spirit mother earth, father sky, the four sacred directions, the four winds, animal, plant and mineral spirits. I am Seneca by marriage and Cree by birth right. I am also French, Spanish, French Canadian and Dutch.

I honor and give respect to all life and all my relations. Once I acknowledged and manifested this into my life, I became peaceful.

To the brothers of the Mass Prison Voice, I can relate with some of you, but I can not agree with all of you. You guys have had a lot of good points in your articles but at what cost. Are you still angry? Do you have someone to talk to? I’ll talk to you. Write me and I’ll correspond.

If given the chance, I’d work with the MPV on my own free time to help people help others.

This is what I do and my goal is to never stop doing so. That’s right; a part of my “Inner peace” is feeling good about myself. I love me and I love life. My other goal in life is to be the “good” exception to the bad. Being a convicted sex offender isn’t good and most believe that I and other sex offenders will re-offend. Well, despite those crazy tests they use, I want to and will always be peaceful and as long as I believe in this I can not fail. I am no longer a fake person.

Eventually, I would like to be a motivational speaker to help people who are aiming to follow a criminal path.

True Colors

Ray Cook

You with the sad eyes

Don’t be discouraged

Oh I realize

It’s hard to take courage

In a world full of people

You can loose sight of it all

And the darkness inside you

Can make you feel so small

But I see your true colors

Shining through

I see your true colors

And that’s why I love you

So don’t be afraid to let them show

Your true colors

True colors are beautiful

Like a rainbow

Show me a smile then

Don’t be unhappy, can’t remember when

I last saw you laughing

If this world makes you crazy

And you’ve taken all you can bear

You call me up

Because you know I’ll be there

And I’ll see your true colors

Shining through

I see your true colors

And that’s why I love you

So don’t be afraid to let them show

Your true colors

True colors are beautiful

Like a rainbow.

The Captain of the Titanic

Timothy Muise

I am not exactly sure what happened to the captain of the Titanic. Did he go down with the ship? Did he survive in a life boat and live with the burden of his folly for the rest of his life? I’m in the dark on this. I know the information is readily available, but the exact facts are not that important to this piece. One thing I can say for certain though is that surely the White Star Line did not bestow another captainship upon this man. If he lived, he could never have again been entrusted with the safety of their passengers. It just would not make sense, and no one would stand for such a proposition.

Now let me introduce you to the captain of the SS Souza- Baranowski. He received his high paying captainship by helping to crash a ship full of passengers squarely into an easily avoidable iceberg. Not only did he saddle up the gravy train through folly, but his first mate also grabbed a ladle to suck from. Thomas Dickhaut was the Deputy Superintendent aboard the Suzy B., and Tony Mendosa the Director of Treatment, when they helped Eddie Ficco crash her into the iceberg that was defrocked priest John Geoghan. No foghorn was heard by these two Helen Kellers. No distress flares were spotted by these two Stevie Wonders. Deaf, dumb, and blind while at the helm.

Now what do you get on the sea of corrections when you are partly responsible for a murder? You get a captainship! You become first mate! Dickhaut is now the captain of the SS Suzy B., and Tony is his first mate, and the ship is again sailing zigzag through iceberg rich waters. Trust and believe that their ear muffs and blinders are on tight. The champagne flows freely in the Grand Ballroom, and these men who no rules have been made for drink like true sailors on leave. Drunk at the helm they play correctional pinball with tragedy. The hull is cracked; the pumps are failing, and Tommy and Tony order, “Full steam ahead!” You can bet the captain of the Titanic wished he knew about jobs at the DOC before he signed on with the White Star Line. How can you go wrong? Run her on the rocks, lose the crew and passengers, and get a promotion! A true seaman’s Utopia!

This all sounds insane don’t it? Insane but true. In the DOC, you can run a prison where the guards run rogue wild, prisoners are treated so poorly that they are forced to act out, men commit suicide rather than be subjected to further abuse, the elderly are denied medical care, the emotionally handicapped are tortured psychologically and physically, and the general attitude is abusive punishment and retribution as opposed to rehabilitation and healing. When you help to run the ship like this you are driven out. Detach the rudder. Throw out the compass. Set sail with the DOC.

The seas of no life are constantly calm. We all face storms, gales, and hurricanes. The thing is that we see the forecast and prepare. The forecast for the DOC is quite clear: fowl weather ahead! That does not mean that we as prisoners should throw the chances for positive effective change overboard. No way! We must fight the gale winds. Batten down your hatches and battle the admiralty. Report the captain and all his mates to the legislature. File the grievances and go after the ship’s doctor when he neglects you. Report him to the Board of Registration. Support your jailhouse lawyers. Get active in the solution. Don’t sign on to the captain’s plan to divide and conquer. Support UNITY, not division. Get involved and we can all play a part in the quest for solutions, the quest for personal freedom and dignity.

I see a forecast of fair winds and blue skies for our personal vessels. Take your helm with education and concern. Stoke the boiler with faith and desire. Set your course with honesty and planning. Never allow the ship of fools run by the DOC force you into an iceberg. We will find our ports of call if we stay our course prudently.

Grand Funk Railroad sang about getting “Closer to our Home” in the rock classic “I’m Your Captain”. We can be our own captain and all get closer to home.

Faceless

Lord I cry out my complaints,

but there is no sound. I have no mouth!

I listen to people’s judgments, but again there is no sound. I have no ears!

I look to the left then to the right careful not to step in the traps and sheets left for me, but once again, I have no eyes. I can not see!

Lord all I have is you, did you mean to strip me?

Did I not deserve a face? Am I that bad> I don’t deserve my children? I don’t deserve love? I don’t deserve…………………..

Lord you are right, I don’t deserve a face. I did not look with sober eyes, I did not look with my heart. I did not love with a pure heart or love for the right things. My mouth spoke only of complaints. People were scared to look at me; I was scared to look at myself. Lord I don’t deserve a face.

Lord give me my face. I have been stripped of my pride. I shall not dwell in my self- pity. I want my face so I can teach my children, brothers and sisters so they do not fall as I have done. Lord give me a face I can love.

Trapped

Brian Auclair

Welcome to my nightmare and enjoy the ride

Pay very close attention as I’ll be your guide

Trapped and locked away in this desolate chamber

looking for answers to defuse my inner anger

Pacing the cell floor with just bare feet

touching it’s every inch of the hard concrete

Absorbing the sun’s heat to warm up my soul

to be free one day is my striving goal

My heart keeps pumping the blood keeps flowing

it’s psychological torture that’s absolutely mind blowing

The walls are sweating my skin is shedding

the light gets dim as the sun is setting

My chamber is getting smaller as the walls are closing in

my mind begins to wonder

“Am I dying for my sin?”

Scratching the walls just trying to escape a second before death but then I awake!

God’s Wintertime

Robert Lesage

A farm house sitting near a dirt road

cows in the field, tractor hauling a heavy load

snow gently falling upon the scene

as children play on grass still green.

Smoke from a chimney speaks of a warm fire

dogs chasing after children mischief conspired

trees slowly being covered by clinging white

all speak of God’s awesome night.

Deer in pasture land grazing with cows

on slowly disappearing grass shows how

our awesome God takes care of all

even the colorful leaves which fall.

Horses head sticking out of barn window

probably thinking of catching cows tomorrow

watching as snow sticks to hardened ground

knowing that the farmer is somewhere around.

When you think of it we are much the same

in the world we carry a load of guilt and shame

but God gently pours blessings upon us

sparking a fire to come and know Jesus.

Jesus has chased us to come and know Him

but like unruly children we preferred to sin

slowly with gentleness He covered us with love

and spoke to us of His Father above.

Unity with brothers He desires to see

because of His grace given to us free

and He picks us up when we fall

He is the Farmer who from cross gave us a call.

The Prison of Image

Billy Simpson

I used to think and say that I am a good person who made bad choices, yet in meditating and becoming more aware I know I am a good person who had no choices. For the dictionary said choice” the art of choosing or selecting”. When you are disconnected from your inner self, it is the image making the choices. Being a prisoner, we all have a story of one thing leading to another. After all that is what stories are, one thing leading to another. Sometimes we can allow our stories to be our personal prison. WE hold on to an image, God forbid if others see us for who we really are behind the image! Who is behind your image? I hardly knew what happened to me, what went wrong, as a child in a state of shock. I can usually guess it was a long chain of events. The image tells me I can’t blame no one other than self. What is self? What is self at the age of five, six, seven years of age? I can say the household, the violence, the trusting of people as a child you felt you could trust, culture, the streets. Looking for easy money selling drugs, maybe soothing the hurt dulling the senses with alcohol and other chemicals which cloud the mind and body. Maybe it was just the need to feel in control of something because every thing else was out of control. You end up with wrap thoughts, feeling, actions, values leaving few avenues for modulating or even recognizing hurtful, crude, destructive and self destructive impulses or craving.

So in a moment which all your other moments leads up to a monster unbeknownst to you, you can “lose your mind” commit an irreversible act, then in many ways it shapes future moments, creates false image. As you try to rebuild your life, know we all have stories. Horror stories, whatever your story is you are not alone. One can always free themselves from the prison of image. Your crime was something you did, not who you are. Oh, others will treat you and judge you by your crime. Don’t be put in bondage by allowing these images of self of who you are in their eyes lock you up. Be kind to yourself. Even in prison you can be free,

Address by the Chief Justice, 1970

“It is society’s responsibility to protect the life and health of its prisoners. When a sheriff or a marshal takes a man from the courthouse in a prison van and transports him to confinement for two or three or ten years, this is our act. We have tolled the bell for him. And whether we like it or not, we have made him our collective responsibility. We are free to do something about him; he is not.”

A Friend

The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you’ve ever had.

It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives. Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they’ll love you back! Don’t expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart, but if it doesn’t, be content it grew in yours. It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.

Don’t go for looks; they can deceive. Don’t go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile, because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile.

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy.

Always put yourself in others’ shoes.

If you feel it hurts you, it probably hurts the other person, too. The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. Happiness lies for those who cry those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried, for they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.

When you were born, you were crying, and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

Please share this message:

to those people who mean something to you, to those who have touched your life in one way or another, to those who make you smile when you really need it, to those that make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down, to those who you want to let them know that you appreciate their friendship. And if you don’t, don’t worry, nothing bad will happen to you, you will just miss out on the opportunity to brighten someone’s day.

From Sue’s Desk

I had an email this week and want to bring the subject to all of your attention. Representative Denise Provost from Somerville has drafted a bill regarding prisoner health and hospital- acquired infections.. It deals with MRSA. It is her House Bill 2226. Call or write friends and family and tell them to contact their state Senators and Representatives and encourage them to pass this important piece of legislation.

It’s hard to believe that this is the last newsletter of 2007. I want to thank all of you for making it a success. For those of you who send in articles, jokes and cartoons, art work, those who critique the articles, thank you. It is my hope that next year will be a success as well. I want to thank the other advocates that I work with, the people who put on the Through Barbed Wire fourth Friday events. Thank you for your time and a big thanks to those of you who participate in it. It is really great.

There have been good things and big things that have happened this year. It is my hope that by this time next year, things will be much better for all of you.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you and your loved ones a peaceful holiday season and a brighter and better New Year.

HUMOR

Dear Abby,

My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the beginning, and when I confront him, he denies everything. What’s worse, everyone knows that he cheats on me. It is so humiliating.

Also, since he lost his job six years ago, he hasn’t even looked for a new one. All he does all day is smoke cigars, cruise around and bullshit with his buddies while I have to work and pay the bills.

Since our daughter went away to college he doesn’t even pretend to like me and hints that I may be a lesbian. What should I do?

Signed: Clueless

**Dear Clueless,**

Grow up and dump him. Good grief woman. You don’t need him anymore! You’re a US Senator from New York running for president of the US.

Act like one!

The Psychiatrist and the Proctologist

Two doctors, a psychiatrist and a proctologist, opened an office in a small town and put up a sign reading: “Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones: Hysterias and Posteriors.” The town council was not happy with the sign, so the doctors changed it to read: “Schizoids and Hemorrhoids.”

This was not acceptable either, so in an effort to satisfy the council, they changed the sign to “Catatonics and High Colonics.” No go.

Next, they tried “Manic Depressives and Anal Retentives.” Thumbs down again. Then cane “Minds and Behinds.” Still no good.

Another attempt resulted in “Lost Souls and Butt Holes.” Unacceptable again! So they tried “Analysis and Anal Cysts.” Not a chance. “Nuts and Butts”. No way. “Freaks and Cheeks.” Still no go. “Loons and Moons.” Forget it.

Almost at their wit’s end, the doctors finally came up with: “Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones, Odds and Ends.” Everyone loved it.

Stuttering Cat

The teacher is explaining biology to her 4th grade students. “Human beings are the only animals that stutter,” she says.

A little girl raises her hand. “I had a kitty-cat who stuttered,” she volunteered.

The teacher, knowing how precious some of these stories could become, asked the girl to describe the incident.

“Well,” she began, “I was in the back yard with my kitty and the rottweiler that lives next door got a running start and before we knew it, he jumped over the fence into our yard!” “That must have been scary,” said the teacher.

“It sure was,” said the little girl.

“My kitty raised his back, went ‘Ffff,Ffff,Ffff…and before he could say, “F—k, the rottweiler ate him!”

Mass Prison Voice

PO Box 441332

Somerville, Ma. 02144

susanhuskins@

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