December 12, 1995
Issue
"... better than I ever could"
Inmate n. 1. A resident in a dwelling or building. 2. One confined to an institution — Webster's Dictionary. A fellow prisoner recently reminded Corrections Officer Second Grade (CO-2) Foster that he had forgotten to open the cell to let the prisoner who occupies it pick up a food tray and return to that cell to eat. Seeing what had happened, Mr Jefferson shouted to CO-2 Foster saying, "How about opening cell 54, so that Mr Waldrip can get out to get a tray?" Standing before his panel of buttons and controls, CO-2 Foster's demeanour changed from passive to aggressive as he questioned Jefferson for clarification. "What did you say", he asked? Mr Jefferson reiterated: "Mr Tommy Waldrip wants to get a tray too." CO-2 Foster then quipped, "I don't know no [expletive] Mr Tommy Waldrip. I know an inmate Waldrip." I have shared this tiny dinner-time peek into prison life because for more than three years now I have referred to any and all of my fellow prisoners by preceding their surname(s) with "Mr" or "Messrs" — especially when speaking to any member of the prison staff. For I have come to realise that the whole concept of prison in America is designed to deprive all prisoners of dignity and human worth. The term "inmate" is more in keeping with a denizen of an asylum than a person in prison. Of course, that is not the real issue here. The real issue is, rather than quietly accept the fact that he had forgotten to push all of the appropriate buttons, CO-2 Foster sought to strip Mr Waldrip of the dignity and respect that Mr Jefferson had conferred upon him by putting "Mr" before his name. CO-2 Foster has been taught to encourage prisoners' disrespect of one another. If Mr Jefferson had said something to the effect that kept the links in the chain of administrative dehumanisation intact (that was disrespectful to Mr Waldrip), CO-2 Foster would have quietly pushed the button and thought no more of it. But Mr Jefferson broke a link in that chain, thus leaving CO-2 Foster feeling threatened. So threatened, in fact, that "Mr" was too good for Mr Waldrip even when his fellow prisoner said it. Dehumanising and stripping men, women and children in prison of their dignity is just plain dumb. Nevertheless, it is done on an administrative level in both overt and covert ways routinely in most American prisons. It is done so well unfortunately, even a large number of prisoners subscribe to the practice. For example, about a year ago a fellow prisoner asked me, "How come you call another prisoner, who is young enough to be your grandson, 'Mister'?" We were playing basketball when he asked so I really did not have time to explain my motives to him then, but I think he heard those exchanges that Mr Jefferson and CO-2 Foster had yesterday. I suspect, and hope, he realises that their exchanges answered his question far better than I ever could.[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to receive letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, GD&CC, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]