Another Post on Books in Prison

I keep asking this question: what was I to do with my time in prison? From the way my PO acts, I was not supposed to be writing. From the way my group therapy counselor acts, I was not to have contemplated my life and the changes I need to make before making amends. Both of these persons act as if I were not to change in my 10 years of incarceration.

If prison was not about me changing myself, then what was its purpose?

I changed because I had books. Books, besides James Patterson thrillers. I had books in a place where I had time for examining my life. 

 The  Cruel Practice of Banning Books Behind Bars surprised me. I did not think anyone noticed how prisons infantilize prisoners:

Prisons treat books as “restricted commodities” that pose threats within prison walls. But for people who are incarcerated, books allow them to establish a connection to the outside world, connections that increase their chances of success after release. Books create opportunities, enabling people to leave prison with knowledge they didn’t have before. Seemingly, that’s not what corrections agencies want.

And why would prisons not want prisoners to educate themselves out of the cycle of criminality? Job security.

I do not say all prisoners will take the opportunity to educate themselves. I do believe those who want to improve themselves will do so if they are given the opportunity.

Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

Shakespeare 

sch 4/7/22