The New Prisoner: A Short Story

I found this passage interesting because it left me thinking and analyzing it for some time. I didn’t quite understand it at first, especially the screaming part. Initially I thought it was the prisoner's form of suicide, but after a while I realized that it was only after he stared at his reflection for a couple seconds, that he let out the blood curdling scream. This lead me to conclude, that the man yelled out of shock and fear because he no longer recognized himself. When we

The Unredeemed Captive- A Family Story From Early America, John Demos, Vintage Books, April 1995, New York

Skip Hollandsworth candidly explores the subjects of juvenile crime and sentencing in the electronic long form newspaper article, “The Prisoner”. The purpose of the essay is to inform the reader about juvenile sentencing and to persuade the audience that there are clear problems with aspects of the U.S. prison system. The article is easily accessible to a large audience because it is online. Hollandsworth takes into account that his audience, mostly consisting of Texas Monthly readers, may already have pre-established notions about the topic, so he considers other sides while still supporting his argument. Edwin Debrow, a preteen member of the Crips, committed a murder when he was 12-years old and received a 27-year sentence through the

Booker tilted his head to one side, his top lip curling into something resembling a smile. But the twisted caricature only heightened Tom’s unease, and the young officer flattened his body against the wall, his palms leaving traces of sweat on the nicotine stained paint.

Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a number is a melancholy novel that expresses Argentina’s terrorist state. Jacob Timerman, a well respected man of Argentina, an editor of a well know Argentinian paper, La Opinion, tells the audience his story of the terrorist state of Argentina from 1967-1978. His gripping novel both describes his personal experience being kidnapped by terrorist, while he tells us about the condition of the terrorist state of Argentina. His book is important because it tells a first hand account of the fear, the distrust, and the mere insanity of conditions in the country of Argentina during its darkest time.

“it made a dash for the prisoner, and jumping up tried to lick his face”

Since the early 1800s, the United States has relied on a method of punishment barely known to any other country, solitary confinement (Cole). Despite this method once being thought of as the breakthrough in the prison system, history has proved differently. Solitary confinement was once used in a short period of time to fix a prisoners behavior, but is now used as a long term method that shows to prove absolutely nothing. Spending 22-24 hours a day in a small room containing practically nothing has proved to fix nothing in a person except further insanity. One cannot rid himself of insanity in a room that causes them to go insane. Solitary confinement is a flawed and unnecessary method of punishment that should be prohibited in the prison

Gresham M. Sykes describes the society of captives from the inmates’ point of view. Sykes acknowledges the fact that his observations are generalizations but he feels that most inmates can agree on feelings of deprivation and frustration. As he sketches the development of physical punishment towards psychological punishment, Sykes follows that both have an enormous effect on the inmate and do not differ greatly in their cruelty.

Lovelace wrote the poem To Althea From Prison, the first time he was imprisoned for presenting the House of Commons with a pro-royalist petition. In this piece of literature, the similes, metaphors and personification help the reader understand Lovelace’s craving and desire for freedom. Althea is the center of his desires in this work, he loves her, and she is the reason that he craves freedom.

writes towards the middle of his essay about seeing the prison being brought up to the hanging site and

The ethical theory of utilitarianism and the perspective on relativism, of prison labor along with the relativism on criminal behavior of individuals incarcerated are two issues that need to be addressed. Does the utilitarianism of prisoner’s right laws actually protect them? Or are the unethical actions of the international and states right laws exploiting the prison labor? Unethical procedures that impact incarcerated individuals and correctional staff, the relativism of respect as people and not just prisoner’s; the safety of all inmates and correctional staff, are all issues worth continuous reflection.

After being sentenced to dehumanizing and laborious punishments for years, he accepts himself to be, as his passport says, “a dangerous man” (27). Once he is released, he continues to walk with

Michel Foucault is a very famous French intellectual who practiced the knowledge of sociology. Foucault analyzed how knowledge related to social structures, in particular the concept of punishment within the penal system. His theory through, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, is a detailed outline of the disciplinary society; in which organizes populations, their relations to power formations, and the corresponding conceptions of the subjects themselves. Previously, this type of punishment focused on torture and dismemberment, in which was applied directly to bodies. Foucault mentions through his literary piece, “the soul is the effect and instrument of a political anatomy: the soul is the prison of the body (p.30). However, today, the notion of punishment involves public appearances in a court and much more humane sentences. However, it is important to note and to understand the idea of power and knowledge; it is fundamental to understand the social system as a whole.

While lawful incarceration deprives prisoners of most of Americas Constitutional rights, they do maintain a few constitutional rights. Federal courts, while hesitant to impede with the internal administration of prisons, will interfere to rectify violations of the constitutional rights that prisoners are still entitled to. A prison guideline that oversteps on a prisoner’s constitutional rights is lawful only if it is reasonably related to the safety of the inmates or the rehabilitation of that prisoner.

Someone once told me that, everyday is a new day and all your wounds and problems will heal with time, and your bonds made with love will grow stronger. However, I do not agree with this philosophy. You see once you have spent so much time in a cold, dark, unbearable place such as I have, you begin to wonder something. When will I see my next day. Will I ever see my next day. In this statement, a day represents a new set of issues, a new set of gifts. However, my life since I got to this facility. Has been two days. There was something clandestine about it. My first day seemed wonderful. It was magical, I saw my dreams coming true before my eyes, and yet. The second day never seems to end. Perhaps I shall see a third day, one day. I sincerely hope that no more people are forced to go through this intolerable, insufferable, unendurable experience.