Thread by @PrisonReformMvt

My friend Tony suffers with lasting prison trauma. He shares his pain in order to help himself try to heal.

When I first went into prison I watched these guys beat another inmate. They beat him and beat him and beat him.

When he was down I watched them keep kicking him and kicking him until his head split open and they killed him.

They kept kicking him.

No guards came to help him.

I didn't either.

I was afraid.

It ate me up for years. I didn't help him either.

I justified it in my mind. How could I have helped him? They would have beat me too. I couldn't leave. I had to live there.

It still ate at me.

Years later. After learning. Learning how to get up, work out and fight and learn how to play prison politics I witnessed two more guys beating the shirt out of a guy that ate too many potatoes and went back to his cell and was a little...stuffy...

The guard knew but acted like he didn't.
He was afraid.

Well this time I'd seen enough.

With lightning coming out of my eyes and steam coming out of my ears and nose I stood up and screamed..."KNOCK IT OFF!!! YOU BEAT HIM ENOUGH!"

They looked at me. Then they looked at him.

It broke the trance they were in and they stopped.

They laughed and said, "Yeah. We did."

They went away. No one helped him. He was a bloody mess. We watched him pick himself up to go isolate and clean up. No sympathy from any of us.

The truth is most everyone gets their turn.

Our prison's cultures are geared for everyone to fail.

We need prison reform.

If an inmate steps in to help another inmate they are punished. The culture teaches us to look the other way. "Not my business."

How do I tell my family that helping pudin' pie was more important than they were and I didn't keep my nose clean?

Oh...I am given an available option before I get on the bus or plane...be a rat.

All I need to do is explain to officer friendly everything I know. Really? That is what our only available option is?

Well officer friendly gets to go home. We don't.

The whole point of this post...Our prisons need reform.

The guards are selling phones with video cameras.
Why can't we do it legally?

Reform.

I have been told that only God knows what goes on in there. 2020 brings reform.

I share my stories to bring the secrets of the dark into the light. We never had support to allow this. Never.

Well by God we have it now. It's a start.

Others have their horror stories

It is not alright.

It's a tight rope we walk

I'm in. Thank you for being in with me.

Impeachment pales in comparison to prison politics.