These are called “dummy cages” or “coffins”. Many people who’ve been to prison have been placed in one, including myself. I was put in a dummy cage immediately after discovering that my cell mate was dead - while in the midst of a mild panic attack.
Needless to say, it didn’t help my situation. My dummy cage was plexiglass-lined and hard to breath in; claustrophobia just made me panic more. I ended up crumpling into the bottom of the cage in order to breath through the grating.
I lot of people are put in them for “misbehaving”. Sometimes they’re put into them as part of the transportation or movement process. Sometimes dummy cages are used to segregated “enemies”.
Looks like there’s another use for the dummy cage: group or individual therapy. The horror knows no bounds.
Define “temporary”. Sure, sometimes they’re used for a few minutes. Sometimes, they’re used for many, many hours. Often, they’re used when someone is in crisis. And, as I learned, they are also used to attend therapy and class.
I’ve seen people completely drenched in pepper spray held in these dummy cages for many hours. No relief, just burning and itching in these coffin-sized cages.
This is the nonsense I’m talking about. Dummy cages are used for art class. Yes, you read that right. ART CLASS.
Today is my freedomversary. 9 years ago, I came home from prison. Some reflections...
On February 8th 2012, I was in fire camp sitting on a park bench, watching the sun set. It was the last time the sun would set on my incarceration and I knew that, the next time I saw the sun, I’d be free.
People usually paroled mid-morning from fire camp. I requested and was granted permission to parole at the strike of midnight on my date. I’ll never forget watching the clock strike midnight and then seeing my parents’ headlights pulling into the parking lot.
While I was in prison, I was the food procurement clerk. It was my job to work with the first cook to design the daily food menu (a 6-week cycle) and then make sure the men were fed on a budget of $2.60 per person per day. The Best Xmas prison meal, a thread...
Believe it or not, it was relatively easy to serve 3 fairly healthy, hearty meals to men for only $2.60 per person per day - because I was buying in bulk.
My goal throughout the year was to average $2.45 per person per day, that way I could splurge on holiday meals like Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, etc.
I’ve seen this floating around lately. While I understand the sentiment of the list, it’s WRONG. Here’s why (thread):
Since we’re trying to place #COVID19 in the list, we also have to include the Spanish Flu. They didn’t do day-by-day tracking of death back then, but we do have monthly tabulations. They’re astonishing.
In October of 1918, more than 195,000 Americans died of the Spanish Flu. That averages out to 6,290 deaths per day in that month, more than double the number of people currently perishing of #covid19 in America. But we can’t just put the Spanish Flu at #2 in the list...
Thinking that because I am against the death penalty, I must be in favor of murdering people is the epitome of absurdity. Some folks really lack critical thinking skills.
We live in a nation driven by base desires. The refrain, “How would you feel if your loved one was murdered?” belies a certain approach to life that is very American: that what I feel like is what I should be allowed to do. It is actually quite sick.
True freedom lies in knowing that how one feels should not be the determining factor for action. But we’re stuck on the Southpark definition of freedom: “I do what I want”.
Since 1960, the Federal Government has executed 12 people. Donald Trump is responsible for 8 of them - all of them since July. Tonight, he will execute another.
This is a human being we're talking about here. A human being.
I had a cell mate who took a plea bargain of 7 years to life in 1977. “The matrix” available at the time said he’d be paroled in 14 years if he stayed out of trouble. So he took the deal and he stayed out of trouble. 43 years later, he’s still in prison.
I’m not an expert in this, but my understanding is that people took these indeterminate plea bargains in the 1970’s because the parole board really did let people go home. But then policy changed in the 80’s and folks got stuck behind their plea bargains.
I think it was around that time that the parole board officially ceased focusing on release into the community and became an instrument designed to keep people inside, no matter what. I believe it even changed its name (I’ve tried Googling it but can’t find a history of this).