One thing that amazes me is how often the law is broken even within prison. I heard stories about cell phones being used for high-priced calls home but I think that's the only contraband that I haven't seen for myself. Everything else I've seen isn't even legal outside of prison.At the first transfer unit I was at, there was a guy that overdosed on cocaine. He went into seizures on the floor and wasn't wheeled out for almost thirty minutes (a testament to TDC medical response - you do not want to get sick or injured here), then taken to a nearby unit for treatment. I assume the cocaine came through in a body cavity or traveled with him all the way from county jail.
The most common drug I've seen is marijuana. The first night I was in this dorm, three guys were smoking a joint in a shower stall. Many nights, when the fans come on, you can smell the scent of weed drifting from one of the other dorms. Most of the marijuana comes from visitation or guards that have been paid off.
Other drugs that come through include Zanac, crack cocaine, Ambien, Oxycontin, and Vicodin. Prison, as much as folks would like to believe otherwise, is not a place where addicts are separated from the drugs. It is only a place where it is a little more difficult or expensive to get them.
4 comments:
And who says that prison doesn't work?
Yes, I have often mused that the term "Dept. of Corrections" is such a glaring misnomer. It appears that everything that happens within the prison, with the exception of the work of Prison Fellowship and like-minded ministries/organizations, only inculcates and exacerbates the conditions and mindsets that caused these men and woman to end up behind bars in the first place.
Unfortunately, the able-bodied (?) persons on the benches have turned a blind eye and deaf ear to the failure of the criminal justice system to address the real problems in our culture that perpetuate the march of our country's citizenry toward incarceration at an astounding and deplorable rate. In their (the judges' and prosecutors') apparent opinion, it is easier to lock up the problem than try to fix it.
This just in: footnote on correspondence from TDCJ Ombudsman office -
“Our mission is to provide public safety, promote positive change in
offender behavior,reintegrate offenders into society, and assist victims of crime.”
TDCJ-Correctional Institutions Division
? ? ? ? ? ?
The mission is NOT accomplished. They are not even close to that one. The problem is that unless you are trapped in the system, you do not realize how inane the "justice" system is.
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