Jon's Jail Journal (by Shaun Attwood)

26 August 05

A Sop To Cerberus

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Copyright © 2004-2005 Shaun P. Attwood

4 comments:

Cheryl said...: Oh how wonderful!

You are being slagged off by the opposition, which can only mean you are seen as a threat; you with your paper and pencil and lack of human rights and freedoms, you are making them itch. How fantastic, what an honour.

I would suggest doing a 'Royal Family' on them - ignoring the jibes and avoiding a tit-for-tat wrangle and just get on with being you, highlighting what goes on, extra-curricular to the official punishment system, and educating some on how prisoners and sinners are human too, through your caring observations. Its funny but the US so-called Christian clique likes to forget to hate the sin and love the sinner and rather prefers the 'them and us' approach, so you are doing a great deal of good dismantling that black and white approach.

What can they do to you for telling the truth? Put you in prison?

We are all here, watching and concerned for your wellbeing, you have 'a public'.

((((((HUGS)))))))); 6:02 AM
Don said...: Oh! The "New Times" (we have a sister publication here in Kansas City), that paragon of journalistic integrity. Yeah right.

They ran a multi page article here in KC that was totally fake and they admitted it after it was published. High school journalism is more accurate.

As for Cerberus...the name says it all.; 7:41 AM
Anonymous said...: I think it's really sad that these people still think that a confrontational and divisive approach to criminal activity works! It is so short-sighted. The way that 'patriotic' (for want of a better word) Americans talk about criminals as if there are certain people branded evil at birth is very worrying. The word liberty is chucked about with absolutely no reference to its true meaning - freedom to question the status quo (as Reagan said) and the powers-that-be is what liberty really means and I have full faith that Jon will continue to champion the causes that matter.; 3:37 AM
Anonymous said...: I just read the blog entry titled 'A Sop To Cerberus' and then I went and read HIS blog. He has several key lines that just made me mad.
For example "...inmates mostly being a collection of individuals given to lying, scheming and whining..." which shows the real attitude of prison guards - who might be offended if I described them as "individuals who mostlt need to demean and control others." Prison guard is a strage choice of occupation - one is volunteering to spend one's life inside prison walls after all. I suspect there is something psychically broken in most of these people, who doubtless get their kicks by subjugating others.
Here's another one: "...Jail is where unsentenced prisoners are housed..." Unsentenced, rather than pre-trial? So much for the presumption of innocence. He is right in lockstep with Arpaio on this - in fact one wonders if Arpaio actually wrote this blog.
Another: "...the hygiene conditions leave a lot to be desired (mostly because of the habits of the inhabitants)...." Again, one really has to wonder if this isn't Uncle Joe himself speaking. His blog entry defends everything that Arpaio is criticised for, and seems to take your criticism of Arpaio very personally.
Having been ground under the wheel of 'justice' to some extent, I have completely changed my point of view. I used to defend policemen to those who talked about 'pigs' and was vehement that most complaints of brutality, corruption and injustice was the result of a few bad apples. I am now of the opinion that the good apples are much less common than most people think.
Have you been watching 'Prison Break' on TV? I heard it was banned in the prison system of (I think) Michigan. I would guess that is a somewhat realistic depiction of life inside - the black and white gangs, the mafia factions and so on.
You don't write much about the racial component of prison - has it affected you at all?
C.; 2:29 PM