Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Monday, 14 May 2007
Open Letter 1
This is the first of what will be many 'Open Letters' to appear in this space. Visitors to this site are encouraged to send any questions, comments, or ideas (that will enhance understanding for us all) to the snail mail address at this letter's end. I welcome your interaction and I appreciate your interest.
Allow me to introduce myself and personally welcome you to a new project. My name is Brandon Astor Jones. While reading an article in The New York Times by Nina Bernstein entitled "Polygamy, Practised in Secrecy, Follows Africans to New York City"1, I was moved to create this space for 'Open Letters'. Let me quote some of that article:
I could not help myself. I felt obliged to add emphasis to that last word. Ms D's husband is lucky that he is not married to any of the women in my family. The concept of a woman's martial obedience is foreign to them. I am proud of them for that...and more.
Nina Berstein reports that Doussou Traore (age 52), who is the president of an association of Malwian women living in New York, spoke for the group and said of polygamous marriages, "[i]t's difficult, but one accepts it because it's our religion... Our mothers accepted it. Our grandmothers accepted it. Why not us?"
After reading President Traore's words we are again reminded of how hard on women religions can be. While reading the New King James Version, The Scofield Study Bible, I found Exodus 21.7 and 8 of interest, to wit:
Okay, twice now, I could not help myself. I had to add emphasis to the word master. I do not mean to attack Islam, Christianity, or Judaism here. Is it just me or does someone else also notice how prominently words such as obey, slave and master appear in the text of the Holy Books?
If I could speak face to face with President Traore, I would note that at least two of our female ancestors- Sojourner Truth2 and Harriet Tubman3- were practising Christians. The Bible supported slavery and yet those two magnificent women rose up against slavery.
The excuse that 'it's our religion' is not a good one. I need to add that at some point a xenophobic government official who hates immigrants is going to urge other officials to start a sustained surveillance and investigation of certain immigrants. When they find evidence of bigamy- and we all know that there will be plenty of it- many African men will be forced to leave the United States. The polygamy you think that you are practising surreptitiously is about as secret as your homeland's accent in a room full of Americans.
Polygamy is illegal in America. In fact, under American immigration law polygamy is sufficient grounds for expulsion, but usually not before going to prison for up to as many as four years for each proven count of felonious bigamy. An angry wife could wreak havoc in a practising polygamist's life.
You ought to not forget that fact of American life, as you set about the privilege of concreting your relatively new American citizenship.
If you are wondering why a man in prison is telling you all of this, it is because I do not want to see you in any of these cells- where some of your children might have to visit you.
You are loved Odine. Stay safe and strong!
1. The New York Times, March 23, 2007.
2. 1797-1883; American abolitionist.
3. 1820-1913; American abolitionist.
Prisoner Brandon Astor Jones, G3-73
UNO#400574; EF-122216
Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison
P.O. Box 3877
Jackson, Georgia 30233 USA
Word Count: 731
Composition Date: 25 March 2007
The 'One on One' Series: #16, #4
©Brandon Astor Jones 2007
Allow me to introduce myself and personally welcome you to a new project. My name is Brandon Astor Jones. While reading an article in The New York Times by Nina Bernstein entitled "Polygamy, Practised in Secrecy, Follows Africans to New York City"1, I was moved to create this space for 'Open Letters'. Let me quote some of that article:
She worked at Red Lobster in Times Square, and lived with her husband near Yankee Stadium. Yet, one night, returning home from her job, Odine D. discovered that African custom, not American law, held sway over her marriage.
A strange woman was sitting in the living room. Ms D's husband, a security guard born in Ghana, introduced her as his other wife.
Devastated, Ms D., a Guinean immigrant who insisted that her last name be withheld, said she protested: 'I can't live with the woman in my house- we only have two bedrooms'. Her husband cited Islamic precepts allowing a man to have up to four wives, and told her to get used to it. And she tried to obey.
I could not help myself. I felt obliged to add emphasis to that last word. Ms D's husband is lucky that he is not married to any of the women in my family. The concept of a woman's martial obedience is foreign to them. I am proud of them for that...and more.
Nina Berstein reports that Doussou Traore (age 52), who is the president of an association of Malwian women living in New York, spoke for the group and said of polygamous marriages, "[i]t's difficult, but one accepts it because it's our religion... Our mothers accepted it. Our grandmothers accepted it. Why not us?"
After reading President Traore's words we are again reminded of how hard on women religions can be. While reading the New King James Version, The Scofield Study Bible, I found Exodus 21.7 and 8 of interest, to wit:
... if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
Okay, twice now, I could not help myself. I had to add emphasis to the word master. I do not mean to attack Islam, Christianity, or Judaism here. Is it just me or does someone else also notice how prominently words such as obey, slave and master appear in the text of the Holy Books?
If I could speak face to face with President Traore, I would note that at least two of our female ancestors- Sojourner Truth2 and Harriet Tubman3- were practising Christians. The Bible supported slavery and yet those two magnificent women rose up against slavery.
The excuse that 'it's our religion' is not a good one. I need to add that at some point a xenophobic government official who hates immigrants is going to urge other officials to start a sustained surveillance and investigation of certain immigrants. When they find evidence of bigamy- and we all know that there will be plenty of it- many African men will be forced to leave the United States. The polygamy you think that you are practising surreptitiously is about as secret as your homeland's accent in a room full of Americans.
Polygamy is illegal in America. In fact, under American immigration law polygamy is sufficient grounds for expulsion, but usually not before going to prison for up to as many as four years for each proven count of felonious bigamy. An angry wife could wreak havoc in a practising polygamist's life.
You ought to not forget that fact of American life, as you set about the privilege of concreting your relatively new American citizenship.
If you are wondering why a man in prison is telling you all of this, it is because I do not want to see you in any of these cells- where some of your children might have to visit you.
You are loved Odine. Stay safe and strong!
1. The New York Times, March 23, 2007.
2. 1797-1883; American abolitionist.
3. 1820-1913; American abolitionist.
Prisoner Brandon Astor Jones, G3-73
UNO#400574; EF-122216
Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison
P.O. Box 3877
Jackson, Georgia 30233 USA
Word Count: 731
Composition Date: 25 March 2007
The 'One on One' Series: #16, #4
©Brandon Astor Jones 2007
Thursday, 3 May 2007
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
This is the first of fifteen entries in a series titled THREE HOURS that reveal my personal experience on the date and hours cited.
' . . . every minute of it' [illustrated]
By Brandon Astor Jones
I was reading the July 2006 issue of American Heritage Magazine when I came across a Kevin Baker essay titled "Cruel and Usual". Let me share the first paragraph with you. It is full of rarely published truth; if you are not interested in truth do not read any further:
"One of the worst ideas Americans have embraced recently is the belief that a decent society must be run at a profit. Government can easily come to resemble kudzu. You have to keep an eye on it and cut it back constantly if you don't want it to grow completely out of hand. That said, there are some attempts to save the taxpayers money that actually undermine our most basic values."
I should add that all Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison's (GD+CP) memorandums read, "Guided by Dedication, Courage and Professionalism". More on that hollow motto later.
The men in G3 Cellblock are assigned to one of three groups in which there are eight to ten men. Each group, one at a time, has a three hour period when we can request the cellblock officer to unlock the barred gate of the 6' by 8' cell in order to move about within the cellblock area.
Those of us who are out often run errands for the men who remain locked down in individual cells. When we are not running errands, we sometimes sit or lie on the floor outside the cell another man occupies and play chess or a game of cards through the bars. We also shower during this time, and exercise – sometimes by walking up and down the stairs.
Running errands includes carrying books, magazines, and newspapers back and forth from one man to another in the cells; sometimes a cup of hot water is needed to make coffee – we fetch that from the hot water dispenser at the foot of the stairs.
We haul water and ice for each other, too, from a picnic cooler on the table near the stairs. Words cannot describe how hot a Georgia prison cell often is during the summer. The concrete and steel remain hot night and day for three months. We all live in fear because it is not uncommon for a prisoner to pass out and die from a combination of dehydration and heat exhaustion.
The cellblock is about forty yards in length and six yards wide. Sometimes in the course of doing errands we walk or run from one end of the cellblock to the other, and go up and down the stairs between the two tiers, as many as forty times.
When the three hour shift is over and we are locked down again, then those who are out in Shift Two, and then Shift Three, interact with us and we send them on cellblock errands.
9:04 a.m. June 3, 2006
I am assigned to Shift One. I requested that Cellblock Officer Nimms unlock the barred gate on Cell 73. I went down the stairs to the cooler for a container of ice. I returned to the cell and placed the container in the sink. I then closed and locked the gate, as ordered by Officer Nimms.
I wrapped a bath towel around the container to prolong the life of the ice, and saved the water as it melted. I did this because the tap water is unpalatable and very often unsafe – especially when it comes out brown like weak (or strong) coffee, which can go on for a few minutes, a few hours, or even for days. I try to keep several containers of clean, clear water so I am ready when the water goes bad.
At approximately 9:30 a.m., Officer Prigeon relieved Officer Nimms at the control booth, a rectangular, locked enclosure that is four times the width of a cell. I yelled to him, "Open Severty-Three." He did so, immediately. I went down to speak to him through the control booth's little rectangular porthole. "Would you ask Sergeant Floyd [Supervisor of the four G cellblocks] if he would get me a new battery for my hearing aid?"
He said that he would do that for me as soon as Officer Nimms relieved him.
When Officer Nimms came back, I returned to Cell 73 and once again, per Officer Nimms' order, I locked the gate after me.
The prisoner who occupies Cell 88, Mr. Brockman, was exercising by walking up and down the stairs. The prisoner locked down in Cell 89, Mr. Morrow, yelled to him to run an errand.
Mr. Brockman walked down to Cell 73 to inform me that Mr. Morrow wanted the Jet magazine he had lent me the day before and he wondered if I had a bag of potato chips that he could borrow until the following week.
I picked up the magazine and chips from the cell's wall cabinet; then I yelled out to Officer Nimms, "Open Seventy-Three!"
She did. I exited 73, which is the last cell at the North end of the cellblock, and locked the gate behind me. I headed for Cell 89, which is the last cell at the South end of the cellblock. After giving the magazine and chips to Mr. Morrow, I walked back to the North end and yelled, "Open Seventy-Three!"
Officer Nimms refused to open the gate.
I went down the stairs to the first floor.
She yelled at me and indicated that I was working her too hard.
It is worthy of note here that Officer Nimms is an African-American female who I would guess is 35 to 40 years of age. Her job, then, largely consisted of sitting inside the control booth and pushing buttons to unlock cell gates, sally ports, shower room gates (two converted cells directly below Cells 73 and 74), the mop room gate, (below Cell 75), and the telephone room gate (beneath Cell 76).
Her busiest days are the two each week that our Shifts are scheduled, when weather permits, to go outside to the exercise yard. On those days she may push buttons operating various gates as many as 40 times in less than 20 minutes as the men move about taking care of their business. So it was absurd for Officer Nimms to imply that I was working her too hard because I had gone in and out of the cell a few times.
Nevertheless, she chose to summarily punish me by refusing to open the gate to Cell 73 for 17 minutes. All the while she sat there, the button to Cell 73 twelve inches from her face, gossiping on the telephone with one or more of her colleagues – smiling at me with vindictiveness.
This would be a good place to remind the reader of the GD+CP's motto: "Guided by Dedication, Courage and Professionalism". I will let you be the judge of Officer Nimm's dedicated work ethic and professionalism. I think her behavior was childish and demonstrated a lack of professionalism on several levels. Here is an officer who spends at least as much time engaged in personal telephone conversations as she does pushing buttons – that is, when she can manage to stay awake.
Officer Nimms sleeps a lot in the control booth. Normally, a prisoner might view a Correctional Officer asleep in the control booth as a benefit, but I would hate to be the man who suddenly has a heart attack and needs a doctor. She is not easy to wake up – nor is she quick to call the medics. Even during the times she manages to stay awake, with the telephone stuck to her ear she decreases the possibility of hearing on of us in such an emergency.
The cellblock is a noisy place. All verbal communication must be shouted – repeatedly. Nine large fans, located on the catwalk create a loud, perpetual drone throughout the cellblock. (The only time that we experience silence is during a power failure.) The noise is such that it is often not even possible to hear a man yelling to his neighbor in the next cell. Officer Nimms, who can be verbally abusive, more often than not without being provoked, does not have to yell; she uses a public address system to address us.
Making contact with Officer Nimms while she is talking on the phone can be extremely difficult. She may well hear us when we call, but she has been known to pretend not to. She resents being interrupted and/or asked to do her job.
It is my understanding that an Officer is never supposed to leave his or her post without getting someone to take it over until she/he returns. Officer Nimms leaves her post often without being relieved.
One must logically wonder how she keeps her job. In anyplace other than a prison, her work ethic – or, more correctly, the lack thereof – would be grounds for termination.
Having said all this, I need the reader to know that Officer Nimms' behavior is not an unusual phenomenon – and that, in a few months, she will be promoted to the rank of sergeant. At the GD+CP, her behavior is rewarded.
10:26 a.m. June 3, 2006
I called out from the cell to Officer Nimms, "Open Seventy-Three." She refused to let me out to take a shower and use the telephone – though not necessarily in that order. You see, I wanted to contact someone outside the prison to call the Officer who is in charge in the warden's absence on weekend, someone in a high position of authority since her immediate superiors seem to be afraid of her, to ask Officer Nimms to do her job.
The GD+CP is operating with a greatly reduced staff. For more than two years its officer ranks have been, and continue to be, deficient. With what can only be called a "skeleton crew", the prison requires one officer to do jobs that previously were handled by two or three. Officers often do not know when – or, in some cases, even if – their shift will end. The turnover rate is huge and is directly related to the drop in quality personnel as of late.
Among the many consequences of this personnel shortage is that often prisoners cannot see our lawyers or keep our scheduled medical callouts (appointments), because no officers are available to escort us. In fact, recently the GD+CP's administrators instituted a policy that forbids all G-Unit prisoners' lawyers from seeing us on Fridays. I am sure no one will admit it, but I suspect the purpose of this policy change is to have a day free of having to escort prisoners to meetings with attorneys. I do not know for certain but I think the new policy is illegal.
Remember Kevin Baker's essay? Much if not most of this behavior from the GD+CP is deeply rooted in the desire to save money. The State of Georgia, indeed America as a whole, is far more interested in saving money than saving lives or reducing crime. The conscienceless drive all across America to incarcerate men, women, and children "on the cheap" will ultimately make free society less safe – the complete opposite of what prison and incarceration are intended to do. Crime will start to spike in ten or fifteen years, as a result.
Corrections officers, male or female, in Georgia, do not get a wage that is commensurate with the current cost of living. If Georgia's Department of Corrections raised correction officers' wages it could demand a higher quality employee; and there would be less behavior like Officer Nimms' within its ranks. I support equal rights for women – they should get equal pay – I also believe that they should meet the requirements of their jobs just as men are required to do.
11:31 a.m. June 3, 2006
Sergeant Floyd returned to G3, responding to the request I made earlier for a hearing aid battery. He did not know that Officer Nimms had been ignoring my requests to open the gate of Cell 73. When he ordered her to open it, she did – and she also let me through the sally port gate – but only so that I could speak with Sergeant Floyd. I had my showering supplies and phone book with me. To take a shower is a right; to place a telephone call is a privilege.
11.41 a.m. June 3, 2006
I detailed Officer Nimms' behavior to Sergeant Floyd. He said he would speak to her.
I was finally allowed to take a shower but was faced with a dilemma. I did not want to expose my phone book to the moisture of the shower – yet I was afraid that if I took it back to Cell 73, Officer Nimms might not let me go back to the shower area. I asked G-Unit Corridor Officer Gieger if I could give him my book for safekeeping.
I showered and at 12:00 p.m. was back in Cell 73, locking the cell gate behind me, as Officer Nimms ordered.
12:03 p.m. June 3, 2006
Officer Nimms opened the cell gates of the men on Shift Two so they could go out into the cellblock.
You have just read what three hours on Saturday, June 3, 2006, were like for me. I was civil and spiritually aware through every minute of it.
Word Count: 2,210
Composition Date: June 4, 2006
The Three Hour Series. Series #16., #1.
For publication.
Brandon can be reached only at this address:
________________________________________
Brandon Astor Jones, G3-73
UNO 400574; EF-122216
Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison
Post Office Box 3877
Jackson, Georgia 30233, U.S.A.
ATTENTION EDITOR
Copyright © 2006 Brandon Astor Jones
All rights reserved. No part of this text / publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without Brandon Astor Jones' written permission via his signature here in the prison address shown above.
Brandon encourages your response to this or any other essay, be it pro or con. Other articles of his writings and the 175-page roman à clef entitled without war can be accessed at his website.
' . . . every minute of it' [illustrated]
By Brandon Astor Jones
I was reading the July 2006 issue of American Heritage Magazine when I came across a Kevin Baker essay titled "Cruel and Usual". Let me share the first paragraph with you. It is full of rarely published truth; if you are not interested in truth do not read any further:
"One of the worst ideas Americans have embraced recently is the belief that a decent society must be run at a profit. Government can easily come to resemble kudzu. You have to keep an eye on it and cut it back constantly if you don't want it to grow completely out of hand. That said, there are some attempts to save the taxpayers money that actually undermine our most basic values."
I should add that all Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison's (GD+CP) memorandums read, "Guided by Dedication, Courage and Professionalism". More on that hollow motto later.
The men in G3 Cellblock are assigned to one of three groups in which there are eight to ten men. Each group, one at a time, has a three hour period when we can request the cellblock officer to unlock the barred gate of the 6' by 8' cell in order to move about within the cellblock area.
Those of us who are out often run errands for the men who remain locked down in individual cells. When we are not running errands, we sometimes sit or lie on the floor outside the cell another man occupies and play chess or a game of cards through the bars. We also shower during this time, and exercise – sometimes by walking up and down the stairs.
Running errands includes carrying books, magazines, and newspapers back and forth from one man to another in the cells; sometimes a cup of hot water is needed to make coffee – we fetch that from the hot water dispenser at the foot of the stairs.
We haul water and ice for each other, too, from a picnic cooler on the table near the stairs. Words cannot describe how hot a Georgia prison cell often is during the summer. The concrete and steel remain hot night and day for three months. We all live in fear because it is not uncommon for a prisoner to pass out and die from a combination of dehydration and heat exhaustion.
The cellblock is about forty yards in length and six yards wide. Sometimes in the course of doing errands we walk or run from one end of the cellblock to the other, and go up and down the stairs between the two tiers, as many as forty times.
When the three hour shift is over and we are locked down again, then those who are out in Shift Two, and then Shift Three, interact with us and we send them on cellblock errands.
9:04 a.m. June 3, 2006
I am assigned to Shift One. I requested that Cellblock Officer Nimms unlock the barred gate on Cell 73. I went down the stairs to the cooler for a container of ice. I returned to the cell and placed the container in the sink. I then closed and locked the gate, as ordered by Officer Nimms.
I wrapped a bath towel around the container to prolong the life of the ice, and saved the water as it melted. I did this because the tap water is unpalatable and very often unsafe – especially when it comes out brown like weak (or strong) coffee, which can go on for a few minutes, a few hours, or even for days. I try to keep several containers of clean, clear water so I am ready when the water goes bad.
At approximately 9:30 a.m., Officer Prigeon relieved Officer Nimms at the control booth, a rectangular, locked enclosure that is four times the width of a cell. I yelled to him, "Open Severty-Three." He did so, immediately. I went down to speak to him through the control booth's little rectangular porthole. "Would you ask Sergeant Floyd [Supervisor of the four G cellblocks] if he would get me a new battery for my hearing aid?"
He said that he would do that for me as soon as Officer Nimms relieved him.
When Officer Nimms came back, I returned to Cell 73 and once again, per Officer Nimms' order, I locked the gate after me.
The prisoner who occupies Cell 88, Mr. Brockman, was exercising by walking up and down the stairs. The prisoner locked down in Cell 89, Mr. Morrow, yelled to him to run an errand.
Mr. Brockman walked down to Cell 73 to inform me that Mr. Morrow wanted the Jet magazine he had lent me the day before and he wondered if I had a bag of potato chips that he could borrow until the following week.
I picked up the magazine and chips from the cell's wall cabinet; then I yelled out to Officer Nimms, "Open Seventy-Three!"
She did. I exited 73, which is the last cell at the North end of the cellblock, and locked the gate behind me. I headed for Cell 89, which is the last cell at the South end of the cellblock. After giving the magazine and chips to Mr. Morrow, I walked back to the North end and yelled, "Open Seventy-Three!"
Officer Nimms refused to open the gate.
I went down the stairs to the first floor.
She yelled at me and indicated that I was working her too hard.
It is worthy of note here that Officer Nimms is an African-American female who I would guess is 35 to 40 years of age. Her job, then, largely consisted of sitting inside the control booth and pushing buttons to unlock cell gates, sally ports, shower room gates (two converted cells directly below Cells 73 and 74), the mop room gate, (below Cell 75), and the telephone room gate (beneath Cell 76).
Her busiest days are the two each week that our Shifts are scheduled, when weather permits, to go outside to the exercise yard. On those days she may push buttons operating various gates as many as 40 times in less than 20 minutes as the men move about taking care of their business. So it was absurd for Officer Nimms to imply that I was working her too hard because I had gone in and out of the cell a few times.
Nevertheless, she chose to summarily punish me by refusing to open the gate to Cell 73 for 17 minutes. All the while she sat there, the button to Cell 73 twelve inches from her face, gossiping on the telephone with one or more of her colleagues – smiling at me with vindictiveness.
This would be a good place to remind the reader of the GD+CP's motto: "Guided by Dedication, Courage and Professionalism". I will let you be the judge of Officer Nimm's dedicated work ethic and professionalism. I think her behavior was childish and demonstrated a lack of professionalism on several levels. Here is an officer who spends at least as much time engaged in personal telephone conversations as she does pushing buttons – that is, when she can manage to stay awake.
Officer Nimms sleeps a lot in the control booth. Normally, a prisoner might view a Correctional Officer asleep in the control booth as a benefit, but I would hate to be the man who suddenly has a heart attack and needs a doctor. She is not easy to wake up – nor is she quick to call the medics. Even during the times she manages to stay awake, with the telephone stuck to her ear she decreases the possibility of hearing on of us in such an emergency.
The cellblock is a noisy place. All verbal communication must be shouted – repeatedly. Nine large fans, located on the catwalk create a loud, perpetual drone throughout the cellblock. (The only time that we experience silence is during a power failure.) The noise is such that it is often not even possible to hear a man yelling to his neighbor in the next cell. Officer Nimms, who can be verbally abusive, more often than not without being provoked, does not have to yell; she uses a public address system to address us.
Making contact with Officer Nimms while she is talking on the phone can be extremely difficult. She may well hear us when we call, but she has been known to pretend not to. She resents being interrupted and/or asked to do her job.
It is my understanding that an Officer is never supposed to leave his or her post without getting someone to take it over until she/he returns. Officer Nimms leaves her post often without being relieved.
One must logically wonder how she keeps her job. In anyplace other than a prison, her work ethic – or, more correctly, the lack thereof – would be grounds for termination.
Having said all this, I need the reader to know that Officer Nimms' behavior is not an unusual phenomenon – and that, in a few months, she will be promoted to the rank of sergeant. At the GD+CP, her behavior is rewarded.
10:26 a.m. June 3, 2006
I called out from the cell to Officer Nimms, "Open Seventy-Three." She refused to let me out to take a shower and use the telephone – though not necessarily in that order. You see, I wanted to contact someone outside the prison to call the Officer who is in charge in the warden's absence on weekend, someone in a high position of authority since her immediate superiors seem to be afraid of her, to ask Officer Nimms to do her job.
The GD+CP is operating with a greatly reduced staff. For more than two years its officer ranks have been, and continue to be, deficient. With what can only be called a "skeleton crew", the prison requires one officer to do jobs that previously were handled by two or three. Officers often do not know when – or, in some cases, even if – their shift will end. The turnover rate is huge and is directly related to the drop in quality personnel as of late.
Among the many consequences of this personnel shortage is that often prisoners cannot see our lawyers or keep our scheduled medical callouts (appointments), because no officers are available to escort us. In fact, recently the GD+CP's administrators instituted a policy that forbids all G-Unit prisoners' lawyers from seeing us on Fridays. I am sure no one will admit it, but I suspect the purpose of this policy change is to have a day free of having to escort prisoners to meetings with attorneys. I do not know for certain but I think the new policy is illegal.
Remember Kevin Baker's essay? Much if not most of this behavior from the GD+CP is deeply rooted in the desire to save money. The State of Georgia, indeed America as a whole, is far more interested in saving money than saving lives or reducing crime. The conscienceless drive all across America to incarcerate men, women, and children "on the cheap" will ultimately make free society less safe – the complete opposite of what prison and incarceration are intended to do. Crime will start to spike in ten or fifteen years, as a result.
Corrections officers, male or female, in Georgia, do not get a wage that is commensurate with the current cost of living. If Georgia's Department of Corrections raised correction officers' wages it could demand a higher quality employee; and there would be less behavior like Officer Nimms' within its ranks. I support equal rights for women – they should get equal pay – I also believe that they should meet the requirements of their jobs just as men are required to do.
11:31 a.m. June 3, 2006
Sergeant Floyd returned to G3, responding to the request I made earlier for a hearing aid battery. He did not know that Officer Nimms had been ignoring my requests to open the gate of Cell 73. When he ordered her to open it, she did – and she also let me through the sally port gate – but only so that I could speak with Sergeant Floyd. I had my showering supplies and phone book with me. To take a shower is a right; to place a telephone call is a privilege.
11.41 a.m. June 3, 2006
I detailed Officer Nimms' behavior to Sergeant Floyd. He said he would speak to her.
I was finally allowed to take a shower but was faced with a dilemma. I did not want to expose my phone book to the moisture of the shower – yet I was afraid that if I took it back to Cell 73, Officer Nimms might not let me go back to the shower area. I asked G-Unit Corridor Officer Gieger if I could give him my book for safekeeping.
I showered and at 12:00 p.m. was back in Cell 73, locking the cell gate behind me, as Officer Nimms ordered.
12:03 p.m. June 3, 2006
Officer Nimms opened the cell gates of the men on Shift Two so they could go out into the cellblock.
You have just read what three hours on Saturday, June 3, 2006, were like for me. I was civil and spiritually aware through every minute of it.
Word Count: 2,210
Composition Date: June 4, 2006
The Three Hour Series. Series #16., #1.
For publication.
Brandon can be reached only at this address:
________________________________________
Brandon Astor Jones, G3-73
UNO 400574; EF-122216
Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison
Post Office Box 3877
Jackson, Georgia 30233, U.S.A.
ATTENTION EDITOR
Copyright © 2006 Brandon Astor Jones
All rights reserved. No part of this text / publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without Brandon Astor Jones' written permission via his signature here in the prison address shown above.
Brandon encourages your response to this or any other essay, be it pro or con. Other articles of his writings and the 175-page roman à clef entitled without war can be accessed at his website.
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