Few Americans are aware of what goes on inside of our nation’s prison microstructures. In New York State prison is big business and it generates industry in over fifty small towns upstate; any one of these particular towns would be financially crippled suffering tremendous loss should the correctional institution supporting it close its gates. This reality evidences other incongruous realities: the crime rate in New York City is secretly coveted by the prison industry, a colossal monster, a sort of modern-day plantation housing thousands of minorities, lower and middle class New Yorkers. The prison industrial complex of America can be defined then, as a paradoxical and lucrative entity. According to DOCS’ home web page, The New York State Department of Corrections is, “. . . responsible for the confinement and habilitation of approximately 60,000 inmates held at 68 state correctional facilities plus the 916-bed Willard Drug Treatment Campus and the 100-bed Edgecombe Residential Treatment Facility.”
When an entity as astronomical as the ubiquitous NYSDOCS’ facilities exists without public knowledge of what its administration refers to as, its standard operating procedures, that entity can be likened to a secret society. The inner-operational structure’s departmental directives govern DOCS’ staff in such a way that, for the C.O. a dichotomous lifestyle becomes necessary for both survival and sanity. Within his/her community, the C.O is a law-abiding citizen but “at work” on “the inside,” the C.O. is a warmonger, a brutal and violent individual who, many times, creates more violence than he or she prevents. Within the prisons’ microstructural subculture (also known as the inside), there are specific rules of etiquette, roles and institutions such as a government hierarchy replete with supporters, communities with extended families, and politicians, religious groups and savvy manipulators who, as prisoners run the system themselves. There are cultural norms imperative to the organization of the everyday interactions within “the walls” and, if one finds oneself a new resident on the inside, it would be extremely wise to quickly familiarize oneself with the social norms of the penal system. Loyalty is rare and sparse, while violence is accepted and thus, expected. One’s associations is scrutinized closely and if found unacceptable by elitist, judged harshly. For instance, hanging around known informants also called, “snitches” could make one’s stay on the inside very uncomfortable. Hanging around a corrections’ staff member too frequently could be viewed as subversive and therefore dangerous for the inmate involved. Male prisons are virtual warzones and, the enemy is often the correctional officer.
Already labeled deviant and ostracized by society, the New York State inmate is a subaltern whose voice is ignored, devalued. Any claim made by the convict must be investigated by the administrative staff prior to taking any supportive action on behalf of the complaining inmate because having committed whatever “instant offense” severe enough to land the inmate in prison, leaves the prisoner shrouded in suspicion; the convict then, is viewed by the prison guard as the adversary and the aversion is greatly reciprocated by the inmate who harbors mistrust and hatred for the corrections officer---the jailer. All too frequently, violence ensues between these inside role players often ending in serious injury or death. The average citizen must understand that order must be kept inside the prison and thus, violence is “a necessary evil” employed by staff to maintain the safety and security of the facility: “Care, Custody and Control”, that is the motto of a NYS DOCS employee.
However, the obsessively deviant behavior, criminally violent acts, conspiracy, stealing, murders, lies and dishonesty are not actions solely confined to the inmate. All too often, the prison guard’s blatant misuse of power formally categorized as staff misconduct is carried out, covered up and, defined casually as “justifiable use of force” or “Unusual Incidents”. In 2005 there were 4,885 Unusual Incidents in New York State prisons.
Former Inmate, Larry Monroe remembers:
When I was up-north serving’ a two and a half to four, the cops used to roll on us whenever they felt like it. They would pop your door when you sleeping’ surround you and beat you bloody, man. . . Nobody was safe from them bastards. We used to open they asses up like tuna fish cans during them rumbles that they would start; but it was always too many ah them to beat. It is even worse for the “lifers” and the CMC status (centrally monitored case) inmates who must remain in maxi mum security. often, victims of corrections’ staff do not rumble like Larry and his buddies did; they are simply beaten and many fear for their lives.
Understanding the ways in which C.O.s and Convicts interact within the system prepares one for articles like the one below, found online June 29, 2009:
Authorities say a New York state prison guard was shot dead on a Brooklyn street after getting in an argument with another man. Police say the correction officer was shot several times early Sunday after leaving a barbershop to make a call and getting into the argument. Police did not have a motive for the attack but did not suspect it was robbery. The State Department of Correctional Services identified the officer as 30-year-old Jeremie Kane. Kane was hired in 2005 and worked in Sing Sing prison before going on leave on workers compensation in May. It was not clear if Kane was armed when he was shot. He was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital Center. No arrests had been made. Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison in Ossining, New York, approximately 30 miles north of New York City.
Chances are very great that C.O. Kane knew his assailant from the inside. It is not uncommon for correctional employees in New York State prisons to reside within the five boroughs were an astronomical percentage of the prison population are arrested and eventually convicted. Without a group of colleagues present and possibly, without a firearm, Kane was an easy target for a former adversary from a very secretive, paradoxical and dangerous microstructural subculture obscured and invisible to the public. The dichotomous lifestyle of a C. O.: Active Duty Soldier on the “inside” and Law Abiding Citizen on the outside, is clearly one of difficulty in a host of thought-provoking ways: emotionally, psychologically, physically and spiritually. My heart goes out to both the family of Corrections’ Officer, J. Kane and to all inmates’ families who will never know the true cause of death of their love ones lost within an obscured world in which the family will never completely be made privy to.
