Unlocked thoughts

My hubs has been watching documentries on TV and there is this show about inmates, their being on lock down for so many hours of the day in their 9x9 cells, or whatever it is. Maybe UNLOCKED is the better term. (I think this is the name of the episode)

My immediate thought processes are they are there for reasons of their own making. And to be honest, I am all for justice. I was half paying attention to it. I mean its just people of all different backgrounds having individual ideas of how to survive when thrown together in super small cells/blocks. I am not even sure where this was or in which state/jail/prison this episode was happening. 

But the warden did something new. And I started to get interested in it. Which is crazy for me, because these shows are allowing us glimpes into this world. And I feel its just a sympathy ploy. Because as a law abiding citizen, it really makes no difference to me what happens in these places. 

But this sheriff/warden selected this certain block to start managing themselves. Opening doors into the main pod all day was the first step. 24 hour full recreation room access. The officers have monitors watching camera footage from within the rec room. Officers will come in if need be, but the minute they do, the program is over and 22-23 hour lock down picks back up, and the program fails. 

If they can manage the pod, have no incidents, no fights, build trust and communication amoung themselves, the program will continue to be beneficial for everyone. Possiblilty to spread to more pods. 

They all have issues, they need to figure out how to work it out amongst themselves without reverting to violence. They need to squash any mistrust amoung the differing populations and choose leaders of each ethnic background in order to do this successfully when and if issues arise.

It got me to thinking. These people are in this one pod. All ages, all races, all ethnic back grounds. There is language barriers and things happen that set off each of them off. Especially in the younger population. It is like they have to take a stance and asssert their dominance. Drug addicts, they only care about a fix. They dont care about no program. So this too is a huge thig they will have to rectify because contraband relapses the program as well.

So the warden iniciates a new program. As long as they can work out there issues between themselves WITHOUT officer involvement, have no contraband in the pods/cells when checked, and obey all the rules posted, he will give each inmate free phone usage. 

This is the first initiative to keep at this program. Because some of these people have not spoken to their families in a very long time. This forces these people to want to keep this reward and working for the better involvement of others who are not really caring. 

Second initiative, $50 each week on every inmates books. This one resonates with all of them really because they dont have money to spare. They rarely get anything from commacery and what they do get they have to barder away or be indebted to over. So this helps them get those extras and takes that booky system out of the pods. 

Third initiative is to restart visitations. And this is another big one because so many jails/prisons has done away with visitations because of all the contraband being brought in. 

I watched this and saw how these people came together. They are firce in these institutions. They are loyal only to their kind and the racism is rampid. BUT this program made them work as a team. A community. A way to start acting more positive instead of more gangster. It was a very interesting watch. The converstion was mind boggling. I think this sheriff may be onto something. And I know many say this is crazy. But after watching, I saw the minimal involvement with officers. These inmates are being trusted to care for themselves and it is eliminating the extra personnel having to patrol. So that opens up a wage difference where they can give these people positive reinforcements and afford to do so. 

Having them chose their leaders and having them pass those batons onto the next when one gets out was actually something I was amazed to see. 

Yall tell me what you think of it. You Tube TV. Its called UNLOCKED. Tell me if they are crazy or if you think this is a good idea for when these inmates get out. Because I think it helps them start to take responsibilty for their actions and inserts positivity into their lives instead of always being put down, destroyed and given little hope in themselves. I think it sets them up to step up and want to be active leaders. But these are just my thoughts...watch and let me know yours.