David Beck-Brown - Writer - Thought Police

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Amerikan Gestapo
 
 
Archive to 2009:
 
United We Stand
 
Feathers: (An Epic Prison Poem)
 
The Political Catwalk
 
Jack's Back Out
 
The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens and Police
 
3-Strikes is a Trick
 
Pea Bargaining
 
The Fritter Machine
 
Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty
 
A Solid Egg
 
Escape Goats
 
House of Cards
 
Thought Police
 
If You’re Not Familiar with It, Don’t Try to Fix It
 
The War on Drugs, a Colombian's View
 
Wild Prison Life
 
The High Price of Prison Riots
 
Corrections, reform yourself
 
Prison Reform is Not Happening
 
Jessica's Law: One-strike Laws are Bad
 
The High Cost of Prison Overcrowding
 
More Trouble for Our Prison System
 
Rebuilding the California Department of Corrections
 
New Prisons Chief Faces Tough Task
 
Can Our Prisons
Afford It?
 
Tough on Crime?
Our Wallets Take the Beating
 
An Open Letter to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
 
An Argument for Funding California's Arts in Corrections Program
 
Faceless
 
Writing Résumé
 
Prison-Reform Résumé

 

David Beck-Brown

  (Cartoon by) Jairo Del Rio, Colombia, South America

Escape Goats

By David Beck-Brown

Goats get a bad rap. In the New Testament book of Matthew, the Good Shepherd divided his goats from his sheep, setting the sheep on the right and the goats on the left. The sheep were given the best of life and the goats were given damnation:

…Depart from me (sic. Goats), ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels…

Shepherds know sheep are more controllable than goats. Goats will test their boundaries, challenging the strength of the barriers that confine them. They jump over the fence, plow under the fence or head-butt the fence until it collapses. They will even find the smallest opening in the fence and wriggle through it. Once the leader succeeds, the other goats will follow, collectively making the great escape. What’s curious, however, is that after the herd is free – they stand patiently at the gate waiting to get back inside.

I’ve been away from the joint for the past few months due to a work-related injury. While performing State service, I literally broke my leg, tearing a ligament to boot. As I complete the mountain of paperwork required for Workman’s Compensation, I’ve been studying the behavior of my seven mature goats and their two kids. They were purchased for organic weed abatement on my property. Yes, I’ve been away from work, but prison is part of my life. For me, seeing similarities between goats and inmates is not a stretch. Goats are always butting heads.

The bucks know the procedures and know just how long to engage in the ritual. Sociologists once did a study involving student behavior on the playground. Children were first observed during recess with no fence around the schoolyard. Their tendency was to play in the middle of the grounds, not straying far from the building. After a fence was installed, the children expanded their activities to the furthest regions of the playground. In other words, they became aware of a boundary and took advantage of all the free space they were given. The fence gave them the protection and security they needed to explore their little world during recess. Prior, with no visible perimeter, they didn’t feel safe to venture out, due to possible dangers and too many unknowns. The lesson learned from this study was children need parameters and those parameters need to be clearly given.

Prison can be a familiar place for folks well acquainted with the revolving door of recidivism. Inmates quickly learn the rules, rules that can be confusing. These rules often rely on the interpretation of the officer on duty. Like kids, inmates need parameters and like goats, inmates often get a bad rap. Not all inmates are violent. One woman was sentenced 25 years to Life for possessing two ounces of pot. Yes, that’s 3-strikes in action. California courts are sentencing 14 year-olds to 7 to Life, 15 to Life, 25 to Life, 90 to Life. Of these teens, a mere 0.5 % will ever parole. 99.5 % will remain incarcerated for life. A life sentence is a death sentence. Juveniles need the opportunity to have a second chance.

Many inmates are now serving time for using or selling marijuana. When it comes to illegal drugs, the rich go to rehab and the poor go to prison. Marijuana was once popularly known by its true name of cannabis. However, during the Great Depression of the 1930s’s, cannabis was demonized and referred to by the popular Mexican name of marijuana, and since weed. Like today, work was scarce in the 1930s and Mexicans were being deported. Marijuana was said to drive people mad. Law enforcement cranked up the heat by discontinuing use of the 32-caliber bullet and replacing it with the more powerful and deadly 38. “That’ll stop those deranged marijuana smokers.” In 2007, 47.5 % of all drug arrests were for marijuana, the killer weed.

In the 1850s when the Chinese, who used opium, completed the western section of the cross-continental railroad, they were no longer needed in the work force. Following the Gold Rush, opium was made illegal for the Chinese only, yet non-Asians were permitted to use it. Let’s not forget the Irish immigrants (and the longest lasting organized crime force in America) for their contribution to influencing the failed alcohol prohibition. Such is a glimpse into the foundation of American drug laws that perpetuate our so-called war on drugs.

We may believe a scapegoat serves society well, even if we lock up a generation of kids. This practice needs to be rethought. I am reminded that the Good Shepherd (he who knew goats) was a prisoner himself. He butted heads with the government and defied the system, despite having been given a death sentence.

David Beck-Brown
A New PATH, Community Ambassador