This paper is about the book “Behind a Convict’s Eyes” by K.C. Carceral. The book written by a young man brings him to prison on a life sentence and describes the environment he experiences there. Of, course, the book outlines somewhat controversial issues an average reader would face, however, it opens a whole new understanding of prison life and makes you think of the prison situations in a different way because that stun you to the utmost.
A reader gets to know about the prison life from inside; its subculture, the prison’s extraordinary society, cast system, and the specific language or prison slang. What makes it even more interesting are the stories of the prisoners told in their own words. The purpose of the paper is to explain the way of life in a prison from an inmate’s view and express my own opinion on whether it could be true or not.
In order to make it clear how I was trying to guess if the stories told really took place or not, I wanted to understand first the prison’s life. After reading the book I acquired a new understanding of the feelings of inmates from their own perspective. Once a person gets into prison he now realizes that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of his life. There is a thing no one can forget when at least once been to prison – it is the thud of the sliding doors shut. This is a remarkable scene depicted in a book. Indeed, the doors of a correctional facility’s gates being shot should be enough for any person entering prison to walk straight; even if it is not a prisoner.
After reading the chapters ‘He’s one of ours now and the ‘Prison Life’ I have found out an outrageous true of the prison’s enforcement of dictatorship. The personnel tells the inmates when to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, when to exercise and when to go to bed. Of course, this all is a punishment for the crimes committed; however, within a book’s content, it all looks too rigid to me.
Surprisingly, the guilty ones tend to adjust themselves to the con over their lives; moreover, this means that a personality wants to adjust to the loss of freedom which happens to be the most precious thing of all.
Of course, the true fact is that there is an economic factor that exists within the prison life. To be honest, this surprised greatly, because despite the fact of total isolation from the ‘big land’ the prisoners still tend to create their own way of life, by establishing a certain system within another system. ‘However, if a prisoner wants his uniform ironed and starched he must “buy” this service through another prisoner who works in the laundry’. (Bernard, p. 38 )
Also, a lot of issues discussed in a book simply terrify. Such as ‘…but from time to time, some prisoners engage in consensual sex with another male prisoner…’ (Bernard, p. 59)This does not necessarily mean those become homosexual, on the contrary, it is believed that it is a forced circumstance rather than a subsequent outcome of absence of sex.
The chapters are very compelling to read because you get know a lot about the isolated life of people in prison. It is interesting how they wished to individualize themselves by using nicknames because most inmates are known by numbers.
When reading the chapter ‘Time’ I was impressed how people protect themselves from thinking about time: ‘Son, I haven’t celebrated a birthday since I was thirty-one.’ (Bernard, p 75)This is probably the worst thing to experience: getting in prison at one age and come one being several years older. Does it mean that those years are wasted? Well, when reading a book it seems like every experience is precious, however, it would be better not to get in jail in the first place.
Reference
Bernard T. J., Carceral K. C. Behind A Convict’s Eyes: Doing Time in a Modern Prison. Wadsworth Publishing , 2003, Print.