Manipulators, abusers, gangsters, thieves and murderers!
You could be forgiven for thinking I am talking about the inhabitants of a Texas state prison, but no. These descriptions apply to many of the employees of the behemoth that is the Texas prison system.
With relative impunity and no independent oversight to keep TDCJ in check the officers and wider staff are free to dole out and inflict whatever justice, punishment or crime on the inmates they choose and frequently do. The inmates have little recourse to redress the skewed balance.
Power for power’s sake is an endemic feature of prison life, the attitude comes from the top and eventually filters down to the inmates themselves, which is then practised most often as a survival strategy.
The under-regulated and overly punitive system is designed to break the inmates, and only those with very strong minds survive. Many will argue that these people put themselves there and so they can’t cry about it. But does that make those incarcerated fair game for the atrocities that are inflicted on them?
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| Drawing by Matthew Schiffert |
The purpose of incarceration is that the loss of freedom is the punishment for a crime committed. However the punitive and destructive punishment system of TDCJ shows what an institution can legitimately get away with when there is no independent oversight and no one actually cares because ‘they are only criminals’!
Over several years, I became more shocked, more appalled and more sickened by the treatment of inmates. Once behind bars, they cease to be humans, and are merely property to be used and abused for the purpose of making vast profits using free prison labour. In return, the inmates are fed sub-standard food; often discarded as unfit for human consumption. Subjected to abuse, violence and neglect; much of which is instigated and encouraged by the officers, and medical care that can at best be described as negligent.
I never set out to be an activist, and I certainly don’t see myself as one. I do see it as a necessity that what goes on behind bars needs exposing. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed many of the failings of the prison system. A system that was already bankrupt and overloaded has been further hit by their inability to deal with a virus that is running unchecked through the inmate population. It is to be hoped that the deadly effects of Corona virus will instigate widespread reforms to tackle the very problems the system has created.
As my editor tells me, it’s a story that needs telling, and I hope in some small way I am helping to do that.
about the author… As a coach driver and tour operator, I have spent my working life driving and managing tours all over Europe for incoming tourists of many different nationalities. It took several years of self doubt before embarking on the task of writing the first book. With no idea of what was involved, my first two books, Child Convict and Career Convict were both written during stops at tourist sites all over Europe. Certainly not the easiest or ideal way to take up a writing career.
Being a Yorkshire girl with the advantage of multiple nationalities, I am making use of them and now live in Co. Limerick in Ireland. A place I see as magical and wonderful as Yorkshire and the place I plan to retire. An idea for a series of fairy books is swirling around my head as I write this.
You can the books Here Convict Code will be released in January 2021
You can follow Heike on her Website and on Facebook
You can contact Heike through Black Horse Publishing
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