Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409160006
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By WALTER D. STROEMER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Some of the information being fed to John Q. Public about the great vacation we have in prison is mostly for the benefit of someone trying to get money for their cause. These same people do not know much about Virginia's Department of Corrections and/or they have not been with the DOC very long.
I have been incarcerated for 30 - yes, 30 - years, so I feel I know a little about what I am writing. I am here to tell one and all that being in prison "doing time" is no vacation, nor is it a picnic. If it is, then you can have it. Set this inmate free!
As for all the "free" things one gets here such as videos, washers/dryers, recreation equipment, library equipment, ice makers, etc., we inmates pay for almost all of these items through the profits from our commissary funds.
Only inmates are allowed to use the commissary, no state employees, so all profits are generated by the inmates. The same profits go toward purchasing the "free" things. State monies are not used.
About 20 percent of the inmates take advantage of the "free" education at any given time. Whether they do so through boredom, lack of a job or just the desire to make something better of themselves, they should be encouraged. Everyone should advance their education, especially those incarcerated, as it can only help in finding employment upon their release. Inmates should be made to get a GED as one of the conditions for parole.
Speaking of employment: There are not enough jobs for all of the inmates presently incarcerated. If we are expected by John Q. Public to work, where are all the jobs going to come from?
Yes, we get "free" medical care, but I would argue the point that it is the best in the state or even meets area standards of care. They do not practice preventive medicine here, but wait until one is so sick it takes radical, "expensive" treatment to cure an illness.
How is an inmate to pay for his or her medical care if free care poses a problem for John Q. Public? Does the public advocate that we get no care at all?
While we're on the subject of paying, think about this. How is an inmate who is limited to 30 hours work weekly, making 20-35 cents per hour, to pay for all of this? When is the last time you had to work 14 hours to pay for a simple soda?
Our daily meals are a joke, too. Unseasoned, undercooked, overcooked or just downright cold food. Have you tried eating cold spinach or cold baked fish? Also, diets for those with heart problems are nonexistent.
Then there is our famous count procedure about every four hours. I have to say "about," because nothing is ever done on time here. All daily procedures, work call, meal call, pill call, etc., can be off by as much as one hour. It's enough to drive you up the wall, if not crazy.
Then we have the constant squawking of an antiquated public-address system with speakers in each dorm, plus a bell that loudly rings out announcing every movement within the compound. Just one more thing to get on one's nerves.
Finally, I would like to say something about everyone's favorite subject, parole. Mandatory and discretionary parole. What are they, really?
Mandatory parole: an inmate has served all but six months of his sentence. Then he's placed on six months' parole by state law. Most inmates are discharged with this type of parole.
Discretionary parole: given at the whim of the parole board (after an inmate has served a portion of his or her sentence as set by law) depending on the political climate or public outrage against crime at the time of one's parole hearing.
Contrary to one's opinion, many inmates serve most of their sentence before being paroled. Don't allow figures from short-time sentences served in jails or from other states influence you. Check the time being served by anyone still in, or paroled from, a major institution.
Although Virginia's prisons are not gulags, they are not vacations by any stretch of one's imagination.
Walter D. Stroemer is an inmate at the Powhatan Correctional Center.
by CNB