Op-Ed: Here in San Quentin, I see why solitary confinement must end
There’s a reason prisons are called “concentration camps” and that inmates are often labeled “the enemy.”
They’re not meant to be prisons – they’re meant to be slave labor camps.
And they don’t function as such, not when they’re able to take their prisoners (including family members) to the showers at the same time.
And it’s not only because of the extreme temperatures at the San Quentin State Prison (SQ) – one of the highest in the country – that these men and women remain so far from “freedom.”
In prison, there are two kinds of rules. One kind, which are made up on a day-to-day basis, are called rules. The other kind are made up by the guards and administrators, and are called regulations.
Rules are made up by the system as a whole – by the guards and administrators. Regulations are made up by the inmates, and the people with whom they interact.
Rules are there to ensure order. Regulations, on the other hand, are there to ensure safety. That’s it. No “freedom.” No opportunity for happiness. No expression of creativity. No enjoyment of human dignity.
The rules you don’t want to bend
“The basic idea is simple,” says Lt. Mike Rizzo, the senior counselor in the prison’s prison-wide programs. “I am a human being. This is all of me. I am a male. I am a female. I am a human being. I am a prisoner. I have a family. I have a family. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend.”
It doesn’t matter if the person is a murderer, a rapist, or a rapist who killed someone. It doesn’t matter what the prisoner’s crimes were that landed him or her there. It doesn�