Sydney

Welcome back to Dr.’s note. Today we are speaking with a current inmate in Texas we’ll call Sydney. Here is his story:

Coming to prison involved more than loosing freedom. It entails loosing your identity. Whatever you identified as before is removed. You may have been a doctor, pastor, or politician… but now you have one identity… inmate.

I owned 3 businesses. I was a city councilman. I had a family with 3 children. I am a father, husband, and grandfather. Somehow none of that matters here.

I believe this lowers a person’s personal expectations. If you walk in thinking your still the person you were, your fooling yourself. Nobody cares who you were. You will be immediately treated differently.

It is difficult, but essential to holding on to one’s true identity. Hold on to it, but also understand where you are.

I was shocked to see the rampant drug use in prison. It is just as rampant in here as outside. There is a faade that the prison system is attempting to fight this, but they really aren’t. Drugs are everywhere in the open.

The politics that I’ve witnessed in the prison church also shocked me. It is the same as many outside churches. You’d think there would be less judgement and more forgiveness in a prison setting. I’ve found the opposite.

I’ve seen brothers in the prison church hold on to other’s past mistakes. I’ve witnessed them bring up other’s past. I’ve seen men in the living areas get along and forgive better than those in the church here. They hold on to things instead of letting go.

The entire system from top to bottom needs reform. It need to reach for true rehabilitation and not just surface rehab. The system is just checking a box to look good.

I am currently in a rehabilitation class that is required. This class, which is scheduled to meet weekly, has only been held 4 times in 3 months. How am I supposed to be rehabilitated? How am I supposed to learn when the instructors will not hold to the schedule and teach the courses?

I think the courts should do a more thorough evaluation on mental health cases. I am witnessing individuals that have clear mental issues that are not being addressed. They belong in a mental health facility… not a prison.

I think politicians should stop politicizing the sex offenders. It is actually a fact that sex offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rates and re-offend rates of all criminals. Politicians, media, and society often demonize these offenders as unredeemable.

Other crimes that effect the community are not politicized, but often have greater impact. Drug offences, murders, assaulters, thieves, and gangs are not treated with registration and restrictions after their prison sentence is over.

Let’s consider the fact that Texas had a surplus of $33 billion in 2023. Feel free to verify these numbers on the Texas website. Yet, the state legislature refused to place air conditioning in the prisons. There are countless inmates and officers suffering heat stroke and death each year. Somehow our lives are not a priority.

People should also reconsider the living areas. There are elderly men having to step on tables and stools to get into a bunk. They cram us in like cattle. There is much overcrowding. There are over 200 men sleeping on a gym floor here. I’ve seen men forced to sleep outside on a basketball court.

We need to elect officials who are rehabilitative minded. Mass incarceration is not the solution. Not everyone came from the same background. Warehousing people doesn’t fix anything.

There are programs that the claim to offer classes, but the offer is not available to all inmates. The offers are restrictive to certain crimes and length of incarceration. These should not be factors of consideration, if the real goal is rehabilitation and public safety.

It’s important to remember who you are and whose you are. The system is designed to make us rely upon someone other than your God and yourself. Remember who you are.

Thank you all.