According to Bruce Hamilton, “In November 2012, Shannon Hurd, who was serving a life sentence for stealing $14, began losing weight and experiencing flu-like symptoms. His symptoms worsened, and he developed a pain in his side. But doctors at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as “Angola,” repeatedly dismissed his medical complaints.
He did not receive medical care in the weeks that followed. He did not receive medical care in the months that followed. And as he waited for basic medical care, a disease was spreading in his system. In the end, Hurd waited three devastating years before he was finally tested and diagnosed with kidney cancer. At that point, the tumors had already spread to his brain. Kidney cancer is generally treatable if it’s caught early. This was not the case here. By the end of 2015, Shannon had lost over 60 pounds. He was often numb in his fingers and feet.”
This horrific situation seen at Angola mirrors many of the conditions at Parchman. Ward depicts this in her novel Sing Unburied Sing, by showing the tragic conditions in which Pop and Richie faced at Parchman. However, what bothers me the most about the prison is that the Trusty Shooters are the only ones armed with guns. Parchman is described as: “The Prison Where Inmates Set Each Other On Fire and Gangs Have More Power Than Guards.”
The Trusty Shooters, the most violent offenders, are the ones with the guns. The only explanation I can think of for this is that they would be able to pull the trigger “easier” than the guards with higher morals. However, I do not understand how these offenders are trusted with guns. How do they not abuse the power of having a gun? Yes, they might get their sentence reduced for doing their job well, but I feel like many inmates would take advantage of their weapons and ultimately fire their gun at innocent inmates or guards. In addition to this, it seems to me that when a Trusty Shooters kills a person, it would only make murder “more acceptable” in their eyes. Many of the inmates are in prison for killing, and they are now getting rewarded for killing others. This just doesn’t sit right with me.
Lastly, throughout the nation, prisons are constantly being criticized for the standards and actions that take place in their penal institutions. Parchman and Angola are among the worst ones. With that said, how can you expect one to “get better” when unethical activities are taking place in prison. It seems to me that if the state wants inmates to act better, they need to improve their standards in their prisons.
4 comments:
I totally agree with your analysis though the parallels don't end there. At Parchman the prisoners are forced to labor in the fields for no pay which basically slavery but its legal because of the 13th amendment. At Angola Prisoners are paid next to nothing for the labor they do. The reason why prisoners participate in the prison rodeo is because it is one of the best paying jobs available at the prison. These people still need to support their families, pay for phone calls to their loved and pay taxes. Yes people in prison have to pay taxes.
https://theappeal.org/louisiana-prisoners-demand-an-end-to-modern-day-slavery/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/29/angola-prison-rodeo-louisiana
I agree that the situation in many of America’s prisons, including both Parchman and Angola, is very dire and often prisoners have their rights infringed upon, sometimes even on a daily basis. I would add, though, that the main reason for such suffering on the part of prisoners is lack of funding. Currently, the US government spends 182 billion dollars on its prisons each year, and that amount of money is just enough to give prisoners the most rudimentary standards of living. Further, this funding comes from the United States’ national budget, which stays at a relatively constant amount from year to year. Thus, in order to increase prisoners’ quality of life, the United States would need to allocate a larger amount of funding from the national budget towards prisons. However, as we do not have the means to do so, we often rely on the hard labor that many prisoners are required to perform while serving their sentence to allow us to pay for extra costs associated with prisons. Therefore, the prison system in the United States needs proper representation in state legislation to grant it more financial support so that it may improve from its current situation.
Your story starts off wrongly. He was serving a long sentence NOT for stealing $14. He was serving a long sentence for REPEATEDLY committing crimes, that added up to reveal his character ( or lack thereof) over time. 3 strikes is a good law designed to keep honest citizens safe by removing repeat criminals from society.
Hey! Don’t want to have to pick cotton for no pay? Then don’t commit crimes! Pretty simple concept. Prison is for PUNISHMENT, and tough conditions should be a DETERRENT. Only ones who fail to grasp this concept are folks who care more for criminal’s rights than victim’s rights, as well as repeat offenders.
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