JUST WOMEN ISSUE 1

Women do time differently than men. We do time differently because the Injustice System has designed how we do time to maximize the profit from our enslavement. This machine that we know as the Prison Industrial Complex did not just magically come into existence. Each detail was drawn out by architects who build intricate cages designed to destroy populations, to break people in ways that bring people back to prison. Women do time differently than men because the architects seek to capitalize on every division they can exploit.

The American Corrections Association has improved a specific genre of Injustice. They have drawn up a plan that serves to 1.) Pacify those who support Prison Reform and 2.) Assure a high percentage of recidivism. There are several tactics in their strategy, but for the purpose of this paper only one tactic is relevant, Humanization.

Humanization is a tactic designed by Corrections specialists to increase recidivism. Their plan is to make convicts, and the public, feel like prison staff see us as people, not things. Humanization entails speaking to us humanely, but maintaining awareness that we are beneath them with animalistic traits.

Training classes are mandatory for staff to be taught how to interact with us as part of this new subversion strategy. Being kind to prisoners is a tactic they will have to adjust to. They have to study, role-play different scenarios, and practice often. Some of them are aware of the detriment to society this strategy produces, but most are clueless. Most are just doing what they are required to do to keep their jobs.

Humanization entails staff on all levels pretending to be kind, and at times to pretend to have respect for us. It is a form of manipulation that is supposed to eliminate the rage of the convict, to make us more comfortable, and incentivize us to just go with the flow and stop making waves. It will bring less resistance from families, it will reduce lawsuits for Constitutional violations, it will silence calls for prison reform. And most importantly, it will increase recidivism.

Humanization, if they do it right, will cause convicts to start to see slaveholders as decent people, to believe they care about us, and to forget about what is really going on. Humanization is a brilliant tactic. The advocates for Prison Reform shout for joy when they see Humanization at work. It is terrifying.

This paper is not about non-cons. It is not about either Prison Reform supporters or Prison Administrators. This papers about us, about convicts. It is about a very specific "us" among the convict population who will not be easily swayed by the plastic surgery to the face of the beast. We have to take care of each other while we watch everyone else we know cater to the enemy.

Humans have a tendency to re-wrap systemic abuses and re-inflict them on ourselves and others. We should strive to stay mindful of our captors Humanization tactics, and not repeat them on each other. Let us remain sincere, let us not perform fraudulent acts of kindness to manipulate or deceive others. We do not want to choke the life out of truth in the guise of maintaining peace that destroys many to uplift a few. We know peace cannot be built on foundations of deceit. We must stay honest and real. Even if the whole world calls us to water down, sugar coat, kill and bury truth.

We will look at the American Injustice System and how it destroys so much. We will try to find a way to do things differently. We will look at real situations on the yard and find ways to not repeat the evils the Injustice System has inflicted upon us, our families, and the whole of society. We can remain honest, we can remain sincere, even when the everyone around us submits to fraudulence in word and deed.

Words matter at least as much as deeds. The ways the American Injustice System subverts entire communities begins with how they define things. We do not have to agree with their definitions, but we should learn their language. As we learn it we should be careful not to be deluded by their distortions. Let us see how they define the topic of this paper.

Justice - judgement involved in determining the rights and the assignment of rewards and punishments.

Just - fair, ethical.

Ethical - conforming to accepted standards of social and professional conduct.

We have to engage with those in that world in order to learn their language. Tactics of resistance begin with learning. On Tuesday, January 27th, 2025, I did some writing for Professor Graham. I call him Professor because of the lofty position he holds here in the convict world. He is an Instructor not a Professor, but those technicalities do not concern us in our world inside the wire. The distinction between Professor and Instructor is money. Some of us will not submit to that distinction. It seems like a small rebellion, to refuse to use terms defined by elite institutions, but it is not small at all. No act of rebellion is small. Every single point of resistance matters.

Professor Graham teaches very much like the few of the other Professors I have met in the last year. Another Professor teaches us that we can, and should, give new meaning to things. The academics who designed these cages have defined us, our pasts, and our futures in their own terms. We need to work together to resist the words that further subjugate us, cons and ex-cons.