25 TO LIFE

Last week, I read a newsarticle out of the USA. Somebody had yelled, 'Hijack', inside a plane. The man was sentenced to life in prison. I could not believe my eyes, not that we don't have a class-justice in the Netherlands, if you throw something at our queen, you stay behind bars for years, but this was bizar.

The next day, I understood the article. In 27 US-states, judges use the “3-strike system.”, which means, that after two sentences, even a mild offense can lead to a sentence of “25 to life”. At this moment 150.000 inmates serve a life-sentence (of the 2 million+ prisoners inside) and the numbers are growing fast. Many State prisons are in some cases extremely overcrowded and violent. Gang wars go on, behind bars and attacks and assassinations are carefully planned and executed, even outside prison.

This continuous thread dominates security, safety procedures are extremely strict and the prisonguards are well armed. Officers guarding the fences, have a license to kill, when riots break out.

Inmates can turn everything into a weapon. A toothbrush, a platic bag, but most off all metal. To give you an idea, what happens, we can look at “Pelican Bay”, an infamous prison, with a history of violence (in 2000 1 prisoner was shot and 19 wounded, during a massive fight, with about 100 casualties). Mexican gangmembers attacked the blacks. When the area was cleared dozens of home-made knives were found. So when a razorblade is missing, the prison is on high alert. All prisoners are removed from their cells (832 cells, 2 or more inmates per cell) and dozen of officers search each cell for potential weapons. After hours, an officer calls out. “I found the razorblade!” When the camera zooms in, it is obvious, that this is NOT a razorblade. It's a small piece of metal (alluminum), which can, after many hours, been turned in to a sharp object. It's a kind of tunnelvision. The guards, too attribute to the violence and aggression. Because the real weapons are the prisoners themselves. They train a lot, flock together by race or gang and start conspiring. What else can you expect, if you know that you will spend your life behind bars. This prospect of the future, can make you quite desperate.