Reading Assignment: Letters from Incarcerated Men in Seattle's Jail, the King County Correctional Facility

Letters from Men Incarcerated in Seattle

Background

A couple of years ago, Kyle's campus students studied the mass incarceration system. They looked at prisons and jails and the history of criminal justice in the United States. The students on campus explained what they had learned about mass incarceration, and the asked three questions of the incarcerated students:

• What is your life like in the Seattle jail?
• Do you believe that prisons and jails are necessary in America today? 
• What kinds of programs or activities do you do inside the jail?

The incarcerated students read these letters and wrote their responses. Their letters are below.

Instructions

A) Read over all of the letters. There is an audio recording so that you can listen as you read.

B) Next pick one (1) of the letters that you are going to respond to. You will write your own response. Now, Kyle does not have contact with the incarcerated students who wrote these letter, but he plans to work more incarcerated students online in fall or winter quarter.

C) Follow the steps below to write your response.

Steps:

0) Give your letter a title and indicate who you are talking to: "Response to Student 3"

1) Explain what you know about mass incarceration (prisons, jails, and the criminal justice system).

2) Explain what Maya Angelou's poem - Caged Bird - means to you as a free person. What lines from the poem do you want to share with the incarcerated student? Why?

3) Answer one of these questions:

• • • "Why you think that prisons, jails, and immigrant detention centers are necessary or not necessary in America today?"
    • Many people are demanding that Seattle should "de-fund" its police force. Should the City of Seattle reduce the budget of its police force and use that money for social services, like education, public housing, and childcare? What are the risks and benefits of the decision to "de-fund" the police?
    • Why should education programs like this class be provided to incarcerated people? 

Expectations

• Your response should be 2-3 paragraphs long. It should follow the directions above.
• It should use complete sentences, without fragments or run on sentences.
• Remember, if you give your permission, your letter will be shared with an incarcerated student in the fall or winter, so edit your sentences for clarity. 

Vocabulary

• Tank - a social space for 10-20 incarcerated people outside of their cells
• Rack out - the time when a person in jail gets to leave the cell to visit in the tank
• felony - a serious crime, usually violent or involving property damage
• yard - physical recreation time/place for 1 hour each day
• waive - to give up or reject
• appoint - to schedule, sign up, or give a position or role to someone
• overhaul- to be created again, re-made
• inspection- a process when officers look at a cell to make sure that a person is following the rules
• rehabilitation- a healing process

Student Letters

Student Response 1

 It's not easy. Some days you hope to be put in a good tank in jail. You have individual house cells, two men to a room or cell. We have nine rooms to our main cell. Saturday is the one day you'd regret the most because it is inspection day. Lately they change the rules for us now. If one or two people don't pass [inspection] then the whole tank loses one rack out for the day. They are there for the whole day.

You get a lot of turnover. In some months some go to prisons and others get out. The one thing I see the most is a power struggle with some guards or correctional officers as we call them. If you have a release date, there are some programs out there to help you, but if you have a felony there might not be any to help you. It might be harder to get a place to live if you are a felon.

School is about the best active thing we got otherwise playing cards or chess or reading or TV. We do get yard three times a week, but it's just a big cement room room with a basketball hoop and yard is 1 hour each time.

Even if you are not guilty, but by the way some of your evidence is waived some lawyers might suggest you take a deal rather than risk you losing at trial whereas you could face a longer time in prison. Bye-bye.

Taking a deal in a way you still have to say you are guilty when you are not. From what I see, our justice system needs overhaul. It is broken. I would like to see the state put more money into education and maybe graduate school and I have extra class on crime like what it does to people or property or people in general. Steer them from crime. [There] is too much of a breakdown.

Student Response 2

I think incarceration is a place where people have been moved away because you were not doing the things we were supposed to be doing in life. It is a good place to meditate about your life and what's going on in society, who you are, and what are the goals and put in your purpose in life. Every person is different. Let's not blame it on the system. It takes time to make things work. They should work in stages: attack the base to solve the problem.

[There] should be more programs like this class, like education. There is more space to have programs to help. The government already knows what is the issue. They should spend now not spend later. I know they're doing something, but they should focus on [doing] more. The idea is not to be released: it is to get out and stay out, do good at [finding] a purpose in your life.

Student Response 3

I think our justice system is very flawed. It's different everywhere you go. I have never been in jail before now; however, I'm on my way to prison. I don't feel I did anything wrong. I can't really go into detail about my case, but I'm fighting as hard as I can with tools and information I have.

No, I don't think we are being treated fairly. The court-appointed lawyers work more for the system than for their clients, consequently getting a bad deal from the prosecution.

This being my first time being locked up, [I’m] not sure what kind of programs should be out there. My goals [are] when I really start to finish school, I want to get a degree in nursing and social work. I've always had a huge soft place for the homeless and drug dependent individuals. In my late teens or early twenties, I worked with developmentally disabled adults. Before we leave, [I] want to be a nurse in an ER.

Unfortunately, I'm fighting this fight alone so [there is] no family out there worrying about me. I do have a son but he has no idea what's going on. When the lights go out, I pray to God for allowing me to breathe another light another day and how [I am] looking forward to meeting my beautiful granddaughter.

Student Response 4

How are you? I just want to say I agree with most of the letters and do believe if you do the crime you should do the time. I agree we should have jail, prisons, and police. I don't agree with some of the punishments or length of time for some crimes. I do agree the jail and prison systems should have more rehabilitation programs. I agree that as being a felon I don't think I should lose some of my rights like the right to vote or other things.

Yes, it is hard to find certain jobs and housing as it is. It's already hard enough that when I came to jail and or prison I lost everything: my job, house, and family, but that is something I did to myself. I have paid for my mistakes.

Coming to jail did save my life. It made me think of my priorities like my kids more and want to be a better father and husband. That is why I am trying my best to further my education and get into [a drug and alcohol] rehabilitation so I can be a better father that my kids deserve to have.

Student Response 5

Hi, it is nice to meet you. I hope you are okay. In jail, I'm writing you an assignment for my class. I recently read your assignment. Well, I am Spanish from Guatemala. I've been in Seattle for 2 years, but now I am here and I am in jail. I come to school on the 8th floor.

Here you get the privileges to work or not work, and here you get the privileges to sleep all you want to. Here you get the privileges to take a shower as many times as you want, and you get the privileges to be around other inmates, [to] play cards or chess. And you get the privilege to watch TV.

I don't believe [that] jails and prisons are necessary because we all are going to get old and die and we are going to see God. He will punish us for all the bad things we do in here. This place just makes people more crazy and lazy, but the time [you live] in here you get used to not working and you start liking being in here because you don't do nothing and you only eat and sleep. It makes people more lazy, more crazy. I recommend you get your GED and go to college and get a good job and stay away from this place. It is not for humans adios hasta pronto