Letters from Prisoners Provide a Window into the Landscape of Incarceration

1. Health care behind bars is incredibly fraught and often out of reach for many incarcerated people – to dangerous and sometimes deadly outcomes. One disturbing example of this reality concerns the lack of appropriate dental care.  One letter writer described how, after having four teeth pulled and being fitted for a partial that a prison dentist assured him he could receive, another prison official informed him he could not get the partial – despite the partial being sent to the prison and sitting in the dentist’s drawer.  The man has since had to have more teeth pulled, leaving him with only three remaining. He is unable to afford implants, so he now has a lisp, slurred speech, and depression as a result of the lack of treatment.
2. Retaliation is a real and terrifying consequence for many prisoners who attempt to defend their rights behind bars. For a prisoner attempting to bring a lawsuit against prison officials to hold them accountable for abuse and neglect, they have to exhaust the grievance process, which can sometimes result in physical assaults by correctional officers or other incarcerated people, being placed in solitary confinement, and other humiliations and abuses. For example, one letter writer from an incarcerated person said that he was given dentures that were too small in retaliation for having filed a lawsuit. The threat of retaliation forces prisoners to calculate the risks with the potential of never having their rights protected and enduring continued abuse and neglect.
3. The sentences the criminal legal system imposes are terrifyingly long – and often unjustifiably so. For example, a letter writer from a prison described the 50-year mandatory minimum sentence he received for a non-violent drug offense. Another incarcerated person writes that he is serving 23 years for a robbery and shooting his gun in the air to scare the owner away. Another is serving a sentence of 36-72 years for armed robbery and car-jacking when he was 18 years old.

These letters also shed light into shadowy areas of the carceral system that deserve further investigation.  

1. Time in solitary confinement – even if the incarcerated person is there for their own protection – can negatively impact “good time” earned behind bars. “Good time” refers to the practice of incarcerated people earning credit for good behavior while serving time that can reduce the length of their sentence. Relatedly, many sentences require that the person complete certain treatment programs before they can be released, but these programs may not be available at the prison where the person is. If they have not completed the program, even if treatment is inaccessible, they cannot be released and their sentence is lengthened. This system leaves many incarcerated people rightfully suspicious that the prison system is benefiting from unduly lengthening their sentence. As one letter writer put it: officials are receiving checks to house prisoners, so they don’t want to let them go. 
2. Certain sentences put an incarcerated person at risk for having their sentence lengthened for “bad behavior” – even if they did not instigate the incident. Jason Goudlock, who has been incarcerated in Ohio since 1993 for a crime he committed as a teen, explained this sentencing structure as a chess-like environment that forces prisoners to calculate the various risks associated with everyday life in prison. For instance, if another incarcerated person starts a fight with you, you must decide between protecting and defending yourself and lengthening your sentence, while the instigator’s sentence may not be affected at all. Mr. Goudlock describes his experience in more detail in Invisible Chess, a documentary about his time in prison. 
3. Conditions within prisons across the country are horrifically unsanitary and unsafe, making freedom not the only thing incarcerated people lose. For example, one toilet for 38 people (Indiana); rodent feces in food (Wisconsin); vents that are never cleaned (Illinois) or no vents at all (Pennsylvania); standing water in cells (Michigan); mold (Illinois, Arkansas); freezing cold in the winter and terribly hot in the summer (Illinois), not to mention no hot meals (Texas).