Assuming I wanted to make a movie about the S.C. prison system, even if I had a sort of magical, all-time, dead-or-alive set of actors to choose from, I don’t think I would have thought of the late Strother Martin to play Corrections chief Jon Ozmint.
But there’s an eerie similarity between what Mr. Ozmint had to say about denying food to rule-breakers…
"Our rule is simple … any inmate is allowed to decline the opportunity (to eat, exercise, shower or have visitors) by failure to comply with our reasonable requirements," Ozmint wrote in the e-mail. "Eating is a voluntary activity and any inmate may refuse to eat."
… and what the legendary character actor said as the "Captain" in "Cool Hand Luke:"
"What we’ve got here is… failure to communicate. Some men you just
can’t reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he
wants it… well, he gets it. I don’t like it any more than you men."
You see, as the Captain so clearly explained, Luke didn’t have his mind right. He could have followed the rules, but he chose to spend the night in the box and wear those chains and get whupped up ‘side the head. He chose all that when he back-sassed a free man (the Captain himself, no less) and when he kept gettin’ rabbit in his blood.
If you don’t understand that, then you don’t got your mind right, and maybe you’d best start gettin’ all of your dirt off Boss Godfrey’s yard, boy.
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Thanks ever so much for standing up for the welfare of the criminals in our penitentiary, Mr. Warthen. I’m sure most of your readers will sympathize with the editorial board’s diapleasure at the thought of a misbehaving felon missing a meal.
Here’s a conjecture, sir. I bet a lot of things a whole lot worse than a missed meal happen in the slammer.
And out here in the free world, paychecks depend on proper behavior. Why should prisoners be exempt from the same principle? What gives them rights we poor law-abiding citizens don’t have?
I mean, goodness sakes, wouldn’t it be wiser to dwell on the welfare of America’s well-behaved?
The health of a society may be judged by how well it treats the downtrodden–even its criminals.
Well Brad, prison is hell. If a person doesn’t want to be there, they should live their life in such a way they don’t end up there. If they screw up, they shouldn’t ever want to go back. Pretty simple.
Prisons should and do have rules, standards, guidelines, etc… step outside of them, you pay the penalty. Like military boot camp, there should be no individuality or luxuries during their stay. I don’t think there’s a prisoner alive who died because he missed one meal. If you don’t want to comply, that’s fine too… you just get sent to your cell without supper. It works with 5 year olds, so it should work with adults.
I don’t think there’s a prisoner alive who died because he missed one meal.
-Bill C.
No, because anyone who’s still alive cannot have died.
Well he must have complied and didn’t have to miss a meal.
The terms “criminals” and “downtrodden,” while not mutually exclusive, certainly are not synonymous.
The society that coddles its prisoners thus punishes its citizens who work hard for a living.
I’ve done prison ministry for 12 years (not quite as long as Bob McAlister, but enough to learn some things). If you think the prison system “coddles” prisoners in any way, shape or form, you’re welcome to ask for a visit. Make sure you eat in the mess hall when you go.
Way to go, Steve. People who haven’t been in a prison ought not to sound off about them.