Wednesday, October 31, 2007  field trip  today my incarceration
class took a field trip to FCI Greenville, a federal prison. i
appreciate the effort my professor made to arrange the trip,
because knowing what goes on in a prison is crucial to being
able to understand the law of incarceration, and the tension
between the interests of the prison management and the
prisoners. i also understand that a prison tour is probably the
closest a common person who does not actually work in a
correctional facility will ever get to life on the inside.
still, i really feel like it did more harm than good. first of
all, the prison officials were very evasive, as if they were
hiding something. i'm not surprised, but was still disappointed.
i don't trust law enforcement a whole lot, and corrections
officers and wardens are part of that. but, the trip through the
prison felt a lot like a public relations event--which, i'm
sure, is exactly why they allow people to take tours of federal
prisons, to gain goodwill among the citize