Dear Kay,

In your May first letter, you said that you would love to hear thoughts on making prison a healing place.  I had been thinking of an idea for about two years now which might fit into that category.

From everything I've ever read on the subject, it seems that the majority opinion among psychologists is that abuse only breeds more abuse.  A prime example of the failure of the abuse-as-discipline phylosophy is the recidivism rate among boot camps for delinquent youths.  For all their yelling and intimidation and ridiculing, the drill sergeants can, at best, hope for temporary change among a minority of boot camp participants.  But, the unseen harm is in the minds of the majority.  In response to such evil treatment, they harbor bitter resentment, and once freed from their immediate restraints, are more likely to act without concern for the rights and feelings of others.  Why should they care for others when they've been shown so forcefully that no one cares for them?

That environment is only one area within the system where force is assumed to be the best solution.  Various confinement units throughout Florida's prison systems, are operated upon the same basis.  One way that could lead to healing in prison would be to turn from the decision that force is the first or best solution.  But, as with all habits, it won't just change without effort.  Many who must work in those areas would feel that, from their perspective (because they don't see the same inmate five or ten years later) force is successful.  It solves the problem for today, and so they would resist "fixing what isn't broken".  Thus, a solution for long term change can only be made if the prison sytem leadership in Tallahassee creates a situation where change must happen.

Obviously, no supervisor in a distant city can be aware of actions happening within all the various confinement units.  Even some unannounced spot checks (which are an extreme rarity in D.O.C.) would only be a hit-or-miss method.  What would be needed is some way that full time supervision could be possible.  This is not as impossible as it might seem.

The internet is the new frontier for possibilities which have never before existed.  Among the multitude of possiblities are such things as allowing parents to view their children in day care centers, while never leaving their place of employment.  My idea is simply this:  Why not have the same method for remote viewing of the state's confinement sections?  Because the D.O.C. has already put every inmates' picture on their website without consent, it would seem that consent for use of inmate's photographic images is not required for posting on the web.  The only substantial challenge to implementation of this would be the cost of the server and related hardware.  Naturally, the D.O.C. in seeking to avoid liability, would delay financing for as long as possible to keep such images off the net.  So, a donor company would be required.  Might not Bill Gats or I.B.M. or some other philanthropic or corporate donor assist in a pilot program like this?  Not for prisoners, but for their families.  If their loved one was in solitary, might they not want to be assured of their well being?  And if such a pilot program proved successful, what would be the marketing potential to other state correctional systems?

Someone might ask:  But what about monitoring all those cameras?  That's the beauty of this idea.  It requires no staff by D.O.C. for monitoring.  No one could engage in any improper conduct for fear that some unknown guy in packistan just might have a VCR tape running.  There's no opportunity for the good ole boy system to silence unknown observers.  And with the prices news media agencies will pay for action footage...You can believe someone, somewhere would always be watching.

I realize that the idea isn't flawless.  There would always be some dark cubby-hole beyond the reach of a camera, and those intent on violating the law would go there.  But, just because a solution isn't perfect, doesn't mean its worthless.  We know that our society will still have some crime, but we don't fire all our police because it's hopeless.  We must try to do what can be done.  How many more Valdes' crimes can our society tolerate?

Very Truly Yours,
D. D. R.
New River East "Correctional" Institution
P.O. Box 333
Raiford, Florida  32083