Now that I’m getting close to the door, I have to rethink some beliefs. Out of self-preservation, I had to do some things I never thought I would have, and adopted some destructive mindsets along the way. Luckily, I know that I haven’t turned into something I’m not. Others are not so lucky. Prison is a completely different universe than the world. Some get lost in the sauce, and get stuck here forever.
I’m taking a self-help class on “wholeness ethics.” The basis of the class is a book called “Stepping Up” by Troy Chapman.
He’s currently an inmate in the MDOC who was sentenced to 60 years for a deadly bar fight in the ’80s. This book catalogs his philosophical journey since then, and adumbrates a guide to living the “good life” in prison. The good life, in this context, is the moral life, the life of purpose, etc.
It contains some poignant reminders. Here’s a chapter entitled “Wholeness Ethics and the Convict’s Code”:
” The convict’s code is a blueprint for being a prisoner– not just being in prison but thinking of and identifying ourselves as prisoners. Thus when we adopt this code we’re literally joining forces with the prison, despite the delusion that we’re undermining and acting contrary to it. If prison is a square hole, the norms and values of the convict’s code are designed to square you up so you fit perfectly here.
As such, it’s more rightly called the ‘prison’s code’ than the ‘convict’s code.’ Adopting it is like getting kidnapped by the circus and adopting a ‘clown’s code.’
That might make life easier in your immediate situation by making you a better fit with it, but the cost is that once you fit yourself to the circus it’s that much more difficult to fit in anywhere else. When you walk down the street with your red nose, orange hair, striped pants, and giant shoes, everyone who sees you immediately thinks you belong to the circus. The same is true of those who adopt the prison’s code. It might ease daily life here but it renders one unfit for healthy society.
Only in a dysfunctional culture is it ‘honorable’ to beat a guy with a padlock for refusing to pay back a bar of soap or because he bumped you on the yard, or to lie, cheat and steal. In a healthy society, this is the behavior of a loser. Not just a loser, but a guy the whole world thinks needs to be locked up–a guy the world thinks is a clown who needs to be sent back to the circus.
Wholeness ethics is a true code of honor in that it is a refusal to sell ourselves out for the expedience and comfort of getting along and fitting in. It’s a call to step up to bigger definitions of ourselves and a refusal to step down and allow ourselves to be defined by this or any other circus.
There are prisoners and there are men in prison. Our job is to remember the difference.”
Easy Trouble 