Whose world is rougher?
Chapman, Michael
REPORT FROM #98764 WHOSE WORLD IS ROUGHER? LIFE BEHIND BARS For a long time now, I have been asking myself this question: Is it rougher in here, or out there? Yes, I am in prison, serving life...
...Family forgets them...
...You go to the movies, I go to the TV room...
...If I go to the commissary, ike you go to the store, I stand in a long line, just like you...
...Wife divorces them...
...I cannot go to the mall and just hang out, or go for a drive in the country...
...If I had some street clothes, radio, etc., in my locker, things that are valued here, ;omeone could break into my locker and take it all...
...I cannot sleep with my wife, if [ was to be married...
...You pay taxes, [ pay sales taxes...
...You worry about getting burglarized...
...If I had a nice watch, expensive belt buckle, or bots tenishoes, I could be in the rest room, or on the yard, get jumped on, and they would take all hat...
...You worry about being kidnapped...
...Sounds sort of final, doesn't it...
...Not telling everything, ;ticking to the "Code," things like that...
...I cannot play with kids, which is something [ dearly miss...
...Just like you, I've just been mugged...
...I just got robbed, just like you...
...But, people on the outside can, just as easy, become "hardened" toward society...
...The key word is hatred...
...The loneliness and desperation add to the hatred...
...Add to that having to deal with a cold, callous, uncaring prison system, and ajudicial system more interested in the money...
...I got to thinking about that...
...It turns a spark into an uncontrollable raging blaze...
...You worry about being robbed...
...Just like you, again...
...Out of desperation, they sell themselves...
...machine gun, no...
...You work for minimum wages...
...You go to the park, I go out on the yard...
...Even in prison...
...Just like you, I've been burglarized...
...8: 28 February 1992 Commonweal...
...The hatred builds and builds, until they can no longer do anything but hate...
...Let's look at nicer things...
...They literally hate everything...
...Hence, the definition of a "hardened" criminal...
...You worry about being mugged...
...Is there really any difference...
...In Louisiana, it is...
...A very good question, huh...
...The easiest thing to become, the hardest to avoid...
...When I first got arrested, a kid asked, "Is it really as rough is they say...
...Some things are more mportant to some than others, like a man having his good word...
...MICHAEL CHAPMAN Michael Chapman is serving a life sentence for murder at the Louisiana State Prison, Camp J Bass, in Angola, Louisiana...
...It is not uncomnon...
...Why then, you ask yourself, is there a term "hardened" criminal...
...That is easy to explain, but really hard to avoid becoming...
...You worry about being raped...
...Maybe you can help answer...
...Yes, I am in prison, serving life without parole, probation, or suspension of sentence...
...Of course, I do not have to worry about things like drunk drivers or a drug-crazed maniac running loose with a machine gun—a machete, yes...
...Some will become prostitutes is well...
...Just like you, oneliness and desperation won...
...All the world they knew has been cut off...
...Statistics show that one out A every seven inmates is raped in prison...
...So, just whose world is rougher, yours or mine...
...They let it build, until it will consume Commonweal 28 February 1992: 7 them...
...Can you survive on that...
...If his word is no good, he is no good...
...Having to put up with guards that take pleasure in creating as much chaos as possible...
...I have seen some, )ut of sheer desperation, loneliness, and all, turn to someone o fill that need and become someone's "wife...
...Several prisons have had riots, where inmates were held hostage...
...Let's compare worlds and see...
...Not much, but some...
...Then, they have to survive on .02 cents an hour, so they do not have anything to their name...
...On ny way back to the dorm, someone pulls a knife, and takes my groceries...
...They become calloused and uncaring themselves...
...I get .02 cents an hour...
...Plus, they are told when to get up, when to go to bed, forced to do some very hard labor...
...First, they hate because they are in prison...
...Except that I cannot carry cash money...
Vol. 119 • February 1992 • No. 4
