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Logic Bomb: Gain Time + Life Sentence = Why?

It's 6 AM. I'm sitting here without breakfast on what should be my next to last day of the religious diet program (RDP). None of us on this diet received breakfast since being fed the day prior at about 5:20 PM. By the time the census count clears, it'll be at least 7 AM, and 14 hours may have elapsed between lastmeal and firstmeal.
This may trigger a rules violation: In Florida's Administrative Code, Chapter 33, there is a line that spells out that no more than 14 hours shall elapse between the evening meal and the first meal of the new day.

It's okay. I finally started getting diabetic snacks with my insulin; I ate that for a breakfast whilst watching the cohort who receive standard trays eat a breakfast that is a clear, negative miss from the menu here at this private camp: they received 1 oz. cereal and applesauce. That's it.
(Amended, shortly before 08:30, same day: A peanut butter sandwich was provided to everyone not on RDP, and those of us on RDP were fed an hour prior.)

Sunday is egg day on our master menu; the gents who were up for breakfast expected eggs and grits, a decaf coffee, 2 sugars, and some kind of pan bread. To receive significantly fewer calories for breakfast than a person on RDP would is horribly insulting to them.

I note that RDP's breakfast here is standardized:

  • 3 slices of white bread on weekends (2 slices during the week)
  • 3 oz. by weight No Sodium Added Peanut Butter, packet
  • 3 packets jelly
  • 2 sugar packets
  • 2 margarine spreads
  • 1 oz. (28.5g) Corn Flakes
  • 1 decaf coffee packet
  • 1 RDP 'breakfast beverage' (powdered milk)

Typically, the only deviation is when they somehow run out of bread, and give us flour tortillas.

So, what does this have to do with the subject?

I'm glad to share!
A lot of long-timers and lifers here have lamented the trend of putting people with short time (18 months or less) in the kitchen to make food and build trays for our in-house meal delivery service.

Their lament has solid reasoning:
These are people whose motivation to make sure their fellow justice-impacted residents get food that has received care and respect is seemingly nonexistent. After all, they go home soon, to walk into a Waffle House for a Big Breakfast, hit the drive-thru at a Macca's for a Big Breakfast, shuffle into an IHOP for a coffee and a Big Breakfast. They don't have to eat what's coming out of Food Services -- sneak a bite here, a spoon there, a sandwich around the corner, whatever.
A long-timer or a lifer, on the other hand, will be here for a long while. They have to live with themselves, and with others who also have to eat this food. Thus, it's part and parcel of their core ethos, their belief, that the food should be cooked well, seasoned right, plated with respect for every (hu)man that comes through the line to eat. After all, Goodness Out, Goodness In -- whomever their successor may be in the kitchen, they'd feel like they were held to the same standard!
In that mindset, they would be a better fit for Food Services, as such!

I present this additional thought:
Very few jobs here in Florida's prison provider network offer payment to the prisoner-employee beyond Gain Time. You may recall my gripe on Gain Time from a couple of months ago, but the short of it is, since gain time is handed out like candy to any person that doesn't get in trouble, it isn't really payment. This is especially true once you have earned to your 85% cap -- you no longer earn time at all, and can only lose it for whatever reason that shows up.

Now, a person with a Life sentence (most commonly LWOP: Life Without Parole) earns gain time for most sentences.
... But for what purpose?

My personal thought is, for those who are ineligible for gain time, have reached their cap of gain time, or are LWOP 'permanent' residents of the system, offer them jobs in the prison, and include monetary payments to put some dollars on the books.

Even if you're only offering them a paltry 92 cents an hour, working them 40 hours a week, I'm sure that $158 a month would be greatly welcomed by that worker. I present my thought that this would instill a sense of diligence and pride in that worker, knowing that there is another person that could replace them if they allow negative behaviors to go unchecked. This would begin to mitigate some of the negative, violent behaviors I have seen by presenting a valid incentive to a class that has no incentive, no motivator otherwise.

Having some kind of income can also begin to remove one of the motivators for theft and extortion: suddenly, a person can afford to buy at least basic hygiene products that are not provided, like antiperspirants or deodorants, lotion, hair and scalp treatments (e.g. dandruff shampoo), or mouthwash. They can buy themselves something to eat that isn't on the menu, feeling a little more human for doing so.

By removing some of the negative motivators, I sincerely believe that we can start to turn these statewide carceral bed and breakfasts away from being bloodfests, and into a place where a person who has made their mistake can start to heal.

I don't want to learn how to be a better criminal.
I don't want to unlearn my nonviolent ways.
I want others to be willing to learn how to be a better person, and I want to grow better beside them.

Community Impacts

I conclude with this:
By positively impacting even the quality of food by improving those factors of life, those of us who will leave these prisons in months, years, decades will return to your communities with a better sense of wholeness.
In turn, this has a positive impact on your communities.
We should do this to treat the inside symptoms; you build strong communities outside to treat the outside symptoms. Combined, let's treat the problem holistically.

To a future of lovingkindness, caring, and compassion. :)
Cheers!