| February
14, 2004
Part II: Finding
Balance: Develop Your Mind
By Michael G.
Santos/HispanicVista.com
Virtually all of the
men confined in federal prison are
assigned to a work detail. This
minimum-security camp at Florence sits
within the Federal Correctional Complex,
and those of us in the camp provide much
of the labor for the three other higher
security prisons on the property. My
initial job has been in the laundry at
the Florence ADX, the federal prison
system’s only super-maximum security
prison.
Those prisoners
assigned to the Florence ADX have been
deemed too violent or disruptive to serve
their sentence in lower-security prisons.
Prison administrators of the highest
level have considered it necessary to
lock such men in specially designed
individual concrete bunkers, with minimal
access to fresh air or even views of the
outside world. Some of the men who
are confined inside the federal supermax
had been held with me in open population
while I was imprisoned in higher security
prisons during the earlier stages of my
term. I frequently wonder about the
choices the men must have made to warrant
such confinement. Clearly, they
made different decisions than I made.
In my earliest
experiences of prison living, I committed
myself to behaving in a way that I hoped
would help me earn freedom. I
wanted to develop a prison record that
would result in my transfer from the
high-security penitentiary to which I was
initially designated, to medium-security,
then to lower-security, to
minimum-security, and, I hoped, to
freedom. Those in the supermax
adjusted differently. They now are
paying a heavy price for those decisions.
Administrators raise
the security levels of prisoners whom
they consider disruptive. Every
time a prisoner is convicted of violating
a disciplinary code, no matter how
trivial the infraction may seem to him,
he simultaneously creates a blemish on
his prison record. Frankly, a
disciplinary infraction is not even
necessary to raise one’s security
scoring. I know one prisoner who
published an article that administrators
found threatening, and as a consequence,
transferred him from a low-security
prison to a medium-security prison.
It is easy to behave
in ways that result in higher security
ratings. Violating prison rules,
participating in group disturbances, or
promoting ideas of hatred or subversion
are but a few examples of behavior that
can lead administrators to conclude an
individual needs the closer supervision
of a higher-security prison.
It is exponentially
more difficult to persuade administrators
that a transfer to a low-security
facility is in order. As I wrote in
my previous article, I have moved through
my own lengthy prison term by focusing my
efforts on developing my mind, my body,
and my spiritual awareness to help me
grow. Such balance has shielded me
from the problems that have confounded
those who struggle to adjust to
confinement successfully.
As one who has
served significant lengths of time in all
security levels, I can verify that as a
prisoner transfers to lower-security
level institutions, the accompanying
stress drops precipitously. The
quality of life in lower security
institutions increases not only for the
prisoner, but also for the prisoner’s
loved ones. The comparative lack of
tension makes it significantly less
complicated to achieve personal goals.
For me, each time I transferred to a less
secure institution, I felt another step
closer to freedom.
Those who want to
lower their custody scoring in order to
transfer to lower security prisons must
make a mental commitment to avoid
exposure to problem behavior. I
have found that working toward clearly
identifiable goals has kept me out of
situations that often lead to
complications I do not need while serving
my term. It always has been
integral to my adjustment that I work to
educate myself, to learn about the world
in which I am living and the world that I
am missing. I read. I write. I
work to nurture relationships with people
from whom I can learn and grow.
Because I always had
several goals toward which I was
striving, I had reasons to avoid behavior
that could interfere with my progress.
I sought jobs that facilitated my efforts
to grow, not because I wanted to work for
the prison, but because I wanted the time
and space to move forward. Every
step brought me closer to progress.
This strategy helped me earn
undergraduate and graduate degrees, build
a powerful website, and publish several
books that contribute to society. It
is all part of my balanced plan to emerge
from prison as a success.
____________________________________________
Michael G. Santos
was convicted of drug distribution and
sentenced to serve 45 years in Federal
prison. He is scheduled for release in
2013. While in prison he has earned a
Bachelors and Master’s degree. He
has to date written 3 books available for
review and purchase on his own web site: www.MichaelSantos.net.
He has agreed to write a weekly column
for HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com)
relating his experiences and observations
of our national corrections system. He
can be reached by email at: info@michaelsantos.net
(HispanicVista.com
Editor’s Note: Mr. Santos while in
prison has no access to the Internet.
Emails are printed and mailed to him.
Please leave comments or messages at www.MichaelSantos.net.)
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