by David W. Jones

THERE IS A CERTAIN QUIETNESS in prison very early in the morning. My alarm beeps at 3:45am and I quickly silence it so as not to disturb my Cellie. I turn over on my back and stare into the darkness of the cell as I absorb the quiet prison sounds; the last vestiges of my dreams fading out.

The red LED light from my clock radio is the only light as I feel around for my glasses. Putting them on I get up and take the four steps to the cell door and look out at the dayroom. All the lights and the TV have been turned off save the one security light.

It shines its bright light on the empty metal benches and stainless steel tables causing skewered shadows that look eerie in the early morning stillness in stark contrast to the bright lights and loudness during regular dayroom time. I hear a distant cough then a toilet flushes, back to silence. Rapid movement catches my eye and fear shoots up my spine until I realize that it's just a rat.

But still.

I quickly and quietly take care of my hygiene and get to my daily devotions to the Lord. My cell, it's sort of a sanctuary; out there, in the dayroom, well, let's just say I pray for protection. Mass incarceration is an evil all its own and one needs all the help he can get.

My radio is on the oldie station; I can't believe that the music I grew up listening to is now considered old. I place the earbud in my ear and Phil Collins in in the middle of 'Another Day In Paradise.' A strong wistfulness settles in my heart, I wish that I would've heeded this song when I first heard it; to think of those who were in a worse condition than I was, then.

Now, I am in the worst condition — prison; no one is thinking of me. The song ends and something the deejay says catches my attention:

'A man in prison stops up his toilet to flood his cell.' Then she makes fun of him; using this as a witty quip just to get a laugh.

But in prisons across America this is an everyday occurrence. A reality.

Even when I first came to prison in 1991, I thought that it was a pretty stupid thing to do. But I soon came to understand it: In prison when we inmates suffer injustice at the very hands of the Correctional Officers, or COs, the ones who are over us, then flooding our cells is our only voice — an outcry for help. The water goes out of the cell, over the tier and into the dayroom, hopefully to get the attention of the rank.

But, we are doing this to the very ones that we are complaining about; it will get us no relief. The COs will just turn off our water and make another inmate mop up the mess. Which renders using our only voice futile.

That, a futile voice, has stuck with me over the years, and quite effectively quieted my voice against injustice. What was the point?

During the day to day prison life I have blocked out the dayroom noise, clinging to those quite mornings as long as I could. I have been in prison for thirty years and I did not notice that mass incarceration has snuck up on me. It's as if I woke up one morning and it was there. I saw it in the behavior of the inmates and the COs, in the staff shortage and the prison environment. I saw it in me.

I had to ask myself what is this doing to society; or is what's happening in society related to this?

I had to resist the strong urge to stop up my toilet and begin flushing. I needed to find another voice. Will anyone listen?

Looking back at what has been going on in America for the last thirty years it is like a desensitization has overcome me: Rodney King, David Koresh, Oklahoma bombing, Clinton/Lewinsky, Columbine, 911, Walmart shootings, school shootings, more shootings, Covid, George Floyd, Buffalo shootings, Uvalde shootings.

The deejays are not making witty quips about this, but the way it's delivered takes away its impact, in between songs. And the news headlines it then they go back to the economy and inflation. 'Humans were murdered, and the cost of gas is going up and now a word from our sponsors.'

George Floyd was senselessly murdered by the very ones sworn to keep peace and order; to serve and protect. Riots, looting and protests ensured; there is no peace, no order.

I crave the quiet, but I cannot block out this noise screaming in my soul.

Children senselessly murdered in a supposedly safe place. The media cast a certain light on it: The president talks gun laws; the police blame others. This should not even be happening in this country!

The rioting, looting and protests are the people's voice, an outcry against this American genocide. It is the only way to get the government to hear them.

Who speaks for the senseless shootings and murders rising in America? What voice is outcrying against this pandemic? More laws, the blame game? Everyone wants to assert their rights here due to American Freedom. IT'S NOT WORKING!

We Americans, and prisoners, always claim to be free to do what we want. I think that we have forgot the suffix '-dom' at the end of the word 'Freedom.' We just want to be free. The suffix makes it a 'state or fact of being,' while being 'free' is, well, the forgetting.

Meanwhile, the genocide continues at the very hands of the ones the government has given badges. America's stores, schools and children are full of bullet holes. The COs in the prisons have become very good plumbers.

I found a new voice, but I think that this is just another day for you in paradise.

Can we just come to a stop? In prison the whole prison is placed on lockdown for the wrongdoing of others. America was placed on lockdown for the Covid pandemic. Does this current pandemic call for a lockdown — a time-out, to think about this? We need to focus on who and where we are as an individual, as a nation? The other nations are watching US (us) and saying United? Really? I am embarrassed to go anywhere and I'm in prison.

One part of a moral society is its criminal justice system.

The pendulum of criminal justice begins with the guys with the badges, and it ends with the plumbers. More and more, 'out there' is looking like 'in here.' Mass incarceration desensitizing humans to humanity. Mass pretending — the government playing at being a moral and law-abiding society.

Where are the Peoples' voice?

What goes on in the world is very much connected to the prisons and in what condition inmates are released back into society.

The question is still the same: What shall we do?

I am glad that our founding fathers did not give up in Britain; they came here and started over with a moral constitution. Sometimes when things are not working you have to go back to the beginning and start over. You cannot just add laws to bad laws.

Otherwise, 'Justice' is an illusion, and 'Freedom' is just the nomenclature of America, and Mass Incarceration is a very bad concept.

Can we, together, find a true and unified paradise — one that helps rather than hates?

David W. Jones is not only a Texas Prisoner, but also the Author of 'LIVING IN REALITY: Everything I Needed To Know I Learned In Prison.' A book that illustrates a real need to end Mass Incarceration and to Reform Prisons. He may be contacted at the following:

Web: Davidwjones71.com
Email: 71davidjones@gmail.com
Snail mail: TDCJ# 1476876; 3060 FM 3514, Beaumont, TX 77705