Letter of Acceptance

- Tonight I will be attending the first Essex County Sheriff's Department Citizens' Academy at the Middleton House of Correction. It's an eight week class to show people how they service thirty-four communities within the northeast portion of Massachusetts as a public law enforcement agency. I got my letter of acceptance last week from Sheriff Frank Cousins. They accepted the first twenty-five applicants that passed the CORI test. I attended the Newburyport Police Citizens Academy about fifteen years ago and really enjoyed it. My favorite session was the night they took us to Middleton and gave us a tour of the facility. I'll never forget it as long as I live.

- While waiting to go through security at the main entrance with our group there were a few other people waiting to get in to visit some of the inmates. I recognized one of the women as a parent of a former student I had, probably one of the most difficult kids I ever had to deal with in my teaching career of thirty one years. "Jesus" came to me as a second grader with quite a reputation already. He once knocked an old lady over and grabbed the newspaper out of her hand, just for chuckles. Some time during his reign of terror in second grade, his mother brought him in to Boston Childrens' Hospital for testing. He was diagnosed with psychosis and put on medication. And there was speculation that his own mother's drug use during pregnancy was likely to have contributed to his illness. It was one long school year but alway a good day when Jesus was absent. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd see him in his cell and if I'd even recognize him.

- They took us on a tour of the recreation room, a huge gymnasium with televisions in each corner, attached to the wall near the ceiling. There must have been over one hundred men standing around in orange jumpsuits. It took me by surprise since I somehow never imagined that degree of freedom being allowed in prison, but it made sense. Being holed up in a cell twenty four hours a day would drive anyone mad and certainly defeat the purpose of a "correctional facility."

- I don't remember the individual cells, aside from the solitary confinement area that was housing a child molester at the time for his own protection we were told. However, I clearly recall the special suite we walked through where men having prolonged periods of good behavior while incarcerated could live in exchange for the daily cleaning chores of their own quarters. Didn't I recognize the young man in the jumpsuit sweeping the floor as we walked through with our guide. He had an unmistakable droop to his face and he seemed to recognize me at the same time. In what I hoped wasn't a violation of his privacy, I think I even said his name when I greeted him happily, "Hi, Jesus!" Of course, my classmates in the program looked at me surprised. I was the most surprised of all though. If Jesus was assigned to a special suite becuase of good behavior, how bad were the other inmates?! And was Jesus really on the road to rehabilitation? I became so preoccupied with the thought that I don't think I absorbed another word that was said during the remainder of the tour.

- And now, after thirty one years of teaching in Lawrence and Triton, given the percent of the population that is supposedly incarcerated, I could have the makings of an entire graduating class in there. Who would I see during my next visit?

- One year I had four students in my second grade class whose dads were all in prison at the same time. The common crime seemed to be drug related; drug dealing, drug possession. I suspect it isn't much different now. We've really made a mess of our society with drug use. But does locking these people up really solve anything? If not, what is the alternative? Why should anyone be locked up unless they are a danger to others? And what punishment would actually serve as a deterrent for future crime, drug-related or not. With all that manpower behind bars, why are we not having our bridges and roads repaired with a little more speed and efficiency? I once dated a man who had spent a year in jail in Pennsylvania and had described his experience there as almost "country club-like." Where do you draw the line between providing an environment for punishment and keeping it humane as well?

- Also, I saw in today's Daily News editorial, that Sheriff Frank Cousins is joining three other Massachusetts sheriffs in a federal government program to identify those undocumented citizens charged with or convicted of a crime. During a recent week, 123 of the 1200 people incarcerated in Middleton were undocumented.
http://www.newburyportnews.com/opinion/x446637798/Our-View-Sheriff-has-right-approach-to-illegal-immigration

- I'm guessing these are topics that will be discussed during the citizens' academy and should provide some great food for thought.