Life in Federal Prison-A Current Inmate’s Reflections

Aug. 27, 2012 - PRLog -- "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle".  Philo, early Jewish scholar, philosopher and mystic.30 B.C.E.

Good morning and greetings from Butner North Carolina, today the sun will shine and the birds will sing. I will walk the track some four or five miles and men, some are friends of mine will die here in prison with no one by their side in their final hours.

Completely isolated alone in their cells with no comforting family or hospice care for the 85 year old man here in federal prison for not paying all of his taxes the government says he owes. Or how about that 55 year old family guy, who lives down the street from you, you know, the guy who tried to supplement his family income by growing some marijuana in his basement, he will die in prison and have no loved ones holding his hand as he draws his last breath. Better yet, maybe that neighbor you know from your Tuesday morning Rotary meetings who got caught up in the mortgage frenzy of a few years ago and overstated his income on a bank loan application.

All of these men's last words will be spoken to his maker alone in deafening silence, his dying day and fate will only be discovered the next morning or later that day by another inmate. All of these men's debts fully paid to "society", no balance owing.
This is cruel and unusual punishment at the highest level.

Nothing is going to change regarding the United States government practices and treatment of the ageing and dying prison population anytime in the near future, it works just perfectly for the BOP and US government with little regard for the dying prisoners or their surviving families.

Have you ever overstated your income on a loan application? Fudged just a wee bit on your taxes? Sold a business and received some cash that went under the mattress?
Maybe you were the one who gave your neighbor’s husband just a few pain killers such as Vicoden, Oxycodone or Oxycontin after he hurt his back gardening.

It could have been your friend who was having just one of those days because the kids were getting on her nerves or her boyfriend decided to leave her and she just needed a little something to get her through the moment like Xanax or Valium.

Is it possible that you were the lawyer who took on a client and the source of your fee turned out to be supposedly tainted ill-gotten monies according to the federal prosecutor’s office?

Well if this could be you or someone that you know, a federal prison might just be in your near future and who knows, you might just be one of the unfortunate ones who will die a lonely death while "paying your debt" to society, yes the very same society which you are enjoying living in right now.

It doesn't take very much to get into prison these days with our governments conviction rates in the 95 plus percentile and the federal conspiracy laws able to convict on mere say so ( evidence is not a requirement to gain a conspiracy conviction in federal court). Consider the newest tool in the prosecutors arsenal against innocent men, they call them, "ghost drugs"   (drugs which never were found but were testified to usually by someone looking to get a much lighter sentence). Let us not forget the explosion of Oxycontin abuse, convictions and the carrier weight (Goggle "carrier weight sentences") sentences reminiscent of the life plus life sentences handed out years ago for mere possession of LSD, and getting out of prison , well that is another story altogether.

The possibility of leaving prison feet first, dead and stuffed in a body bag is an option which the federal government and all of their henchmen in the White House, the Congress and Senate are well prepared to deliver. And in the end it will matter not the color of your skin or of your collar. Make no doubt about it that today people, men and women from families just like yours all across these United States of America are going to be dying in prison with no one to comfort them during their final hours here on the planet earth. Yet not one of them was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Once an inmate is declared to be ill by the sentencing judge or deemed in need of medical attention by the Bureau of Prisons. They are then shipped off to one of the BOPs many "medical hospitals complexes" for evaluation and supposed medical care. Upon arrival at such a facility a medical screening process is carried out by a substandard medical staff that more often than not has problems in their medical work history such as poor performance in their job or an outright lengthy history of malpractice.

When an inmate can no longer dress themselves into the uniform of the institution and get down to the visiting room all contact with family and loved ones will cease. That is until your family comes to retrieve your body from the prison morgue.

There will be no bedside final days with your loving family, no flowers or photos of the children and grandchildren to cast your eyes upon as death slowly caresses your body. There will be no one to wipe your brow, to hold your hand, to tell you one last time that they love you.

Prisoners across the country are also getting older and experiencing all the same ailments that afflict those of the same age who are not behind bars. Our extreme sentencing policies and guidelines combined with a growing number of life sentences have effectively turned our correctional facilities into veritable nursing homes - and you the American taxpayer is paying for all of it.

The United States keeps elderly men and women locked up despite an abundance of evidence demonstrating that recidivism drops dramatically with age.

State and federal governments currently spend 77 billion dollars annually to run our penal system. These corrections costs are mainly spent on incarcerations and incarceration of aging prisoners cost far more than younger ones. Specifically, this report finds that it costs 34,135 $ per year to house an average prisoner, but it costs 68,270 per year to warehouse a prisoner age 50 and older. To put this into context for you, the average American household combined income is 40,000 per year.

I am currently incarcerated at the United States federal medical facility in Butner North Carolina, if you "Google" (Butner Medical Prison) you will see words such as "crown jewel" and "best rated penal hospital", I assure you this place is far from that description and more like a laboratory experiment to see how little can be done to actually treat any medical condition from flat feet to a sprained wrist, let alone a life threatening illness such as cancer. When a disease such as cancer actually is treated by the Bureau of Prisons the first thing that happens is a cost management study to determine the least expensive route to the most minimum amount of treatment. Then that treatment is delayed to the point that many inmates simply die before treatment begins. Once treatment actually begins they go to the point of bombarding a human being with such extreme doses of radiation and chemo that their bodies simple cease to function. They expire into the afterlife from the inability to have normal bodily functions simply as an inmate number, buried in a nameless grave or their body picked up by the inmates family.

I am so sorry to be on such a down beat with this talk of death and dying in prison Michael, but last night just before dinner and fortunately for me it was another ICP (Inmate Care Provider) and not me, who found my friend Tracy aka, "Truck”, slumped over in his wheelchair dead. He was 47 years old. RIP my friend Truck, sleep in the stars.

As always Michael, be well,

Peace, love and freedom

A FEDERAL INMATE AND FRIEND

Michael Frantz is a Federal Prison Consultant with Jail Time Consulting (JTC). He been contacted as a federal prison expert by the Fox News Network, the Oprah Winfrey Channel, ABC’s 20/20 news show, the New York Times, and many television stations and radio stations nationwide.