filed under Civil Rights | Life | Social Justice
There are no words.
10:20PM ON
07/10/2008
BY
Ariel Werner
Prisons are supposed to make us safer, right? Prisons are supposed to be places of rehabilitation, reflection, and order, right? The AP reports:
CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) - An inmate at the state prison is facing a felony assault charge for allegedly beating another prisoner. George Ortiz is scheduled to be arraigned in District Court in Warwick on Monday afternoon on a charge of felony assault. He’s serving a sentence for domestic assault.
Ortiz is accused of assaulting Robert Bainter during a fight Friday in the prison’s minimum security building. Bainter was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with a serious head injury and was listed in critical condition. The Rhode Island State police are investigating the incident and say some kind of argument between the two led to the assault.
State police Maj. Stephen O’Donnell said yesterday that on July 4, Ortiz and Robert Bainter, 20, got into an argument, and then Ortiz hit Bainter in the head three times. Bainter fell, striking his head and suffering severe head trauma, O’Donnell said.
Apparently, Ortiz assaulted Bainter with a sock full of Combination Locks. Do our inmates have rights to life, safety, and security? Yes, and this tragedy underscores the ways in which the hollow austerity of the ACI does little to rehabilitate offenders and disregards the well-being of it inmates.
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7 Comments on “ There are no words. ”
July 11th, 2008 at 7:42AM
JOE BERNSTEIN Says:
A prison is for people who commit crimes.Some of them are dangerous and always will be.Some environments cannot be made safe.Prison is one of them.I know you’d like it to be different,but no matter where you go in the world,it’s the same because people are the same.
The only exception would be political prisons such as those in China,Cuba,Myanmar,Kazakhstan,etc,where the inmates are doing time for beliefs or not bowing to the authorities.
You cannot change things no matter how hard you try,but I am sure you are sincere.
[Reply]
July 11th, 2008 at 12:39PM
Jessica Ramsey Says:
Ahh, your philosophy becomes obvious, Mr. Bernstein.
The troubling thing about the prison system in U.S. is that the focus is on the punitive justice rather than rehabilitative justice. I know more than a few former prisoners who have moved on to become great parents, hard-working students, active and caring community members. Those people deserved the second chance they were given one they were done with their sentence. Why assume that people are inherently good or bad? Why not create a system that works to rehabilitate criminals and create better opportunities for them once they exist the prisons?
“You cannot change things no matter how hard you try,” says our frequent commentator. Hmmm… the civil rights movement, the labor movement to create the 8 hour work day and ban child labor, etc, etc. Take a look back upon all that is good about our nation, and you will see that change is possible, and it is necessary, and we won’t stop working for it.
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July 11th, 2008 at 3:37PM
JOE BERNSTEIN Says:
You missed my point .There are numerous people who can turn their lives around and there are plenty of people in prison who are not dangerous.maybe I didn’t state it as clearly as I could have.There are people who not going to change and will always be dangerous.
A lot of people who are in for drug related offenses can have a better life if they can break the drug cycle by moving into a different milieu of associates.It is not easy.
The “things” I meant weren’t civil rights,child labor,etc.Boy,I really put it badly.The unalterable things are the people among us who are predators,psychopaths(distinct from psychotics-apples and oranges),those who consider crime a job.
In addition to a Criminal Justice degree from John Jay,a leading school in the field,i had 26 years hands on experience in law enforcement at the state and federal level and I try to keep current to some degree.
The hard core of antisocial individuals in prison will forever make it dangerous for everyone-staff and inmates in there.Supermax facilities work only to a degree.The human mind is capable of working through almost any set of restrictions.If you think a Supermax inmate can’t reach outside the walls or inside,as the case may be,you are mistaken.
All I can tell you is that I have encountered people who lowered the room temperature,so to speak.It was like dealing with cobras.
[Reply]
July 11th, 2008 at 6:46PM
Family Says:
Robert Bainter did not pass away, he is doing a bit better but still in critical condition, that coward Ortiz hit him in the back of the head w/ 3 locks in a sock when he was not expecting it. this scumbag has a history of violent behavior and should no way have been in minimum security. Robert Bainter is a good kid who made some bad decisions and in no way deserved this.
[Reply]
July 11th, 2008 at 9:43PM
JOE BERNSTEIN Says:
I didn’t mention the first part of your response-of course my philosophy,such as it is ,is obvious.I certainly don’t try to be overly complicated about my point of view .And some people as I pointed out above are inherently bad.I had good early training growing up with a sociopathic cousin,now thankfully deceased who was everything I never wanted to be-a career criminal who was content to let his wife and two young daughters go pound sand while he was in and out of the slam and who would victimize anyone in a heartbeat if it were convenient for his needs.He wasn’t a sexual predator at all-he was really very engaging with women and never lacked for companionship-but otherwise he was a piece of dirt.His own daughter,a well adjusted mother of three in a stable marriage told me she never wanted to hear his name again because he abandoned them.I know this is anecdotal(yes,Ariel- another story)but there are many(too many)people like my cousin Gene.He was also extremely violent and it wasn’t bad to be related to him where I grew up-a really rough neighborhood-because no one wanted to have him as an enemy.On the other side of the coin,a longtime friend of my son’s just got out of prison a few years ago and we all welcomed him back-and he’s doing very well.At the end of the day,it’s what you make of your life that determines how it will turn out in many cases.There has to be a desire from within and the willingness to work at it.I have stated here before that there should be a non felony alternative misdemeanor charge for small amounts of hard drugs so that the drug abuser doesn’t automatically get a huge hurdle on their first arrest that will forever(or close to)bar them from good jobs.
You should be selective about where your sympathies should lie.Some people will just not be deserving of them.
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July 14th, 2008 at 12:21PM
Annie Says:
What a scary environment prison is. I work near a couple and ran out to my car just now to grab something and was, uh, courted by one of the minimum security residents. I ignored him, used to catcalls from bored guys trying to look tough, but another guy next to him wheeled around and said “Hey, man, leave her the f#$% alone”–and shoved him. Hard. I froze, terrified they would start fighting. Maybe they’re friends, maybe they’ve never gotten along…But maybe they don’t know each other at all and it’s just that easy to come to blows in such a place.
Before any of the guards came over the first guy shrugged and walked off. Now I have to pray the second guy doesn’t get a combination lock to the head over something so stupid.
[Reply]
July 15th, 2008 at 12:35PM
More From the Desk of the Ombudsman | Providence Daily Dose Says:
[...] Since the last Ombudsman post, two contributors who were noted for the absence have returned. “Art director” Tim Blankenship is reported to be back on board, as you can tell by looking at the stunning improvement in the visual presentation of the site. Oh, well, at least he got rid of that “Digg” nonsense. Also back with a vengeance is the capo di tutti capi of the Dose’s Ivy League liberals, Ariel Werner, who was stunned by last week’s revelation that there is violence in our prisons. [...]