Posted by: Ed Chernoff
March 08, 2007
Topic: The End of the World

One of my website developers lives in a loft across from the Federal Detention Center. I received an email from her at around 2am one night, wherein she asked me what the prisoners across the street were thinking and doing. She could see the lights were on and every now and then could make out the shadow of a face pressed against the small sliver of a window each cell possessed. She said that she felt guilty closing her shades, because she imagined that they looked forward to looking at her loft and dreaming about life on the outside. I wrote her that I couldn't honestly report what specific thoughts they were thinking, but her description of the scene reminded me of a porn movie I watched once, and advised her to close her blinds.

It is an interesting question, and one I have frankly never thought about. Most of our clients here don't go to prison, though I must admit that a good portion who do go are housed in the Federal Detention Center. We have a saying here, "Dead bodies and kilos are going to put you behind bars." So what do inmates think? Empirical evidence would suggest that they only think about the legal aspects of their cases, since we don't usually get phone calls from imprisoned clients unless they want to know how their case is going. There are exceptions, of course. I had one client who used to call every day "just to rap". At $4.85 a call, our gossiping got expensive!

I have a theory about some prisoners. There are a rare few, who feel most comfortable being incarcerated. I've developed this opinion by observing the great lengths some of our repeat clients have gone to place themselves back in custody. They will come into my office, strung out on life and intoxicants, detailing all the reasons why The Man is unjustly coming down on them again and all I hear is the number of mistakes they are intentionally making to cause their own downfall. I preach to them, but it does no good. Soon they wind up in an orange jumpsuit.

Later, when I visit them in jail, I observe the calming influence incarceration has had on them. Enclosed by stifling walls, they seem to be oblivous, like a small dog that prefers to sleep in his cage. In jail they are told where to go, what to do and what and when to eat and sleep. Their day is spent making zero decisions. For some people, who perceive their lives as out of control, such an environment is soothing.

Naturally, such individuals are rare. The vast majority of our clients are terrified with the prospect of incarceration, and so we spend most of our energy preventing that from happening. Despite the musings of my website developer, there is nothing quixotic happening in the detention center across the street. I can't be sure, but its highly likely they are hoping to get a peek of something that can't be provided to them in jail, and its probably not the good life.

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