Small Minds

   Some of the guards here are amazingly (or, maybe not so amazingly) more immature and small minded than the inmates they are in charge of. By small minded I mean that they have an extremely limited ability to perceive the significance of their existence, or the extended consequences of their actions; which is pretty much also the definition of immature, since expanded awareness is something one expects to develop as a person gains experience. But, some people become intellectually stunted, for various reasons (usually some form of self-righteousness or hubris) and never extend their awareness beyond their immediate surroundings in both space and time.

   I am well aware of the many psychological studies that conclusively show prison inmates in regards to emotional and intellectual development. Not all guards are so “childish”, but enough of them are that it becomes prudent to generally avoid contact with certain guards for much the same reason you might avoid contact with certain prisoners if I was in general population instead of isolated on death row; they are bullies, and enjoy every chance they get to make themselves feel good by making someone else feel bad. But, what they don’t realize, per definition of their small minded perspectives, is that every time they abuse their power over a prisoner they usually end up making their own lives a little more unpleasant by at least as much as they dish out, if not more.

   For example, today I needed to use the phone to call my attorney. So, I asked the prisoner who was currently using the phone to pass it to me when he was done, which he agreed to do readily enough.

   A little while later a guard came on the tier and promptly started catering to other prisoners’ requests to pass items between cells (a common practice). I stood at my door and watched as he went from one cell to another opening and closing the slots in the doors with his key to get and deliver the items requested. As he passed my cell I asked him to get the phone for me, and told him what prisoner had it, but he seemed to just ignore me. Then when he got down the tier I heard the prisoner who had the phone ask the guard to pass it to “Duncan”. The guard told that prisoner, “I’ll be back in a minute.” Then he continued passing items for other prisoners before leaving the tier without passing me the phone.

   What am I left to think? Did he just forget? Probably not; most likely this was --- from his limited perspective --- an opportunity for him to make a “child killer” suffer, even if only a little; or to at least remind a “dweeb” of his “dweebiness”, as bullies are won’t do. Refusing to pass the phone is a rather minor annoyance as far as what guards like him can and have done before, but it serves as a good example of how a small mind creates its own misery. Let me explain.

   By not doing his job and passing me the phone when I ask for it he not only endorses the judgmental attitude that instigates violence in prison, both prisoner on prisoner and prisoner on guard, but he more immediately puts off his job onto another guard. Eventually another, more mature and responsible, came on the tier and passed me the phone upon request. So the inconvenience for me was minor; I made my call 40 minutes later than I might have if the first guard had done his job; big deal. The point here is that another guard ended up doing more work than he should have. It wasn’t much, but it adds up, and the more responsible and mature guards are well aware of the resulting work load shift. But, because of ordinary social pressure, they typically don’t say anything about it as it would be immediately perceived (note, “immediate” perception is well within a bully’s limited scope of awareness) as “whining”, so they keep their annoyance to themselves, as a mature person is wont to do.   

   However, as anyone who has ever observed the most basic social dynamics is aware of (i.e. beyond the scope of a bully’s awareness again) this creates underlying social tensions that results in cliques forming that cause all kinds of workplace inconveniences, and in prison it can also lead to some very dangerous situations. An obvious example flowing from the phone situation above would be when another prisoner more prone to violent behavior (and we all know prisons are full of them) doesn’t get to make an “important” phone call later in the day because the phone sat unused for 40 minutes. That prisoner doesn’t know why he ultimately didn’t get the phone sooner, when he asked for it (I presume here that he also shares a small minded person’s limited perspective), he only knows he couldn’t make his call and that, perhaps combined with a few other “critical” factors in his life (such as not getting any mail that day) he decides it’s time to express himself the only way he can in prison: with violence.

   All violence in prison affect everyone, not just the immediate victim, be it guard or prisoner. I admit, this example is contrived, but it is perfectly reasonable. It also hints at the many subtle consequences of ignorant small minded behavior that ultimately only comes back to harm the original ignoramus in the end, and causing a lot more harm and inconvenience for people other than the intended victim along the way. If there were some way to make bullies “see” the extended consequence of their actions I don’t think they’d stay so small minded for long.