Sure, Jim, I'm happy, because I think it can be both as you said and yet have those positive elements I mentioned, too. For a person accustomed only to the mortar and steel of prisons in the U.S., it was a shock to me to be wandering about the compound (which is very large, by the way), bumping into prisoners, their children and families, all mingling and trying to make the best of an unfortunate situation. It was this that surprised me no end, never even having been allowed to touch my own client, so walled off is everything, in U.S. facilities. I saw other things too, families lining up with me outside, waiting to go in, burdened with gifts for their loved ones. With a surprising amount of sensitivity, the guards responsible for admitting the contents of bags and containers checked to be sure nothing was hidden inside, probing with spoons the asadas and other things prepared at home with loving hands. I think the public sometimes feels betrayed when they hear things that suggest prisons are not simply awful places- "Take out the air conditioning," they cry; "Get rid of those televisions," they demand, "What is this, a picnic?" they exclaim. To go onto the grounds of our local prison and to see a picnic on a grand scale taking place of a Sunday afternoon cheered me, immensely. I spent a good while there, sitting in the open air, being served coffee by other prisoners while children swirled round the tables, and listening to the stories of those prisoners that wanted to talk. Seeing them and their families taking advantage of an opportunity to enjoy a few simple pleasures made my day.
I would like to see what goes on "backstage" when its time for the newly visited inmates to deliver their payouts to the guards and fellow inmates.
V - Seriously, you should be getting paid to market Mexico, it needs you. I'll bet you could make the drug war look like a cultural exchange. The papers report that the Zetas (who are trained assassins) control the Cancun jail. And the accounts I've heard back that up pretty consistently. But even bad guys have wives that bring them flan on the visitors day, I guess. I maintain that visitors won't see what that jail is truly like.
What the jail is truly like is the mixture of things we've talked about on this thread. That bad things happen there is a given, just as it is that bad things happen on the streets of big cities. Like big cities, good things happen there as well, and there is no reason I can think of not to mention them.
Oh, Rivergirl, you're inviting a philosophical discussion of some sort. Don't you think there's good in the world, along with the bad? Good in people, along with the bad? Maybe we should move this to another thread....
Oh, look! New neighbors! From today's paper: http://www.poresto.net/admin/quintana_roo/mod_secciones/fotos_secciones/images/plpol2.jpg It's a wonderful place in the neighborhood, Mr. Rogers! Maybe they will join our picnic at the jail this weekend and bring aaaall their little friends.
Is their no room in your world, Jim, for the possibility of well-intentioned inmates, jailers or wardens? Rose colored glasses, which have been referred to several times on this thread, are useful only to those who have difficulty seeing the roses, among the thorns. __________________ Life wrote: There surely must be prisoners who the authorities see as potentially dangerous, and those who are currently being punished, who would not be allowed out of detention during visitation, given that everyone is allowed to mingle as they do.
Yes, there is room in my world for well-intentioned people in the big world. In fact I rather pollyanishly think that "we" may be in the majority in the world. But we are talking about the Cancun jail here. I love to keep my head in the clouds but my feet are firmly planted on the ground.
