What I am wondering is, is prison that horrible place we all make out to be? I mean you are supposed to be there for punishment, but if you can still get everything you can get on the street is it really that bad. I found this article on the Austin American Statesman about the latest prison scandal. The police and investigators are now looking into the fact that a Baylor University student and prison guards are involved in the smuggling of contraband. This is ridiculous that our one place in Texas that is supposed to be the most secure is NOT. The people of Texas should really be concerned.
Back in 2008 a death row inmate called state Senator John Whitmire and threatened him. Shortly after that incident the prison officials in Texas did a state wide search of prisons for contraband, and everybody remembers the search turned up dozens of phones, drugs, and other items to be considered by Texas prisons as contraband. So we all thought that this problem was taken care of, boy were we wrong. This latest incident just goes to show you how if we take problems out of the limelight nothing changes. Everybody thought that just because a Senator or some other Texas official says we will have zero tolerance that things would change.
What I think Texas needs to do is start paying the people who help to keep us safe from prisoners a better salary and better benefits. It is ridiculous the miniscule amount of money prison guards make. These people make very little and are asked to put up with lot. It is not like when these criminals get to prison they become nice people and obey all the rules. When people get to prison they go one of two ways. Either they learn their lesson and try to take advantage of the situation by bettering themselves with educational programs in prison, or they get more knowledge on the inner workings of the illegal activity they are already involved in. I really do not think prison guards would be as willing to sneak in contraband if they were taken care of better. Texas needs to take a step back and look at to very big issues, one being the prison system, and the other is the educational system. We all scream about taxes being raised for both, but what you have to see is they are both directly related. If you are not educating people, what else can they do but some type of criminal activity to survive? So I say, “Texas stand up and take responsibility for the lack of educated people, and the corrupt prison officials, because you are contributing to the problem.”
