Behind a Convict's Eyes: Doing Time in a Modern Prison

Behind a Convict's Eyes: Doing Time in a Modern Prison

Introduction

The book is written by a man sentenced to life imprisonment, who is called K.C Carceral. The word Carceral is defined in the dictionary as something “of or belonging to a prison”. Instead of real name of the author, a pen name is used because the author believes that disclosing his true identity will endanger his or other's that belongs to him.

The central character of the book is called “Anonymous N. Inmate” because the staff of prison generally used to call him (in the book) “Mr. Inmate” while his fellows or friends used to call him “Anonymous”. This particular name also conveys the message that the stories or incidents represented in this book did not only occur to the author but it is the story of every inmate.

Over view

As the book is written from the perspective of a prisoner who spent many years being an inmate, the book covers all the aspects of a life that can be spend in any prison by every prisoner. It covers many facets from doing time to developing an entirely new identity in prison which is rather denoted by digits than names. It talks about the economy of jail, the politics being played by inmates and how they celebrate festivals. Other most important aspects of a prisoner's life were the racial discrimination they face, sexual tensions they come across and how retaliation and segregation were caused by different gangs of inmates. It says that the gangs' fights and racial quarrels were all dependent upon the feelings of vengeance. Another thing that is discussed in the book is “toxic shame” which is according to the author is a reason why a person commits crime and become criminal. Other than what an inmate faces in prisons, common problems like overcrowding in prisons and the needed correctional policies for making them rehabilitating centers rather than producing more serious criminals are also sketched out in the book.

Major Themes

The most important theme discussed in the book is about survival of inmates in prisons (see appendices 1). They have to lose their previous identity while earning a new one at the same time which suddenly travels a long road from names to digits and people become only a mere number for each other. It can be observed when the central character of the book was asked by a guard about him (see appendices 2).

They go through the analysis of their previous identity then to the construction of a new and false one which includes its physical appearance, presentation, handling others and their attitudes (see appendices 3). The next thing inmates needed to learn for their survival was a particular language of prison which the author called “Prisoner-proper” (see appendices 4). The language is half posture and half English (see appendices 5). Prison proper was a sign of being self centered and portraying selfishness. It is something that reflects prejudice and stereotyping built ...