I always find it unbelievable that they let these kinds of hierarchies arise in prisons, especially in American prisons (from what I've heard, European prisons have it too, but to a much lesser degree). Someone told me they allow it on purpose to help keep order. Maybe it is also a consequence of overfull, understaffed prisons.<p>It's probably naive, but one thing I would do if I was in charge would be to aggressively break up any kind of hierarchy or authority among inmates - not least to prevent prison from turning into a "crime school".<p>Edit: some people suggest these gangs arise due to the size of prisons and the large inflow of new inmates [1], whereas in the old days (-1950s) prison used to organize itself according to some kind of convict code.<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/05/end-prison-gangs-break-largest-prisons-000034" rel="nofollow">https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/05/end-prison-gan...</a>
Pretty great article. I wonder how common this man's experience is; specifically that his identity as a Jew is defined in some way by oppression. I was raised as a Jew in New York and hardly saw any overt antisemitism (the few times I did as a child I remember quite clearly), but unlike the author of this article I was always aware of it. I think for me my identity as a Jew was reinforced by the perception that there were people who would want to hurt me because I was Jewish, regardless of whether I identified myself as such.
The US prison system is far beyond fucked up. It destroys humans instead of rehabilitating them, a great majority of which could without a doubt be rehabilitated.
I kind of lost all sympathy with him when he advocated violence for opposing views. Live by the fist, die by the fist. He's living his own Hell, where his own vices are coming back to torture him.
I find it hard to feel sorry for him. He clearly brought the prison sentence on himself. On the other hand, it is not right that anyone should suffer discrimination.
I remember seeing an HN post a couple years ago about a startup focusing on education in jails. Anyone has more info on what's the name of that startup and what its up to?
When I read these types of articles, there is always an underlining irony present there...<p>Out of all the diverse groups of people in the prison, only the racist whites (Nazis) would tolerate and give protection to this person - yet this person's entire write-up is predominantly against this same group of people.<p>A further explanation is provided to the reader that picks up on this: while these Natzi-people must truly hate him, they only truly protect him because there exists an even deeper more-menacing underlining racism within them.<p>All the other groups, are just fine, nothing more than a structured response to the racism.<p>While low on details, the story ends with the realization that while white discrimination is an evil unlike any other discrimination, it does allow the strong to find their true roots.<p>This story would be told quite differently if this person went to prison in a Muslim country.
Im a Jew and this sounds like bullshit to me. I wonder if anyone interviewed his fellow prisoners to see how real his was.<p>This prison culture exists but his view is tainted by being a total outsider to it, and it appears, a desire to gain sympathy by exaggerating.<p>He sounds like a rich kid in prison getting manipulated and bullied because he’s not able to defend himself or attract allies.<p>The fact that he claims to have dealt with nazis in America outside of prison makes me think he’s a huge liar.<p>There are no nazis in America. There are racist poor idiots in prison and outside that wish they were nazis. The few that try anything violent get locked up in prison like the common criminals they are. Other violent crime is a massively bigger problem.<p>Trust me, I’ll be the first one ready to fight if anyone starts killing Jews.<p>That tiny tiny tiny rally in Virginia was organized by agent provocateurs probably from Russia.