There’s a difference between discipline and abuse. Everyone knows that, everyone, that is, except certain corrections officers and New Jersey’s largest corrections union. A state report on abuse at Edna Mahan, the state women’s prison, stated that guards said inmates are effectively in control while inmates said no one was protecting them against physical and sexual abuse.
In his 1993 book Authority, Richard Sennett examined the interplay between authority and legitimacy. It is clear that real authority cannot exist without belief in its legitimacy. The breakdown of authority in prisons is based on the lack of belief in its legitimacy. How is it possible to have inmates respect authority imposed by prison officials when they violate the very basis of what it is they are supposed to do?
Disciplining people who are in prison because they did not respect the authority of laws of the state is certainly miles apart from beating and sexually assaulting them. Misuse of power destroys any claim to legitimate authority.
Prayer for the Day
You who see human need and call us to respond,
Open our eyes to the many needs around us;
You call us to be instruments of your grace and mercy,
And to be your face of justice in the world.
Enable us to explore bold new approaches for justice
So we become the face of your call to righteousness.
In the name of him who calls us to imagine the possible,
Even Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.
Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid activist (1918-2013)
[Edna] Mahan’s work was different from nineteenth century prison reformers because she broke down barriers of race and gendered confinement.
From “Past, Present, Prison” at Colorado College
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me!
“Come,” my heart sys, and seek God’s face.”
Your face do I seek. Do not hide your face from me.
Psalm 27: 7-9