Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

Opinion

Prison reveals freedom's value

Henry Darragh
Opinion Columnist 

As a college student in Texas, one might hope to learn about the conditions in different levels of public education. It could be said that every system has flaws, but our educational system does have some redeeming qualities. My question is, What are the conditions of education on the Texas prison system?

Despite its hardships, life in the average Texas prison trustee camp has its benefits. Getting to be outside of the main unit has perks--there aren't all of the bars and locks that there are on the main unit. Those guards in the watch tower will follow your every move, but convicts there do feel a bit more free. 

Prisoners may need to see a doctor from time to time, but many prison medical employees are actually still in training. The University of Texas is in charge of the system. Though prison medical employees may have an honest devotion to medicine, the system uses convicts as test subjects and a cheap resource for experimental science.

But I'm not writing to tear down the entire system, and I don't dig the philosophy that everything is wrong. 

During my time as a state employee, I got 12 hours of college credit, worked in two different prison choirs, wrote extensively, got one cavity filled and somehow managed not to get raped, join a gang or get into one fight. My one scrape was on the third floor of the Harris County Jail. During a church service, I asked a group of youngsters from the Third Ward, "Why are you here?" A word to the wise: If you aren't in a gang, it is not good to "check" a group of young men cussing in the back row of a church. 

I'd say the doctors at the Harris County Jail were great. My bloody lip did not need stitches. The guards worked my young black assailant over, and I did not know how to feel about it. Was it because of the color of my skin, or because he assaulted me and I did not fight back? 

God love him, he was 18 years old and on his way to a prison where one pretty much fights non-stop. 

There are convicts and family members of inmates all around you. On 90.1 KPFT-FM in Houston, there's a program called The Prison Show on Friday nights from 9 to 11 p.m. Try to listen to what is really going on with the system the first hour of the program. If you listen to the second hour, you will probably have your heartstrings pulled when people (especially children) call from all over the world to say hello to incarcerated loved ones.

You may be on your way to prison if you aren't careful. I would not dare condemn a drinker, yet this semester, many of our fellow Cougars will spend a night in jail because of alcohol. Those who smoke dope might someday "catch a case." Let's not even get into methamphetamine users -- sure, it helps you study, but at what cost?

As you commute to class, pray for a parking spot. Make it to class on time. And be happy you have your freedom.

Darragh, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at henry251@mail.com.