If you believe in climate change,
Then let's find a way to close some prisons.
Hi, readers. As before, I am Jayel. I'm still housed in a men's prison in a town called Blessington, and I want to share some thoughts with you.
Prisons contribute to excessive water usage
There are 48 toilets and 12 showers in my dorm wing. There are three more wings with an identical setup. While typing this sentence, I heard three toilets flush. The toilets flush quite audibly -- a lot of force goes into the waste removal... but seemingly everyone in this prison flushes the toilet five to ten times (back to back, nonstop) just to defecate. Assuming 1.5 gallons (5.67 liters) of water for a standard length flush, a 10× flush is 15 gallons (56.7 liters) of what could have been potable water wasted because one man is scared to acknowledge the truth:
his 💩 stinks. :)
Now multiply that number by 48... then by 4... then by 4 again. That number, 11,520 gal. (43,545.6 liters), is my estimated amount of water used in four four-winged dorms for just half of its residents to defecate once in a day. Open Bay adds another 28 toilets, of which only 16 are used in the above manner, with 300 people.
I have excluded Confinement and the Infirmary because I cannot estimate their numbers, and suspect a lockout mechanism is in play in Confinement to lower the likelihood that someone locked in can flood their cell (a real issue that happens).
I think, however, that our toilets here likely are 3-6 gallon (11.34-22.68 liter) per flush units, so my estimate above is a best case, least waste number.
Next, keep in mind that in a home environment, your toilets are rarely sold and installed in the Infinity Flushes configuration: you flush once, six liters go down into the bowl, and you wait for the tank to recharge over a half minute or so.
Reasonable conclusion:
Each person released from prison can save about 300 US Gallons (over 1,000 liters) of water per month by reducing the significant number of toilet flushes performed behind the concertina wire.
Prisons contribute to food waste
I am absolutely not kidding about this. Each day, Food Service here doles out about 5,700 meals. That's breakfast, lunch, dinner, with a number of configurations. Some are on the religious dietary program (RDP) -- their meals are the most expensive of the lot to meet the Kosher requirements. Some are on a lower or higher calorie regulated diet, which is a medically prescribed meal plan (which is in dire need of a nutritionist, honestly).
Welcome to Blessington; Hope you like Beans.
We get a lot of pinto beans here. Sometimes they are cooked with seasoning (salt, pepper, something), making them edible and good. Sometimes, they taste of dirty dishwater. Sometimes, like today, they're spoiled because of improper holding procedures. Hundreds of pounds of beans go to waste daily, sometimes not by our choice. Then there's grits, another waste food-like item. Returning my tray to the open air food cart at breakfast sometimes, I can see a plenitude of dirty yellow squares in the stack of brown and teal trays, as the residents pass on the congealed mass issued.
Of course, halving our population would delete a lot of food waste here without any other changes, but a proper menu review, and an opportunity for the body incarcerated to give menu input each quarter stands to have a positive effect on paring down waste. If we are voting for oatmeal and bran flakes, against corn flakes and grits, for black bean salad, brown rice, and veggie stir-fries, against the notorious 'rat patty' (no matter what 'flavor') and pinto beans, swinging the menu toward what we residents will eat stops us from wasting food.
Incidentally, I feel that people who are being fed are less likely to commit certain classes of hostilities, because the desperation induced by hunger loses its face.
Reasonable conclusion:
A logical person would stop spending money and effort trying to force a people to eat something that few (if any) of them want. The groups here aren't asking for filet Mignon, caviar, and a 2016 Pinot Gris. The ones who eat meat just want it to be beef, chicken, turkey, and not just whatever was scraped off the killing floor. The vegetarians would like an array of vegetables, like beets, broccoli crowns, radishes, rutabaga, spaghetti squash, and even a salad made with something other than iceberg lettuce. A variety of vegetables and fruits for all have been shown to be nutritionally beneficial in most diets. Keep us healthy, invest in us, and your ROI actually increases by decreasing medical expenses. Just saying.
Use Renewable Energy
Wait, I know I said let's close some prisons, but let's be pragmatic for a minute.
I know we, as a people in the USA, will never close all of our prisons as long as I am alive. But the best that could happen is that each of our remaining facilities could lay in solar panels atop each building. Teach residents how to install large solar panels, help them earn certifications, and when you've kicked them out at end of sentence, they have a skill that is legitimate.
Maybe they go on to run a business installing solar across this sunshine state, farming sunbeams instead of fossil fuels, because they learned how to install behind the fences and the gun line.
Reasonable conclusion:
While it doesn't close prisons, solar installations benefit the prison operations by reducing electricity consumption from the utility. Further, investing in onsite power storage invests in our safekeeping during the increasingly violent weather events. Do keep the fuel-based generators, but recognize the hybrid benefits of sun power.
There is a lot that would improve by reducing prison volume, but I recognize that we need to improve our justice framework to make my dream work.
What would you change on the outside to effect change on the inside?
Thanks for reading, as always. :)