Being a member of Diversity Council @ Indiana State University, I along with few of my colleagues got a chance to take a tour of the US Penitentiary at Terre Haute, IN which is a high security facility housing more than 3000 male inmates. Some of the inmates are serving life while others are there for limited durations of time. We saw their rooms and the resources they were allowed to have with limited access. The experience was awe-shocking and got me into deeper thinking about human convictions.
Before this visit I was under the opinion that the basic needs for humans to sustain life were love and freedom and of course the physiological ones. (Sort of in lines of Maslow's hierarchy of needs) but this visit totally demanded to re think on this subject. I saw inmates who are controlled and told when they eat, shower and how much they can move around and where they can walk around all the time they were in the prison. It felt extremely sad and disheartening that they are living without any freedom. But I was reminded that most of them landed there because they committed crimes that are unacceptable in a civilized society. The conversation I was having with Charles Lockett, Warden for the correctional facility at that time made me think as to what motivates these inmates to correct themselves? and what is the purpose of holding them here? and how do we know they have come out of the criminal mind set they came in with? like questions. Mr Lockett was kind enough to patiently answer my questions though most of them might have sounded like naive silly ones. After hearing the answers and a long enough discussion on my way back to my office I derived on the following conclusions.
We are what we think! and we can be made to think in a particular way under controlled circumstances. The purpose of life for each of us is unique and is continuously changing with time. Especially experiences shape the human brain to a great extent. How the person perceives these experiences and deduces the self-concept of those perceptions determines his behavior or change in behavior. However the dynamism of environment around us opens up an unaware thought process and each of us discover more and more about ourselves subconsciously. It seemed that control can breed discipline but I am fascinated by the fact that despite of all the control and process we all still tend to break the barriers and explore the horizons of our capacities. At the penitentiary the same thing could be seen through the constant effort of the inmates to use small tools to cut open 3 inches thick steel and make hooch out of raw fruits and vegetables!
Its confusing and interesting how people think what they think and do what they do.
Before this visit I was under the opinion that the basic needs for humans to sustain life were love and freedom and of course the physiological ones. (Sort of in lines of Maslow's hierarchy of needs) but this visit totally demanded to re think on this subject. I saw inmates who are controlled and told when they eat, shower and how much they can move around and where they can walk around all the time they were in the prison. It felt extremely sad and disheartening that they are living without any freedom. But I was reminded that most of them landed there because they committed crimes that are unacceptable in a civilized society. The conversation I was having with Charles Lockett, Warden for the correctional facility at that time made me think as to what motivates these inmates to correct themselves? and what is the purpose of holding them here? and how do we know they have come out of the criminal mind set they came in with? like questions. Mr Lockett was kind enough to patiently answer my questions though most of them might have sounded like naive silly ones. After hearing the answers and a long enough discussion on my way back to my office I derived on the following conclusions.
We are what we think! and we can be made to think in a particular way under controlled circumstances. The purpose of life for each of us is unique and is continuously changing with time. Especially experiences shape the human brain to a great extent. How the person perceives these experiences and deduces the self-concept of those perceptions determines his behavior or change in behavior. However the dynamism of environment around us opens up an unaware thought process and each of us discover more and more about ourselves subconsciously. It seemed that control can breed discipline but I am fascinated by the fact that despite of all the control and process we all still tend to break the barriers and explore the horizons of our capacities. At the penitentiary the same thing could be seen through the constant effort of the inmates to use small tools to cut open 3 inches thick steel and make hooch out of raw fruits and vegetables!
Its confusing and interesting how people think what they think and do what they do.
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