In the coming weeks, Mount Airy Commissioner Dean Brown will be giving a series of presentations on the virtues of having a state prison in Mount Airy, a project he’s been spearheading for several months now. The city council got the hear his spiel first Thursday night, and the result was something akin to those “he’s just like us” political ads trying to paint a candidate in a relatable light. Except instead of trying to humanize politicians, this one humanizes the prisoners who would be sent to Surry if the county lands one of three correctional facilities needed in North Carolina during the next several years. It was complete with slides of prisoners doing everything from sports to landscaping to music to reading to fishing. Yes, even fishing (they earned a trip for good behavior). Some excerpts from Brown, who spent decades teaching in state prisons:
“They’re people just like us. We need to remember that. They’re not wicked, evil people who want to kill.”
“They form bands … in their spare time they learn to read. And they love to eat junk food.”
“If you walk through a prison at night, you’d think you were at an Army barracks. You’d hear people sleeping, saying prayers, crying — yes, grown men do cry — people playing chess, cards or checkers, someone playing guitar. You’d find pictures of loved ones and all the letters that were ever sent to each inmate. For some reason they save every one.”
“You will not find shanks under every mattress the way you see on TV. You will find a lot of Bibles.”
“You’ll have to be reminded after the facility has been built for a few years that the prison is even there. It will not be built on Main Street. It will not affect Andy and Barney in any way. You can ignore it if you don’t like having a correctional facility. It won’t affect you at all.”
No, they are not “just like us”. I acknowledge there are prisoners who serve their time and then never get in trouble again, but unfortunately a large majority of criminals are in and out of jail most of their lives. Figures clearly prove this so lets not kid ourselves. That large majority is what concerns me.
No, they are not “just like us”. Most of us regular folks never see the inside of prison. I’d rather not run into prisoners and guards when I bump into them when the are “utilizing our health car facilities” as the morning paper article stated. I’d rather not worry about escaped prisoners assaulting me to steal my car for getaway. I’d rather not wonder if the guy who works on my car is on work release ( by the way, wouldn’t that be taking a job otherwise available to a local?
No, they are not “just like us”. I don’t buy the line about how they are all such nice well behaved model prisoners. I wonder if our area were to be selected would any other new business want to come here?
No, they are not “just like us”. If we were to be chosen for a prison that is what our area will become known for and we’d get that reputation even before construction was started. To me, asking for a prison is for when a town has run out of all other options. We are hurting for sure but I hope we have not reached that point.
Location. It is all about location. When will our leaders pushing this project get this though their thick skulls?
I guess these people have to live in a cage with armed guards watching over them 24/7 because they are just like us. Oh, I get it.