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Chapter 7. Multiple Realities: Múltiples Realidades
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n 141 CHAPTER 7 Multiple Realities: Múltiples Realidades The degree to which society is civilized can be judged by entering its prisons. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The House of the Dead In this chapter, I continue to explore the question of what constitutes a convict, a veterano, as defined by a group of Chicanos in a maximum-security prison in the Southwest. This chapter shows, more than anything, some of the tensions that arise in the prison. How do men deal with the tensions that build up between them? The larger question is, How do veteranos exercise leadership in a prison? To take a leadership role is to take a position that pits one against the guards and prison security. Other questions include: How do men do time? And how do they handle conflict? Finally, this chapter takes up the analysis of talk, that is, a consideration of what meanings are being expressed in a discussion between several convicts in a group session. In prison, taking an up-front position, by circulating petitions and writing complaints, is not tolerated by those in charge. Some days prior to a group session we conducted in 1983, a petition had been circulating. It had received support from some of the men and no support from others. A level of anxiety and uneasiness was evident as the men were brought to the room where the group interview was to be held. As the men were collected from the different pods, one man was complaining about “rata-like” behavior by those who had not signed the petition. The complaint 142 n Chapter 7 was a clear alert that threats and physical violence were possible that night if this man were to confront another man as a “rat.” We had learned in previous sessions and from work in another prison that calling another inmate a rat had serious consequences, including the possibility of being killed. Ross and Richards, one an academic and the other a convict, tell us that “snitching, no matter the reason for it, may result in a potential death sentence for he who tells tales to the authorities” (Ross and Richards 2002, 73). As we collected individuals for the group session, we noticed the tension and a difference in the inmates’ composure. As they sat down, we were already aware that two men, with opposing positions regarding the petition, were sitting opposite each other at the long foldout table. Nonverbal behavior involved taking off their shirts and posturing by flexing their muscles, which only added to the tension. And adding to the tensions inside the room were four guards in their “response squad” uniforms walking outside in the yard. The response squad—the “goon squad,” as the men referred to it—was a special unit used to quell fights and deal with unruly prisoners. Of Lions and Tigers and Bears Omni* was an older con who had spent many years in prison. He had tremendous presence due to his years in several systems. Like his crime partner, Orbis, his overall prisonization experience included foster care in his younger years. Orbis had often backed up Omni in crimes they concocted on the outside and had done time in California prisons. Sometimes Orbis was the “eyes” for Omni. Both had come through the reformatory system in the state where the group interview took place. Both had been involved in major criminal activities and at the time of the interviews still had ten years of their original sentences to serve. Opie was a young man serving a sentence for drug distribution. The group saw him as a “wannabe,” a young convict who associated with the older convicts, but had yet to make his mark and do the “hard time” the others had seen. During the study, he had been transferred to a lower level of incarceration. He had been called a “rat” at the other locality and had to be sent back to the maximum-security prison for his own protection. Opus was the man who started the petition. He reminded me of the college students I taught. He was intelligent, personable, and had been an honor student in high school. He had been caught selling drugs to help his mother and her children on welfare. He was serving a long sentence. Opus, like a work in progress, was reading books such as Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. Omar was an African American, but was accepted *In the interest of confidentiality and...