Arizona’s
own Hydra in private prisons
Most
of us know of the Greek mythology monster, L. Hydra, who had many heads and
when one head was cut off, another would grow back in its place. This is much
like the recent cancelation of the MTC Kingman prison contract that has
attracted 5 private prison contractors to come to Arizona. The Hydra, is said
to have eight mortal heads and one immortal head thus it is a perfect analogy and
metaphor to describe the governor’s plan to put out the bid for the rest of the
Kingman contract to other profiteers chomping at the bit to enter Arizona’s
prison bidding war.
A
wise, retired warden once said, “The contract bidding and wording will be
interesting. Whoever gets the contract will stand to gain big $$$$. The State
has backed themselves into a corner by their failure to monitor this place, now
politically they have to succeed at taxpayers’ expense, $$$$. The mismanagement
will be something that will resurface in time, lack of work force and resources
to provide proper staff/inmate ratio will be on going. [This Hydra concept of]
answering to two [or more] masters leads to failure and mistrust by staff.”
There
may be physical differences in this Hydra symbolism but the subtleties and
actions are the same. Without much doubt in my mind, the Hydra, also the
metaphor for the Arizona Department of Corrections, will be slain by those who
know its vulnerability the best and that is the prison population who recognize
this monster for what it is – a failed prison management style that will
eventually cost the state millions of dollars in default and unexpected
expenses.
This
mortal head cannot be harmed by any mere weapon but in the case of the Hydra,
the harm of near fatal wounds will be self-inflicted due to poor planning and
contract oversight. One has to remember that there are siblings to the main
Hydra and those can do just as much harm as the monster herself who spawned
these evil siblings around her. The Hydra was raised to kill Hercules and
history tells the story how Hercules survived this battle and how the Greek
mythology tell of this great slayer of the monster.
Just
like in reality, the Hydra guards the entrance to the prison world, the
underground, the filthiest and most vile place in the state. Not necessarily
referring to its inhabitants but rather the culture, the environment and the
volatile ambience of these places. The prisons are filled with terror and the
main terrorists are the elite group of administrative fools, wielding their
power and authority freely and arbitrarily, against the prisoners. That’s how
the culture sees it to be in an “us versus them” battle of principles.
Perception inside a prison is a reality. You cannot change the truth.
No
matter what you do, the Hydra would survive and fight another day. It is invincible
and the only weakness known is the multiple mortal heads that are subject to
being cut off or fail during battle or struggles. No one was ever able to reach
the immortal head except Hercules and even he could not cut it off but rather,
buried it under a boulder.
That
is the weakness of the Hydra – too many heads to protect and the inability to
do so as the prison system is divided by too many heads and too much conflict
in culture, politics, mission statements and objectives that by itself creates
conflict from within. It too will soon be buried under a political boulder of cynical
and undue expenses.
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