Stan Moody

POB 240
Manchester, ME 04351
207/626-0594
www.stanmoody.com

Messiah2: Alternative Universe

July 27, 2010

An anonymous blogger who works for the Maine Department of Correction correctly
accused me of living in an “alternative universe.” The problem is that while true, I failed to live
up to my own standards with my recent article, “Maine State Prison Boots out the Messiah.” It
was a setup and a bit on the petty side, a product of needing an article without anything
substantive at the moment to write about.
She is right. As a Christian, the universe in which I claim to live was violated by
applying the standards of action and reaction of the very system under scrutiny – the Maine
Department of Corrections. I failed to honor my alternative universe by sending into the prison a
package that I suspected would be rejected and then had some fun with it at the expense of folks
just doing their jobs but little else. The alternative universe in which I profess to live holds
personal integrity above career, honor above loyalty, human rights above expediency and faith
above personal ambition. That I violated those precepts and continue to do so every day of my
life is a testimony to how much we all are in need of a dose of humility and a lot of forgiveness.
Having said that, however, much can be learned from this experience. The package
returned to me spoke volumes about the attitudes of staff at the prison. I pictured a Mom of one
of the prisoners sending out a book or Bible and receiving back her unopened package stamped
“Not allowable at Maine State Prison” and “Return to Sender” in 3 places with RTS (Return to
Sender) pasted over the address and no explanation.
No one suffers like the Moms of prisoners. They have endured the agony of watching
their family lives exposed to the public and their loved ones tried in a court of law. They become
victims of their children’s crimes and are further excoriated for believing in them and advocating
for them in the presence of those whom their children have injured. Here is what this mail
procedure says to anyone who has failed to read or even know about time-honored policies:

1
  The culture in which prison staff is enmeshed is either fearful of the general
public or holds it in contempt. Failure to include an explanation with the return
package on the rationale that all prisoners, some 30% of whom may be illiterate,
have received a policy manual defies common sense and common decency. It
creates even more problems for the correction system. Why not take a minute to
respect your fellow employees left to deal with the aftermath by thinking about
the likely effects of your action? Instead, the code of silence promises to
compensate for your incompetency and selfishness.
 Prison staff are so isolated that they forget that they are pubic servants. Talk
about alternative universes! It is all too easy to become so consumed by their
own issues that they think of themselves as victims of an unappreciative public.
As a result, they become defensive, passively belligerent and secretive,
complaining that no one understands what they are up against. That kind of
attitude stands in the way of creative dialogue and becomes a self-fulfilling
prophecy. A good dose of public relations would do wonders for a system mired
in its ghetto of sound bites and clichés irrelevant in the public square.
 Failure to open the package to see if there would be an alternative option to
sending it back suggests anger and job dissatisfaction. The contents, “Handel’s
The Messiah,” could easily have been sent down to the Chaplain’s Office for
distribution and a form letter sent out, explaining the procedure. What a
difference such a move would have made! Instead, prison staff operates under the
assumption that they owe nobody an explanation for anything, including each
other, and that anyone who demands an explanation is the enemy.
 The recent suicide attempt by prisoner Dennis Dechaine reminds us that while
drugs are readily available at the prison, mail not the right size or shape is stopped
at the door. It seems a case of straining at gnats and swallowing camels. In my
little town of Manchester, the post office handles probably 10x the volume of mail
with the same number of employees. If there is a problem with a package or
letter, they do what they can to bring it to our attention rather than arbitrarily
tossing it back to the sender. Written policies are not licenses to bypass common
decency.
 There is very little of this policy that can be laid at the door of “security,” the
quintessential bureaucratic escape hatch for poor planning and public relations. If
drugs are the issue, get a dog. If razor blades are the issue, get a scanner. This
absurdity was recently carried to the extreme by prohibiting kids from sending
their Dads crayoned pictures because they might have drugs imbedded in the wax.

What would Handel say to this? He offers words from the Prophet Isaiah in Chorus No.
26: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way…” The
plaintive rejoinder from my alternative universe is, “…and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity
of us all.”
God Save the Queen and those in her dungeon!