I am really thankful to the SPP program that gave me opportunities to visit Salinas State Prison and Correctional Training Facility. It was an incredible learning experience for me. The two facilities represent a system that is committed to creating a safe and secure society by removing individuals that pose a threat to the society and giving them opportunities to change.
The prison is a great example where the governments are using the DDR model for creating peace and harmony in the society. The prison in Salinas and Correction Training Facility has been able to disarm and demobilize and prepares the inmates to reintegrate themselves back into the society. However, the stories of gangs and how the inmates segregate themselves based on their affiliations to a particular gang made me question the DDR model because the gangs are operating from the prison and are not fully disarmed or demobilized.
The number of people incarcerated in the US is shocking as it is going up every year. Looking deeper, I started realizing that the systems and structures in the US have created many prisons. The majority of the people who end up in the state prison were already living in prison with little support from family. They were already isolated and marginalized with very little security nets. The state prisons are not the long-term solutions to fix the social problems in the poor communities. The state needs to expand its social services and safety nets to engage families with broken homes.
The prisons made me think of how we as individuals also create our own prisons based on our biases. We need to break free of our own prisons that we have created as well. We need to allow diverse perspectives into our conversations. We cannot just celebrate what we have similar with others but, we also need to talk deeply about the differences we have with others with humility and celebrate them.
