deNile is not a river

The following is an excerpt from the Introduction:

An October 2008 article in Rhode Island Monthly magazine cites the disparaging handling of visitors at the ACI. (Reprint permission granted by Rhode Island Monthly Communications, Inc. ©2010.) In her report Outside These Walls, which was published deliberately after her brother-in-law’s release, Gail Braccidiferro explains, “…the rules defy logic. The only one that was hard and fast: Whatever a guard—or ‘correctional officer’ as they prefer to be called—says, goes. Their word is law, and it’s a law that changes from visit to visit.” Furthermore, as a seasoned reporter who has previously visited and interviewed inmates, she felt “stereotyped, belittled and punished by association.” That is the miniscule tip of an insidious iceberg. She slammed the nail on its proverbial head: “…protesting or asking to talk to a higher authority figure feels not only fruitless, but dangerous. How can I be sure a complaint won’t result in harassment, not for me, but for the person waiting inside?”


The following month, responses printed in the letters to the editor section were varied. One sensible reaction was submitted by a veteran volunteer at the prison: “…belittling treatment…is simply not necessary, when administrators set and enforce standards of good behavior by staff, the public gets good behavior (the reverse is also true).” From another respondent, “Until you’ve walked in their shoes, it’s not fair for her to judge the correctional officers.” This writer clearly is misinformed or simply naïve. In either case, she no doubt is related to someone on the prison staff. The ultimate response is by the Department of Corrections (DOC) director (warden) A.T. Wall: “Our staff repeatedly answered his [Ms. Braccidiferro’s brother-in-law’s] questions.” Conspicuously omitted from his response: “and took action to resolve the issues.”


The director’s remarks state that the rules “may seem strange or illogical to lay people. However, the policies work.” Historically, tyrannical policies worked for many regimes—but to what end and at what cost? Is it possible that this man is so removed from reality that he is living in “deNile”?