American Prison by Shane Bauer by Ashley Harlukowicz https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc By Ashley Harlukowicz en-us 2020-01-05 19:54:22 UTC 2026-01-25 16:51:26 UTC hello@padlet.com “What is imminent danger? Imminent danger is a level of danger that justifies the use of deadly force.” The perfect circular definition. He tells us to write it down on the test and says the paper will be kept in our file, so that if we end up using deadly force, we can show that we went through the proper training.” aharlukowicz23 https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc/wish/427751363 The question “What is imminent danger?,” Is sparked by a certified instructor, who gets the nickname of Cowboy because of his looks. Cowboy is going over a quiz that the class of guards and soon to be guards are supposed to take at the end of class. The classroom is close to the front door of the prison and is attached to the armory. It has a metal detector and many chairs inside. The guards are in this class for training. This is closer to being employed in the prison. The term of imminent danger is defined for the students and will show up in their file that they know what it means in case they have to use deadly force in the prison. The term imminent means about to happen. This could foreshadow Shane Bauer having to include this term in the book for a future reference. ]]> 2020-01-05 19:55:49 UTC https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc/wish/427751363 “My hand lands on something loose. I get on my knees to look. It’s a smartphone. I don’t know what to do— do I take it or do I leave it? My job, of course, is to take it, but as a former prisoner, I suddenly feel like the worst type of snitch. It is one thing to play the rule of a turnkey, but how can anyone who has been locked up deliberately take from someone the little bit of freedom he has managed to carve out for himself—his ability to contact the outside world unsurveilled, to access the internet, to slip away from the totalitarian control of prison? aharlukowicz23 https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc/wish/428768075 This passage is Bauer’s perspective on how to handle this situation. As a former prisoner, he has to make the decision whether to make a prisoners time a little bit worse and impress his co workers or leave the phone and gain trust. Shanes co-workers don’t seem to have a big liking to him, and neither do the inmates, so it's a decision between one another. The word totalitarian basically means a dictatorship. Bauer compares prison to totalitarianism because of the way the inmates are treated. The website https://www.laaclu.org/en/issues/prisoners-rights states that “Prisoners’ rights to read, write, speak, practice their religion, and communicate with the outside world are often curtailed far beyond what is necessary for institutional security” This basically states that within Louisiana, prisoners privileges are reduced by the security, such as outside communication and certain freedoms. 

]]> 2020-01-08 04:05:13 UTC https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc/wish/428768075 “Today is my first of three full days of on-the-job training, the final step before becoming a full-fledged CO. The captain tells an officer to take me to Elm unit. We move slowly down the walk. “One word of advice I would give to you is never take this job home with you,” he says. He spits some tobacco through the fence. “Leave it at the front gate. If you don’t drink, this job will drive you to drinking.” Research shows that, on average, about one-third of prison guards suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, more than soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.” aharlukowicz23 https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc/wish/428916547 Bauer is informed of the effects of his job as a CO before he actually starts his job. An officer who has worked at the prison for awhile gives Shane advice on how to take the job while on a walk to this Elm unit of the prison. The effects soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and prison guards is compared with post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is a condition of persistent mental and emotional stress occurring as a result of injury or severe psychological shock. Prison guards deal with bad people, such as thieves, murderers, and criminals. Dealing with people like that everyday for a long amount of time can alter one’s mental health. The captain also mentions that the job will lead you to drinking. During Bauer’s walk with the caption, he spits tobacco through the fence. Just like alcohol, tobacco is a depressant. The job might have led the captain not to drink but to drugs. ]]> 2020-01-08 14:13:20 UTC https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc/wish/428916547 “So black women were mixed with male prisoners and subsequently some became pregnant. It’s not clear whether their children’s fathers were other inmates or prison officials, but this detail was not important to legislators who, in 1848, passed a new law declaring that all children born in the penitentiary of African Americans serving life sentences would become property of the state. The women would raise the kids until the age of ten, at which point the penitentiary would place an ad in the newspaper. Thirty days later, they would be auctioned on the courthouse steps “cash on delivery.” The proceeds were used to fund schools for white children.” aharlukowicz23 https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc/wish/429447460 This passage mentions how black women are mixed with male prisoners all over the US, then some become pregnant. The women might have not wanted to get pregnant out of their own will. This is unfair to the women and their children. They are being treated like property of the state instead of people serving their time in prison. The child will grow up in a prison and will not know their dad or their mom will still be in prison. The prisoners in American Prison by Shane Bauer at the private prison in Winnfield, Louisiana definitely have more freedom than these prisoners. Some even snuck phones in, which shouldn’t have happened in the first place because they could contact people to help them escape. That shows that some officers are slacking or not doing their job well enough.]]> 2020-01-09 14:10:03 UTC https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc/wish/429447460 “When I get home, I draw a bath. I pour a glass of wine, then another, and another. I try to empty my mind. Inside me there is a prison guard and a former prisoner and they are fighting with each other, and I want them to stop.” aharlukowicz23 https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc/wish/429831370 The job at the prison is having an impact on Shane Bauer. This is a partial realization in the middle that he is having about his job. As said earlier in the book, “ this job will drive you to drinking”. Inside Bauer’s head is a man vs. man conflict that he is trying to resolve but is resulting in drinking. When looking into a prison, many only think of the inmates and how they feel, but not the people who keep them in line. They are affected heavily, even more than the prisoners. Is the $9 an hour he’s being paid worth it?]]> 2020-01-10 04:19:10 UTC https://padlet.com/aharlukowicz23/e5m20bkb86xc/wish/429831370