I'm Going to Federal Prison!

[Chef Dave]

Yep, I said what I meant and meant what I said.

Come next Wednesday, I'm going to the Federal Correctional Institute in Safford, Arizona.

No, I am not being jailed. I have committed no crimes and have received no sentences.

I will be a guest speaker at a diversity awareness luncheon for correctional officers. The topic? What does it mean to be an Asian American?

I'm not really sure what it means to be an Asian American. I have until Wednesday to think about this. So far, all I have is this:

What does it mean to be an Asian American? It means I get a complimentary meal in a Federal pen which is hopefully not accompanied by an invitation for an extended overnight stay. :)

[Spectre]

LOL! You had me going for a few moments there, Chef.

[greenfiremajick]

Yep, I said what I meant and meant what I said.

Come next Wednesday, I'm going to the Federal Correctional Institute in Safford, Arizona.

No, I am not being jailed. I have committed no crimes and have received no sentences.

I will be a guest speaker at a diversity awareness luncheon for correctional officers. The topic? What does it mean to be an Asian American?

I'm not really sure what it means to be an Asian American. I have until Wednesday to think about this. So far, all I have is this:

What does it mean to be an Asian American? It means I get a complimentary meal in a Federal pen which is hopefully not accompanied by an invitation for an extended overnight stay. :)


Heh heh...Which unit are you going to? Erik says there are 4 that he will be choosing from when he transfers for our move down there...

[Chef Dave]

Heh heh...Which unit are you going to? Erik says there are 4 that he will be choosing from when he transfers for our move down there...

Hmmmm ... don't know. The person who invited me is a case officer. We met because his wife is a teacher friend. She works on the nearby reservation.

[greenfiremajick]

Hmmmm ... don't know. The person who invited me is a case officer. We met because his wife is a teacher friend. She works on the nearby reservation.

You'll have to keep us updated on how it goes and what your talk is about, specifically!

[Ima Teacher]

Are you going to bake them a special cake with a file in it?

Sorry, couldn't resist. :-)

[busbus]

What does it mean to be an Asian American? It means I get a complimentary meal in a Federal pen which is hopefully not accompanied by an invitation for an extended overnight stay. :)

An interesting question! AND, I love your answer. :D

Have fun and let us know how it went after your visit.

[Boxcar]

Good luck!

[Chef Dave]

The Federal Prison in Safford is a minimum security prison for minor drug dealers and white collar criminals. Aside from the fact that it's surrounded by a chain link fence topped with razor wire, it looks like a community college.

The buildings are tan colored and the area is landscaped with rocks and plants that are native to the Arizona desert.

After passing through a metal detector, an officer took my driver's license and stamped an infrared stamp on top of my hand. I was then passed into the prison and was escorted by the officer who had invited to give me the diversity presentation.

We met in a staff conference room and over a casual brown bag lunch, I gave a talk about what it means to be an Asian American.

The text of my presentation follows in the next post. (This post has over 10,000 characters and the system wouldn't let me post it as is because it was too long ...)

[Chef Dave]

What does it mean to be an Asian American? For me it meant that I was getting a free meatball hoagie. On a more serious note, I suggested that Asian Americans are the minority among minorities.

Hispanics currently form 14.8% of the population followed by African Americans who comprise 13.3%.

Asians are so statistically insignificant that we aren't even mentioned in the nightly news. When news anchors talk about race relations in America, they always talk about African Americans and Hispanics. They never mention Asians because we only form 1.3% of the population.

This includes ALL ASIANS: Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Sri-Lankan, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Thai, Philipinio, Tibetan, Nepalese, Cambodian, etc.

Out of all these Asians, the Chinese only form 8/10ths of 1%.

Why are there so few Asians in this country?

Chinese first came to this country during the gold rush of 1849. They also came during the building of the transcontinental railroad.

During the depression that followed the end of the Civil War, Chinese were accused of taking jobs in much the same way that illegal aliens are today accused of taking jobs.

Some municipalities passed laws forbidding Chinese to own property within the city limits. Congress eventually passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1883. This legislation represented the first curtailment of what had been an open immigration system.

I find it ironic that a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty features a poem by Emma Lazarus who wrote:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The Chinese Exclusion Act of '83 essentially added a postscript to this poem that should have read, "Except for those damn Chinese!" :eek:

The exclusion act prohibited Chinese from becoming citizens and prevented miners and common laborers from even entering the United States.

The Immigration Act of 1923 subsequently excluded ALL ASIANS from immigration.

When this law was finally repealed in 1943, the concept of quotas were adopted. The number of people who could legally apply to become citizens of the United States was fixed at a certain percentage of the number of that particular ethnic/cultural group who were already in the United States.

Since Chinese had been barred from immigration for 60 years, the annual quota for Chinese immigrants was set at a mere 105 people. A lottery was held for all applicants and my grandfather was fortunate enough to be among the chosen few to become citizens of the United States.

My grandfather had a difficult life.

He was an illiterate Chinese peasant who spoke no English. He opened a laundry shop in Brooklyn and worked hard to give my father opportunities that he never had in the mother country.

My family can trace our ancestry back to about 1040 AD which is when Fou Shek, Floating Stone village was founded. Throughout the 903 years of our family history prior to my grandfather's immigration, we were all peasants who were the sons of peasants.

America gave my father opportunities that would have been undreamed of in the mother country. Both he and my Uncle Jim both went to college and became doctors.

What does it mean for me to be Chinese American?

It means I am more American than Chinese. I am less of a dutiful son and more of an independent person. I do not speak Chinese. I do not observe most of our traditional customs. Like all Americans, I aspire to a better life and if I ever have children, I would like them to have even more opportunities than I had.

60 Minutes has hailed the Chinese Americans as "model immigrants."

Why?

Compared to all other ethnic/cultural groups in the United States including white Americans, Chinese Americans have:

• The highest college degree attainment rate 38% have Bachelors degree or higher compared to 22% for national average.

• The highest rate of having an advanced degree (professional or Ph.D.) 8.5% have a graduate degree compared to 8% national average

• The highest median family income Median Household Income of $41,583. Average Chinese household income is about 30% higher then the national average.

• The highest percentage of working in a "high skill" occupation (executive, professional, technical, or upper management)

• The highest rate of home ownership. Home ownership rate of 65% compared to 54% for US average.

Although these figures sound impressive, they are essentially meaningless. The success of the average Chinese American is actually a myth.

Why?

Although Chinese have higher median incomes than the average American family … the average Asian family has 4 or more adult members who live under one roof and work. The average white family only has 1-2 members who work. Since Asians have more adults living in one household who work, it is only natural that we have higher median incomes.

A more telling point would be to look at median personal incomes. Whites have a median income of $23,640, while Asians have a median personal income of $20,200.

In the private sector, a white person with a college degree can add $2088 per year to his or her salary. In contrast, a Japanese American only makes $438 extra for having a college degree while a Chinese only makes $320. Asians have to pursue advanced degrees simply to have their salaries keep pace with their less educated white colleagues.

Asians are said to have a high rate of education. Although this is true for Chinese, it is not true for other cultural groups. Only 20% of all Vietnamese Americans have a bachelor's degree and less than 10% of Laotians, Cambodians, and Khmer have a bachelor's degree.

Chinese, especially those of us who were born in this country and raised as Americans, share the same values as other Americans. We want better lives for ourselves as well as for our children.

Since many Chinese are descended from clan villages that basically acted as communes to pool labor for maintaining the farms, many Chinese tend to be community oriented or to have service oriented interests.

Both my father and my uncle became doctors. I myself became a teacher.

I have also participated in a number of volunteer organizations and have been:

• A Red Cross shelter management volunteer for disaster relief operations

• A Texas Parks and Wildlife volunteer (who picked up trash at state parks)

• A USO volunteer in Saudi Arabia during the First Gulf War. I was a volunteer baker who baked cookies for our troops.

• An Air Force Morale Volunteer in Saudi Arabia - after the USO left following troop reductions, I joined the Air Force as a volunteer baker and was active until the bombing of the military base in '96 by Saudi terrorists. The base was subsequently shut down and all U.S. Armed Forces personnel were relocated to a remote military base out in the desert.

I have most recently been a volunteer fire fighter and served with Engine Company 21 in Pennsylvania.

When asked about the history of race relations and any personal experiences I've had with not being accepted, I told them about one of my earliest memories. I'm barely old enough to remember the old Jim Crow laws of the segregated south.

When the first McDonalds opened in Atlanta, Georgia, I was tremendously excited. What kid doesn't like hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes?

My parents took me to McDonalds but we all had to eat in the car. The Jim Crow law prohibited restaurants from seating "coloreds" with whites. Although McDonalds graciously served us, my family was not allowed to be seated.

My father made a game of it. It was "adventurous" to eat in the car.

Now that I look back upon this, I am mortified. My father was a serving naval officer and medical doctor ... and he was barred from eating with decent white folk? :eek:

I subsequently told my audience about my first year in the U.S. public schools.

Having been raised in Ghana, Thailand, and El Salvador, my first experience with a U.S. public school was in Atlanta, Georgia.

I was the only Asian at my school. The school only had one African American.

The white kids told me that the African American was okay for a n-word because he was on the football team. I was told that I was okay for a gook because I talked "white."

I graduated a year early to avoid having to spend any more time with my racist classmates.

In terms of my more recent experiences, I told the audience about my experience as a B&B innkeeper/owner. During my first week of operation, some company employees of a neighboring business began hooting at me when I emptied the trash. They make monkey noises and laughed at me when I looked at them.

Although I was angry enough to want to take a rolling pin to their heads, I thought the matter through and decided to kill them with kindness.

On the following morning, I made up two dozen breakfast burritos and took them over to the company. I gave them to the shift foreman and made no mention about my experience of the previous day.

That afternoon, as I was emptying trash, a group of employees again gathered. Only one man made monkey noises. There was a sudden smack and when I looked, I saw that one of his co-workers had punched him.

Nobody ever made fun of me after that.

The history of race relations in this country is not perfect but it's a lot better than it was when I was a kid. One hopes that relations will continue to improve as we move forward into the 21st century.

This concluded my talk and I think it was well received.

[Chef Dave]

I forgot to mention that the Federal prison was extremely interesting. I was given a private tour and was really quite impressed.

http://www.doney.net/aroundaz/DA_saffordfederalprison.jpg

Since this was a low security penitentiary, inmates are housed in barracks. Central to each barrack is a locked guard station with windows that run 360 degrees around the station.

Inmates sleep in bunk beds and each person has one locker. All personal items must fit in the locker.

At the end of the barrack are bathrooms and showers.

The barracks are connected by sidewalks to other buildings. Other buildings included a post office, commissary, cafeteria, library, education center, health center, rec center, administrative offices, and garment factory.

This particular prison is #2 in the nation for the production of garments. It's currently under contract to produce 30,000 jumpsuits for the navy each month. The prison currently runs one shift but will be adding another shift as soon as new staff and inmates are transferred in to fill four new barracks.

Prisoners are paid 40 cents per hour to work in the factory. This may not seem like much, but I was told that it costs U.S. taxpayers about $28,000 a year to feed, house, and cloth each Federal inmate.

Within the Federal prison system, 40 cents per hours is considered a highly paid job. Inmates may save their money to use once they get out of prison. They may also spend it in the commissary, purchasing snack items or toiletry products that are better than the ones issued by the prison.

There were roughly 200 inmates in the factory complex. A guard escorted me around the facility. Men started by pulling out huge sheets of material which were cut into rectangles. Other men cut patterns out of the rectangles for sleeves, legs, chest, and pockets.

Dozens of men hunched over sewing machines sewed component pieces. One entire row sewed sleeves. Another sewed pockets.

Towards the end of the complex, men assembled the component pieces together and sewed in zippers. The final product was folded, boxed, and labeled for shipment.

Since the men have been doing a superior job at meeting their naval production quota requirements, one of the guards told me that they were planning a party for the inmates. Come Friday, they would shut down production and offer charcoal broiled hamburgers, ice cream, and sodas - food items not typically seen by these inmates.

Part of the reason these food items are not common in the Federal prison system is that some administrative moron in the Bureau of Prisons decided that it would be "nice" if prisons offered heart healthy meals. The idea behind this is that heart healthy meals produces healthy inmates who need less medical attention.

To ensure that prisons offer heart healthy meals, the Bureau of Prisons has adopted a nationwide daily menu ... without apparent regard for rising market prices.

One of the paid supervisors in the cafeteria told me that they serve over 2400 meals per day and that the Federal prison system has only given them something like $2.80 per inmate to pay for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Given the rising cost of fuel, it is becoming difficult for cafeteria managers in the Federal prison system to feed their inmates. This would be less problematic if there wasn't a heart healthy mandate as well as a mandatory daily menu.

The Safford prison is relatively fortunate because it's not far from a California prison which has a dairy farm and livestock center instead of a garment factory. Inmates at this prison care for dairy cows which produce milk which is then pasteurized and used by nearby Federal prisons. This particular prison also raises and butchers livestock for use in prisons.

The warden is also aware of the food service budgetary problems and any surplus funds leftover from other departments at the end of the fiscal year have been funneled into the food service.

Televisions at Safford were in large outdoor gazebo like structures. Men with TV privileges could put on headphones to watch TV. Some channels were preset while others could be changed.

Educational courses included college level courses taught by professors at a nearby junior college and vocational education in the areas of small machines, construction, and business.

The entire prison was like a self-contained town with the warden as the mayor.

With this being said, I wouldn't want to live there ... but a prison like this would be preferable to a maximum security facility that's filled with murderers, rapists, armed robbers, gang members, and neo-Nazi skinheads.

[Boxcar]

That is really interesting. I knew very little about prisions before reading this post. There is a minimum security prision in my state relatively nearby. I knew about the barracks and the free range, but I'm not sure about factories or other things like that. It sounds like you learned a lot from your visit. What will happen if the prision cannot meet the food needs and requirements? I mean, they can't let the inmates starve or eat unhealthy food. That would cause a ton of lawsuits.

[Chef Dave]

What will happen if the prision cannot meet the food needs and requirements? I mean, they can't let the inmates starve or eat unhealthy food. That would cause a ton of lawsuits.

I think the warden has a general fund that he can use.

Food service personnel in Federal prisons across this country have been conferencing with higher ups to either relax the heart healthy policy (which is more expensive than what was previously served) or to increase the stipend for food.

The Feds have talked about having a central distribution system that purchases wholesale food supplies for all of our prisons ... but the food service people at Safford told me that given how slowly the Bureau moves, they could well be retired before any such plan is implemented.

It's a pity that profits from the garment factory go to the Prison Bureau. I think it would make more sense if profits stayed within the prison that produced them. Some of the money could be used for food but other money could be used for inmate amenities, officer equipment, and so forth.