This afternoon, I went along with the inmates from the Intermediate Care Program to the recreation yard...
On some weekdays, they get taken out of their cells for an hour in order to get fresh air and walk around. Several of them may also choose to throw a ball around.
A part of my job is to encourage these men to stay active, as almost all of them are on varying doses of psychotropic medications.
But while I was in the yard an inmate walked up to me, and without saying a word, he put his head on my shoulder, and he began to cry. I didn't know what he was crying about, and even when it was time for us to go back inside, he never told me. I guess he simply needed a shoulder to cry on, and he knew that I wouldn't push him away. Instead, I put my arm around him and let him cry. He did so for about five minutes.
Before this man came to prison, he spent several years as a patient in a psychiatric facility in New York City. It will be at least several more years before he will be eligible for release from here. Sadly, however, he has no home to go to. I told him that it was perfectly okay to cry. That it is healthy to do so as opposed to keeping one's feelings all bottled up. From what he has told me about his life, I know he has a lot of pain inside him. Tears are a release, and prisoners shed many of them.
D.B.
A part of my job is to encourage these men to stay active, as almost all of them are on varying doses of psychotropic medications.
But while I was in the yard an inmate walked up to me, and without saying a word, he put his head on my shoulder, and he began to cry. I didn't know what he was crying about, and even when it was time for us to go back inside, he never told me. I guess he simply needed a shoulder to cry on, and he knew that I wouldn't push him away. Instead, I put my arm around him and let him cry. He did so for about five minutes.
Before this man came to prison, he spent several years as a patient in a psychiatric facility in New York City. It will be at least several more years before he will be eligible for release from here. Sadly, however, he has no home to go to. I told him that it was perfectly okay to cry. That it is healthy to do so as opposed to keeping one's feelings all bottled up. From what he has told me about his life, I know he has a lot of pain inside him. Tears are a release, and prisoners shed many of them.
D.B.
