daughter and a loving husband who traveled a lot and didn’t know that she led a secret life of being a call girl. I had been prepared to hear a sad story about her having been sexually abused as a child and "forced" into prostitution by some cunning, conniving pimp.

She told me that none of that had happened to her; that she had become involved in prostitution because she really liked it. She said she worked with a bell boy who let her know when a clean-cut handsome man wanted to pay for a woman, and she would come over and look at the guy. If she was impressed--as she was with me--she would have the date with him, if not, she’d turn around and leave. She said it was cool being able to act out her own sexual fantasies and get paid for it.

I asked her if she ever felt shame and she asked me if I felt any for what we had done. She had me. I felt great about it, and proceeded to make love to her again. This time, her services were free and we became friends. That was in 1964 and although I’d been locked up in prison for many years, our friendship lasted until about 1974; we lost track of each other.

What had amazed me was the fact that the lady had CHOSEN of her own volition to be a prostitute. I had actually thought that all socially "deviant" people--criminals, in particular—-had to have something very terrible in their past life happen to them to "make" them do "bad" things. I couldn’t fathom someone doing something "bad" by their own free will and choice.

I’m sure that there are professionals who would argue that something horrible had happened to those types of people, but that they were in some form of "denial," because the pain and shame was to great to "own." Therefore, such people develop a callous facade about doing "bad" things because they "liked" to do them. I think such professionals might be in a form of denial themselves in not allowing that some personalities might have developed such value formations without the rationale of having been traumatized in an earlier development stage.

I remember when I attempted to argue with Kay (my super-prostitute friend) that she might be hiding some past issues which would allow her to turn away from conventional values and sell ber body to men she didn’t know. I asked her if she hadn’t had some male relative or neighbor who might have fondled her in a sexual way and she said she would have enjoyed such an encounter if it would have happened. As it was, she said that she had primarily been the one to initiate sexual activity with people all through her young life and that she had been "psychosexually" molested when her sexual appetite was translated into being a form of nymphomania.

I remember how angry she was when she remembered this issue. Looking back, I can realize that. Kay was much more intelligent and educated than I was at that time. Her thinking was avante garde for the early seventies when we were both in our early thirties. She had told me that she thought that I had a problem with attempting to over-analyze everything; that I couldn’t accept things simplistically at face value. Now I agree with her. If I could have embraced her philosophical approach to living life, I’d most likely never have pursued violence as a means of response to frustration.

I read an interesting book review in a Cincinnati, Ohio newspaper (10/96) by Jim Shea, The Hartford Ccurant, entitled "Delving into America’s century-long romance with drugs.?? The bock being reviewed was HEP-CATS, NARCS, AND PIPE DREAMS, by Jill Jonnes.

"Americans view drug abuse as a relatively recent plague. Those with a shaky historical perspective often link the first widespread use to the ‘60’s."

In Hep-Cats, Narcs And Pipe Dreams: A History of America’s Romance with illegal drugs, author Jill Jonnes dispels that notion, pointing out that America’s first "drug epidemic" actually took hold in 1885.

In her exhaustively researched narrative of the country’s on-again, off-again romance with drugs, she traces society’s involvement over 110 years.

Hep-Cats is particularly timely because drug use among young people is increasing, a trend that’s a major issue in the presidential race. Although Ms. Jonnes’ book sometimes effects an academic tone, it is a compelling reading overall.

Particularly fascinating are early accounts of drug use, when little was known about morphine, opium, heroin and cocaine, and no controls existed. Among revelations:

*At the turn of the century, one in 200 Americans was hooked on drugs. Most addicts were middle-class women unaware that nostrums they were taking were laced with opiates.

*Sigmund Freud was an early champion of cocaine

*Coca Cola sold at corner drugstores in the early 1900’s originally contained seven milligrams of cocaine. The powdered form of the drug was the official remedy of the American Hay Fever Association.

*The Bayer Co. was once as well known for Bayer Heroin.

The book also covers drug use during prohibition; before and after World War II; during ‘America’s Second Drug Epidemic (1950-70)’; and currently in ‘America’s Third Drug Epidemic (1980-95).’

Mrs. Jonnes blames baby boomers for much of today’s dilemma. She maintains that while few still get high, they are reluctant to concede that still distrusted authority figures were right. about drugs.

In the concluding chapter, Ms. Jonnes takes issue with those who favor decriminalization or legalization of recreational drugs. Her arguments are methodical, insightful and persuasive...."

Here again is an obvious example of "criminalizing" drugs. Abuses made "control" necessary. In this trend, I predict that one day in the near future, it will become illegal to eat "junk foods" because of the abuses that go on and the detrimental effects such practices may have on United States citizens. So eat all the twinkies you can today, because you may not be allowed to do so in the years to come. Big Brother will always be watching YOU.

I hold the opinion that drugs are desirable because of the altered consciousness they provide to the abuser. When a person’s consciousness is somewhat unacceptable or at. least insufficient, drug addiction potential increases for that individual. When I refer to consciousness, I do not universally refer to a person’s total cognizance as muc’h as to given points in time. For the young, it is usually the state of being bored which encourages drug abuse. For the middle-aged, it is usually a stress-lowered tolerance for frustration. For the elderly, it ma.y be primarily to escape the physiological ar;d psychological effects of aging. And for any of the age groups, it can be purely for th fun of it!

In a prison setting, so many of the variables work towar encouraging drug abuse. The environment. constantly taints an sane man’s consciousness; altering this consciousness from pai to numb is always desirable. People not in prison would thin that prison would be the last place anyone should abuse drugs because the prisoner is supposed to be there in prison to men their ways and to turn away from law-breaking behaviors.

continuing 996

This kind of thinking is most logical to those not in prison. This logic will fail most prisoners, drug offenders and othe criminal—types alike.

Another article in the: same Cincinnati newspaper that caughti

my interest was one about drugs in Ohio prisons, entitled

Smugglers haven:Stop flow of drugs into prisons which was written in a very politically correct manner. Check it out:

The drug problem that is plaguing society has not skipped past Ohio’s prison gates.

That is not surprising, since an estimated 13 percent of the inmates incarcerated by Ohio’s Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections are doing time for drug-related offenses, and half of them are in treatment for drug abuse.

But. making their rehabilitation more difficult is the fact that an increasing number of private citizens are flouting the law, and ris:king their own freedom, by smuggling drugs into Ohio’s prisons. Since 1991, 184 visitors and 13 prison employees have been arrested trying to smuggle drugs into Ohio prisons. Such arrests have been increasing, but. corrections officials don’t know if they should blame more offenders or credit better detection. So far this year (10/96), 30 visitors have been arrested.

‘We had one case where a 54 year old mother was arrested trying to smuggle to. her son 16 balloons of marijuana and crack in a body cavity,’ says Sgt. John Born, spokesperson for the Ohio Highway Patrol, which investigates all Ohio instituticns.

‘Another case, a mother tried to throw tennis balls filled with marijuana over the fence at Chillicothe. Sometimes, when you think you’ve seen it all, there is something else.’

‘We are catching people bringing it in,’ says Sgt. Born, ‘but the ultimate goal is to try to deter people doing it.’

While smuggling arrests are up, the number of inmates testing pcsitive for drug use is not, with the notable exception of Mansfield Prison. Nearly 20% of the inmates at Mansfield prison tested positive for marijuana use after a prison-wide shakedown last week. Only 1.7% tested positive at Lucasville.

Ohio Corrections Director Reginald Wilkinson says that. his zero tolerance program is designed to rid the institutions of illegal drugs through swift punishment for inmates, more drug testing and searches, and a call for stiffer penalties for smuggling.

For visitors, smuggling drugs into prisons a level-five felony, with a 5-to-18-moth sent.ence. For employees, it is a level-four felony, with 18 mcnths. Still, too many judges view drug offenses as non-violet, and prefer to save cells for violent criminals.

All of the inmates who have tested positive at Mansfield were placed in a restricted unit, with no work and no privileges. They are also attending mandatory programming sessions.

Mr. Wilkinson is working with the legislature to get mandatory sentencing for anyone caught conveying drugs into prison. A bill awaits ac:tion in the Ohio Senate. The department has stepped up drug testing, along with the highway patrol’s drug-sniffing canines.

However, the best deterrence is the promise of swift and sure punishment for visitors and prison employees who smuggle drugs into prisons.

Prisons will not be crime free, populated as they are, by criminals. But they should keep crime frcm coming in as well as they keep criminals from getting out.

The statistics posed in this article are those which point the finger of guilt for drugs being in prison to the visitors of the convicted felons in the prison. Trust me; most of the drugs coming into prison are not from visitors, but from state employees and Minimum I custody privileged inmates who convey mass drugs into the prison setting. Pointing the finger at visitors takes the "heat" off the Corrections "Big Shots." Even in prisons where there are no contact visits, there are still drugs! Many of the guards are from about the same social strata as many of the inmates in prison; many of them were neighbors to incarcerated inmates. They are hiring more minority guards, many of whom are personally familiar with chemical abuse as almost second nature to the sub-culture of their ethnic communities. This is not a "racist" observation; just simply hrld facts. Not every minority guard is corrupt, but many are. I personally have seen dealing take place with guards and inmates. I have never interfered with such transactions for purposes of maintaining my "health."

The notion of "deterring" inmates from seeking drugs in the prison setting is not very realistic. Inmates would seek the "relief." even as temporary as it is, if it carried the death penalty. Not every inmate, but surely a significant number among the prison population.

What bothers me about the reactive approach the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is taking is the use being made of the "politically correct" notion of "Zero tolerance program" to rid the institution of illegal drugs. I think they should segregate chemical abusers to particular prison settings where all the "professional tortures" designed for drug abusers could be concentrated on the actual drug abusers and not entire prison populations. If the wish for a successful "zero tolerance" was to come true, then any of the large prisons could be set up for just that type of problem. All visits would be non-contact, shakedowns and testing would be continuous, and punishments would be dealt out swiftly. Also, every employee at eveiy level in that particular institution would be searched and tested for drugs every day coming to and going from work in that institution. This would be mandatory as condition of employment. When an inmate had satisfactorily completed mandatory programming, he or she could be transferred to other institutions for more privileges. Even then, they would be tested and searched for the balance of their sentence. Drug users would soon tire of the discriminatory hassles and lack of privileges enough to forego their habits and abuses until they were out of the prison system.

I realize this approach to a solution seems harsh and reactive, but it is more to the point than just a general attack of entire prison populations. I think there might be an underlying motive in using the "Zero Tolerance" license to arbitrarily and capriciously attack inmate populations for the show of force in the interests of enhancing the management and control mechanisms which will be cloaked in politically correct rhetoric of seeking a "justice" for the "greater good."

I listen to the firing range noise outside the prison yard where volleys of shots are fired with inmates in mind. These Corrections employees are being trained to be "killers," sanctioned by "God and Count’ry," "Law and Order!" God help us all, folks.

Well, I guess I should back off this doom and gloom stuff a bit. I know much of my comments do seem to be very negative, but I honestly believe my thinking to be factual rather than simply negative. I pray I’m wrong, and that I’ve misread some of the facts and issues. I will be delighted to admit my error if none of this doom and gloom stuff comes to pass. But I don’t think I’ll have the luxury of being proven wrong in my assessment. Time will tell, as in all things.

I’ll bring this letter to a close for now, Ron, and get it in the mail for you. Next topic will be one of my favorites, about a definition of sociopath/psychopath persons… later !