Usually the changes are mean ones which helped him to survive the prison experience. Things are geared for the "politically correct" measures with little or no regard for the prisoner’s long-range well-being. The spirit is one centered on rage and revenge by reactive politicians and criminal justice authorities. The hatred and disrespect has spread from more than just the prosecutors thru parole board members to the general reactive public and reactive law enforcement and corrections people.

Convicted felons are the new American "niggers." They are now, more than ever, society’s whipping boys. The decent majority of the American public have their voices stilled by the rantings and ravings of politicians who thrive on the public fear of violent crimes. The media has a talent for taking a heinous crime and make it seem to be happening on every street corner and in every home.

I don’t see any end in sight for the near future. As times get worse, more and more "symptoms" will be addressed rather than causes of issues which provoke deviance in our society. Prayers will be the solace of the decent majority in the outside world, and solace for the decent minority in the prisons.

One of the serious circumstances that has allowed the general public to accept the dehumanization contemporary process popular in prison administration has been the acceptance of distorted perceptions about criminals and their crimes. The public is led to believe that criminals are wanton caricatures of real human beings. In this thinking and perception, the criminal is seen away and apart from the rest of humanity.

The violent criminal especially is seen as having no socially redeemable qualities at all. The violent criminal is an animal apart from the human race. This is not true, naturally, but truth hasn’t much influence over reactive thinking that seems in the interest of giving people a hint that so-called psychopath with the antisocial personality is still human no matter how much the rest of humanity tries to disown them. In Essentials of Psychology; Exploration and Application, by Dennis Coon (1982), Second Edition, Chapter 20, about Deviance and Disorder: The Unhealthy Personality, I read the following definition for the antisocial personality.

"...let us focus on a single frequently misunderstood personality disorder: the antisocial personality. The individual possessing an antisocial personality (sometimes referred to as a sociopath or psychopath) typically has a long history of conflict with society. Antisocial persons are irresponsible, impulsive, selfish, lacking in judgment, unable to feel guilt, emotionally shallow, unable to learn from experience, and lacking in moral values. In short, the sociopath is poorly socialized, has a general disregard for the truth, and seems to lack a conscience (DSM-III, 1980; Cleckley, 1964)

Sociopaths are rarely the crazed murderers that have been portrayed on TV and in movies. It is true that many sociopaths are delinquents or criminals who pose a threat to the general public. But antisocial personalities such as Charles Manson, whose "family" of followers committed the grisly Tate-LaBianca murders, are quite unusual.

Most sociopaths create a good first impression and are frequently described as "charming." Their lying, self-serving manipulation, and lack of dependability only gradually become evident to their "friends." As Harold Greenwald comments: "Usually when we talk about the psychopath we are talking about the unsuccessful psychopath. The reason why we generally do not discuss the successful psychopath is because we would then have to discuss many of the rulers of the world.. .Many of the symptoms.. .such as the lack of morals and apparent lack of guilt, exist widely among people of power and influence" (Greenwald, 1967; quoted in Psychosources, 1973).

Many successful business people, entertainers, politicians, and other "normal" individuals reveal sociopathic leanings in their willingness to use other people coldly for their own ends. Some psychologists believe that the "manipulative personality" may be a better description of the problem as it is encountered in non-criminal individuals (Bursten, 1973).

Antisocial personality disorders are rarely treated with success since sociopaths manipulate therapy as they might any other situation. If it is to their advantage to act "cured," they will do so, but they return to former patterns of behavior at the first opportunity. There is, however, some evidence that antisocial behavior declines somewhat after age 30."

This information is over twenty years old and yet not too many professionals seem to possess the knowledge for any practical purposes. Most of the time, from my first-hand observations, institution psychologists will view the person with an antisocial personality as a sociopath or psychopath. I have a problem with the person being labeled as antisocial (sociopath/psychopath) rather than simply the behaviors as being antisocial (sociopath/psychopath). A person qualifies for such labels simply by thought processes alone. I base that surmise on the premise that the psychometrics of personality inventories such as the MMPI-2, etc. A numerous group of innocuous questions asking for yes or no answers. Numerous scales identify personality traits in the individual, supposedly with the assistance of an interview and interpretation by a professional. Usually these professionals are content to go with the black and white observations of the test results.

What makes this ironic is the fact that you can play baseball all your life and never be called a "ballplayer." Suck one dick, and you are a cocksucker for life. Much the same of behaviors in relation to personality. You can behave like a saint and yet never be called one; behave like a sociopath/psychopaths and you are one for life.

It goes back to my attitude about how characteristic it is of the general public to view a thief as an all-time thief; a liar as an all-time liar; a rapist as an all-time rapist; and a murderer as an all-time murderer. All of this is absurd, but it is usually accepted without question when depicted by Hollywood drama in our mass media channels. There are many people who do know better but these people usually have no real voice about such matters. Plus, many times, they prefer not to become involved one way or another.