Upon leaving the prison gates, every inmate solemnly swears to never look back. Nearly all pledge this vow…
Returning, the overwhelming sense is that the prison has been awaiting your inevitable return. Stepping into the cells of Nafplio, I encountered numerous familiar faces from Grevena, Korydallos, transfers, detention centers. They now blended seamlessly into the stark penitentiary backdrop. Their histories were familiar to me. They had completed their terms and “settled” their societal debts. Both principal and interest accounted for. No reprieve was granted, not a single day spared. I pondered why they remained incarcerated.
“Revoked licenses, suspended freedoms, ancient rulings forgotten..”
Forgotten souls inhabit the penitentiary system. They are the enduring denizens of confinement with brief respites.
Media hounds in their attire and heavy cosmetics snarl for harsher punishments. They foam at the mouth, decrying the inadequacy of the sentences. “Life means life” they howl.
They are unconcerned by the prevalence of life imprisonments in Greece, issued with alarming ease by the judiciary. They disregard the absurdity of sentencing individuals to 70, 80, 100 years—burdens a convict would require two lifetimes to fulfill, extending even beyond death!
Yet, they boast of their adherence to human rights and European values. At least there is no death penalty here. Yet, indeed, there is…
Though they do not subject the felon to the electric chair’s flames, their lengthy sentences corrode him with the acid of time, forsaken within concrete confines. The enduring aspiration of the convict following the trials’ Golgotha is release and the coveted parole…
With each submission, having met all stipulated conditions, he retrieves his dossier, dons his “finer” garments, and with a substantial dose of hope, encounters his judges.
“Denied… He will not make optimal use of the parole. Denied… The good conduct displayed in prison is merely a show.”
The convict has fulfilled his end, and now the judges’ pronouncement foretells his fate. Frequently, they do not even meet the convict during his appeals. His criminal record suffices, while they proclaim not to judge his past. After all, he has atoned for his past actions.
Prisoners are not without fault, yet if the “remedy” is but extended incarceration, it must be remembered that an overdose of medication poisons the recipient. To address the issue effectively, one must identify its origins. No one is inherently criminal. The penitentiary reflects society’s image. When the convict observes that the state’s ethos comprises corruption, deceit, scandals, he emulates these traits.
Simultaneously, ambiguous court rulings and stricter penalties outlined in the revised criminal code breed resentment and survivalist cunning in the prisoner. Marginalized by society and branded by the stigma of imprisonment, he is compelled to perpetuate his malign persona. The judges’ prophecy of “feigned transformation” metamorphoses into a self-fulfilling prediction.
His freedom is subject to an expiration date.
Outside the prison edifice looms the intangible grand prison… With the dread of authentic captivity, society sequesters itself. Fear, defeatism, apathy constitute its bars… The conviction that change is inconceivable. Individuals persist in meandering within their confined spaces, commuting between home and workplace, placating their incarceration with illusory delights and coveted merchandise. Escalating impoverishment, tangible and spiritual, compels them to lower their gaze even further.
For their liberation, the harshest arbiter is the judicial panel. Their very essence. We alone must elect our manner of existence. Embrace the terms of a contented captive or opt for the requisites of genuine liberation and diginity…
Wishing you all the best…
Christos Tsakalos
Nafplio prison