The TRUTH from a Supermax Prisoner

Timothy Greenlee  

 Presently I am in a so-called supermaximum security unit called The Secure Housing Unit [SHU]. I have been in a cage here 24 hours a day since 08-21-01 – and there is no end in sight. Anytime I come out of my cage for any reason I am handcuffed behind my back and shackled. I am not allowed any commissary items beyond stamps and cosmetic items. Many of the other prisoners confined here in the SHU are mentally disturbed, and make it really terrible for those of us who are not mentally disturbed. The staff give these patients many drugs which they abuse and hype themselves up with – then torment others by their exhibited insanity and mayhem – screaming and shrieking and banging on their cell doors and fixtures. I’ve written true accounts of some of my experiences – if you’re interested to use some them I’ll send them to you later. I have also written a dialogue about the criminal process in general which I would like you to consider using – I’ll enclose it with this letter to you – it gives much insight from my standpoint, being inside the belly of the beast.

  I use my days and nights as constructively as possible under the conditions of any environment. I engage myself each day with reading the thoughts of the classical philosophers – philosophy has become me love in life – as well as astronomy by description. My favorite philosophers are Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Plato. You might be familiar with Plato’s dialogues? One of the distinctions that Plato often spoke on was the difference between a philosopher and a “sophist”. Nowadays, sophistry is best demonstrated in the courts, and indeed, in ancient Greece sophists were basically lawyers. The Athenians, in Plato’s time, had a democracy, which was direct representation, in other words, there were no legislatures – everyone had equal say and everyone voted on everything [The reason this was possible is that only citizens could vote which meant no slaves – the slaves were not as in America based upon race, but were from other conquered peoples – often they were from other parts of Greece! If you lost in a war, you became a slave to the victor – no women also, and no non-Athenians. Unlike the USA as well, being born in Athens, even if you were not a slave, or a woman, did not mean you were a citizen. Rather, citizenship was hereditary. Thus, only about 200-400 people in Athens were citizens. Of course, direct democracy requires a small number of people]. Now, if you are the rich landowner , or a general who wants to go into a battle, you must first convince all of the citizens that you are right. So, you’d hire a teacher in sophistry who would argue your case for you. He would use “rhetoric” in order to persuade the citizens and presto! – the first lawyers. But, what Plato asked, via the endlessly interesting figure of Socrates was: “What is the function of the sophist?” The sophist , or lawyer in our present era, attempts to convince people [a jury]. But a sophist is not concerned with the truth. In fact, the truth may be his enemy, depending on his position in a controversy. Rather, a sophist is only concerned with persuasion and will use whatever arguments possible to prevail. On the other hand, a philosopher is a lover of truth, so the issue would always be: “What is true?” “What is the right thing to do?” Socrates refused to accept money for his teaching because he said that if he accepted money then he would be compromised to find a truth based on the interests of where that money came from [Interestingly, Plato – his student and scribe as Socrates never wrote that we know about – started a school, The Academy, and did accept money].

    In our system today, the public views the courts, much like the Athenians did, as a type of game. Like any professional sports team, the key to winning is being well funded so you can buy the best players. That is to say, the key to having a successful defense is to be well financed.

    Of course, the devastating consequence of this state of affairs is that the poor of society end up with little or no defense. For Socrates, what is damning about lawyers is that they pass off what is false for what is true. That is, they don’t say “I am saying this because so-and-so is paying me and it is in his best interests”, but rather they say “this is true”. But, the issue should always be, for all people, WHAT IS TRUE? For Socrates, the true and the good were the same thing. In the Socratic mindset, it is not possible for one to be an intelligent, bad person – if you are bad then you must still be lacking some wisdom – because true intelligence – THE TRUTH – is always also good [and beautiful too]. It follows from this that people are bad, not because they are evil, but because they are ignorant. Once you know the truth, Socrates thought you would necessarily do the right thing.

    Lawyers, then, are the last people on the planet who should be involved in deciding a man’s fate since they are trained not to look for the truth, but to look to win a case. An interesting dialogue on this point is Plato’s Euthyphro.


                        Your friend,
                            Timothy

© Copyright 2003 Timothy Greenlee

TO BE IS TO DO – Nietzsche
TO DO IS TO BE – Russell
DO BE DO BE DO – Sinatra ;-)


                        Take care of yourself!

Tim Greenlee

PCF #865760

PO Box 30

Pendleton, IN 46064

The truth about Supermax by Timothy Greenlee

A Conversation with Timothy Greenlee

Comments regarding the Conversation Timothy Greenlee

Days in the life of  SHU inmate Timothy Greenlee

Life in SHU - Malfeasance, Revenge and The Tour

Life in SHU - Strip Search and Walk of Shame

Phylosophy Truth, Life and Death

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