Comparing Camp Hill With
Coal Township State Prison
By: P. Swann

I have a family member who's serving time in the Coal Township state prison in Central Pennsylvania. On my first visit there to see him, I was amazed at how clean the place was. To me the prisoners looked well, too, maybe because a lesson was learned from the "riot."

Before he was transferred to the Coal Township prison, he was at the state prison at Camp Hill near Harrisburg. My visit to him there was VERY rude. The guards were extremely abrasive and nasty to the visitors as well as the inmates.

I'm not a racial person, but in some cases, prisons which are in primarily white area and guards from primarily white areas, have serious problems with black inmates. Its no excuse to treat black visitors the way they do. It's uncalled for.

We must also understand that, yes, the inmates who are in prison shouldn't have done whatever it was that got them into prison, but what about the inmates who are there and it was not their fault? They just got caught with a person who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

For instance, my family member was with the wrong people at the time of his arrest. He was the one who took the downfall for their misbehavior. He just wants to do whatever time he must serve and come home to start fresh, but while at Camp Hill he got involved with some of the guards. They just didn't like him even though he was simply trying to stay out of trouble.

Some guards just pick on inmates because they have the upper hand. I don't condone what inmates do to the guards, but you have to take into consideration what the guards do to some of the inmates, too.

As far as Coal Township goes, I was treated with the utmost respect. Even when I called to speak to my family member's counselor, they treated me with respect. I hope it wasn't because they couldn't see my color over the phone.

I really think that inmates as well as guards should have some kind of training in respecting one another; everyone would get along fine. What the inmates do to get into these facilities is not right, but you cannot take there rights away from them and treat them like trash. If guards continue to disrespect inmates and their rights, inmates will be disrespecting guards.

Finally, you should treat people the way you want to be treated. If you treat them with respect, you'll get respect back in return.

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