One of the best jobs in prison is to train prison dogs. Jerry Metcalf describes how there are five rules to taking care of them and he makes the point that prison officials don’t even afford the inmates the same rights. 

Here in my Michigan prison, I train service dogs for a nonprofit organization, Paws with Cause (pawswithacause.com). That non-profit organization believes in the five freedoms, which are internationally accepted standards of care that affirm every living being’s right to humane treatment. These standards were developed by Britain’s Farm Animal Welfare Council in 1965, and adapted by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians for companion animals in shelters.

Don’t Miss More Stories about Dogs in Prison:

Dogs in Prison

How A Dogs in Prison Program Changed My Life

Inmate Dog Training: My Journey with Sprout

What I find most interesting about the five freedoms is that they’re thought of in terms of how animals should be treated. Yet, on America’s modern-day plantations, no such ethos exists. Here, we 13th Amendment slaves are treated like property, not living beings. This perplexes me, mostly because we prisoners are still human, even if we have broken the law.

I argue that the five freedoms should apply to all 13th Amendment slaves across America, but I’ll show you how they don’t.

The Five Freedoms

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst by ready access to fresh water and diet to maintain health and vigor.

Here in Michigan prisons, several slaves have died of thirst. No shit. I know, that sounds unbelievable, but it’s a fact. Usually, when that completely avoidable tragedy occurs, it’s the result of a prisoner being tossed in solitary confinement, placed on punitive water restriction, then forgotten.

Yep, you read that correctly. Our superbly trained and educated prison guards somehow forget to water said slave for days, and said slave then dies a slow, torturous death. Or maybe those guards don’t forget. Maybe that’s just what they say when the lawsuit arrives. Food for thought.

Speaking of food, ours sucks. Just the other day, the masters served raw chicken. Raw. Fucking. Chicken. Can you believe it? Imagine if KFC or Popeye’s did something similar, what type of uproar might America’s TikTok community cause? Most 13th Amendment slaves in prison suffer from hypertension, diabetes, or both. This is a direct result of our ultra-processed, salty, high-carb diet. It’s literally killing us. And the sad part is, the government knows it and doesn’t give a shit.

2. Freedom from discomfort by providing an appropriate enviroment including shelter and a comfortable resting area. This means you should provide soft bedding and an area with an appropriate temperature, noise levels, and access to natural light.

Our “resting areas” are far from comfortable, and we slaves are stacked in here like cord wood. Hell, I was once thrown in a solitary confinement cell with no clothes, no blankets, no mattress, and no toilet paper. The window was not only broken, but painted over. And the light switch didn’t work. I spent two or three days shivering in that shithole, pacing back and forth to stay alive. Luckily, the place was also noisy as fuck, so that kept me from drifting off and possibly dying from hypothermia.

3. Freedom from pain, injury, or disease by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.

In prison, there’s a reason we call the Health Care Department “Death Care”. Truth is, prison health care companies (and lots of their employees) are a bunch of lying, manipulating, money-grubbing entities. I’ve yet to encounter one that places people’s lives over profits. I suffer from kidney disease, and on the day my affliction was thrust upon me (thanks to an exposure to heavy metals while slaving away) I arrived in Death Care urinating straight blood. I was terrified. But, surely I was rushed to the hospital, or at the very least, seen by a doctor? Nope. The nurse (LPN) on shift that day illegally diagnosed me.

“You’re fine. You’ve probably got an infection or something,” she said, as if I was somehow intentionally ruining her afternoon of planned internet browsing, gum chewing, and phone talking.

I held up the jar full of blood. “But this is blood.”

“I can see that,” she sneered.

“My unit guard said this is bad. This has to be bad. You’re not a doctor.”

Her accusing eyes narrowed. “This shit’s wasting my time. Don’t be such a sissy, you’ll be fine.” She then shrugged. “Or you won’t.”

“What’s that mean?” I was more terrified than ever. My boss, the state maintenance employee I worked under, had already been admitted to the hospital with complete kidney failure due to the same incident.

She chuckled evilly. “Like you said. I’m no doctor.”

I’ve watched Death Care kill many of my friends. And it doesn’t hurt any less each time it happens. So sad. So immoral. So methodically evil. Yet, I’m the one labeled a monster in this bizarro-world story. Go figure.

4. Freedom to express normal behavior by providing sufficient space, proper facilities, and company of the animal’s own kind as desired.

Hahaha. Shit, I don’t even know where to start with this one. There’s just so much wrongness that could be covered. I did mention we’re stacked like cord wood, right? Prison overcrowding is a real thing. There is no “sufficient space.” I share two toilets and a shower with 50 other slaves. 100 if you count the guys upstairs. Also, if you knew how complex the masters have made our visiting policy, you’d understand that we are definitely discouraged from the “company of our own kind.”

Our visiting room used to be consistently packed, so much so that already-visiting visitors would be asked to leave in order to make room for newly arriving visitors. No longer. On visit days, five convicts on average are lucky to be visited. This hinders our chances of rehabilitation in ways you can’t fathom. We slaves need to be in touch with free, law-abiding people who love us. If our only contact with the free world is through the inept, lazy, manipulative, predatory, uncaring, and often downright evil prison guards, then how do you expect us to behave any better than them, our only role models?

5. Freedom from fear and distress by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering. The mental health of an animal is just as important as its physical health, as psychological stress can quickly transition into physical illness. These conditions can be achieved by preventing overcrowding and providing sufficient enrichment and safe hiding spaces.

Prison is nothing but continuous mental suffering. Even I suffer terribly—one who meditates, prays, smiles, and laughs daily. I hide my anguish, sadness, and loneliness from my friends and loved ones simply because there’s no sense in dragging them down too. Don’t get me wrong, I love the responsible, caring man I’ve grown into. And I wouldn’t trade my life for anything, because I am the sum of all my experiences, good and bad.

Yet, prison is beyond stressful. And probably not for the reasons you think. Sure, I’ve been stabbed, beaten, and almost raped. I’ve been in lots of fights, several of them for my life. To survive, I’ve done violent shit I’m not proud of. And, like a conscripted soldier stuck in a war zone, I’ve also learned to accept all those bad experiences and emotions as just another part of life.

No, what stresses me the most is the masters. From them, there are no “safe hiding spaces.” In prison, the guards are the worst predators of all. Some of them are pure evil. While others, the so-called “good ones,” are only good when it benefits them. When push comes to shove, and a slave is being George Floyded to death by some of those bad guards, the so-called “good” guards suddenly look the other way or are conveniently nowhere to be seen.

Those “good” guards always scatter like cockroaches in sunlight when some of that goodness is needed. In here, we call it the Grey Wall. Out in the free world, you know it as the Blue Wall, where real cops are concerned. It’s how one bad apple truly does spoil the bunch, because none of his coworkers are able or willing to stand up to his corruption.

In general, I see the five freedoms as a wonderful thing. I love my dogs, and want to do right by them. I just wish the elected government would wise up and feel the same way about us 13th Amendment slaves. After all, we too are human beings with mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, children, and—most importantly—souls that need to be nourished, not neglected.

95% of us will undoubtedly return to society, so which would you rather have living next door to you, a former slave who for decades had been tortured, abused and filled with rage and resentment? Or a rehabilitated man who had been treated with an ethos similar to the five freedoms?

I know, that’s one hell of a question, but with the United States cycling about a million people a year through its prison systems, the odds of a convict living or working near you or with you are pretty good.

If forced to choose, I know who I’d pick. Do you?

My name is Jerry Metcalf, and I wish to make the world a better place.

Jerry Metcalf #251141
Thumb Correctional Facility
3225 John Conley Drive
Lapeer, MI 48446

The post Shouldn’t We Have the Same Rights as Our Prison Dogs? first appeared on Prison Writers.