Abstract
The moral and ethical principles that bind society don't count inside prison. You, the custodians, formulate whatever rules, whatever system you require to keep the prisoners in captivity. You must stand between them and us. You are not a connection between the free world and the prison world but a chasm, a wall, a two-sided, unbreakable mirror. When we look at you we see ourselves. We see order and justice. Your uniforms, your rules reflect humane discipline. We see our faces, a necessarily severe aspect of our nature in the stern mask above your martial attire. When prisoners gaze into the reverse side of the mirror they should see the deformed aberrations they've become. Keepers are set in place to reflect and sustain this duality. In between the bright mirrors stretches an abyss.
John Edgar Wideman (Brothers and Keepers)
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