Prison Materialism – Part 2

The first indications I had of the reality of materialism in prison was about a decade ago when my cellmate and I had just arrived to the prison in Nevada state. We were right out of the county jail and starving. Just to be clear, the starvation in county jails across the country is legendary and in short, it's to make us sign the first plea we get so we can get the hell out of there to the relative abundance of prison. We were both drooling and salivating over a commissary list (what they sell at the prison store) with all sorts of chips and pastries and meats and COFFEE and... It's hard to tell what's worse, but the gnawing of starvation beats out the vice of caffeine, but only barely. That gnawing was only slightly abated after just recently eating the relish sandwich Id won a rock, paper, scissors match for, but that being the last of the food in the cell till tomorrow, we were left to dream about the many delicacies that would await us in only a few of the longest days of our lives till store day. The commissary also had other basics like soap, shampoo and standard prison clothes. Yes, we have to buy our own clothes.. We only get a set when we first come in. It also must be noted that yes, they do feed us but it's the bare minimum. On a good week (rare), it's enough to survive on but barely.

I was wondering how the 100$ limit could be spread around to accommodate not only lots and lots of food, but also some coffee and maybe, just MAYBE.. some soap. Starvation is a funny thing. I remember wondering how many honeybuns I could actually eat in one sitting. I then realized my cellmate was asking an awful lot of questions about clothing and shoes: prices, sizes, styles, etc... I knew he was at least as hungry as I was because he took that loss of that relish sandwich pretty badly. The more he complained about them, and how he could ONLY get one pair of shoes this week, the clearer it became that he intended to spend most or ALL of his money on clothes! As the reality of our differing priorities dawned on me, I was bewildered. I couldn't imagine how anyone could give a tiny rats ass about t-shirts or shoes. Being the type who needs to understand, I led with the obvious question: why? He sputtered off the (to him) obvious answer that he absolutely needed not one full sweat suit but at least two: one for going outside and the other to sleep in. I didn't point out that he was sleeping just fine without jammies and when I asked what was wrong with going out (not "on the town" or "on a date". Out is leaving the cell) in the clothes we were given at intake, the disbelief and disdain on his face as he tried to explain why water was wet and that we have to appear affluent to everyone or else... Well, I still don't know. I doubt he does either.

Over several weeks of 100$ limits, he was eventually dressed as nice as prison allows, pretty much like most of the others. It depends on where you are, but in Nevada its dark blue sweatpants and a sweatshirt with a matching hat and the finest plastic/rubber Nike shoes prison markups can buy. Like most others, he was still begging for food and coffee after the first month. Because I'm not cruel and won't let someone starve(been there, thanks to prison and jails and I refuse to be as bad as those people are) I'd help as I could, but never without a sermon: "if you didn't have 3 pairs of new shoes and 2 watches, you could buy all the food you like and we could be sharing YOUR coffee.", but none of these ever seemed to take.

I started really puzzling over this and made a stipulation that if well-dressed wanted handouts, they had to answer some questions, each one being some iteration of why they thought it was more important to "look nice"(very subjective) even knowing they'd be hungry. While sitting, enjoying their begged coffee with me in my hobo-chic clothing, the answer was boiled down to the obvious: the esteem of the other inmates was more important than hunger. How much so? We both lost almost as much weight as each other during the 6 months in the county jail and losing 30lbs hurts when it's that fast.

Now sure, there were practical attempts at explanations of needing shoes for the cell, shoes for outside the cell, workout shoes, shoes for visits.. but the amount of effort spent on appearances when they strut around the cell block in their 60$ Nikes speaks to the feeling of status and pride that swells their chests. I can't help but wonder if they're not wasting precious time, not to mention money. And how much give-a-fuck must they have?! I may be deficient. They also don't seem to see the irony in the fact that those whose esteem they are dressing up for, are the same people they are begging food and coffee off each and every week.. I'm sure you're thinking that this behavior probably stops once they've stocked up on sufficient shoes, watches, sweatshirts etc.. It doesn't. There's always one more bright and shiny thing on the list for them to buy.

I'm sure this jump won't be inconceivable considering my current residence: I notice drug addicts also spend all their money on their drugs, even clucking off their new clothes and watches for their preferred poison. Really, this makes more sense because at least the drugs make them feel good for a few moments of their life. Rather than the accumulation of the fanciest plastic watches and over-priced clothes that won't go with you when you leave. Whether they think they can take it with them or not, it still leaves a gaping abyss of questions about why anyone would buy up all the crap they could find at double the price, to impress absolutely no one and likely have to starve and beg as a result.