01 : text : grace.g

[expectaspectre]

[ Grace actually got here a while ago. Apart from a brief encounter with one guy by the inmate cells, she's been drifting around, invisible. Watching. Not talking to anyone, just observing. One guy got handcuffed to the cafeteria tables. It very much reinforced her resolve about staying invisible for a little while.

But she hadn't been lazy-- Her first goal was to raid the research library to find some stuff written by people who are way, WAY more experienced than her about this whole situation. She's spent the past few days reading in her room.

Probably now that she's more acclimatized, it'll be an okay time to try to communicate. Safer. Via text. ]

hello

since arriving here i've been trying to read more about what the experts in the field recommend to assist with prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration. a lot of it seems... difficult to implement, at least immediately

but one of the things they discuss is the option of Group Therapy and i was just wondering if there was anything like that already available

it seems like it could be helpful

Comments

text; hayakawa

[spanning]

Hi

Is group therapy something you have experience with?

[expectaspectre]

no
they talk about it in some of the books as being a helpful tool so
it seemed worth it to ask about it

[spanning]

A good match for your skillset?

[He's just guessing bc he doesn't really get why she'd focus on that, otherwise.]

There isn't much available now. Most of the actual systems and methods are up to wardens, but no one has been here longer than a month, so it's something we need to work on.

[expectaspectre]

pretty much the opposite actually
but it's cheap and doesn't take much to be implemented quickly
wouldn't need a lot of new resources
so

a few people were talking about having an all-warden meeting to get some organization started sometime soon

[spanning]

Makes sense. I guess it mostly hinges on being able to run the group effectively and convincing inmates to show up.

I saw when I read through some of the responses. It'd be good to do that periodically, to keep everyone on the same page. You're a newer arrival?

[expectaspectre]

yes i just got here

[ Not STRICTLY untrue... ]

admittedly the inmate-warden attitude seems a little more
adversarial
than anticipated

[spanning]

[If Aki was the type (or knew what it meant), he'd respond with "lol".]

Just a little

It doesn't help that we're not told much about any of them ahead of time. Or the reverse, really.

[expectaspectre]

idk
information is a double-edged sword
privacy is a right everyone deserves at least a little of

isn't it kind of the point to let people reinvent themselves here ?

[spanning]

It is, but we're left in the dark to the point it can be actively unhelpful.

I'd at least appreciate confirmation of people's identities when they come in. We had that when we first arrived, but not since.

[expectaspectre]

has identity really been such a problem ?

what matters is their role now: someone who needs healing or someone whose job it is to facilitate that healing
not sure what identity there could be that could turn that on its head

[spanning]

I like to know who I'm talking to.

Anyway, my point is more that there's a limitation to how much you can do when you don't know anything about someone. It involves a lot more trial and error than seems productive.

[expectaspectre]

well you could always just
ask them

you can't brute force honesty any more than you can brute force trust or respect
some things take time

1/2

[spanning]

Of course, but there's also more middle ground than that.

private;

[spanning]

[And he nearly leaves it at that, before sighing and switching to the inbox feature.]

Does it not bother you when someone tells you they're innocent and shouldn't be here and you have no idea what they've done

[expectaspectre]

oh
yeah absolutely
that's really annoying
i get not wanting to admit to some of the more heinous things i'm sure they've done but it's just prolonging their stay

i thought you were talking about like
gender presentations
or stuff like that

[spanning]

Uhh no. You're right that isn't relevant to our job

When we first got here, we were all given name tags with things we like written on them. Inmates also had a body count, but that's the extent of what we were told directly about any criminal behavior.

[expectaspectre]

... wow

this place really doesn't seem to be run by any kind of professionals, huh

[ Grace has only read a couple of books thus far but... what kind of fucking yahoos are at the helm, here, exactly??? NAME TAGS WITH A BODY COUNT??? ]

[spanning]

No. Unless the goal is to make it difficult for us, but I don't know what that achieves.

[expectaspectre]

we should discuss that at the warden meeting

why things are being run this way
should we be suspicious of that
is there anything we should do as a group to attempt to enact change for the better
etc