Profiles
with Tara: Interview with Ted Conover
Author of Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing (II of II)
Introduction to book at: http://talktotara.com/biohistoryandscifi.htm
RealPlayer interview at: http://talktotara.com/conover.ram
Copyright © 1998-2002 TalktoTara.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
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(start interview at about halfway mark on RealPlayer)
Vocabulary (II):
| relationship to vary state maximum security prison tense to be oppressed uniform imprisoned Latino strict, stern joking dark humor good-natured hard time P.A. system ground floor chamber setting overall war separate sides to get old to wear one out male psyche hormone the way we're set up physiologically passage to deal with not to have a lot of choice bottom rung law enforcement stigmatized good benefits pension to be forced to prison guard material why on earth...? |
to make
a living manipulative to flirt to show favoritism hard to resist Mr. Slurpy out of the ordinary debased depraved body fluids excrement urine the box disciplinary building to spray disgusting to bring it up special crime aggravated assault to extend firm, consistent to flip = to go crazy 'to blank somebody down' destroyed characters Puerto Rican overtime huge physical presence blank face situations requires it outnumbered housing block cells chow gym prison rape ongoing obsessed with |
poem Anne Frank in common with tattoo prose vocational shops neighborhoods to supervise transvestite transsexual abound attractive capable to excite some interest hard-up to pretend receding hair pot belly yellow teeth breasts freak peculiar sort of on the subject was it worth it to my knowledge to get away with consensual sex stairwell utility closet constant supervision showers wide open to get caught punished Turner rehabilitation |
| warehouses human beings storage units if you will statement despite to turn someone around law-abiding to give lip service to rehab = rehabilitation AA = Alcoholics Anonymous anger management to go in with to pull off a heist to fill their brains punitive frame of mind to be fascinated by trial court TV apprehension cops O.J. (Simpson) to be convicted side door to put oneself in invitation garbage toxic waste to shut one's eyes to |
to reform to be diverted from first-time offenders judge to have one's hands tied California Louisiana to reassess education creative to put one's mind to it Europe model counseling to be involved with to draw a dark line fuzzy soul-shrinking support alcoholics divorced abusiveness psychic spiritual aspect to stay whole occasionally alongside to penalize to put people down |
to bring
out a side of one inner disciplinarian aggressive robotic to keep s.t. to oneself stress to stay healthy decent larger view generation live among us damaged Bloods to cook up a program supervised at loose ends there's a ton we could do short term Alaska to retrace territory disaster log rafts to float creek Yukon to recreate teenagers in my blood |
Listening
Comprehension Questions (II):
1. How do a lot of prisoners feel about the justness of their imprisonment?
2. What kind of relationship is there usually between the inmates and guards?
3. Why, according to Conover, can it be harder to work in a women's prison?
4. Doing what can make a guard's job easier in a women's prison, according to
Conover?
5. What disgusting thing did the inmate with the nickname of 'Mr. Slurpy' sometimes
do?
6. What can happen to an inmate who behaves like this in a New York prison?
7. How did an officer look after a prisoner did the action described in (5)
to him?
8. What did one Puerto Rican inmate have tattooed on his back?
9. One inmate felt it was 'too late' for the people already in jail; where should
resources go instead?
10. Some transvestites and transsexuals got different treatment than others.
Why?
11. What does Conover say about prison rape, based on his experience working
at Sing Sing?
12. Why is it difficult for something like rape to take place in a prison like
Sing Sing?
13. What does Conover think the 'single best way to keep people from coming
back' to a prison is?
14. What does Conover mean when he says 'we're in a punitive frame of mind'
in the US at this time?
15. The public seems very interested in trials; but less information is available
about what?
16. Explain the metaphors of 'garbage' and 'toxic waste' as cited in this interview.
17. What is the first thing, Conover suggests, that should be done to reform
the U. S. penal system? The second?
18. What does Europe seem to do better than the US as regards their penal system?
19. What does Conover mean when he says the job of prison guard is 'soul shrinking'?
20. What unpleasant side effect does the author say his experience brought out
in him?
21. The author said he tried to keep unpleasant things to himself and away from
his family;
but what did he find out was important in order to maintain his own emotional
health?
22. What is the prison system doing right, according to Conover?
23. What happens when young black and Latino men who have spent their 20s and
30s in prison go back into society?
24. About how much does it cost for the government to keep an inmate in jail
for a year?
25. What is one of the author's next projects?