The young woman was quite literally sitting in the open window of her apartment, her legs and torso making an L that filled the window frame. This image accompanying the news report about the stay at home orders in many states triggered a thought. The image encapsulated the human need to move around in and interact with its environment, whether urban or rural; the need to socialize, to make choices. It also triggered the thought of the thousands (millions?) of incarcerated individuals for whom even sitting in the sun in a window frame is an unattainable pleasure for years at a time.

In this time of self-isolating, working from home, closing schools, and restricting movements in public there is massive evidence that most people find this frustrating, irritating, or aggravating. They are chafing quietly and yearning to once again be able to dash to Target at the first thought of a shortage of deodorant, or to the coffee shop for a café latte that cannot be made at home. But the limitations of sheltering in place, canceling group activities and working from home, are nothing compared to the restrictions of incarceration.

Anyone in the general prison population is isolated, yet never really alone. The environment is made of hard surfaces, noisy metallic sounds, and a potentially threatening community. In normal times meals are congregate; recreation is congregate; the schedule, often even the light or darkness, is imposed; family and friends are far away with no cell phones allowed and exorbitant fees are charged for landline calls. Oh, and that deodorant you might grab at Target will cost more at the commissary while work, if any, will be compensated far below minimum wage.

In 1975 I had the opportunity to tour Jackson State Prison in Michigan. (This particular prison is now closed and replaced by several newer facilities.) Knowing full well that I would be leaving in a short time without ever hearing those locks clang immutably behind me, without ever living with minimal independent agency on how I spent my days, without the claustrophobia of being locked in with possibly hostile strangers, I found it scary and dehumanizing.

It is so easy to think only that those in our jails and prisons deserve the punishment they are receiving for having violated laws and social norms and then think of them no more. It is easy to react negatively when learning of free college courses or free medical care. But hard time IS hard.

I am very fortunate to not have young children at home needing guidance with schoolwork and guidance, with healthy entertainment while separated from their friends and their regular activities. I am fortunate to not be working from home while caring for those children. My sisters and I live in four different states. I can say that I have seen their faces more frequently this spring than usual as we have held family Zoom gatherings rather than just email or phone exchanges. So, when I chafe at sitting home and eating in, I have to stop and remember. I could sit in my window any time.

These times make you think.