Dinkaltranen

And why being a Clinical Psychologist sucks.

Most of the people in prison genuinely deserve to be there, especially the repeat offenders. You think they don’t, but that’s because you’ve never really met one, sat down, and had a conversation in a locked room with guards waiting nearby.

They are in purgatory. The state is morally against killing them, but it’s also morally against locking them up forever. So they split the difference and make everyone involved wish they were dead.

Every single one of these inmates has a sob story they will tell you when you first meet them about how they’ve been abused by the system. They want you to believe they are a victim, that they shouldn’t be here, that they’re different from everyone else.

“They took away my smart phone!”

But why?

Apparently they were using it to host movie nights with the guys to abate the tedium. Also the movie was child porn.

But now it's a human rights issue, because they claim they use their phone to manage their diabetes. So to not have their phone is a rights violation, taking it away is stopping them from managing their health = illegal. But really, they're using it to observe cheese puffs.

Now they go to court. You are contracted to write a review. You have to say if you think this person is a danger to society, if they can change, and an overview of their personhood. The court pays you good money to do this. You give a statement.

The defence speaks. The state speaks. The judge ignores everything anyone has said and says "Yeah okay we'll give them another chance."

And you sit there numb knowing that everyone here gave up a collective 200 hours of their lives to be completely ignored. You’ll be back here next week for a similar case, and in 6 months for the same case.

The money feels dirty. You are being paid by the taxpayer to make something that is put straight into the shredder. In 6 months you pay the taxman half of what they paid you for work that didn’t matter. The money just moved in a circle, it’s the dole with extra steps.

The process is a ritual, and like any ritual the output is nothing. You are just one of the people chanting, and the shamanic state needs you there not for your voice, but to validate its pretence of action.

Every single one of these cases will be like this. It never ends. At a certain point you will realise you are paid not to do your job, but to be a witness. And what you are seeing is lies.

So, really, not much different from regular clinical work.