Does A Life Sentence Mean No Life At All?

What if you were confined, for the rest of your life, in an 8 x 12 foot cell? Your food is delivered through a small slot in the door, and your only contact with visitors is via telephone through a Plexiglas screen? Not a happy thought, right? But, on second thought, you probably wouldn’t have ended up in such a place if you hadn’t done something to deserve it. Right again.

That’s what life is like for Donny Johnson, a convicted killer, and many of his fellow inmates, who are serving out their sentences in a high security prison near Crescent City, California.

In case you are wondering if this is a sob story about the horrid conditions of prison life, it isn’t. I abhor the crimes these prisoners have committed, and often wish their sentences had been even worse. What caught my eye about this case, was that Donny, in his boredom with his confinement, managed to find something creative to do.

This man, with no access to art materials, (they were forbidden), and no experience in painting, has managed to use the meager supplies at hand to create small, postcard sized paintings, right in his cell. Not just ordinary paintings, but paintings that, with the help of an acquaintance in Mexico, have sold at $500 each.

And what were the amazing supplies he used? M&Ms from the commissary, soaked in water, for paint;
plastic wrap wrapped around strands of his own hair for brushes, and blank postcards for his canvas. Now, that’s what I call ingenuity. If you want to see a CNN article on this extra-ordinary artist, here is their link.
Donny Johnson

Unfortunately, for Donny Johnson, the prison where he is serving time forbids more than art supplies in the inmate cells. It also forbids running any kind of business out of one’s cell. I can understand blocking an inmate from ordering hits on his enemies or administering a drug ring from prison, but it does seem strange to me that an inmate who seems to have found a legitimate, creative outlet for his energy, should be encouraged, not discouraged. But, what do I know, and what do the rest of you think?