So there’s hope for me? Well, pardon me!

Maybe there’s hope. Maybe I just missed my calling. Joshua J. Smith has been appointed to be deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Why is this a thing? Well, NBC News points out that “the BOP has never had a formerly incarcerated inmate work as an employee at any level, according to a senior bureau official.” A former inmate the #2 in the BOP! On the one hand, it makes sense. On the many other hands of the carceral monster, what could possibly go wrong with this?

I’m trying to imagine how the BOP staff feel about this. Now they get to take direction from somebody they locked up. No possible resentment there. Let’s see how they deal with their cognitive dissonance. If a Democrat had appointed Smith, they would have felt they were getting their faces rubbed in shit. How are they handling the Trump aspect of this? By and large, Trump’s their boy. Also, remember that when a BOP worker sees me on the street (and I now live in the area in which I was incarcerated), they tend to flee pretty quickly in a different direction with a somewhat anxious look on their face. There’s something that’s playing out behind the razor wire right now that makes me chuckle. Inmates are undoubtedly doing that kind of face-rubbing. They’re saying to staff, “Hey! Your new boss is one of us. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

But who is Joshua Smith? According to one report:

So Smith and I did about the same amount of time. There’s hope for me! He was convicted during a Democratic administration, just like me. Check. I don’t have a multi-million dollar company, so I think maybe I’m in trouble there. It took some digging to try to find out what this company was, but it looks to be, according to Google’s AI, “a large basement and foundation repair company, particularly known for its presence in East Tennessee. They offer a range of services including basement waterproofing, crawl space repair, and foundation repair. They also provide services like concrete lifting, sump pumps, and mold remediation.” There’s a beautiful symbolism and irony in this. First, it’s the kind of work that the BOP tells the formerly incarcerated that they are supposed to be doing, so it fits a pre-existing pattern. They told a physician friend of mine that he should retrain as a plumber. Second, are they suggesting that something is damp and musty at the bottom of the BOP? He sold this business to start a non-profit foundation called Fourth Purpose, which according to its website, is based on the fact that “he found redemption through God and was guided by several highly educated white-collar criminals who he was able to learn from. But all the books he read, studying he did and plans he made didn’t alter the reality of the world he was released into, one where ex-convicts are still punished by an onerous set of legal restrictions.” Truth, as we say in lockup.

Because I don’t have a business to sell, I can’t be like Smith and cash mine in to start a foundation to aid the formerly incarcerated. So that’s a little discouraging. Because I can’t do that, I can’t get noticed by politicians. Wait, most of my felonious brethren can’t get noticed by politicians except to be used as examples of why we need to be “tough on crime.” Because I can’t get noticed in a positive way, I can’t get “awarded a full pardon … by President Donald Trump for [my] commitment to transformation.” So I can’t have my criminal background erased. So I can’t get a job with the federal government, which doesn’t hire convicted felons. Pardon me, but there are a lot of people who could use pardons; this situation here seems to point toward one of the more insightful moments of that glorious film about felons and the police, Raising Arizona. As H.I. McDonnough opines, “Well, this whole thing is just who knows who. Then over here you have favoritism.” Or, as the news diplomatically puts it: “In June 2019, he was named to Gov. Bill Lee’s Tennessee Criminal Justice Investment Task Force, created to address the criminal justice system, public safety and reentry.” There are a lot of convicted people who have done good work both in and out of prison. I’m willing to bet that Smith is sincere, but the thing is he’s sincere and rich, which gets you a lot further than being sincere and poor.

After he was pardoned, Smith was quoted as saying: “Today is a day of redemption that I attribute to God’s grace,” Smith said after he was pardoned, adding that “there are a lot of Josh Smiths in prisons across our country, and I am going to help as many as possible find a new purpose.” True. Now let’s get all these Josh Smiths some pardons. That would be helpful. That could revolutionize the American justice system. It would only be fair, right? After all, Smith couldn’t work for the federal government if he had a felony conviction on his record, but the pardon took care of that. On the other hand, the only reason he’s working for the federal government is because he had a felony conviction on his record. Kind of a sticky problem, but not an insurmountable obstacle. We can grant all of us ex-cons pardons, or we can give us similar opportunities to get out from under those, in Smith’s words, “onerous set of legal restrictions” that allow people to legally discriminate against others on the basis of felony convictions. Call me a cynic, but I don’t see either of those things happening.

We live in a “justice for me but not for thee” era. In Trump’s world, “justice” is self-serving, which makes it anything but just. Pardons and appoinments that flow from him need to be viewed skeptically, although I can also tell you that a lot of people who are locked up right now are going to think that they might get the same kind of treatment as Smith. However, they also think they are going to become hip-hop stars, professional athletes, or billionaire real estate tycoons when those things just ain’t gonna happen. They always tell us that we have to keep hope alive, but sometimes hope can be foolish.

Also, I don’t want to shit directly on Smith’s religious convictions, but understand that I have a profound suspicion about jailhouse conversions. I will never take someone’s testimony on faith alone; I need to see their acts. It seems as if Smith may have done some fine acts, so that partially sways me. Then I read something like this: “Smith said he was inspired by “Giving It All Away,” written by Hobby Lobby founder David Green, in which Green advocates for founders to commit to a salary and use business profits for philanthropic good.” It’s not the act of giving I question, it’s the inspiration. David Green is repugnant to me. He reminds me of the chaplain at the prison where I was locked up, one of the most un-Christian people I’ve ever met (aside from the local preacher who has made death threats against me) but who was nothing if he wasn’t holier than thou. The chaplain always puts me in mind of a line from the Nelson Algren novel A Walk On The Wild Side that reads, “My pappy was a preacher of sorts…The sort to make you throw your Bible away.” There’s often a great gulf between those who want to save their souls and those who want to do what’s right.

I can’t tell you how this Joshua Smith experiment is going to work out. Will prison food be better? Will things like the First Step Act actually get applied rather than be buried in bureaucratic resistance? Frankly, I don’t see how he can be much more than both a token and a martyr, but that’s plenty for one person to take on. Pardon me.