Matt

When I spoke with Matt over zoom in August, it was our first time catching up in nearly three years. The last time we spoke was during an interview I arranged for a documentary project, The Issue of the Privately Managed Prison. When Matt joined the call I was immediately presented with his charming smile as he sat in a bright, orderly room. Against the back wall was a black dresser with large letters spelling “be happy” sitting on top. It certainly seemed to reflect where Matt was in life. He had gotten married a few years before, recently bought a house, and just started a new job. I expressed how happy I was to hear about all the good news, but having spoken with him in 2019, we both knew that life for Matt hadn’t always been trending upward. 

Matt first entered George W. Hill Correctional Facility on April 21st, 2016. He was charged with a DUI offense, placed in the system, relocated to a state facility, then returned to George W. Hill from September of 2016 to December of 2016. Although his time in prison spanned roughly nine months, the physical and emotional impact of his experience extended well beyond his release. It didn’t take long at all for Matt to realize “they treat you like a piece of meat”. During his intake, Matt shared a cell with sixteen other individuals. He was eventually moved to a block where he spent many nights involuntarily sleeping on the cement floor. Considering the prison’s established system of organizing residents into different blocks, what didn’t make much sense to Matt was that he shared space with individuals carrying life sentences for charges such as murder and assault. 

With time, it became even clearer that George W. Hill was far from a well-oiled machine, and instead a cheaply-oiled one. “It all was easily about capitalism. It was about how much money can we bring in for these [inmates] and how can we screw them over at the same time”. To “screw them over” means, among many things, cutting costs when possible — at the detriment of those housed in the facility. Under GEO, incarcerated individuals at George W. Hill, including Matt, were served notoriously poor-quality food. It was very impactful to hear Matt profoundly state that “food should be worth going in your stomach”. Many residents of George W. Hill are only awaiting trial, and the lack of a conviction precluded individuals from receiving rehabilitative treatment. According to Matt, those awaiting trial were only granted access to the law library — a vastly insufficient resource within the grand scope of many individuals’ experiences at the prison.

After his release from George W. Hill, Matt struggled with PTSD from the inherent nature of the carceral experience and maltreatment via a severe lack of resources in the facility. Although he now existed outside the system physically, his mind and body remained tethered to the traumas of nine months within the system. He returned to his alcoholic habits and fell into a severe post-release depression. Fast-forward many years later, when the two of us spoke in August, Matt seemed to be doing better than ever — not to the credit of George W. Hill, but rather Matt’s own resilience. Not only has Matt overcome an incredibly grueling period in his life, but also drives forward with a motivation to reform the system. 

A note: Matt’s story is being written in 2022, where GEO no longer holds contractual authority over the facility. With the recent return of George W. Hill into the hands of the Delaware County Council, our county has taken the first of many, many steps towards reaching a more equitable, intentional, and rehabilitative correctional facility. While the system itself remains innately flawed, a local prison under the control of local government invites more transparency and involvement of Delco residents. Matt’s story will close with an incredibly simple, yet profoundly vital reminder as we continue advocating for incarcerated individuals — and ultimately our own community at large:

“There needs to be a change”