The Importance of Recreation

[Editor's Note: The statement below was submitted as written testimony by Michael Santos to the New York City Board of Corrections, which held a hearing on Friday to consider a proposal to reduce the days of exercise at city jails from seven to five.]

Since 1987 I’ve been locked in prisons of every security level, and I expect to remain in prison until 2013. When I began serving this term I was 23 years old. Now I’m 45. I had never been confined before, but within months of being locked inside these boundaries, I knew that the culture of confinement was not for me.

That awareness helped me establish a deliberate adjustment plan, one that would ensure I emerged from my lengthy sentence in good health, and as a law-abiding, contributing citizen.

Besides developing skills and credentials that I hoped would overcome the stigma of my long prison record, daily exercise represented a key component of my adjustment plan. Daily exercise could alleviate the stress that accompanied my separation from home. Prisoners who neglected a personal commitment to exercise and physical fitness, I noticed, did so at their own peril.

A simple glance at the pill-call line of every prison where I served time confirmed the importance of daily exercise. Decades of exposure to meals that were high in sugar, saturated fats, and carbohydrates did not bode well for any prisoner. Those who did not counter such diets with a commitment to exercise suffered from chronic health issues. Some of the common health problems of long-term prisoners I knew included hypertension, clogged arteries, diabetes, gout, and other illnesses that required daily medications. Without exercise, prisoners relied on pills to medicate their way out of health problems.

Prisoners who exercised daily, I’ve both observed and experienced, made themselves less vulnerable to the deterioration of body, mind, and spirit. Indeed, daily workouts helped burn off the calories inflicted by poor diets. Besides the biological benefit of keeping physically fit, however, I knew that exercise helped the mind and spirit as well.

Living in prison for months, years, or decades could lead to mental health complications. While the prisoner served time, stretches of dark thought could torment him as life went on for his family and friends without him. Severe depression could lead to mental misery, with suicide seeming the only apparent solution. Those prisoners who made exercise a priority of their adjustment empowered themselves to triumph over mental torment.

Likewise, I have learned from other prisoners and from my own experience that daily exercise strengthened the spirit. Prisons had a tendency to extinguish hope. Those who exercised regularly positioned themselves to push through the barriers of hopelessness. Instead of dwelling on immutable release dates, they could focus on their own clearly-identifiable fitness goals. For example, they could strive to keep their body weight at a particular level, measure the number of miles walked, or measure their personal strength with training like pushups. Exercise brought an aspect of autonomy back to the individual, and for the prisoner, self control was a gift to cherish.

Both prison administrators and taxpayers alike ought to encourage daily exercise among America’s prison population. Exercise programs could reduce prison health care costs; they could help prisoners build character through personal discipline.

For a more personal view of how I have relied upon daily exercise to carry me through the nearly 22 years I’ve served in prison thus far, I refer readers to my published Values and Goals. As of this writing, for example, I’ve run 1,482 miles over the past 168 consecutive days. I rely upon daily exercise to keep my mind, body, and spirit strong through this long sentence I serve.