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something...reading, writing or doing chores (I’m a clean freak).”<br />
Given the comment about being a clean freak, we might assume that Harrelson is probably a Judger.<br />
The fact that he kept constantly busy is important too; Keirsey (1998) has noted that the Rationals<br />
must work and that idleness would be the “worst sort of punishment.” Indeed, supermax seems to<br />
have failed quite badly in regard to the punishment of idleness. Harrelson went on to say, “I s’pose<br />
you might think boredom is a problem for me. Not true. There are not enough hours in a day for<br />
my needs as a matter of fact.”<br />
There are well documented cases of people going insane as a result of prolonged solitary<br />
confinement. Harrelson noted objectively, “I still have a relatively intact mind.” It is significant<br />
that the mind was highly valued by this prisoner. When counting his many blessings compared to<br />
others, he wrote, “And perhaps most important of all, I have my mind.” For Rationals, the mind is<br />
the most prized faculty and it provides much richness in their lives, especially in supermax, when it<br />
is pretty much all they have.<br />
In Harrelson’s prison each inmate can control his cell’s lighting and thus keep whatever hours they<br />
please. (This is as opposed to other prisons, where showers and lights out occur at regularly<br />
scheduled intervals.) Harrelson liked the “independence” of the supermax way of life, and took<br />
advantage of it to stay up into the wee hours of the morning. In this regard, it seems that supermax<br />
may be preferable to regular prison for INTs.<br />
In terms of family situation, Harrelson had family and friends outside of prison whom he wrote to<br />
daily. He pitied the other prisoners who had no one outside, and his correspondence with his family<br />
seemed to be very important to him.<br />
As regards the issue of control, he basically decided that he couldn’t do anything about it, and thus<br />
there was no point in fussing over it. He didn’t fight the system; rather, he was a good prisoner, and<br />
thus earned many extra privileges.<br />
So what can we make of all this? First of all, it seems obvious that supermax was not designed with<br />
people like Harrelson in mind. In fact, supermax seems to be more like “a clean version of heaven”<br />
for those with INT proclivities.<br />
Don’t ever wind up in prison, but if you do, maybe the high security lockdown cells are the way to<br />
go. But only if you have get access to paper, pencil, and books.<br />
Harrelson – Was He Really an INTJ?<br />
Since I brought Harrelson up as an example, I should discuss the ambiguity in his case.<br />
When I was writing the book on INTPs, I read factual and fictional accounts of INTPs in<br />
confinement. In each case, it they were better able to accept conditions of incarceration than other<br />
types. I suspected then that INTJs were similar to INTPs in this respect, and cited Harrelson as an<br />
example of an INTJ who seemed to enjoy his time in supermax.<br />
For this book, I decided to dive deeper in Harrelson's case, hoping to find some clues to the modus<br />
operandi of INTJ criminals. Instead, I was flabbergasted to find that Harrelson only acted like an<br />
INTJ when he was in prison. Outside, seemed like a completely different man.<br />
Whether he an INTJ or not, this doppelganger behavior demands closer examination. So, let's<br />
dissect him.<br />
But first we'd better say a few words about what he did to get in prison. Harrelson was a hitman, a<br />
robber, a debt enforcer, a pimp, and a general all around crook and sleazebag. He achieved