Abstract:

One can learn from my work the struggles that incarcerated people face. After being incarcerated for close to sixteen years, I am able to provide tremendous insight from the vantage point of a woman who is also a mother, having left behind an infant and a toddler. The educational value attached to my work is priceless, as I open my heart to my readers and bleed on paper through my pen, offering up my pain and other raw emotions.

Many people out there may watch prison television shows and get an idea of what they think prison is like. I deliver the uncut version from the depths of a hurting soul who has suffered the injustice which befalls those behind these concrete walls. When people look at a prison, they see a structural foundation which houses criminals. What they cannot see is us, the people. Real people with a desire for humane treatment. People with dreams, aspirations, goals, talents, motivation, and the hunger for more. That is what they cannot see. I take this opportunity to educate the world about real prison life!

“A Call for Reformation”

I have experienced first-hand the need for criminal justice and prison reform within the state of Virginia during the fifteen years of my incarceration. Were I to list the many complaints of offenses done to us, the number would be too great. And yet, they call us “the offenders.”

What of the offenses we suffer at the hands of this so-called justice system? Is it really justice? Or just-us? Just us against them? And I speak not presently in the terms of racial injustice or inequality, for that is another matter altogether. I am speaking of a justice system in which the primary prejudice seems to be against justice itself!

We are labeled as “offenders,” “inmates,” “criminals,” “felons.” While each of these four words bears the weight of its own offensiveness, it is by far, in my opinion, the stamp of “offender” that stands out as the most repugnant. Yes, we did offend someone who was affected by our crime, but that term should also be applied to those in charge of our rehabilitation. Merriam-Webster defines the word “offender” as one that offends. The word is used much too loosely to describe one who is still human in spite of their mistakes. There is no human on earth who has never offended another and no human on earth who has not made a mistake. And the last time I checked, none of us can ever lose our humanness. So, technically, all of humanity are offenders. I suppose it’s just that those of us locked behind bars are of the criminal kind. But there is some headway in the realization that those of us locked down are not the only offenders, the only criminals. 

The ways we are being mistreated, marginalized, and abused is now gaining national attention. I cannot speak for the men on the inside, but I can speak for the women who are constantly abused–verbally, physically, mentally and emotionally. The abuse is ongoing. It has become habitual among the majority of staff. This abuse is just as damaging, if not more so, than the abuse that many of us suffered prior to our incarceration. How does one deem such a system rehabilitation? 

It is not. It is destructive behavior exhibited by brutes and tyrants. 

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