Family in Prison

Let me tell you a little story about a girl I know called Sally. Her first experience with the criminal justice system was when she was in fourth grade. She didn't know anything about the law at that age. She didn't know anything about the criminal justice system at that time except watching tv, talking to her friends on the phone, or playing games. She played a lot of solitaire, the card game you play by yourself. She learned that game when she was young along with some other card games that are fun. She loved playing card games if she had someone to play along with her. She was always on the phone talking to her friends too. She loved talking to her friends.

Needless to say, she found out that someone in her family had gotten arrested. This was big news! Well, to someone in fourth grade it was huge news. Her best friend in grade school's family was friends with the victim too. Her best friend and her just kept quiet that they knew about the murder.

Anyway, this happened to me, but it was me and my best friend. I was in fifth grade. It was crazy. My uncle was arrested and sent to jail for a long time for murder. My best friend's father was friends with the person that my uncle killed. Anyway, my best friend and I just kept it a secret between us that we knew about the murder between our families because if we told our families that we knew about so and so... I'm sure my best friend's father would not allow her to hang around me.

I would have gotten a bad wrap because of my uncle. I was only in fifth grade and experiencing the hardship of the criminal justice system already. I was so appreciative that my best friend kept her mouth shut about it. She kept cool, because it wasn't my fault. My family was a good family. My uncle was different than my mom and me.

Kids in grade school knowing about murder by knowing who the murderer is or who the victim is astounds me because they should not be learning this at that age. The criminal justice system should be just for the adults only not for the kids to learn. But they are learning it and they are learning it on the streets even on the urban areas.

Unfortunately, that story happens to a lot of families. The little girl goes to school and faces a day of classes, faces her friends, and the everyday factor of what she goes through in a day of school. She is just trying to figure out how to "Deal." Dealing means how to deal with classes, teachers, parents, friends, and the day-to-day stress that a student deals with daily without it showing that something else is going on like the stress of knowing someone has been arrested in her family. That someone has been arrested and been convicted of LIFE. When he was able to get parole, he was always denied.

This person is my uncle. My uncle died in prison.

He was always getting in some sort of trouble in his past, but who isn't these days. Before he was sent away to prison, when he was just in the county jail, I was able to visit every Wednesday at the County Jail. As soon as he was sent to prison, the visiting hours changed along with how easy it was to see him. It was not as easy anymore to see him because he was so far. Traveling was hard and far for my family. My uncle was moved from one prison to another all the time. He moved prisons it seemed a lot. After, he went to prison he would be sent to another. It became harder to visit him for me because of how young I was, and he was in a maximum-security prison on top of that.

One time, I went to see him but because of something with my shirt, I was not allowed to visit. It was a V-neck shirt. It was not allowed. Prisons have a strict dress code. Prisons have very strict guidelines on the dress code for visitors. I did get as far as the visiting room, but I was called out. Then I was told I had to leave the prison altogether. I was young. I was in middle school maybe. I had to stay off the prison land. That is their guidelines. They have a very strict dress code and strict code on where you have to be while you wait. The longer my uncle stayed in prison it seemed it was harder on him too. It was hard on us but it was harder on him mentally. He kept telling us how he needed to get out. He kept asking for legal help. If we didn't know how to provide him legal help, couldn't he get it at the prison? I would like to know why he wasn't provided the help he wanted and needed? I know it's too late now, but it's a fair question. We need to make sure that inmates have the legal representation that they need throughout their stay.

The day when I was not allowed to visit my uncle in prison, I had to sit off the prison grounds. This is prison policy and prison guidelines. I walked across the street to the gas station and sat down on the curb until I got too hot. Then, I went inside the gas station and waited. Times of visiting my uncle in jail and prison made a big difference in my childhood.

In the past, I had worked part-time for an attorney. And with some experience behind me and the advice of the attorney I was working for at the time, I ended up going back to college. I already had a license in Cosmetology, but I wanted a degree in Psychology. It wasn't going to be easy. I'm just working towards a degree in Psychology.

The mind was so interesting and how humans reacted. I was interested in how the abnormal mind worked. I always found the mind of a serial killer complex along with how the mind works in general. I have a lot of experience so far in the minds of dementia.

I have a problem with mass incarceration within the USA Criminal Justice System. I love that we have a government and the cops to go to when and if we are in trouble. However, I do think we have a problem with overcrowding our prisons. Also, with the overcrowding of people, are they getting the rehabilitation they need? I know prisons were built as a deterrent and are supposed to be rehabilitation. Some of our prisons have the structure, the ability to rehabilitate inmates however, it is not happening. It is more crucial and needed in the society we live in. Looking at the research that I have seen so far, it does look like our government is trying to fix the problem which is great. However, our prisons have just been boxing in our criminals instead of rehabilitating them.

There are more programs in the prisons now than there used to be so that is better. I have researched and there are more educational, religious, drug, and alcohol prevention classes to attend. We're these available where my uncle stayed? Why didn't he attend? Why didn't he get the counseling he needed? Did he get counseling? I'm sure they saw the help he needed whether it was spiritual, or he needed to talk to legal.

I know they have the Mandatory Minimum Sentencing now. They have other programs that help inmates as well once they are in prison too. I don't know if these were available for my uncle or not. If they were not available then and they are now, it's because our government is trying to rehabilitate.

We need our criminal justice system too. We have to look at the justice side too. We need our cops when something terrible is happening. I want a cop to come to justice when something awful is happening especially if something is awful happening to me. I do have a conflict of emotions on Prisons. I just think there should be a limit to how long a person can be in a prison. I know there are serial killers but there are innocent people there too. Innocent people in prison doing like twenty years in prison. Nope, that is not right. This needs to be corrected.