Criminal logo

The Prison Obsession

Why Are there more bad guys then good who get exposure?

By Hudson De Witt KellyPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
Like
The Prison Obsession
Photo by Umanoide on Unsplash

I have never had a desire to enter the prison system no matter how society has led the charge towards predominately African Americans and pocs to have a road map to incarceration. I pose the question what is up with our love for people behind bars?

Real life examples are Jeffrey Dahmer, Andrew Cunanan and even more recent Chris Ward and Anna Delvey just to name a few and of course serialized programs such as OZ, The WIRE, every incarnation of Law and Order, even reality shows such as Love After Lockup, Cops, etc have captured our attention; there seems to be over 1000 shows globally that show us life behind bars and all its criminality.

And that is not counting the headlines of magazines, newspapers and online outlets that seem to show that the bad guy is much more celebrated than those of us who do our very best to hold our tempers and do no harm to our fellow man although it seems the summer of provocation has begun as you have countless videos of people defending their honor and those who just decided crime pays. Who does it actually pay?

I have made it to 45 without any kind of record is because I was born into trauma there is no way I wanted to become a statistic is mostly because I spend most of my time by myself. Of course, many will wonder about my life and the way I live it but just put it like this; think of Greta Garbo. You can't accuse someone of something if they are keeping their distance even if it means sacrificing more then you should have too.

People will do bad things, and this isn't a piece calling for us all to be SAINTS but the glorification of this way of life on a societal and an entertainment level has reached a level that even sometimes I have to stop myself from wondering what my life would have been like had I went down that other path and I am always glad that I did not in the end.

For example, think about the movie Menace to Society where you have these high rolling dope peddlers destroying the African American community in which they live, they even go so far as taking over the apartment complex and turning it into an industry were the goods are packaged, the clients are hostages, and the money is housed which leads to violent and sexual crimes that continues trauma, prison and death and if you just happen to get away with your life then you better make sure you don't come back.

As an adult I have a functioning brain in which I can separate the fact of my past trauma. the life I chose to live now and entertainment because I look at such programming as life lessons instead of saying "I want a prison romance because I can't find love in the free world." I can only imagine the mixed signals that some may receive as they counteract society and its daily news of police brutality (yes there are still cops shooting pocs) and now the escalating random shootings at malls, post offices and parking lots, transgender murders and romance killings with what we are being offered to entertain us.

The good guy used to win and good doesn't equal perfect, but it does mean that I will think before I react, I will not let my emotions override my pragmatism and I will value my freedom rather than wonder what I have to do to move into a penthouse apartment without having to save for it and above all else I will pray before I step although I have noticed that even criminals have a relationship with Jesus and in that case why continue to do the crime?

incarceration
Like

About the Creator

Hudson De Witt Kelly

I can recall finding this site maybe 5 years ago and knew that once I got a new computer/laptop that this would be the first site I ran too. I am an avid writer of short stories. I love autobiographical books on European Royal Families

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.