The salon yesterday was interesting. I do believe in eliminating solitary confinement as much as possible. Sarah Shourd was passionate and the scenes from the play powerful. There was, of course, the intrusion of people in the audience who wanted to pontificate rather than ask questions. After two hours of listening to Sarah, the scenes and a state senator, I was not willing to listen to self appointed "experts". Wrong speech indeed. But I donated to the production of the play. I had finished "Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption" by Bryan Stevenson, a Black lawyer advocating for those on death row in the south. His stories touched me deeply, and I was especially disturbed by kids on death row who had been convicted at 13 or 14, the mentally ill, and the wrongful convictions, which he works to overturn and has had some success.
Prison reform is such a huge issue, and we are the country with the highest percentage of our citizens in captivity. I feel gun control might help mitigate this, and also other facilities for the mentally ill and no death penalty for a juvenile. I still hope that rehabilitation can be in the mix, but it has less chance with overcrowding, abuse and no transparency for what happens in the prison. Maybe that is a place where security cameras might restain guards and inmates alike from brutality and lack of compassion. I don't really know how to fix the system, but we need to be trying, at least.
Sarah was lucky, she was released before she went insane from solitude. It serves no one to destroy people, their minds and hearts. It corrupts the guards, the justice system, and the innocent families of people in prison. I'm glad she's speaking out about her experience and grateful for Bryan Stevenson's book.
No comments:
Post a Comment