Locked up and Losing it

[Wandering_free]

Incarceration is never a positive topic, but it needs to be talked about. There are bad people out there, we all know this. There are people who will be in prison the rest of their lives because they have done really horrible things that can’t be forgiven and they are punished to the utmost. There are crimes that are committed that deem an individual unsafe to society and rehabilitation and release would not be fair to the victims and mankind. So they are locked up to never be let out. While it is fair to doom a criminal of that variety to a life behind bars, there are also prisoner serving significant amounts of time for crimes they either did not commit, or the evidence was misleading, causing them to be deemed guilty, when they are not, or are not to the extent they are being punished for. Incarceration affects the mental state of a person to an extent that a lot of people don’t fully understand. Prisoners go through fears that free people will never feel. Fear of missing major life events, losing your loved ones, death of family and friends, fear of dying themselves, fear of not having every day necessities, fear of not having enough food, fear of having no life beyond what they are currently experiencing In confinement. You might be thinking that some of those fears you experience too, but not all at once and occurring simultaneously with imprisonment. The justice system is crooked, very much so. I have friends who are incarcerated and struggle tremendously. We can’t just brush this issue aside and pretend like it doesn’t exsist. Because it does, and prisoners are humans too. I admire those who have the determination and courage to fight against the justice system and advocate for a better system. If you are one of those people, thank you.