The prison inmates are humans just like you and
I. Some are good people and some are bad people. Many are
in prisons because of drugs (selling, using, stealing to get money
for drugs, murder while committing a robbery, murder during a drug
buy that went bad.) If these people were not on drugs would
they be in prison? Probably not. Is the fact of their
addiction an excuse for their crime? No.
Another
reason for going to prison is the need to survive. Poverty
drives some people to crime in order to feed tehir families.
Some
turn to crime because the like it. I would imagine most bank
robbers rob banks because they like to. Sure they are looking
for big money but to many it is the rush of the power they feel. The
gun makes them feel big and powerful.
Then you have people
that are just down right evil.
There are also 10% or more that
have not committed a crime but were too poor to afford a competent or
sober attorny. These people become victims of what I call
the good old boy network. This is where the prosecutor
decides that they want the inmate in jail so they frame them for
a crime they did not commit. The attorney and in many cases the
judge are all a part of the good old boys network that also
includes the cops and prosecutor. Some times the wone who
committed the crime is involved in the frame. They will plant
someone in the cell with their victim who will lie on the witness
stand using the script supplied by the prosecutor. The attorney
will know what is happening but do nothing about it and may even be
too drunk to do anything anyway.
Prison changes those who go
in. There is a lot of time to reflect on their lives and their
reasons for being there.
© Copyright 2002 Lee W.
Gaylord