I read the news about a former prisoner who murdered four police officers in Seattle with tremendou sadness. The families of the four police officers suffer because of this horrid crime, and I expect many in the community will blame the criminal justice system, as the murderer had once been serving a sentence of more than 90 years. For some reason, a governor commuted the man’s sentence though I don’t expect the prisoner had worked to earn freedom.
When authorities release prisoners who do not show an absolute commitment to function as law-abiding citizens, they don’t do the system of justice any favors. A commitment to earning freedom means the individual works hard over a lengthy period of time to educate himself and to contribute to society in meaningful ways; it also means the individual works hard to build a support network that has a vested interest in seeing him transition into society as a law-abiding citizen. Earning freedom means an individual strives to make amends for his bad decisions and to strengthen society.
I don’t know how the prisoner persuaded the governor or the parole board to release him, but clearly the prisoner lacked mental stability. As a consequence of his inappropriate release, four leading citizens are murdered, family members and the community suffers, and calls will come for more tough-on-crime policies. The cycle of failure and violence will continue until we begin to think smart on crime rather than tough on crime.
Upon my release, I intend to share what I’ve learned about America’s prison system. The answer is not to measure justice by the turning of calendar pages, but by measuring justice by an individual’s success in reconciling with society. When administrators let the wrong people out of prison, I know that my argument for the change to “earning freedom” becomes much more difficult. But I’ll continue my work as I am convinced that reforms can lead to safer societies.
This morning I ran 10 miles and I followed my run with 300 pushups.
[consecutive running tally: 3,143 miles over the past 352 days]
Monday, 30 November 2009
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