Posted by Carole Santos
Honestly, I didn’t know anything about prison before I reconnected with Michael. However, when I pledged my heart to him and joined my life to his in February of 2002, real prison suddenly had an every day presence in my life and I felt a responsibility to learn about it. I was eager and willing to listen, read, and study. I wanted to know everything about the environment in which he had already spent 14 years. I soon realized that the system confining him (and more than 2 million others) was desperately in need of comprehensive reform, and I felt honored to join Michael in his mission to bring about change.
A reader sent a comment about my Day 8,347 journal entry. In that blog I wrote about the numerous similarities I see between what exists in the prison system and what is presented on an episode of Hoarders, and the reader objected to my analogy.
I sent a lengthy response directly to the reader to clarify why I’d written the article. I didn’t need to respond with so much detail, but this person’s beliefs (as stated) were vague and stereotypical, expressing exactly the kind of misperception that we’re working to dispel through this blog, on PrisonNewsBlog, through Michael’s other published articles on Change.org and on Huffington Post, and in his books and other published articles and academic contributions. Accompanying the response was my hope that the reader would absorb it and find some motivation to think a little harder about why it’s important to know why prisons don’t work and why reform is necessary.
It’s frustrating that in the 21st Century people continue to accept–without question–sorely inaccurate messages from politicians, lobbyists, and those who profit from the prison system about how prisons are funded, operated, and populated. It’s only when prison touches the lives of citizens that the education process begins for them, but then it’s too late.
At the rate this country’s prison population continues to grow, every citizen should make it a priority to study all sides of the issue and make an informed decision. It’s hard to deny the truth, and the evidence is right there for anyone who cares to look.
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