Friends in Prison--Part One: The Power of the Judicial System

No one gives much thought to prisons--unless you're in one or know someone who is. People like you and me don't end up in prison. Prisons are where bad people go--society's rejects. Everyone inside deserves to be there, and that keeps the rest of us safe. The less heard or seen of the inmates the better.

Clear cut.

  That was me six years ago, but I've changed my mind. Now Mr. Middle Class has friends in prison, and all the 'clear-cut' in me is long gone. I now see things through different eyes--theirs.  Until Ron and his wife Tina  (pseudonyms) got caught up in the machine legal system, I always assumed that everyone was truly "presumed innocent until proven guilty."  If you went to trial and were found innocent, you went free. If not, you served your sentence and then you could rejoin society, get a job, and all was well.  If you were a repeat offender you went back inside.

Perryville Women's Prison, Goodyear Arizona

Logical.

About once a month I drive the 90 miles from my home to the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence, Arizona to see my friend Ron. Ron and his wife Tina were members of our church. They got into some legal difficulties, and he is now serving a twelve-year prison sentence. She is serving seventeen years in the women's prison for women (Perryville) in Goodyear, Arizona. Fortunately, Goodyear is close to our home, which makes visiting easier for my wife. Neither of us can visit the other prisoner.  No one can visit two different prisoners.

Ron has an engineering degree from a prestigious west-coast university and held a responsible position in a nearby city. Tina was a full-time homemaker who home schooled their two natural children. Both were law-abiding citizens with no past history of crime. None.

They had two boys, but they wanted more children, so they decided to adopt four small sisters that were in the CPS system who came from a severely abusive, dysfunctional background.  The youngest was four years old and was very difficult, and although child protective services was kept informed of these difficulties, and the methods being used by Ron and Tina in trying to discipline her, there was an incident and they were arrested and accused of child abuse.  The rest reads like a horror story because it is a horror story: The state tried to persuade Ron to divorce Tina, and testify against her.  In turn they would grant him probation, and Tina would receive a five-year sentence.  In addition they would have to relinquish parental rights to their natural children.  Believing in their own innocence, they decided to take their case before a jury and risk a full-blown conviction.  At this point, child protective services asked for a hearing and tried to persuade the judge to sever their parental rights before their trial.  Had the judge agreed to sever their rights (he did not), they would have lost all rights to their children forever--even if at trial they were found innocent.  Such is the power of the government.  The mandate of child protective services is to look after and protect at risk children, as their title implies. But in my opinion, that mandate often devolves into their trying to look good when they screw up. To them, an accusation amounts to guilt. The only hope for someone accused in a CPS crossfire is to have an expensive and skillful attorney, which most people can't afford.

I now understand that "innocent until proven guilty" is a rather empty term.  Police don't arrest people they think are innocent, and the courts don't prosecute people unless they think they have a reasonable chance of conviction.  Their jobs are to convict suspects using all the power and resources of the state.

It's estimated that about six percent of prisoners are serving time for crimes they did not commit. Until recently I would have disputed this, but I've seen first hand the power the state possesses, and their willingness to ignore evidence and facts which might prove a person innocent, and additionally a willingness to embellish or ignore evidence where it advances their case.

Some people are in prison because they are technically guilty. Ron tells me of one inmate who was living with his 17 year old girlfriend--with her parent's consent. While they were together she became pregnant and had a child. Eventually the relationship withered, and they went their separate ways. Eventually she married someone else, and years later brought charges of statutory rape against him. He was convicted and sent to prison. I'm not defending the relationship, but one can see that in such cases there can be mitigating cirucumstances.

Perryville Women's Prison: Chain Link and Concrete Gray

 Ron and Tina are better off than most.  A number of friends from their church family have stepped up and they both have visitors monthly, often weekly . When they are released, they will have some modest resources, and Ron's education will make his ability to find a job easier than most who are released. Their natural children are being cared for by a responsible family. Most inmates don't enjoy such security.

The system does well at bringing people to court, and prisons do a good job of locking people up, but  they do a poor job of rehabilitation.  Prisons are the most dehumanizing institutions on the planet.  They are, simply stated, people warehouses. But that's a story for a future article.