Slimy Pieces of S**t, Every Last One of Them!

I overheard a corrections officer make this statement about inmates in prison. In all fairness, I don't think he was being serious.  Although he was a fairly young officer at the time, he was very well liked, and even respected, by most of the inmates he dealt with.

Sir Winston Churchill has been quoted as saying "If you want to see the scum of the earth, go to a prison at shift change!" I don't know if he was serious either.

During my 9 years in prison I had almost no contact with the outside world.  For the most part the only people I had any dealings with were inmates, corrections officers, and volunteers who came into the prison. I have not found the inmates I met to be "slimy pieces of s**t." Nor have I felt that the officers were the "Scum of the earth."

I've sat at the same table with a man who murdered his wife, and cut her up into small pieces and put her in the freezer. Although he doesn't talk much about his crime (for obvious reasons), he gave every impression of being just an ordinary guy. Should he be let out of prison? Probably not. And he likely would say the same thing about me and my crime.

One of the benefits of being in prison is you get an opportunity to get a free education.  I was able to take several full length vocational programs before I got out, as well as numerous other classes - all on the taxpayers' dime.

One of the programs I took when I was housed out of state was a program called electrical/mechanical maintenance.  I learned a lot of stuff in that class, but I think the most important thing I learned had nothing to do with motors or electricity.

The teacher had a degree in criminal justice. He said that the government has been studying criminals and recidivism for over 100 years, and of all the things they have tried to use in rehabilitating criminals, there is only one thing they know for sure that works - time.

According to this man, the older a person is, the less likely they are to reoffend.  I think this is true. I have met many many men in prison (and I'm sure the same is true in women's prisons) who have spent years - many of them have spent decades - behind bars. And it's time to start looking at letting them return to society.

I am all for victim's rights, but I'm also for giving people a second chance. The Bible says that "Judgment is without mercy for those who have shown no mercy." -James 2:13



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