Prison Reform

When a person gets arrested, they are judged by their name, color and financial status. No matter what part of America you catch your case, it is all built on the same flawed system. My small city, Zanesville, OH, is no different. Starting with a bail by your income, to try make sure you can’t pay it, no matter how weak the evidence is. The system is so flawed, that higher courts had to enforce bail reform, so everyone could get a fair chance. My bond was set at 150,000, for a trespassing and burglary, which included my PRC hold because I was still on parole for possession of a firearm. I thought in the land of the free, it was a God given right to have a firearm. After getting out, I worked, paid taxes and became a contributing citizen of my small city. Still didn’t end my parole early, having the system hounding me, waiting for me to trip to send me back. How could I not mess up? The system breathing down my neck, waiting to take me back for a minor infraction, to keep their retention rate up and every bed filled. So now think about it, you put 10 mice in a cage for 1 year, then release them, with no food or any means to take care of themselves. What will that animal do? Anything it has to, to survive. Now think about what happens when you tack on a criminal record, killing any chance of getting a good job. Keeping those formerly incarcerated in poverty to commit another crime just to feed themselves.

The people who built this system knows how it is impacting peoples lives. Turning felons into the new minorities, forcing them into low income areas. This system is set up for us to fail, set up for us to be the fall guy. For the politicians to point at and say they are fixing the problem by the rising of people getting imprisoned. When they was the ones who started the problem and turned us into guinea pigs, turning prisons into a business, modern day slavery at its finest, the only difference is, we aren’t in the fields anymore. #Bodycamerasnow