Taking this year to pursue my writing has given me the opportunity to advocate for those like James Trent, my pen pal at Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mt. Sterling, Illinois. He is serving a sentence of 94 years and 10 months in prison, what is effectively death by incarceration.
Unfortunately, prison is a business, and they need customers in order to survive. In learning more about our nation's corrupt and opaque prison system, there are way too many people who are living out unnecessarily long and unjust sentences. How can we forgive and move forward, and when will the system start to embrace this mindset?
But this story brings me hope. Thank you for the work you do. Cheers to a happy ending—20+ years in the making.
Unfortunately, prison is a business, and they need customers in order to survive. In learning more about our nation's corrupt and opaque prison system, there are way too many people who are living out unnecessarily long and unjust sentences. How can we forgive and move forward, and when will the system start to embrace this mindset?
But this story brings me hope. Thank you for the work you do. Cheers to a happy ending—20+ years in the making.