At a facility we visited around Christmas, we were allowed to give the guys candy. It’s funny, something I noticed right away was the way they all took it carefully and saved it. There were no wrappers on the ground after. And it hit me, these guys are in here for life! They want to spread out and save these three little pieces of candy. Can you wrap your head around life in prison?
Many guys who have substance abuse problems or battle addiction, end up in prison instead of getting treatment at facilities who are trained to help these issues. So the US prison system spends on average 33,000$ per inmate, per year. Around 80 BILLION$ annually! Each American is paying around 260$ a year to keep men in prison. Problem is, they are not being rehabilitated, just punished, so when they get released and reinstated into society, they have no answers, no where to turn and nothing to their name. Guess what? They turn back to crime to earn a living, or back to drugs to hide the pain, then back to prison. Thus the endless cycle.
It’s easy to judge, to point the finger and say “they get what they deserve”, or “society is safer with them locked up”, but the whole issue is a lot more complex then we may know. God says “Mercy triumph over judgment.” We are quick to judge and put others down if it lifts us up a little. But compassion, Mercy triumph over this natural thinking(Jm.2:13). So if you know someone who is on the road to prison, help them. If you know someone who is or was in prison, be understanding, maybe even visit someone you don’t know. I guarantee it will change your perspective if you were to talk to a “criminal”. We are all human right?
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