Reply To: Exercise 5: 5 People Who Feel the Problem
Exercise 5: People Who Feel the Problem
Just to refresh, the project I’m now working on is some form of Sustainability Simplified workshops or offerings in jails and prisons. When I asked people who had been formerly incarcerated whether or not I was on the right track in thinking that those behind bars feel abandoned and neglected by society at large, here are the most poignant responses:
“You know what those dudes are MOST scared of? Their release date. They’re somebody inside. They’re nobody outside. They don’t have any family, nothing.”
“I felt fine when I was in there because I had people on the outside, but not everybody does.”
“Yes, it’s true…. They’ve lost everyone in their lives. They’re abandoned they feel alone, they’ve lost everything from the outside word.”
“The loneliness is why they [the incarcerated] do things. They’re reaching out to anyone they can get their hands on.”
“Yes, that’s right. Some people don’t have anybody on the outside. They have gangs and ‘family’ on the inside so what do they do when they get out? They connect with that ‘family’ and land right back in jail again.”
“Some people will ask about my jail time but then you sort of see them stop listening. Most people don’t even want to know. They think they know because they’ve seen it on TV, but they don’t know anything. So yeah, we feel abandoned.”