Most people in jail in the U.S. have not been convicted of any crime, they are legally presumed innocent. Sixty to 75% of them are awaiting trial in pretrial detention. This wait can be from a few months to over a year.
– Why are they still in jail waiting for resolution of their case? They are too poor to post bail. Bail amounts keep going up, and research has shown that the bail system is totally unrelated to keeping the public safe.
– What can happen to these people? They sit in jail, lose their jobs, lose their homes, lose their children, and they can lose their souls. And their children lose their parents and innocence as well.
– Yes I know they are responsible for their lives and where they are. But the system, the way it is configured, only creates more damage to humanity. And by the way, we pick up the tab.
This poem is from a woman I know who has been waiting in jail for her trial, for over eight months, to prove her innocence. It looks like it will be another four months. So much for a speedy trial. She says that the way to get out quickly is to say you are guilty and cop a plea.
She has lost many things and people as she stands that she is innocent. However, the one thing she hasn’t lost is her ability to be the source of her interpretations. Viktor E. Frankl said “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing – the last of all human freedoms – is the freedom to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”