After supporting inmates and the families of inmates for almost two decades, one problem always facing those who love inmates is that their families and friends sometimes abandon them. They are ridiculed, ostracized, and shunned. Sometimes they are even attacked.

There is a reason for this and it is simple-----the general public has no idea what people who go to prison are really like. Their ideas are those they gather from watching MSNBC's "Lockup" or a prison movie. Those programs need to dramatize inmates and the violence and chicanery which sometimes occurs in our nations prisons to increase ratings and attract viewers, so of course, they make every inmate look like a monster.

The truth is that prison is boring most of the time. Mostly it consists of men sitting around playing cards, working crossword puzzles, or watching TV and waiting for the day they can come home.

Many inmates are just like you and I----and much like many of the family members that hate them. I know. I was there for several years.

Inmates are prisoners, but they are also people, human beings with all the emotions we all have. They laugh, they hurt, they regret things they have done, they get lonely, and yes, sometimes they cry.

Very few people have actually been in prison other than the visiting yard for a few hours every month, so there has always been this mysterious aura about prison life.

Most ex-inmates are a little traumatized so few of them ever speak out. But you know what? They are NOT traumatized by their prison experience, but they are traumatized with how their fellow human beings treated them when they were released back into the community.

Some people derive joy from kicking someone when they are already down and hating them as it makes them feel as if they are better than those people and it allows them to compensate for all their shortcomings in life. Sick, but true.

But, the crux of the matter is that others criticize us because they have no idea of the kind of people who are in prison.

I did a lot of reading yesterday and I came across this article written by an entertainer and writer who actually went behind the walls----but only to visit and entertain the other inmates. He recounted his experience here.

I could say the same things he is saying, but I will let you listen to his words.

http://tinyurl.com/pfca4sw

It is a good read, but rather long, so I will copy and paste the main excerpts from the article-------------

""""""Criminals fascinate me. What are they really like? Why do they keep returning to jail in such large numbers? Do they and the guards have a sense of humor about their situation? Being a comic is like having a backstage pass to the world. But this wasn't a rock concert or awards show -- this was a jail in Texas, where they take law enforcement as seriously as I take roasting.""""

"""""To prepare for my shows, I went down a few days early and talked to the inmates and the officers, tried the food and shot some hoops. I met a few really despicable people, but I also met some guys that deserve a second chance. Not everybody in jail is a bad person. Some are desperate. Some are crazy. Some are innocent."""""

"""""I admit I roasted these people for sheer entertainment purposes -- but also to get myself a glimpse into the American prison system. It's broken. We say we're a free country but we lock up more people than anywhere else on Earth. Almost two MILLION American children have a parent locked up right now. We have more jails and prisons in America than colleges and universities. All this is still hard for me to comprehend. What's happening in this country? Wayne Dicky, the jail administrator who proudly allowed me access to his facility, told me that American jails are de facto mental health facilities. Back in the seventies many psychiatric hospitals were shut down. Now all those people needing mental help wind up in jail instead. I freely walked around the cells and dorms and saw the insanity first hand. We tuck so many damaged people away and forget about them -- like human dust. One admitted drug addict told me he's come back to jail thirty-six different times just to "get clean." When I hear stories like that, it's no wonder the recitivicsim rates are so high."""""

I have often stated that every American citizen should go to jail for six months. He or she would learn about this country, they would learn about humanity, and for once, they would understand prison and the men and women who live there.

And perhaps a short stint in prison could teach us something very valuable----it could teach us about ourselves.

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