Oh, Donna you made me cry......again! Thanks for putting it so well! You are right about society...There is no money in honesty of government. There is no going back now, I truly feel that! I am sorry your visit was spoiled by the sadness around you.........Sad beyond belief ... you are so right! Stay strong...........Love,Barbara

Donna, I feel the same way. It is so true and sad...why can't they look at the individual. It seems that all the prosecutor cares about is winning his case and locking the people up. My daughter was involved but didn't pull the trigger. Why does she get charged with the same crime as the one who really killed the person. What good is it going to do her to be locked up for 10 yrs? It doesn't make sense and I too feel like they don't have hearts (the prosecutors).

They are extreme. I really thought I answered this I wonder if this was one of those comments i ended up copying and putting in my journal because I felt I had turned my answer into really a journal...so anyway.

I did. LOL! and forgot to put how I felt here....sorry about that...just call me a ditz!

And yet many do feel that they did their job and that nothing is wrong with the system. We are all like them they just can not see that. Everybody is dysfunctional to a degree. we all make poor decisions....some get caught or some actually have fallout in their lives for choices we all make. Not knowing what is around the corner headed right at us...or in the case of our loved ones...it can happen to anyone....Does that make sense?

They just do not understand how easily ones are in trouble and how harsh they are for sometimes only one bad decision.....where is the mercy all deserve? Would not each of them want that same mercy and reasonableness in their own loved ones cases if they were in our situation or our loved ones in prison situation?

Someday they will all realize how unfair this system is when it happens closer to home to them and their families.
Pray for that day to come quick!

Love Rhea

Hi Donna

This is my first reply here, but I had to respond..I just said the same exact thing to someone only moments ago...The sentences are so long that when they get out, they no longer have a life, as they know it..Children are grown, spouse is maybe gone and parents are older or dead.This cant be the only way...Punishment is one thing..This is rediculous..
Thanks for letting me interrupt...
Patty

Hey Pattyyy, not at all! Join in!

That is the purpose of this is to get all our feelings and problems in the open and then see if somehow we can make things better.

For us and for our loved ones!

And we love to hear others input too.

Hi Patty, glad you made it over here. I too worry about my age when my daughter gets out. I will be about 61 yrs old. She will be 27. She will still be young in the scheme of things but will I get to see her married or with kids? Don't know, so I try not to look that far ahead and just live at the moment. Enjoy her and my family for now. It isn't just the sentences that are long and wrong, it's that there is very little for them inside to help them rehabilitate or adjust to living outside. The system is created to just make it hard for them inside and then even harder when they get out. I hate it.

Hi, I, too, worry about why the punishment has to be so long. I read your stories and wonder how they came up with such long sentences. My son hasn't been sentenced yet. We're just now in the stage of finding out whether he'll get offered a deal or if his case will go to trial on April 13th. I'll be 58 this month and wonder by the time my son gets out and if he ever trusts another woman again will he get married soon enough for me to ever get to see if he'll have any children or not before I die or if I'll be healthy enough to play with any grandchildren? Is it true that if they take "a deal" that they can't Appeal their case but if it goes to trial then an Appeal can be made? I, too, want to welcome all the new members. Glad there is a place like this is vent our feelings. I know it's helped me a lot. Take Care. Love, Georgia

My son got more time for having some cocaine in his house than a guy he knew who kidnapped a girl, brought her to his place, and 3 guys gang raped her. He got 1 year, son got 4. Of course selling drugs is wrong, but this guy and his buddies should of gotten life, or a longer sentence. The justice system is so screwed up. The Commissioner of Corrections son is a drug dealer too, and he never spends a day in prison. He is protected.Someday when this is over, he may not be. The world might have to know about him. It is too dangerous to talk now.

In the beginning I would cry everytime when I would go see my son wanting to bring him home with me. Still to this day I cry as soon as I walk out that doos.
For years I would tell my son you must be accountable for your actions and their are consequences. in the beginning it wwas juvenile detentions, then proveincial and federal time. But because we live hear in Canada our
penal system is not so harsh as the states.
Sometimes judges uise cases as examples and give the big sentences.
Feel your feelings cry if you have to and trusr in God as he will give you the strength to persevere

We all worry about the excessive sentencing and the ease with which people are sent to prison, destroying not only thier lives but of all those who love them too.

So what is the answer to Society's penchant for locking up it's citizens?
The United States has more people in prison than any other country including China which far out distances us in population.

Again, I ask what is the solution.

We are the solution, we have to advocate for prison change and change in criminal justice. We have to get involved and can no longer sit back and hope someone else will do it for us.

To begin with, write your State Senators and Assemblypersons whenever a bill has been proposed that would or could effect changes. Let them know how you feel. We have hidden behind closed doors for far too long.

I cannot speak for other states, but NY State Dept. of Corrections is becoming more family oriented, finally willing to listen to us, finally seeing us a real people. Our present state administration too seems more aware of the problems and are making attempts to rectify unfair laws, looking at Merit Time to get some out of prison earlier, seeking reform in our severely broken Justice System, and more.

Again, WE can affect change, it is often slow, but we can bring it abolut just as we did by getting the NYS Dept of Corrections 57.7% kickback on our prison phone calls removed, and had legislation passed so it could never happen again.

I said this before and will say it again. One voice can be ignored, two voices become a whisper, several voices a noise, and many voices become a ROAR. Let's become that ROAR and make our presence known.