I’m gonna start this post with an astounding premise…
That not everyone who’s in jail, or even in prison, actually belongs there.
I won’t go as far as my all-time prison hero, Andy Dufresne, and tell you that “everyone” in prison is innocent…
But, at least from my experience in LA County Jail…
There were many in there for stupidity that perhaps getting locked away in a cage for is a bit harsh.
Like…
Getting high…
Getting rough with that lady in their life…now, caution, I strongly condemn domestic violence and I believe any form of violence perpetrated by men against women is a gross dereliction of manhood…
But, in LA County, domestic violence is whatever the female says it is, or was, at the moment of arrest…
and sometimes, perhaps it really wasn’t.
Probation violation.
Now there’s a big one. Granted the initial reason for being “on probation” may have been a good one…perhaps you really did fuck up pretty bad.
But there are about a million ways to violate probation and find yourself right back in the pokey for the infamous “10 day flash.”
Like skipping town,
or, skipping a meeting with your charming PO…
or, as in the case of my buddy, Greene, having bullets somewhere in your house that someone else put there and that you had no earthly idea were there.
Not a gun, mind you, just the bullets alone are enough to get you snatched away and thrown back into the belly of the beast, er, “the system.”
Oh, I also should mention, “failure to appear”, or missing a court date that you were never informed about to begin with.
And here’s the thing…
It’s kind of like being raptured I guess.
If you’ve ever floated around in fundamentalist Christian circles, you probably have an idea what I mean.
When the rapture comes…
Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
Matthew 24:40
And that’s really how it is with getting locked up.
Look it, I was at one moment happy as Gilmore, snapping photos of Mexico from my window seat, and the next it was…
“Up against the wall you SC redneck MF!”
And all the other things I had going on in my life at that moment of being snatched ceased to matter…
at least to them.
To everyone else involved? Different story.
And I heard countless similar tales…
of cars left behind…
jobs left unmanned…
possessions left unguarded…
and girlfriends left puckered.
Let me tell you, jail is very disruptive to your life!
Hell I was only in there for 3 long weeks and the repercussions were, to put it mildly, mildly devastating…
Can you imagine how it is for some of my jailhouse buddies…who are still there…and will be for quite some time to come?
And speaking of buddies, here’s another thing about jail…
One night you’re chewing the fat with them and the next morning they’re gone!
That’s right, snatched up in the middle of the night as if some alien invasion occurred and now they’re on a cold metallic table being dissected under blinding light by ET.
Yessiree bob, let me tell you, jail is bad enough.
You go from perhaps enjoying at least a semi-human existence (I say “semi” because many in jail are poorer than dirt and probably didn’t have things all that great on the outside), to being treated pretty much like a caged animal.
Yea, getting snatched from your life is bad enough.
It seems to me, before they do that…
They’d ought to have a damn good reason!
image credit: goofcitygoof via Compfight cc
Leave a Reply