When the Road to Prison is a one-way Street

Did you know that 90% of people who are in the criminal justice system (probation, parole, prison) live below the poverty line? The criminal justice system in Georgia, as in other states has a definite imbalance with the incarceration rate tending to be the lower-income population. People with wealth have the ability to purchase appropriate legal representation. Although the criminalization of poverty is in fact systematic across the United States, the south has the highest incarceration rates. At any given time, there are 750,000 people in the United States who are detained for the inability to purchase their freedom.  These victims are crying out from behind the wall and no one hears their screams.

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Resource: About | Georgia Justice Project. (2012). Retrieved 16 April 2022, from https://www.gjp.org/about/#:~:text=Unemployment%2C%20poverty%20and%20crime%20are,system%20to%20help%20integrate%20them.

 Whispers of Justice

Alone in the system without a hope to hold on,

He wished, on that day, he wouldn't have gone.

Bond set at $5000, he knows there's no way,

He'll sit, and he'll wait until his trying day.

There will be no visitors, no letters in the mail,

He ponders on life. How could he have failed?

On top of the world, riches he pursued,

Women and cars and guns he accrued.

But, as we all know, what goes up must come down,

At night, he so wished he could sleep safe and sound.

He was stuck at the bottom, no one to give him a hand,

Shaking his head, this is not what he planned.

A small gust of wind, a quick image in his head,

His foreseeable future, and he saw himself dead.

He stood straight up, arched his back, head high,

He won't lose this battle without giving it a try.

He walked in that courtroom confident and strong,

Twelve peers have decided, it didn't take long.

So he stood and faced this group who in their hands held his fate,

Knowing none of them could ever relate.

Then comes the foreman, he takes a deep breath,

Guilty for selling and trafficking meth.

His heart sank deep to the pit of his soul,

He did not show a reaction. They cannot see him fold.

As he stared blankly at the clock above the bench,

They all found him guilty, and he did not flinch.

His heart in his chest beats so hard and so strong,

His demeanor, his attitude, he knows this is wrong.

As the judge stands up to speak him his fate,

Thirty whole years to do to the gate.

The last bit of breath released from his lungs so fast,

Thirty whole years he would never last.

His composure now, he feels so defeated,

The confidence he carried so quickly depleted.

What about his little baby, just born not long ago,

What about his wife, his mom? What about his little bro?

What does one say once deemed property of the state,

Everything they ever had all snatched right from their plate.

Some may think that is the end and another one bites the dust,

It seems like that at first, with no one left for him to trust.

His wife moved on without him, throws his child in his face,

He sits in there so patiently with warmth and love, and grace.

This story is based on facts, put them together, and you will see,

The person in this poem? Easily you or me.

When you fall victim to the system, no one will help you if you're broke,

Another dollar in their pocket. To them, you're just a joke.

I'm telling you the truth, look around, and you will find,

Do not roll over or give in, do not keep being blind.

~Anna Shepherd

You see, the man in this poem could very easily be you or a loved one... Unless you have lived a life without sin and you have never broken the law. Open your eyes people, the system is corrupted. We must educate ourselves now before we fall victim to the same prejudice.