Missouri Prison Reform received the following message from a family member of a prison resident. This was posted with their permission.
The events of this week have left me completely disgusted. As someone who has maneuvered the so-called justice system with my loved one over the past several years, watching the events with “the former guy” unfold have been a total slap in the face. My loved one was not given polite requests by prosecutors to appear or handled with kid gloves upon his arrival. My loved one was not spared handcuffs or a mugshot. My loved one was not allowed to wear his own clothes when he appeared in front of the judge; instead he wore the distinct orange jumpsuit courtesy of the county jail so that everyone knew he was “less than human…..a criminal.” My loved one was not allowed to walk out and return home with no bond/bail, no ankle monitoring, and no travel restrictions. My loved one sat in county jail for months because we were unable to pay the fee the judge assessed for bail. My loved one was not charged with 37 counts of anything, allowed to walk out free and attend a birthday party with people the judge told him to stay away from (for which there will probably not be a consequence – yet another empty threat). And most likely, my loved one is going to serve way more time than “the former guy” ever will. There is no justice in America. If you are a rich, white man, the rule of law does not apply to you. How can anyone say that there is not a two-tiered justice system in our country? Our prisons are filled with men and women who do not have the financial means to buy their way out of their poor choices. Their families suffer equally as we try to keep our families together out here while doing our best to support them inside. The typical middle class American does not have the luxury of the law not applying to them. It’s funny how people judge my loved one and my family because we have someone in our family who is incarcerated yet these same people are so willing to defend some rich guy they don’t even know. People don’t realize how biased, how un-just our “justice” system is until it directly impacts someone they love. How about we use this disgusting display of privilege to try and reform our criminal justice system so that it actually is justice for all?
