I attended the Criminal (In)Justice: How Mass Incarceration Disrupts Families and Communities this week. It was really eye opening because I always thought about how incarceration impacts the individual, but never thought about how it affects their families. Since society has such a negative view of incarcerated individuals, many forget that those individuals are also human and have their own lives outside of prison. It was especially sad when one of the speakers shared a story about someone who did not want to leave prison because they had no life out of prison because they had been there for so long. Due to the stories that the panelists shared, I really hope that there are better plans implemented to ameliorate the post life situations of those who have such cases and to assist those who have to leave their life behind and those close to those incarcerated who are being negatively impacted. It just gives more insight to how there are still many sides, negatives, and room for improvement in our justice system.
I found that story especially saddening as well. I think there is so much more we can do to help families of those incarcerated, both while the individuals are separated and when they return.