What Is The Journey?
In Texas, 1 in 5 people are sentenced to more than 50 years
When you are charged with a crime, you are usually jailed immediately. This breaks your family apart, disrupts your family’s income, and can even result in your family losing their home. This occurs even if you are found not guilty at trial, because you will not go to trial for several years.
Once you get your day in court, it is a long, drawn-out process of ritual humiliation and public shaming. Your every sin - whether perceived or real - is held up for all to see; family, colleagues, media, and strangers.
The pretrial population in Texas jails has risen from 32% to almost 75% in the last 25 years.
43% of people in Texas prisons have a mental disorder, and 74% of those people have never received any treatment.
If you are found guilty, you will move from jail to the state prison system. Once you are there, they can transfer you to any of the 100 prisons across Texas. If you are blessed enough to have family, it is rare they will be able to travel the distance to visit you. You become very isolated.
The isolation from your loved ones and society makes you go through stages. Some days you just wish you could crawl under your bed and die. Some days you try to forget where you are and simply connect with others around you. But no matter what is happening around you or inside you, you must find a way to stay alive.
Prison is brutal. It is a trial by fire. Yet fire paves the way for regrowth. You learn to reflect. You develop new skills and you lose old ones. You stretch yourself. You reach for a better life. And if you are able to find your purpose, you can also find a way to blossom in a harsh environment that was designed to break you.
As your release date approaches, you are anxious and excited. You wonder how the world has changed. You hope you can reconnect with your family and regain the closeness you lost. You want to be able to contribute again, to show your worth. In many ways, despite all your growth, you are about to start from scratch - something made so much more difficult with the label “CRIMINAL”.
