Incarceration and State-Mandated Family Abandonment 

In seeking to be an "ordered society" have we created a malignant disorder by knocking the props out from under aging Americans?   What about the children?  

And let's ask the rhetorical questions.  Do laws which reinforce desperation instead of offering redemption crush the human spirit?  And does a penal system which inflicts excessive incarceration and probationary periods serve the greater needs of society or the rapacious financial needs of a system which is dependent on constant flow into and out of its facilities?   If the crimes are non-violent and of a self-inflicted nature is mercy the greater master? And does ruthlessness ever really teach a lesson?

Our prisons are systems.  They are not institutions.  Institutions are for societal health and homeostasis.  Systems are about controlling and/or maintaining a chaotic set of conditions beneficial to its custodians.

This thought is brought home as I consider the plight of neighbors and relatives:

A man aging in a wheelchair with greater care needs and the wife battling fatigue from eight years of care.  A son who could assist and provide support.  A system which wanted him back and took him back for a minor non-violent incident.

What about excessive penalties for basic traffic violations which bring about state-mandated family abandonment?   I believe that the penalty for a basic speeding ticket should be capped at two percent of an individuals monthly income.  The neighbor mentioned above once received a speeding ticket for going 45 mph in a 35 mph zone.  His first ticket in more than a decade. The small town was one big speed trap.  The ticket amounted to more than twenty percent of his monthly income.  The family ate a lot of Ramen noodles.  The local church was aware of their dilemma.   And it was the institution and not the system which offered relief.  

How many are incarcerated for traffic violations which could not be paid?  The children needed new shoes... the utilities must be paid.  And an algorithmic  system responded with a warrant.

In your circle of acquaintances you might know an aging couple who are in need of their son: to provide basic lawn care... trips to the doctor... a grocery run.  He has not abandoned them.  But the state has abandoned them.

Relatives in Nevada are caring for a declining mother in her mid-eighties.  They are also classified as within the geriatric population and battling their own severe health issues.  A son less than four hours distance is incarcerated at Lovelock Federal Prison  (Too many offenses are now classified as felonies).  He is visited once a month.  But he is needed back on the homestead. His crime was non-violent and the result of self-inflicted foolishness. For eight more years, the system will hold him.  Perhaps he will not be available to bury his mother.

A woman in my city sports silver hair and sad blue eyes. She is caring for three young girls because both parents are in prison.  Do we care for this grandmother or is it better that state-mandated abandonment leave her without a parachute? What is better for her? What can be done for the children suffering abandonment issues? Can her daughter come home?

https://www.prisonfellowship.org/resources/training-resources/family/ministry-basics/faqs-about-children-of-prisoners/

In Texas, prisoners are not paid for their work.  They receive "good days" as  "time off" during probation.  Prior to receiving probation, they sign away their "good days" for early release.  (This story was recounted to me by a neighbor.  The system wanted them back.  The leash is a long one. And the prison is unconcerned about family abandonment.  They welcome mat is always - and hopefully - rolled out.)

We need a federal agency whose sole duty is to adjudicate for compassionate leave for non-violent offenders.  An agency which can be petitioned directly by families.  An agency which is autonomous from our mammoth prison system and which makes decisions capable of overriding parole boards if there is an issue of state-mandated family abandonment.

That man in a wheelchair, the aging parents in Nevada, and the silver-haired woman in Texas have lost a potential support system.

We are Americans.  We are better than this; or so I have thought in the past. Let's live as Americans should live:  free and perhaps a bit reckless.  But free from the lengthening grasp and malignant disorder of our prison system.