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"Imprisoned by stereotypes"

By Douglas A. Berman

Inside Out, the online magazine of the Prison Fellowship, has this interesting cover story with the same title as the title of this post.  Here is how it gets started: When the average person conjures an image of a prisoner, what is pictured?  Does the mind?s eye see a lone shadow with defiance and anger on his face and evil and ill-intent in his heart, prowling for trouble and poised to wreak violence?  And who or what provides this image?  Movies?  The news media?  Fear? When three people from Texas look into the faces of prisoners, they see an opportunity for repentance, a prospect for a second chance, a vessel of potential. Their perception of prisoners is not based on sensationalized images from any screen, or on what they think it means to be a prisoner...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 24, 2009 (boomark / email).