Do you make up those stories?

Marcia and I were enjoying a cup of coffee and a dish of ice cream with friends dating back to high school days, Timmy and Char. The question came from Tim, who knows the truth but has a hard time believing that all of this stuff goes on in the prisons day after day.

Actually, I couldn't tell him one that I'm dealing with right now, where prisoners have a contract out on a friend of ours who dared to tell the truth despite a threat of retaliation. Jimmy lives in constant fear, and his spirits are so low it's getting hard for me to prop him up. Last weekend some terrorists hit him in the face and mouth with human waste. Nothing is too low, too degrading. I couldn't tell this to Timmy because it would spoil his ice cream snack. One cannot imagine anything so horrible. Makes me gag to talk about it. It took him over an hour just to get rid of the smell and taste, gargling and using mouthwash. Nope, I'm sad to say, I don't make up these stories.

General Sherman is credited with being the first person to use the phrase "War is Hell," which he did in a graduation speech back in 1879.

I have paraphrased it just a mite, to say that PRISON IS HELL. Honest, it is. Relious experts have been debating Rob Bell's wonderful best seller, LOVE WINS, because he questions some of our old concepts of hell. I can tell you, here and now, that hell exists. Prison is hell.

That's why it's so important that we never flag in our mission. We may not falter or slow down. Every issue that comes to our desk is of utmost importance. Each prisoner who contacts us, no matter how unpleasant and no matter how ugly his/her crime, is a real human being created in the image of God. And he/she must be treated with care and respect, and his/her issue is, indeed, critical.

Thanks for being a partner with us.

Comments

Citizens for Prison Reform said…
Just as Doug says...we do not make these stories up! If you just sit and listen to one story, you are hooked for a lifetime. The stories are horrific, the treatment or lack there of is horrific!

There are so many to tell it makes you sick to your stomach. We ache for these prisoners, we cry, we pray and we come together as one to keep advocating for these prisoners.

We will not let them live in hell alone. We won't stop without change! Much is needed, but with time and organizations working together we can offer hope.

Thanks for your help and support Doug...you are truly an angel to all.

Citizens for Prison Reform
July 29, 2011 at 9:12 PM
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