a penalty

  I keep seeing this political advertisement on television for a candidate named David Trone. A democrat running for some office here in Maryland. This campaign piece features two criminals recently released from federal prison. One tells how being a prisoner for 27 years was dehumanizing. Then the other appears and says some rhyme about doing time and time to change the pain and some other words that are supposed to be meaningful. I guess it is supposed to emulate a rap style song, you know, those socially engaging songs about the plight of the black people in America. But whatever the case is supposed to be towards the end the first ex con brags about getting his college degree while incarcerated. How it melted the barbed wire. He says he was a straight A student. The other criminal reappears and says how he maintained a 2.8GPA. 

 Then the big message scrolls across the screen. 95% of those with a college degree do not go back to prison! Well, my response is this; those that do not commit crimes do not go to prison regardless of their educational level! That's how you avoid going to prison and how you avoid returning to prison. Do not commit the crime. The solution to crime is not giving a college education to criminals!

  Now I'm not saying anyone is going to prison to get a free education. What I am saying is that going to prison shouldn't be advertised as some sort of finishing school. There is a program in place to give preferential hiring status to those that complete their programs while in jail. Yes, commit a crime serious enough to be incarcerated for four or five years and complete the program and you get rewarded. Like you have anything else to do while in jail. A good portion of employers look for those with a diploma of some sort because that diploma shows they will show up for work voluntarily. If I'm in prison do I really get that choice? I mean, what else do I have to do.  Maybe if those criminals had been made to go to school, obey the rules and laws of the land in the first place they wouldn't be in prison! But no, that isn't what is happening at all. The new narrative is giving folks everything for free, blame the past or the wealthy for their failures, and reward them for getting locked up! It isn't their fault. 

  At least one program in the city of Baltimore makes being an ex-con part of the job description. Yes, that's the truth. Some are hired to be "violence interrupters" in Baltimore's flagship program called Safe Streets. They are hired because they were the ones causing the violence in the first place! The thinking is they can stop it, or slow it down, by using threats of violence of their own. That is their redeeming quality, right. That's the way I see it. Turns out a good deal of the funding for this Safe Streets program is being spent on expensive shoes and clothing that is listed as "establishing good relations" with the neighborhood. Also, a good deal was spent on taking trips to Las Vegas for conferences. Doesn't take much to figure out what is going on. When you hire criminals to run a program, it will be run in a criminal manner. 

  I'm just sayin'. This liberal logic is contributing to the crime we are seeing today. When you make having committed a crime, becoming a drug addict or an alcoholic, something to brag about, something to include on your resume, it isn't doing much in the way of deterrence. That is what is happening. Look at me I'm a survivor and I recovered from all of that. Sure, I was irresponsible, careless, didn't care about anyone or anything but myself, stole property and wounded and killed a few people but I've changed. I should now be celebrated for that! I should be given a position in society, a position of authority! 

 You haven't done anything wrong; you have no experience and no street cred. You don't have prison tattoos or a cool nickname. All you did was go to school, get an education and obey the laws. You can't speak to any of my experience because you haven't had any. And I say, that's all true. The objective in life is to not make stupid choices. It isn't to make as many bad choices as possible and recover from them! Prison is a penal system! Penal involves a penalty, not a reward. When you get out of prison, you get a second chance. While you are in prison you are punished. Really not a difficult concept to understand. 

  The concept needs to be taught and reenforced throughout childhood. It all begins at home. Doesn't matter what the home is really. Doesn't have to be your parents, it can be anyone that is charged with raising you. It doesn't involve how much money you have. It doesn't matter what your house is like. It doesn't matter what happened to your distant ancestors. What matters is how you are taught to respond to all of that today. The best way to prevent crime is to not raise criminals! That's the bottom line. And when criminals are caught you lock them up. Yes, it is dehumanizing, as it should be. That's the point. You choose to commit the crime, that was your choice.