The Irony of Injustice

In the eight years that I have spent in prison (so far), one refrain that I have heard time and time again from prisoners is the belief that the justice system and prison system are unjust. Some prisoners claim that the system has committed injustice by convicting them in the first place, and others that the sentence they received was unjust. Most prisoners readily complain about the injustice of the prison system because of the lack of due process given when it comes to allegations of misconduct, the treatment of prisoners as less than human, the unfairness of imprisoned fathers being restricted from involvement in their children's lives, and the parole board's common practice of extending a prisoner's sentence past his earliest release date without good reason to do so (among other injustices). 

These injustices are real. People are routinely convicted for crimes they did not commit and have their sentences enhanced by overzealous prosecutors and judges without proper consideration for the truth or falsity of extra-conviction accusations. Furthermore, many corrections officers and administrators in the prison system view prison as a place for punishment rather than merely as a punishment itself. This means that prisoners are often mistreated, falsely accused of misconducts while in prison, not given proper medical care (especially those with mental illness), and generally treated as less than human. 

Some might find an irony in the claim that many prisoners feel that they have been treated unjustly. After all, most offenders would not be in prison if it weren't for the injustices they committed against others. But even if someone commits injustice against another, does that mean that we as a society ought to refuse to offer him justice? If we punish people because they offend our sense of justice, shouldn't we use the justice we hold so dear in holding them accountable? If we are to teach offenders how to value justice, as a society we must value justice enough to extend it even to those who have failed to extend it to others. 

We can begin to practice true justice by holding prosecutors and courts accountable for the injustices they commit, by holding police officers and detectives accountable for falsifying evidence or withholding exculpatory evidence, by requiring equitable treatment of convicted offenders by making restoration the goal of accountability, and by treating those accused but not yet convicted and convicted offenders with dignity and respect even if we think they don't deserve it. As a society, we must begin to see that justice is not locking up offenders for as long as we can and treating them with distain. Justice means dealing only with the truth and restoring as much as possible what has been made wrong by injustice. It means seeking to bring wholeness to all parties, victims, offenders, and communities by taking a comprehensive approach, where restoration for all is the goal.