"Where is the justice?"

 

It was not an entirely unexpected question to find posted beneath an article about the type of healthcare men and women who are incarcerated in America's prison system receive. It seems that whenever a discussion about prison programs or prison conditions arises, there are those who want to argue that prisons are for punishment and, therefore, we should not "waste taxpayer money" on ensuring even the most basic level of care.   

 

Unsurprisingly, the conversation in the comments section quickly devolved into a discussion on "prison perks" with various posters listing the different "luxuries" enjoyed by inmates. The general consensus seemed to be that life is, in fact, is easier in prison. One commenter,  frustrated and appalled by what he perceived to be a "cushy" life for incarcerated individuals, posed the question, "Where is the justice?"

 

I had been wondering the exact same thing. 

 

Having recently read Women, Writing and Prison, a collection of essays and creative works written by incarcerated women, I thought of story after story in which women recounted tales of physical and sexual abuse as children, trauma that undoubtedly had shifted the trajectory of their lives, rendering them more susceptible to struggles with substance abuse and mental health issues. I thought of all the studies that exposed the various injustices suffered by women who have been incarcerated-- the physical, sexual and psychological abuse by staff, the deaths that resulted from excessive force or negligence. I thought of the scholarly essays that highlighted the way gender and race factor into the various steps of the incarceration process, from the initial stop, to the sentencing, to the way individuals are treated while incarcerated. Before and during their incarceration, the justice system seemed to have failed many of these women. I too wanted ask, "Where is the justice?"

 

In an attempt to counter some of these cultural tropes, I wanted to place these anonymous posters in conversation with the people they were so quick to condemn. I wanted to dismantle their misconceptions, their hollow narratives, with the words and voices of women who are or were incarcerated. I wanted to dissolve the line between "us" and "them" and complicate simplistic and reductive notions of what it means to be "guilty" of a crime by drawing from the lived experiences of women who have been imprisoned. 

 

If you want to demand justice, then demand it for everyone. Picking and choosing what groups or individuals are "deserving" of justice is a dangerous path to go down. So I too would like to know...