We spend BILLIONS helping animals, shed tears when a dog dies in a movie, empathize with the child who has lost their pet, decry those who abuse animals.
But what about humans? do we care if the convicted felon is being treated humanely by their guardians? or do we simply not pay attention?
1 out of every 32 adults are in prison in the US, per http://www.prisonsucks.com/.
They are our Mothers, Brothers, Sisters, and friends. They are people who have made a mistake and are paying their debt.
How do we as a society justify treating them with less caring then we show for our pets? Feeding them food that our dogs wouldn’t eat, medical care that is substandard, living conditions we would not tolerate.
If we take responsibility for a human life we must treat that life at least as well as our pets.
This is the mission of CURE IL.
Posts
Maddie:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your blog. This has bothered me that animals are placed above people in this respect. I support you 110% in your efforts.I have not forgotten your kindness to me, and I hope that you have fully recovered from your surgery. I continue to pray, and do what I can do to see prison reform become a reality.
The thrust of your comments gets my full endorsement, Madeleine. A response that I've personally found beneficial is to volunteer with the SAFER Foundation: http://www.saferfoundation.org/viewpage.asp?id=313. SAFER's volunteeer coordinator is Enid Johnson who may be reached at enid.johnson@saferfoundation.org.
ReplyDeleteTake care, Mike McG...
I agree that prisoners should be treated humanely. However, I think it's important to note that animal rights activists feel very strongly about the importance of caring for and protecting animals because animals are innocent. Of course, some people in prison might be innocent as well, and some might be victims of terrible circumstances. But most people wind up in prison because they made selfish choices and hurt others. You can't say the same for mistreated animals. Prisoners deserve to be treated with dignity, but I don't think we have to bash animal lovers or people's desire to protect animals in the process. Whether or not we should treat prisoners better has nothing to do with animal rights.
ReplyDeleteMadeleine -- while I agree totally with your comments, I think your numbers may be off -- the number quoted at www.prisonsucks. is 737 prisoners per 100,000 US population, not 34 of every 100! I believe that a very current figure, derived from the latest uniform crime statistics, is that one of every 99 Americans went to jail or prison at some time during 2007. Really, think about it, if one-third of the population was imprisoned, more people would have noticed! The situation is very bad, and of course for different sectors of the population much worse, but even for young black men it is "only" 20% in prison, not 30+%. Thanks for all you do and God bless all of the CURE chapters, and dedicated volunteers, coast to coast!
ReplyDeleteoops, ha ha, now I've mis-read what you wrote -- not 34 out of 100 but one in 32 -- still about three times what the 2007 crime stats seem to show!
ReplyDeletebtw, folks who agree that prisoners are human beings can check out my greeting cards for prisoners at www.BigStripeCards.com -- thanks!!
support you in advocating for the prisoner as Jesus calls us to do in Hebrews 13:3.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in the interst of moral & intellectual clarity, I'm forced to raise serious questions regarding the unspoken assumptions that seem to underly your understanding of the nature of prisons and their role in society, especially from a Biblical worldview.
" The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" ( Jer 17:9) . I believe this core understanding of human nature as taught by the Lord is being marginalized in the reliance upon statistical analysis that seems to drive Cure IL's critique of the American criminal justice system. Statistics look at the surface, as valid as they may be, they're incapable of rendering the heart, where God looks.
I don't deny that there are injustices in our criminal justice & corrections system related to race, gender, economic status etc, which ought not be swept under the rug.
Here's a recent New Yorker magazine article concerning The International Justice Ministry, a Christian organization advocating for the plight of prisoners in developing countries, ( see Jan 19, 2009). I believe this brings much needed perspective on what we have to be thankful for in the American system, despite its flaws.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/19/090119fa_fact_power
In Christ.
vashti
"Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise." ( Jer. 17:14)