October 4, 2008

It is now one year since Ed and I were captured by the marshals and incarcerated. It is hard to believe that an entire year has passed by already. Even though this has not been fun, the time has seemed to pass.

Prison is an experience that is hard to describe to anyone who has not experienced it. It is a sea of contradictions in many ways. In prison one is thrown in with a wide variety of people from backgrounds that are totally different from one's own; thus we are forced to be with people who may have no way of understanding each other from that perspective.

I have seen selfishness, bullying, argumentativeness, lying, stealing; I have also seen sharing, caring, protectiveness, spirituality, compassion as I have seldom experienced in the outside world.

Prison is a time-out from life; a chance to reflect and start anew. A person can take this time to sort out and change direction. With the right attitude, it can be a fresh start. I have had women tell me they are glad they are here, as it has been the only thing that has enabled them to kick a drug habit, a gambling habit, whatever.

Do not misunderstand, I am not saying this is the place to go when your life is on the wrong track, but it has helped many. The help comes not from prison or from the programs for rehabilitation that the prison offers. Because except for some drug programs, there are NO rehabilitation programs in prison. The benefit comes from inside the individual, and and be influenced by 'friends' that one makes here. The right people can help like nothing else can, the wrong ones can do the opposite.

Prison life is demeaning and dehumanizing. Privacy is gone; self-respect is tested to the limits. Many of the officers are kind, and if not caring, at least not mean. There are always those who seem to enjoy power and take opportunities to make a miserable life more miserable.

More are here who should not be here. Yes, I know, everyone in prison is innocent! Believe me, many are. Our 'justice' system is fraught with imperfections, and, I'm sorry to say, corruption. I used to support the death sentence; no more, never again.

Ed and I maintain and will always maintain our innocence. We have still never been shown the law they said we violated. This injustice, of course, dominoed to the arrests of Jason, Danny, Reno, and Bob, good men all.

However, we all have a part to play in God's plan. Ed and I, and these four good men chose to play our roles. We have faith that righteousness will win out, and God will affect our release and clear our names. The Qur-an tell us, “Men need laws in order to lead orderly lives. But those laws must be based on the eternal principles of righteousness and fair dealing.” Sadly, those principles are no longer in effect in our courts and legislatures. We pray God they will return. In the meantime, may He protect us all.

Elaine Alice Brown