| SILENT VICTIMS |
| The silent, mostly unmentioned victims of crime are the children of convicted felons. Many of them have not seen their fathers or mothers for years, if at all. It is tragic to see fathers trying to be dads from a prison cell. They send advice, birthday cards and any other kinds of encouragment they can through the mail. The prisoner calls collect on the phone when they can, but it just doesn't fill the need. It is so sad to think about the huge hole in these young peoples lives left by the absence of their parent. The lucky kids get to see their dads once a month, some a little more, most much less if at all, in the visiting room at the prison. I guess it is better than nothing but it is a pathetic situation of the facade of parenthood. It saddens me to read the letters of convicted felons telling their kids that daddy still loves them even though he will not be able to be with them for the rest of his life. I have read letters from inmates in my housing unit to their fathers and mothers in other prisons. Infact, at one time, one of the inmates under my care had his father and brother in the same cell on another yard in the prison I work at. My point here is that many children of criminals become criminals. Every once in a while I see where the father is in prison for a very long time and the mother, usually unmarried, drops the inmate and hooks up with another man on the outside. One can only hope that this new guy takes responsibility for his new family, becomes husband and father, and leads his new family as morale, law abiding citizens. But what happens more often is the inmate will parole from prison, go home to his girlfriend and mother of his children, get more involved with his homeboys from the past and end up right back in prison with a parole violation or new case. Thus, the cycle continues and family and society suffers because of the selfishness and ego of these misfits of society. |
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