Incarceration

 I have patients who are free for some visits and in jail for other visits.  When in jail they come in for the visit with two correctional officers. Some of them are incarcerated for drug charges and often they have had no opportunities in high school to learn a vocation and they can’t read or write well. 

My husband worked in a prison as a medical officer for a period of four years when he was in medical school. While there he encountered an inmate in the medical clinic who said that he recognized him.  My husband assured him that they did not know each other.  The inmate repeated several times that they did know each other.  My husband looked at him carefully and realized that he was someone against whom he had run track in high school. When he realized he was a former competitor, he envisioned the two of them diverging as they came to forks in the road. 

Fate can be cruel. Often life takes turns that are unexpected and bad choices can leave someone incarcerated and I hope that those incarcerated can learn a new skill and can become productive members of society once they are released. For those whose crimes are such that no level of rehabilitation can reform them in this life, incarceration provides them an opportunity to reflect and repent. I am against taking a human life in way of punishment.