THE WRONGLY CONVICTED

Prisons are necessary institutions of punishment and rehabilitation where offenders are given the opportunity to participate in anger management, drug and alcohol-related counseling and sex offender treatment programs. There is every encouragement available for prisoners to change and become better people in preparation for their eventual re-assimilation into society, but what of the wrongly convicted? These are society's forgotten citizens who are not viewed by the establishment as innocent however much they protest it. The UK Justice System is not willing to admit that no human institution is infallible and it will not recognize the pleas of the wrongly convicted. The innocent in prison are seen as an unnecessary encumbrance to prison and probation staff who are programmed into believing that anyone maintaining innocence must be "In denial." and is not addressing their offending behavior. Innocence thus becomes a four letter word the moment a wrongly convicted inmate arrives. It is even possible for an innocent prisoner to serve a much longer period of imprisonment than a guilty one. These innocents are society's forgotten citizens - the victims of an inadequate and outdated Criminal Justice System.

On almost a daily basis uncompromising officers will come, clipboard in hand, to intimidate the innocent into signing papers to participate in offending behavior courses. Innocent prisoners will be persuaded into admitting guilt and responsibility for crimes that never even happened. If they give into these demands, prison life may become more tolerable, but what a price to pay.

What would you do if a brutal official twisted your arm behind your back and shut your fingers in a door to force you to admit guilt to things that never took place? Most people would just want the pain to stop. Torture is alive and well and lives in UK prisons... the torture of wrongly convicted innocents.

The guilty are not subjected to this mistreatment; they know they have done wrong and deserve to be where they are but the innocent wake to recurring nightmares every day unable to make any progress unless they admit to crimes they haven't committed.

Imagine being forced into feeling remorse for things you have never done and to be made to feel empathy towards your "Victims," who are smugly enjoying their compensation money for putting you where you are. You will be asked to participate on courses that require you to discuss what motivated you to commit your crimes. What crimes?

"Sign on the dotted line and you'll have some chance of parole. Don't sign and you could be in here for life..."

What would you do if an officer came along when you're feeling at your lowest ebb, deprived of sleep and contact with the people you love?

"Sign and we'll make life easier for you. We'll send you to a nice new prison where the food is edible. You'll be able to achieve "Enhanced status" and we'll give you certain privileges. But if you don't sign and we'll reduce your visits and phone calls and your life will become unbearable."

It's your choice but failure to comply could mean you are confined to your cell for twenty four hours a day with only the four walls for company. The system will try to wear you down. Life is full of compromises. What would you do?

The guilty have every chance to progress through the system and make amends for the damage they have caused; to make some sort of restitution for their wrongs. But the falsely accused and wrongly convicted dwell in a no-man's land; a bureaucratic limbo from which there is no escape. The guilty stick together where they can choose to encourage each other to continue their life of crime on release or they can help each other to change. They have a choice, but what can an innocent person do other than maintain that innocence in the hope that someone might believe them and help them to find the correct legal assistance to appeal their conviction.

So spare a thought sometimes for prisoners who are morally innocent and do not need rehabilitation or punishment. The criminal justice system does make mistakes. What would you do if you had been a God-fearing person all your life and instead of going to Heaven you were sent to Hell by mistake? That is what everyday life is like for innocent prisoners; the wrongly convicted - society's forgotten citizens.