Getting Life : An Innocent Man

In part 3, Morris (2002, p.171) discusses why prison conditions matter and why penal reformers, including himself, have devoted their lives and travelled thousands of miles

In today’s society the criminal justice system that we live in is flawed in so many ways. Some say that it works while others go to prison or jail for crimes that they didn’t commit. In this paper I will be covering specific examples from the book, The Innocent Man, where the defendant’s rights were violated. John Grisham talks about innocent men being innocent and convicted for murder and sent to unlawful court proceedings. In this paper I will be focusing mainly on the violations of his 6th amendment. The 6th amendment is the right to effective assistance of counsel.

Can words change person’s thoughts from desperation, violence, to peace and normality within a dehumanizing prison? Some prisoners spending short to long term sentenced, sometimes lose themselves in a world of violence and become worse off when coming into the prison system, than how they used to be before prison life. Trying to hold on to any bit of sanity or respect for humanity becomes an everyday struggle. Sometimes the smallest thing can help prevent the feeling, of going over that edge of no return from a dreadfulness act of death.

Life Without Parole, by Victor Hassine, is a novel telling the true story of Hassine’s life behind bars. The daily struggle of trying to maintain your sanity, and avoid being harmed or even killed by inmates that are in the same facility you are in that are murderers. Life in prison has to be not only physically demanding, but also mentally demanding. Especially if you will never see daylight again, just even the thought of being in prison the rest of your life must kill you on the inside. In 2008, Victor Hassine committed suicide while incarcerated. He was handed down a life sentence without the possibility of parole after being convicted of homicide. In my opinion, I believe that prison makes you a way different person than you were on the outside, because it makes you re-adjust to different things around you. You are forced to fight day in and day out for your life with other inmates that may intimidate you. If you fight and prove to them you are tough enough, you will earn their respect, but if you do not fight back, then they will just continue messing with you and may even end up killing you.

After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests.

John Wideman’s “Our Time” portrays a different side of a convicted felon that is often never seen. His brother Robbie was sentenced to life in prison after being involved in a murder and robbery. Writing a book about his brother was something he had never done before and shows a very interesting approach to getting the reader’s attention. Due to the fact that he had never written a book like this before Wideman had to overcome some obstacles he had never faced before. As Wideman began writing the book he realizes that he has a hard time grasping the fact that he is a successful novelist and his brother a felon. Throughout the passage Wideman speaks to the reader

In New York, 2010, Kalief Browder was arrested for allegedly committing a robbery that he said he did not commit. However, he was still charged with robbery, grand larceny, and assault. The judge set bail at three thousand dollars, an amount that Browder’s family could not pay and unfortunately, he was sent to Rikers Island where he spent over a thousand days. He was assaulted by officers, inmates, and was also constantly sent to solitary confinement for nearly two years during his time at Rikers Island (Gonnerman, 2014). Kalief Browder attempted suicide many times when he was in solitary confinement. After being released, he tried to get back on his feet within society. His case was heard by many people, including Barack Obama, Jay Z, and other well-known individuals. All of them spoke about the injustice Browder faced. However, on June 06, 2015, Browder committed suicide (Gonnerman, 2015). Many people believed that the criminal justice system failed Browder. Unfortunately, this is not the only case in which the outcome was heartbreaking.

In “Lives of the Dead”, O’Brien’s own innocence is preserved through the memory of Linda, a memory that remains untarnished by the inevitable corruption that results from life. O’Brien’s writings “save Linda’s life. Not her body--her life” (236). Storytelling and memories preserve the value of Linda’s existence while simultaneously allowing O’Brien to process death and destruction in a way that maintains a degree of optimism regarding his own life and future. Juxtaposing the images of body and life emphasizes his desire to save the idea of Linda while accepting the loss of her physical presence. O’Brien rejects the idea of death as absolute and final; instead he suggests that “once you are alive, you can never be dead” (244). Linda’s death solidifies her importance in O’Brien’s own development; she teaches him about life and real love as much as in death as in life. O’Brien’s paradoxical statement defines the lasting impact of Linda on him; her presence in his stories keeps her alive through memory; memories that even her death

“The Book Thief” presented a story filled with various themes that comprised a powerful plot line. Although there were many themes in the story, there was one that stood out to me more than others. In the process of reading the book, the theme of suffering affected me the most. The definition of the word suffer is to experience or be subjected to something bad or unpleasant. Different characters within the story are subjected to dreadful feelings and are therefore suffering. Through my analyzation, I observed the three different types of suffering that the characters experienced: guilt, feelings of emptiness, and anxiety. The characters of “The Book Thief” experience these three types of suffering in different ways.

Twenty-three years ago, convict Jack Taylor told me his story while I sat in my office on unit 10-B one evening. Two days ago, I decided to check and see if any of his story was true. To my surprise, most of it was. Here is that story.

Just weeks after the happiest day of their lives, Richard and Mildred Loving, a newly wed couple, returned home in hopes of starting a new life, that they now had the joy of sharing with each other. In the middle of one night, they suddenly heard fists pounding at the door followed by loud, deep shouts that made their stomachs drop. They knew trouble had come. Policemen busting violently through the front door, the couple suddenly found themselves in handcuffs and thrown behind the bars of a prison cell. Released soon after, they are told to pack their things and leave the state for the next 25 years, forced to start their newly joined lives away from the place they call home. Richard and Mildred Loving, were arrested for violating the

The Ride is the story of the heinous and gruesome murder of ten year old, Jeffrey Curley, a case that is familiar to many in the Massachusetts area. The book works its way from the grisly crime to the years afterward. It focuses on the family of Jeffrey, heavily weighted on the life of Cambridge Firefighter Bob Curley, Jeffrey’s father. Charles Jaynes and Salvatore Sicari, both from Jeffrey’s neighborhood were convicted of the murder. Within this essay I will demonstrate from The Ride the relationship between reporting and suffering that may have been brought on for the crime victims of this case, the relationship between the victim profiles and the victim family profiles, the role in which the family may have played in the

Lead: David Fengel had spent 12 years of his life in a prison cell, he had lost his father at a young age and knew nothing of his mother. He said, “I felt alone. As the days passed by, had to detach myself from prison life to prevent myself from becoming evil.”

In “Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25,” the main character’s extraordinary and ambitious qualities contribute to the theme of the novel by giving a more profound meaning of the theme. Furthermore, Michael got cornered and the guys punched and kicked him until “suddenly a sharp, electric ZAP! pierced the air...” (18) which forced the fiendish cretins onto the ground, being more scared than ever.

How can somebody spend so much time in prison, and come out with a great attitude with the world? I watched the movie Invictus. Recently I watched the movie Invictus and then after I done research on the true events, time period, and people. In this paper I will prove that the film, Invictus, was mostly historically accurate by discussing the true historical people and events, summarizing the movie, and comparing and contrasting how the movie portrayed the true people and events.