Practitioner Interview: Former Inmate - Essay Example

? Practitioner Interview: Former Inmate Task: Practitioner Interview: Former Inmate Retrospection about the past, understanding the present, and foreseeing the future of a former inmate reveals an overwhelmingly unique perspective of the circumstances that leads to a crime. It is an acceptable fact that an individual’s past determines the future life. However, some believe that an individual’s past is irrelevant when deciding the fate of a convict for breaking the law. They attest that any grey areas should not exist in matters concerning crime. If the law is broken, the ultimate fate for convicts is punishment. If not guilty, suspects should be free. The perceptions of this group of people are the causes of concerns of discrimination among convicts in the society. On the contrary, others believe that an individual’s past should be a matter of consideration when an individual during the sentencing of a convict. According to this group of people, there are grey areas with the consideration of factors that needs consideration before deciding on the most appropriate sanctions for each individual. According to Melton, 2010, sanctions should differ according to the scale of the severity of the crime or felony committed by an individual, for instance. It is admissible that there are complexities that exist in our judicial system (Neubauer & Fradella, 2010). These complexities are real, and have paved the way to several different philosophies as to what is right. The existence of these differences in opinions demonstrates the multiple divisions regarding how a criminal should receive sanctions. This narrative essay is to enlighten us, of a former criminal’s life, an attempt to walk in the shoes of a person with a criminal past, and inquire their opinion on our criminal justice system having been a former inmate. Melissa Radde is a courageous woman, mother of three, former inmate, and despite all the odds stacked against her, turned her life around to become a reformed individual. She was born on July 7, 1981. Her father is a retired Army officer and her childhood started typical of a military brat moving often. However, her life noticeably transformed after her mother and father divorced and, her father married her mother’s best friend when she was 9 years old. Melissa’s father and new stepmother obtained full custody of herself and younger brother. Once her parents divorced, her birth mother disappeared completely from her and her brother’s lives. She stated, she never saw her again until last year, 2012, when she was 31 years old. At the age of 10, Melissa experienced regular sexual assaults and rape by her stepmother’s brother. This traumatic experience transformed Melissa’s personality. The once happy, fun loving child became withdrawn and angry about the world. Aggressive behavior at school and at home was apparent. Frustrated with Melissa’s exasperated conduct her father and stepmother became excessively abusive and neglectful. Melissa’s abuse was significant, stating frequent molestation consisting of forceful slamming to the ground, punching in her face, and forcefully made her clean and cook daily for her father and stepmother’s high standards. Melissa recalled of some time when she did not clean the bathtub properly and her father slammed her in the tub, poured a whole bottle of bleach all over her. She forcefully cleaned the tub with her body, slamming her body back and forth like a washrag. When she was 13, after failing to clean the dishes to her father’s high standards, yet again, he felt fed up. This time he picked her up, slung her over his shoulders, carried her to the car and drove her to a psychiatric ward where he had her committed. They left her in this psychiatric ward for a whole year. It was during that year; she was finally able to speak out about the molestation and rape that went through almost daily. She finally opened up because since she heard of other stories very similar to hers while she was there. Melissa explained that it was not until she heard the stories that she realized it were never her fault, and her Uncle’s acts were inadmissible and immoral. She truly believed that she would be in serious difficulties if anyone knew about her experience. The doctors in the psychiatric ward had Melissa call her parents after this breakthrough to tell them about what her Uncle had been doing to her. Her parents did not answer the phone, so they insisted she leave a message: Her parents returned the call a week later. When they called, they explained they were not at home since her Uncle had a horrific poolside accident and paralyzed from the waist down. The family was in the hospital with him. After learning of the molestation and rape, her parents acknowledged it but never revisited the ordeal again. The abuse from her parents only decreased slightly when she arrived home from the psychiatric ward and it was very short lived. One month after her return, the molestations worsened. Melissa was on numerous different medications that she explained numbed her. I asked if Melissa ever fought back or tried to defend herself. She explained if or when she would try to fight back or resist the abuse her father and step mother they would threaten sending her back into the psych ward or call the police to have her put in prison. Her parents made it clear that no police officer would believe her word over theirs, and she believed them. Melissa Radde’s criminal history started when she was merely 15 years old. On this particular day, she had enough of the abuse and in a very desperate attempt to escape from home; she stole her father’s Blazer and eloped without a license. She explained that she was so desperate to leave that she sincerely did not put any thought into her escape. She stated, “I was very young and naive. I saw the keys then saw the car, and without skipping a beat I was behind the wheel and driving.” This life changing decision, ultimately lead to a high speed police chase. Melissa expressed her overwhelming sensation of terror that took over her body. She explained that she was physically shaking uncontrollably while running from the police during this high-speed chase. The speed chase ended with a violent crash that flipped the vehicle over. The Blazer caught fire. Once extinguished, the rescuers needed the jaws of life to extract her from this vehicle. After admission to a hospital, the doctor only evaluated with scrapes and bruises. The police brought her directly to a Juvenile Detention Center where she served for13 months, and sentenced to 7 years of probation. She was only free on her 17th birthday and underwent emancipation. Relieved that she did not have to go home she now faced a new world of problems. She was on her own, on the streets, and had nowhere to settle at as home. Melissa Radde was a 17-year-old felon, with no high school diploma, homeless, and considered by the law to be an adult. Seeking refuge, she went to the Salvation Army. Unfortunately, the Salvation Army does not allow people under the age of 18 to live there without an adult. Unable to articulate her circumstances, she spent nights sleeping in a post office and would spend her nights in hallways in apartment complexes. Finally, after meeting her probation officer and explaining that she has been homeless, he accompanied her to the Salvation Army where he explained that Melissa was, by legal definitions, an adult and her staying there not allowed. Melissa expressed her disgust with the system for emancipating her and leaving her with no means of support. She explains, “I understand if a minor committed murder, and was tried as an adult and that person was locked up however, being emancipated and sent off to fend for myself was devastating.” Melissa discussed her hardships of trying to find a job being a 17 year old with a record. She explained, no one would hire her and, all the programs are designed for adults’ not emancipated teens. Melissa was stuck in an unfortunate loophole in the system being too old for youth programs and too young for adult programs. While at the Salvation Army Melissa made older friends that at the time she held dearly. They taught her how to survive the streets and introduced her to more people. One of her friends, aged 21 years, had in her possession a checkbook that she stole from a rich girl. She announced that she was going to take everyone shopping and taught everyone how to use the checkbook. Melissa’s friend took everyone out to eat and bought for them new clothes, shampoo, groceries, makeup, and new shoes. Melissa expressed her appreciation for her friend that spoiled her this way and taught her survival. She never had anyone in her life wanting to provide for her before, and she stated how she felt things were finally turning around. Her friend would also buy jewelry with the checks and then sell them for cash. She gave Melissa and her other friends cash that they laundered with the checks. One evening while Melissa and her friends were shopping they were busted for fraud and stolen checks. Investigators were observing the group and tracking their purchases. Melissa was arrested immediately because she was on probation. Upon investigation, detectives knew Melissa was only an accessory and explained that she would take the fall if she did not provide a statement testifying against her friends. Melissa refused to be a snitch. She served a six month sentence in County Prison, and 7 months in the Hubar Workforce. Hubar is a work release program where inmates can leave only for the workday. Melissa enjoyed the Hubar program; she felt this was where she grew up the most. Turning 18 years old in County Prison and finally allowed into the Hubar Workforce program changed her perception about life. Returning back to society Melissa desperately wanted to be a law-abiding citizen and complete school. Upon her release, her newly assigned probation officer was the first person that showed true compassion and truly cared for her. Having someone that sincerely cared for her wellbeing was a great experience for Melissa. It was amazing for her to have such a compassionate probation officer, she explained that her other probation officers could not have cared less for her. Melissa’s past probation officers made it clear that they did not care if she lived or died. However, Melissa had every intention to be a law-abiding citizen. Having been in the system since she was 15 years old, she had a huge accumulation of fines and probation fees. When she would be in-between jobs and could not pay her fines, and therefore a warrant was out for her arrest. She stated that since her release from prison, she has a history of several instances of arrests for a number of times. For example, law enforcement officers stopped for her tail light being out on her vehicle and she faced arrest for failure to pay her fines and given another fine upon release. Over the years, she has an accumulation of so many fines and fees. She admits she is losing track in her life. Once a person is in the system it is impossible to get out. Melissa really believes that, fines and fees are the worst aspects of the criminal justice system. She believes that the fines and fees are a way of keeping a person down. Surprisingly, she believed that having been on probation helped her tremendously and truly deterred her from doing something else stupid. “Whenever I was in another bad situation,” she explains, “I would stop and think of what I was doing, because I knew I was on probation.” Melissa feels that probation is a great deterrent. Today Melissa is doing very well; she has a very loving husband and three beautiful children. Her teenage daughter has been on the honor roll since she was in the third grade. Melissa’s other two children are toddlers, a three year-old-girl and a 2 year-old-boy. Considering her apparent situation, it is challenging to get convinced and believe that she is a convicted felon. Felons face diverse forms of discrimination such as denial in the labor market (Ekunwe & Jones, 2011). They also face a serious challenge of political exclusion in the society (Williams & Macedo, 2005). Having interviewed a former inmate and transformed criminal on personal account, I to admit that I am guilty of dehumanizing criminals. It was easier to think of criminals as the society’s castaways. After speaking an interview with Melissa, and witnessing her amazing spirit, fun, sense of humor, and charming personality, I remain astonished of her past. She gives credit for her remarkable turnaround to her probation officer and her husband. She states that, if not for them, she certainly would still be on the streets or in prison. References Ekunwe, I. & Jones, R. (2011). Global perspectives on re-entry: Exploring the challenges facing ex-prisoners. Tampere: Tampere Univ. Press. Melton, B. (2010). The law. New York: Chelsea House Pub. Neubauer, D. & Fradella, H. (2010). America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Williams, M. & Macedo, S. (2005). Political exclusion and domination. New York: New York University Press. Read More