The jail house

I have seen quite a number of foreign movies and documentaries and I cant help but observe that the prisoners over there have the benefits of living in a more proper and efficient prison facility than what we have down here. They even have access to various recreational facility and get to enjoy some sources of entertainment from time to time.

Although, in my country, the name of such facility have longed been changed from "prison" to a "correctional facility", but trust me, there's absolutely nothing remedial about this hell hole. Honestly,I wouldn't even wish my enemy to spend a night in a typical prison yard in our territories.

Recently, I stumbled across some prison photos on social media . Looking at the inmates for a few minutes was enough to make me drop a tear. For a long time, I kept reflecting and asking my being if there was anything as priceless and valuable as one's freedom.

Saying thier living area is overcrowded is almost an understatement. the sight of a busy local market on a Christmas eve is even softer on the eyes than a typical prison cell where inmates are cramped up with little or no spaces between them.

I heard that when an inmates assumes a sleeping position at night, he'd remain in that posture till the following morning without changing sides as there's absolutely little or no space between inmates to turn around. I know that even in a flourishing poultry house,there are spaces for the birds to move and roam. Imagine the continual smearing between bare sweating bodies that have not been washed for weeks. Inmates are literally packed like sardines.

Sometimes, an inmate would die due to these harsh living conditions , possibly from a prolonged ailment or infection that had been neglected by the prison officials. Then he would be replaced by two or sometimes three new inmates in a small space whose carrying capacity is ten but already overcrowded by fifty inmates. No need to mention the very poor hygiene and high rates of disease transmission associated in such congested spaces. More like a concentration camp than a correctional facility.

What's worse is that some of these inmates haven't yet been convicted of whatever offence that they had been accused of. They were simply kicked into jail without proper trial and investigation by the authorities. And after series of adjournment and also complacency on the side of the law, their cases were been forgotten. Infact, some of them were erroneously accused and thrown into jail for a crime they might absolutely be innocent of.

We have heard stories on social media about former inmates that served long terms behind bars as a result unproven allegations ( e.g rape) , and were later released either by state pardon or after proper investigation had been carried out. This makes me wonder : Sometimes, it's not enough to stay away from troubles, it's more important to pray against falling into troubles.

Another sad thing is that some inmates had only engaged in minor crimes or insignificant misconducts that could be easily prevented by the government or the authorities. But they found themselves doing longer time like the hardened criminals.

Others might only have engaged in a crime just once, after a prolonged battle with a temptation too great to conquer. Consequently, this leads them to spending a long time behind bars in bitter regret and gnashing of teeth .

" It's the devil's work", these are about the most commonest words of a criminal pleading for leniency after he or she had been caught.

On the flipside, when you hear the horrible offences that some of these inmates had done before they were caught, I don't think one would have any empathy or emotions for them ( like the killers, rapists etc), you'd wish they continue to rot in jail since they inflict evil on the society. But then, that's not enough justification for them to be subjected to such awful living conditions. One can only feel sad for the good ones among them.

No need to mention that majority of the inmates are young men who could have great potentials and a bright future before being incarcerated either by a premeditated crime or by falling into it inadvertently.

For those of them that would eventually complete their sentences, I sometimes wonder how life would be to them after so many years behind bars. No doubt, some might turn a new leaf and be completed reformed by picking up the pieces from where they had left off . Strangely enough, some might become more hardened and develop a stronger resolve to be worse than their former selves especially when they had feel cheated.

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Thank you for staying with me ♥️ ♥️♥️