When I begin my criminal-justice work, I had little sympathy for the guilty. Two things changed that.
First of all, I learned how men and women are actually treated in prison. Dehumanizing inmates benefits no one.
Secondly, I eventually got to know some of the guilty. The innocent people I befriended told me about good and decent people they had come to know behind bars, including people who freely admitted their crimes. Eventually, I got to know some of these men myself. They wrote to me. They put me on their phone lists. As I got to know them, I began to hope that they might be given another chance.
There is no class of people in this country more demonized than the sex offender. In the mind of the public, sex offenders are all like the psychotic sadistic creeps portrayed in acclaimed movies such as Mystic River. Elected officials would much rather spend their time and our money dreaming up more and more draconian sex-offender laws than in tackling issues such as education, the housing crisis, or the failing economy.
As a result, anyone convicted of any sex crime can look forward to lifelong incarceration. Those that do get out can’t find jobs. They can’t find housing. They are in constant danger of assault or murder. Given the nearly insurmountable problems they face, it’s amazing that sex-offenders still have about the lowest recidivism rate of any class of criminal. (For more information about sex offenders and their treatment, check out this page at the site of the National Center for Reason and Justice.)
Some of the men in our prisons for sex crimes are like the monsters of popular culture. But most are not. A great many of them are in prison because they did something stupid as a kid. Often their judgment had been impaired by drugs or alcohol. Had they come from influential families, their cases would have quietly been settled out of court. If your dad (or mother) is the District Attorney, a judge, the mayor, or the Chief of Police, you need have little fear of ever ending up behind bars. Many of the people enacting the draconian sex-offender laws did worse things as teenagers than the people they are condemning to a living hell.
I have become especially concerned about a young man I will call “Kevin,” who is 22 years old. Since the age of 14, Kevin has spent almost all of his life behind bars. He has never denied either of his two crimes.
Kevin suffered severe physical and sexual abuse as a child. The physical abuse came from his alcoholic mother and her successive alcoholic boyfriends. The sexual abuse began when he was nine. That was when his older brother began forcing Kevin to masturbate him and to perform oral sex. The brother was also abusing their very young niece. The brother would also have Kevin and the niece do sexual things together.
This went on for years, until the niece finally started to talk about what was happening. Kevin’s mother was terrified that the older boy was going to get locked up. So the family decided to make Kevin the sacrificial lamb. (Although I have been corresponding and talking to Kevin for about a year and a half, he only recently told me about the circumstances of his first crime. To his credit, he takes full responsibility for his behavior towards his niece.)
At the age of 14, Kevin was sent to a youth detention center. Predictably, he was raped and brutalized. He was very messed up when he was released at 18. Because his mother wanted nothing to do with him, he went to live with his alcoholic father. Kevin began abusing drugs and alcohol himself. He reoffended with a young step- niece. The offense was improper touching while she was fully clothed. He has been locked up ever since.
Kevin believes that drugs and alcohol contributed to his second crime and he believes that he needs to live clean and sober. He attends meetings for drug and alcohol abusers while in prison. Kevin and I often discuss these meetings. I am a recovering alcoholic myself. During my drinking years, I too did things that could have ended me up behind bars for a very long time.
Kevin also very recently told me that he is gay. He told me that he has known this since he was a child but could not accept it. (Given his abusive home environment, this certainly isn’t surprising.) Teenagers sometimes do terrible things to try to prove to the world (and themselves) that they are not gay. But Kevin has learned to accept himself as he is.
Will Kevin be given a chance? Given today’s climate of panic, the odds are against it.
Kevin is serving a one-day-to-life sentence as a sexually dangerous person. Only a judge or a jury can free him. This summer, he will go to court with a court-appointed attorney to try to show that he is not sexually dangerous. He likes his lawyer and he believes that she cares about him. But public-defenders are overburdened and underpaid.
Juries do declare convicted sex offenders not sexually dangerous. I’ve seen it happen on a number of occasions. It’s an interesting process to observe. During the course of a trial, the jury comes to realize that they are not dealing with some TV-created monster but an actual human being. They decide to give another chance. And the recidivism rate of such men is very low, even given the horrible problems they will face.
A jury won’t free Kevin, of course, if he has no job and no place to live. These are the two things that few want to offer someone convicted of a sex crime. Many people in prison are fortunate enough to have a supportive family and a network of friends to help them get a second start if they win their freedom. But Kevin’s family is and always has been his worst enemy. They are the people he needs to stay away from. (Far, far away.)
Recently, it dawned upon me that I am now Kevin’s only friend. That is not a comfortable position to be in.
I am hoping to find a few others who might also be willing to be his friend. I’m not looking for people to send him money or offer him a job or a place to live. What I do hope to find are a couple of people who might be willing occasionally to write to him. I do my best, but I’m often busy and I do write to several other prisoners as well.
But if you think you might be willing to write him, email me (bobchatelle@gmail.com) and we can talk about it. I can then give you Kevin’s real name and his address. Behind the walls or out, Kevin will not survive without a support system.
-Bob
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