OUTREACH STORY #11: Housing Prevents Jail-Time! Outreach Prevents Jail-Time!
I remember when I heard Fred had been arrested. I couldn't believe it! I was in shock! This man was still recovering from an almost fatal, brutal baseball bat attack.
We'd heard he died, only to find out a month later, he survived and was in the ICU. We visited him. Due to all the damage done, they had to remove part of his skull to reduce the immense swelling. He was hooked up to machines. He looked helpless. He was helpless. We were told that survival would be a miracle, let alone walking, talking or functioning. He faced months of surgeries, hospitalisations and rehabilitation, and in the end, he defied all odds.
He walked again, but with limited mobility, very slowly, wobblily, and a walker. He spoke again, but every word took immense effort and his words barely made any sense. He had lost his memory, so remembering what he once knew took its toll. He didn't know who I was when I visited him. Even though he was in his forties, he looked like a scared confused fragile old man who could barely walk a city block.
What adds to the brutality of this story is that he ended up homeless after all this! We took him into our shelter and gave him a private room. We were trying to find him a safe affordable house to live in when the unthinkable happened, he was arrested and locked up in Cook County Jail. We couldn't believe it! We were in shock!
What adds to the craziness of Fred's story is that he was arrested for physically attacking someone and robbing them at a bus stop. He was charged with aggravated robbery. This man who would yell out nonsensical offensive slogans, but whom most people could knock over easily with their little fingers was taken into custody by the CPD and he remained incarcerated for well over 2 years.
The streets talk and I never heard what happened. The streets speak and all I heard was confusion. The streets talk and all I heard was how there was no way Fred could have attacked and hurt someone because if he tried to attack someone, he'd be the victim. The streets speak, yet this attack allegedly happened in a visible area at a visible bus stop, and no one saw or knew what happened. The streets talk and I never heard who the victim was. The streets speak and the confusion of that night has never disappeared. The streets talk and years later I still don't know what happened.
Some of those experiencing homelessness in Uptown did stints in the same cell block as Fred. They would come and go and report on his well-being. They would look out for him. They looked after him. No one found out what happened. Fred didn't know himself, and even if Fred knew, I doubt he could communicate it.
Eventually, Fred was released and sent to a Nursing Home on the other side of Chicago. A couple of us visited him, he didn't recognise us so we had to remind him who we were. His words were scrambled and strained, and his movements were slow, jerky and fragile. It was a difficult visit, but we left knowing he wasn't homeless or in jail, but surrounded by professionals who could meet his extensive medical needs and cognitive issues.
To this day, I have no idea if the Judge found him guilty or innocent. I know he wasn't transferred to a Prison. I know he stayed in Jail. I know Fred was unable to comprehend or communicate what happened to him. To this day, I have no idea if he spent all those months locked up as an innocent man, or as a convicted man.
For those who don't know, let me briefly explain the difference between prison and jail, and why Fred could have been locked up for well over 24 months without ever receiving a guilty conviction. Prisons house people after they've been convicted of felonies. Fred never went to prison even though he was arrested for a felony. Jails are more complex and have many purposes, but one of their primary functions is holding people accused of a crime as they await trial (we call it remand in Aotearoa). In Fred's case, he was given a bond to pay, but because he couldn't afford it, he remained locked up during his many Court appearances until his fate was determined. Trials like Fred's can take years.
Was he given a guilty verdict or was he innocent? I don't know! It could have gone either way. If they had determined he was guilty, his time in jail could have been longer than the sentence they had given him, so he would have been released with the judgement: "time considered served." If they determined he was innocent, they would have released him after a couple of years of being in a place he should never have been in the first place.
As I reflect on Fred's tale, I remember when a nephew of Chicago's former Mayor Richard M. Daley had a drunken encounter with a younger and much smaller man than himself. He punched the 21-year-old in the face and ran away, knowing he had fallen, knocked his head on the curb and was unconscious. The young victim tragically died within a couple of weeks. Daley's nephew wasn't charged at the time. He wasn't jailed at the time. About 10 years later, only because of public uproar, he was charged with involuntary manslaughter (a felony), and then, and only then, did he get 60 days of jail time, 30 months probation, and have to pay the mourning family $20,000 restitution.
As I reflect on Fred and the Mayor's nephew, I remember one fella I was working with peacefully sitting with his friends on the sidewalk. The police knew he had marijuana on him, so they came, searched him, cuffed him and took him to jail. He received a 7-year prison sentence for $50 worth of weed.
As I reflect on Fred, the Mayor's nephew and the fella I just mentioned, I cannot help but think of how we are currently watching a former president, a billionaire, a man who was recently convicted of 34 felonies, isn't in jail or prison, but is currently free and attempting to become the USA's POTUS again.
I've simplified and generalised all the above stories. I know mandatory minimums, past convictions and other factors help determine sentencing. I know I'm not an expert. I know the Justice System is far more complex than what I've seen and heard, but my mission is to highlight the gross disparities in a system that is supposed to be fair and just.
There's that popular phrase, "Innocent until proven guilty". That may look true for those who are wealthy. Still, for anyone who is poor, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour), or from any other marginalised group, their popular phrase is quite the opposite: It's "Guilty until proven innocent" and you may, like Fred, serve a long painful sentence as you wait.
Bryan Stevenson, the great advocate for those on death row, said, "We have a system of justice that treats you much better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent."
Housing prevents jail time!
Outreach prevents jail time!
I know people who've been cuffed and arrested and jailed for sleeping in a park after 11 pm. I know people who've been cuffed and thrown in the back of a squad car for urinating behind a dumpster in an alleyway, while hundreds of Cubs fans exit Wrigley Field with alcohol in their hands and do likewise, but never get arrested. I know people who've done jail time for having an open can of alcohol on them in public. People face law enforcement for lying in doorways, hanging out in certain public areas and having their tents pitched under bridges. I recently wrote a story about a man who tried to sneak onto a train, he was arrested and spent the night in jail for attempting to steal a $2 fare from the Chicago Transit Authority. (To read this story, click the attached link: He was Petrified!)
My focus, so far, has been on the US, a nation that prides itself on democracy and being the "land of the free", yet incarcerates people at a rate that dwarfs the rest of the world. With only 4% of the world's population, it tragically has around 25% of the world's incarcerated population. It's shocking, and that's why organisations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International highlight their atrocities and call for change.
Yet, when I look at the country of my birth, Aotearoa New Zealand, our statistics pale in comparison, but we are guilty as well. We need to stop saying, "At least we're not as oppressive and as racist as America!" and do nothing to challenge our own racist and classist system which favours the wealthy and pākehā. Aotearoa, let's not kid ourselves, we too, have a system that "treats you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent."
Aotearoa, when I do outreach and work with those sleeping rough, I see the disparities, I see the harmful effects of trespass orders and EM bail conditions, I see the negative results of this "tough on crime" rhetoric, which thinks warehousing the poor and boot camps for youngsters is the answer. Incarceration only increases poverty while decreasing housing and employment opportunities.
Aotearoa, America, and nearly every nation in the world, we can do better, we can be fairer, while also protecting and considering the trauma and feelings of those who have been victimised.
To those who believe I'm naive or woke or just plain ignorant...
I write this as someone who's been a victim of aggravated robbery twice! I write as someone who was punched in the face multiple times, had a knife to my throat, and was driven around in the boot of my own car. I write this knowing the trauma of 2 unprovoked attacks, right here in West Auckland! I write this as someone who plucked up the courage to meet those who robbed me through a restorative youth justice programme. I write this as someone who advocated that they didn't go to boot camps or prison. I write this knowing there were still consequences and accountability for their actions, but through the redemptive and restorative process we all went through, I believe there was healing for us all. I write this believing a vengeful system only increases the cycles of violence and poverty, while a restorative system brings healing and hope to both offenders and victims!
If you follow Jesus, here is my challenge: Quite often, Christians are leaders in calling for punishment and retribution on so-called offenders. I don't get it when Jesus made it abundantly clear that his mission is to bring good news to the poor and liberation to the oppressed and captives. Remember, Jesus was about promoting freedom, not incarceration.
Quite often, Christians are afraid to challenge or call out an unfair, unequal, unjust system, in fact, and quite often, Christians are leaders in promoting this very unmerciful and vengeful system. I don't get it when Jesus was a victim of such a corrupt system. Jesus was innocent, he did no violence, no stealing and no drugs! Jesus was guilty of not submitting to their biased and prejudiced ways. Jesus was lynched for standing with the poor and choosing to love the oppressed. Jesus spoke truth to power and the Powers-That-Be executed him!
Jesus was about love, mercy, forgiveness, and challenging the unjust systems that exploit those he referenced as "the least of these". A "tough on crime" religious mob brought a woman accused of adultery to him, to stone her in cold blood. He knew why they brought her to him, they wanted to see how he would respond, they wanted to test him. In his own way, he pointed out their ill intents and contradictions and prejudices, and one by one, each powerful man dropped their rocks and heads and walked away. They all knew they were guilty too. In the end, it was just he and her. He let her know she was free to go without any condemnation! Violence lost. Punishment lost. The violent and unjust system lost. Mercy won! Forgiveness won. Love won!
To read more about my reflections on Outreach and why I believe it's needed, please click this Link: The Eclectic Path of an Outreach Worker: Reaching Out to Those Experiencing Homelessness
Comments