“We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

We the people. WE. I have to admit, most inmates are dumb. Any typical Saturday and Sunday during football season, there will be crowds of inmates huddled around televisions, cheering for LSU and New Orleans Saints football teams. With conversations like, We beat Alabama this year. We are going to the NFC championship. We got a new running back. We lost because of a bad call. We got another defensive coordinator. We, we, we, we, we.

Let me tell you about WE. We put your dumb ass in prison. We house you in a concrete bunker that bakes all day under the blazing hot Louisiana sun in the summer so its 100°F when you got to sleep with no air conditioning. We call you slaves and pay you slave wages. We keep you in prison when you were convicted by a non unanimous jury. We take your good time and parole so you have no reason to rehabilitate yourself. We do all that to you, inmate. That’s what We do and you still love us.

I have finally found a politician that tells the truth. I know its hard to believe, but it’s true. This politician is U.S. Senator John Kennedy from my own home town in South Louisiana. Senator Kennedy was being interviewed about the spike in anti semitism protests on college campuses, especially among Ivy League colleges. Louisiana has Tulane University in New Orleans, which is an Ivy League college. Senator Kennedy was asked, “What should be done?” In his trademark southern red necky twang, Senator Kennedy responded in part, “As you all know I’m from Loozy-ana and in Loozy-ana we put people in prison…” He was not lying. Here are some facts about Louisiana, The Pelican State.

Louisiana imprisons more of its citizens than any other place in the world. A staggering one half of its residents has a criminal record. Yes, you read that right I said HALF. I know what you’re thinking. Not me. I don’t have a criminal record. If you have ever had a traffic ticket, you have a misdemeanor criminal record. You are in LACH (Louisiana Criminal History database) if the police ever run your name. That begs the question. Are the people of Louisiana inherently more evil and deviant than the rest of the world or is something seriously flawed in our criminal justice system and our legislative body?

Consider this. Sex crimes are the fastest growing offenses in the system. In Louisiana there does not have to be any evidence what so ever to convict. No proof a crime occurred. A victim’s statement alone is enough to secure a conviction . Trust me I know. There doesn’t even need to be an exact date or time when it occurred. The Bill of Information can read, “Between October 2020 and March 2021 the victim and offender met twice.” That should scare people.

Louisiana is the only state in the United States that holds approximately 1,100 men and women in prison illegally by non unanimous juries. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled it would be too burdensome on the trial courts to remand and retry cases since some were decades old. That means under the Constitution they are not convicted, but at the same time not allowed to go free. With the Supreme Court failing to rectify the matter, the duty then fell to the legislature to correct this grave miscarriage of justice. Republicans in both chambers overwhelmingly reject every bill that is put forth so no one gets out.

Have I mentioned that Louisiana still has slavery in its State Constitution? Oh yes, it’s there. When the matter was put on the ballot for the voters to remove the word “Slavery”, Republican lawmakers came out in force to oppose it. Why? Because they worried they would have to pay inmates more than a slaves wage to work. I work in the prison laundry. Some days I work twelve hours a day. Weekends, holidays. In the summer it can easily reach 120°F with no air conditioning. My weekly wages are 1.72 no matter how many hours or days I work. By the way, voters voted against removing the word Slavery, so it’s still in the State Constitution.

Ready for more good news? In the first special session under newly elected Governor Jeff Landry, the former Attorney General took aim at inmates. He had his super majority constituents completely strip the parole and good time laws. As of August 1, 2024 the Truth in Sentencing law took effect. For all offenses committed after this date, there is no more parole. Good time is now 85% for all crimes except sex offenses who must serve 100% of their time. The law does not differentiate between non violent and violent crimes. Those who fall under the old law and remain parole eligible must now face a newly instated parole board, who demeans, and humiliates the inmates who come before them. The new board does not care what an inmate has done to rehabilitate themselves, they only seek to inflict further punishment by rejection when it comes to early release. I ask you this? Why go to all the rehabilitative classes and maintain a good disciplinary record if there is no incentive to do so?

Jimmy Kimmel said on his TV show that no business entity should do business with this state. It should be boycotted. Venues should boycott because the only way to enact change is to hit the state in its wallet. Why would any business want to align itself with a state that supports a plantation like mentality? Any comment 50 Cent? We the people should say to our leadership, No More. Everyone makes mistakes.

While I do not profess to be a Christian anymore, I do know the bible. It says in the book of Romans, “There is no one worthy, no not even one. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” The need for justice should be tempered by mercy.

I will be leaving this state when I exit this hellhole in a few years, never to return. Most will say good riddance. There was a time I loved and believed in Louisiana. I fished in its rivers, swam in its lakes, hunted in its swamps, and played in its fields. At seventeen years old in 1990, I chose to join the United States Navy. All throughout my deployments in support of Operation Desert Storm, Operation Restore Hope, Operation Fiery Vigil, and Operation Southern Watch, there was a Louisiana State flag in my berthing area and in my barracks room in Guam, plastered on the wall for everyone to see. I was proud to be from this state. I was a husband and a son who worked hard, supported Louisiana, and considered myself lucky to be from here.

The Louisiana of today is not the Louisiana from my childhood. No more is it moss covered oaks, croaking frogs, or grunting alligators. Sportsman’s Paradise is gone forever. Louisiana is no longer The Pelican State. It’s now The Prison State, where everything is against the law.

If history has taught us anything, it’s that the whole Tough on Crime mentality doesn’t work. Lengthy and harsh sentences are not a deterrent to crime. If it was, the prisons would be empty, not full and over-crowded. Doing away with good time and parole serves only to inflict more harm than good. It is not a solution. Would not society as a whole be better served by helping inmates to succeed rather that try to make them fail? Why not redirect the effort from punishment and push toward job training and employment readiness? Give an inmate something to look forward to that will give him pride in himself. It’s rehabilitation that is the key to lower crime rates, which is the key to success. Once that is accomplished then we can truly be, “We The People…”

The post “We The People…”an original work by: Kerry Michael Wascom appeared first on Inmate Blogger.