by Stella Kaye

Created on: January 16, 2009

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THE OFFENDER

Society should take on some responsibility for the plight of the falsely accused so that these prisoners are given ample opportunity to prove their innocence and clear their name whilst serving their sentence, but sadly this is not the case.

In prison an inmate will always be referred to as the offender. For the guilty prisoner this serves as a daily reminder that they have committed a crime but for the innocent, it comes as a constant jolt to the senses that they have been falsely accused and wrongfully convicted.

The British public is reluctant to acknowledge that there are a high proportion of innocent people within our prison walls as it is always assumed that we have the best criminal justice system in the world. It is only when someone is falsely accused and wrongfully convicted that they realise how fallible the system really is.

There is little or no provision in prison for prisoners maintaining their innocence. Both parole and probation officials are obliged to treat all prisoners as if they are guilty. They are bound by law to accept without question that the courts have made the correct decision and cannot challenge their ruling under any circumstances. This means that society does not recognise that it should bear any responsibility whatsoever to the wrongfully convicted as their plight is not even acknowledged.

Tough luck then, if you become the unfortunate victim of false allegations; the judge said you were dangerous, the jury convicted you "Beyond all reasonable doubt," even though they were only presented with lies and now here you are, incarcerated for crimes that never even happened.

Proving your innocence is virtually impossible in the current climate of the U K Criminal Justice System. You'll soon find that you are deprived of every opportunity to clear your name and will be told that funding is not available, every step of the way - quite simply because the system is reluctant to admit that it can and does make the occasional mistake. Even if you have no assets to sell or money saved, your chances of getting good legal representation on legal aid will be practically zero. Society will not even give you a fighting chance to prove your innocence, never mind compensate you for the harm it has done!

The guilty are given every opportunity to progress and make some restitution for the harm they have caused but as a prisoner maintaining innocence you will be viewed as being in a constant state of denial and are far less likely to be granted

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