INNOCENT BUT INCARCERATED.

This is happening right now in the UK but from what I have read, I suspect the same is happening in the US.

Part of the reason why our prisons are full to overflowing is because the Criminal Justice System is seriously flawed and requires a complete overhaul. Too many innocent people are being convicted. Why won't the Criminal Justice System, the Parole Board and the Prison and Probation Services recognise that wrongful convictions can and do happen? No human institution is totally infallible.

Innocent people are being convicted as a result of police trawling methods and guaranteed anonymity of the so-called victim. The real criminals often know how to cover their tracks but the innocent are being imprisoned every day as they have no means of proving that innocence when so many lies have been believed and they can find no evidence to the contrary. If you are innocent it is easy to think that the truth will be your best defence but once you get to court you will soon realise how wrong you were...

The jury is presented with nothing but lies... you are not allowed a proper defence... all the people who can testify to your innocence are excluded, with the excuse that there was not enough legal funding, so there is a conviction purely on the basis of hearsay and the collaboration of liars eager for compensation.

Our prisons here in UK are being stretched to capacity. There are even purpose-built prison ships ready for use... huge, ugly monstrosities that look like floating breeze blocks with windows on the outside. And now due to the I.P.P. sentence which was introduced 2 years ago (Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection)a prisoner can be detained for up to 99 years! There is no provision within the system for such long term imprisonment.

There is only a faint hope of parole for an innocent person in prison who maintains that innocence as they are said to be 'In denial' and not addressing their 'Offending behaviour.' It can mean that they may never be released even if they are completely innocent! They tend to fare far worse than the guilty and are often subjected to coercive and underhand tactics to part with their innocence. Emotional blackmail and even sheer physical violence unleashed by uncompromising officers who abuse their status is not unknown if the innocent do not "Go with the flow." They can be threatened with a reduction in visits and phone calls to loved ones and deprivation of earned privileges that other prisoners take for granted. Their mail can be intercepted and tampered with, even official documents concerning appeals often go astray. Eventually,being so worn down by this brutality, is it any wonder that innocent prisoners confess to crimes they have not committed? This should not be happening in a so-called civilised society.

It's far easier for the innocent to progress through the prison system to regain their freedom if they admit guilt and responsibility for crimes that never happened. This is lunacy when it costs more than 30,000 GB pounds per annum to keep a person incarcerated. There are enough real criminals without filling our prisons with the innocent!

Learn more about this author, Stella Kaye.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Readers share views on innocent people in prison?
We want to hear your view. Write now!