| The children of incarcerated parents are greatly affected. The feelings
of abandonment are huge, not to mention how they are ostracized by their
peers, and much more. The lack of a parent or parents has so many negative
effects on a child that all of them cannot be covered. The parent(s) made
the choice that landed them in prison, no matter what the circumstances
were, it is their fault. On the other hand, we as a society are supposed
to want the best for our children and other's children. The future is theirs
and we owe them the best we can give them, it is us who brought them into
this world, they didn't ask us to. Every parent on this planet has made
some sort of mistake in the upbringing of their child, some more than others
but mistakes all the same.
There are mothers and fathers in the Va. Dept. of Corrections and
all around this nation who are being held from their children for far to
long than needed.
With Virginia's "no parole" and 85% law a man or woman cannot work
their way back to their children. It does not matter how much they've changed
their way, or what behavior they've shown in prison, they will do 85% of
the sentence imposed on them by the Courts. This is so sad, a parent who
made a mistake being warehoused in a prison with no chance of parole or
earning anymore than 4.5 days for every 30 days served. This means that
no matter what the inmate/parent does to better themselves, only 54
days of good time can be earned in a full year. With Virginia's mandatory
sentencing laws, their good time earned laws, and NO PAROLE law,
a parent that does anything that lands them in prison, they get 5 years,
they will do 4 years, 3 months and 5 days of that 5 year sentence no matter
what! Ask yourself why this is?
If you voted for former Governor George Allen in the 94-95 election
you have your answer. This is when Virginia joined the business of prison
warehousing at the taxpayers expense. Go to the Legislative
Bill section of this site and see SB28 and
you'll see what the legislators think of keeping family bonds. This bill
was brought forward to give child friendly visiting rooms to promote positive
bonds, it failed, as did every other bill that betters the system in an
inmates favor. I beg of you to ask why?
Also see HB 934 which abolishes parole for jail inmates. After parole
was abolished on July 1st 1995 for any felony, it still existed for misdemeanors.
Not anymore! The State of Virginia wants 85% from them too. Why? The Privatization
section on this web site will explain all of that to you. Something has
to change, and it needs to change now! The children The children in our
nation are confronted with enough as it is, their parents may have made
a mistake, they are in prison to pay for it, but at what cost? A man or
woman who shows they are ready to be fre, should be! The way it stands,
there is no bar to meet to be released, you only have a set date. This
must change and the only way to do it is get into the politicians ears.
Please do your part and email them your opinion. (see the How
To Help section for contact information) |
