One Human Family
From Amy’s Travels:
Occasionally, an exhausted single mother of two must venture off the beaten path and into the unknown.
Regina and I flew into Miami last Thursday and drove across the ocean to the Conch Republic (AKA Key West)-the only community in the United States to actually claim to have successfully seceded from the Union. (!!!)
I found the climate and culture most agreeable and within hours Regina and I somehow managed to momentarily assimilate into the local cast of characters. On the 17th, we met Mark Howell, a charming Brit who is the editor of The Solares Hill, a weekly publication featuring arts, politics, opinions and entertainment, as part of the Key West Citizen newspaper.
http://keysnews.com/solareshill
We chatted at length about politics, local celebrities and the general goings-on around the island. The natives seem to be imports from everywhere else. (Mark was most amused to discover that I am the county Auditor in Monroe County, Indiana, as Key West is a part of Monroe County, Florida.) I picked up his publication April 19th and read an intriguing article he wrote entitled, “Prison: An Opportunity Going to Waste”. It discusses the bureaucracy surrounding the criminal justice system in America, how it impacts women and children and Monroe County, FL’s specific rehabilitation efforts. To quote Mark’s article:
“Currently there are 2.2 million adults incarcerated in the United States, more per capita than any other country in the world. One out of 100 Americans is now behind bars. One out of 35 citizens has had an interaction with the justice system. And the fastest growing segment of the prison population is women, meaning that children are affected…..1.5 million American children now have a parent in the criminal justice system as penal incarcerations becomes a spiraling and inter-generational problem.
As for how well the idea of rehabilitation is doing, half of the prisoners released from America’s jails end up being arrested again within three years.”
