The first piece of my own work I have selected to present is my letter to the JMU student body advocating for marijuana reform. I selected this piece because it connects me and my personal experiences to both the prison system and the class. In my letter, I address the lasting consequences of being arrested, over-crowding of prisons, unjust laws, and the desperate need for legislative reform. It is a culmination of the facts and issues I have learned about throughout the semester, organized to help create change.
The second piece of my writing I chose to include is my response to our jail tour. I had seen prisons on T.V. and in movies and even real prisons in cities; however, none were as bad as the Harrisonburg jail. I was able to see first-hand the damage overcrowding causes to a prison and the miserable existence most inmates must live inside. I think what I found most jarring was the sheriff who gave our tour. He didn’t seem to care about the lives of anyone kept inside the prison and made the horror stories we have heard about prison staff much more believable. On the prison tour I saw with my own eyes that our prison system is broken.
The second piece of my writing I chose to include is my response to our jail tour. I had seen prisons on T.V. and in movies and even real prisons in cities; however, none were as bad as the Harrisonburg jail. I was able to see first-hand the damage overcrowding causes to a prison and the miserable existence most inmates must live inside. I think what I found most jarring was the sheriff who gave our tour. He didn’t seem to care about the lives of anyone kept inside the prison and made the horror stories we have heard about prison staff much more believable. On the prison tour I saw with my own eyes that our prison system is broken.