MARK MAHANEY FOR ESQUIRE
“Katie didn’t know the full story. She knew only what DeAnne had told her growing up: Ray had touched her “inappropriately.” Katie didn’t remember any of the abuse, but DeAnne explained that Katie had most likely buried the terrible things her father had done to her so deeply that she couldn’t access any recollections of them.
“That never felt right to Katie, though. She had long nursed a suspicion that the memories weren’t there because they didn’t exist, and her father had been innocent all along. If that was the case, it meant she and her older brother, Matt, had played a role in putting their father in prison.”
Read the full article. by Maurice Chammah in collaboration with Esquire, at The Marshall Project.
One truth that I have learned is something that I wrote in a recent post: “Beneath every story is another story that brings light to what is on the surface.” This is true in the story of every prisoner I have met. There are evil people in prison. There are some who should never again be entrusted with freedom beyond these stone walls, but they are a small minority. For the vast majority of prisoners I have met, restoring justice to their lives and restoring their freedom is a singular goal. The problem is that there is very little that happens in a one-size-fits-all prison that helps bring that about, and there is a lot in prison that actually works against it.
‘People in the lobby were staring at me. Women and men backed away, and a pathway straight to the door was cleared. I suddenly realized what had happened. I’m a sex offender. I mean, they think that I’m a sex offender. “It’s not me. There is someone else with my same name and birthdate. I promise. This has happened to me at the border several times. Please, check again. Run my license number rather than just my name. Check whatever you have to check. It’s not me.”’
