Prisoners in general are among the most forgotten members of society.  If and when they are remembered, they’re the most maligned, the least sympathized with.  After all, the thinking goes, it’s their own fault they’re there. If they hadn’t done what they did, they wouldn’t be there.  Would they?

True, certainly, for some. But not for all.  Real criminals are there aplenty.  People guilty of murder, rape, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, impaired driving, and just plain mischief, among other things.  Others are behind bars not because of evil acts, but simply for uttering words that, thanks to our illustrious governments, are considered “hate speech.” Perhaps they spoke out against abortion. Many are there for expressing other political or religious beliefs.  A U.K. court recently sentenced a person for silent prayer and peaceful presence outside an abortion clinic.

There’s another category of people who should not be in prison. These unfortunate ones have been wrongly convicted.  They’ve been locked up for crimes committed by somebody else.  Sometimes it’s because of mistaken identity.  Sometimes an innocent bystander is grabbed on the flimsiest scrap of evidence, accused, and locked up.  While our system professes presumption of innocence, in legal reality the onus is always on the defendant to disprove guilt. It’s a difficult thing to do, especially if one happens to have skin the wrong colour, and even more so if one is too poor to afford a skilled lawyer.  This happens far more often than most people realize, a fact borne out by a recent, much publicized case that prompted at least one lawyer to try to do something about the situation. He plans to start investigating cold cases, where possibly innocent people have been rotting away on death row, and devote his skills to freeing them.

Whatever the crime, whether or not the prisoner is guilty, there is always suffering and misery. Prison conditions vary widely depending where in the world you are. In some places, they are more or less humane. In others, horrific beyond words. The most sickening is torture if a “confession” needs to be extracted. Brutal guards. Near starvation diet.  Cells, and showers that can be icy cold or unbearably hot, depending on the whim of guards.  Roaches and rats.  Violent fellow inmates ready to steal your food.  Or slit your throat. Loneliness and isolation.  

Years ago, a friend of mine, who was friends with a prison chaplain in the U.S., told me how the chaplain spoke of the loneliness of the inmates.  Many were rejected by family and friends. Some men had been locked up for years without having a single visitor, phone call or a letter. Hearing that made my heart ache. The chaplain gave my friend the prisoner’s the name and she began writing to him. I said: “Speak to the chaplain. Get me a name. I’ll write too” Peter, who served the first 10 years of his sentence on Death Row, before having his sentence commuted to life without parole, and I have been exchanging letters for nearly a quarter of a century now.

There is much unmitigated misery everywhere, and especially in prisons. So many of the suffering are persecuted Christians. In North Korea, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, parts of Africa and elsewhere, brave men and women are paying a price for their faith. They endure fines, expulsion, torture, imprisonment, death. In Nigeria alone, over 52,000 people have been killed in the last 14 years just for being Christian!

We can’t write to them all.  We can’t help them all.  But we can pray for them.  As noted, there are two days this month when the world prays especially for them.  In truth, any day, any time, is a good day to pray. Whenever you see or hear the word “persecution”, or the word “prisoner,” stop for a moment, even a fleeting second or two, spare a thought, and send up a prayer for the suffering ones.  

Then give thanks for the freedom that you yourself enjoy.