Mmmm sleep in :-) Best way to start the day! Definitely needed it today as I mucked up my night meds and ended up awake most of the night (stupid nightmares!!!)
We have had a very interesting day today. Lots to think about.
First up was a trip to Alcatraz.
It's really popular, tickets sell out weeks in advance. It's such a great tour, I can see why! You board a cruise which takes you out on the beautiful harbour and on to Alcatraz. When the 100+ other tourists and us reached the island, we were greeted by a young, nervous intern who was choked her way through a few jokes (that were actually quite good!)
On a boat!
Beautiful San Francisco Bay
There are lots of old buildings dotted around Alcatraz, and the main one is the cell block where they give you an audio tour. It's really interesting, made from experiences of the guards, inmates, and families who worked/lived/were incarcerated on the island.
Alcatraz 'The Rock' Island
Of course it was interesting learning about the convicts and their life on the island. The escape attempts were super impressive; being out there I can see how impossible it would have seemed, and also how the convicts would have held on tightly to that dream. The island is close enough to the mainland that you can see the skyline and on certain nights, the sounds of a normal life would carry across the bay to remind the convicts what they were missing out on.
The View
Anyway there were a few things that made us think. Almost all of Alcatraz was glamorising the criminals and their fate on the island. This is understandable to an extent, I mean the myths are magic and capture the imaginations of the public, myself included. Dudes breaking out of the inescapable prison with spoons? Freakin' awesome!
But you know what? These guys weren't heroes. They were murderers, rapists, robbers, and drug dealers. They committed crimes. And they hurt people. That hurt doesn't go away.
In a big hall, they had just started an exhibit called 'Life After Murder'. In it, they profiled 6 people who had committed 1st and 2nd degree murder, who had time in jail, and come out and formed some sort of normal life.
The pictures were nice, the men all dressed nicely with soft, kind looking faces. The blurbs talked about the ex-cons lives now. They were nice, talking about the jobs they now have, the families they re-joined, and the hobbies they do.
It was all very nice but left me with an eerie feeling. Chad too. We took a moment away from the crowd to talk together. They still committed the crime. It didn't make it OK. The blurbs didn't talk about the crimes that they had done, or if they felt any remorse or responsibility for what happened.
Because of some stuff we are going through at the moment, this struck a chord.
"If I saw ... in there, I'd be pretty f**king mad," said Chad.
"Yea,I wouldn't want to hear about how he works in his garden on Sundays or 'kisses his girlfriend under their Christmas lights' " I agreed.
As we exited the cellhouse there was an exhibit to the left called 'Restorative Justice- An Alternative to Prison". It was extremely interesting. We were super surprised to see a whole wall there about the New Zealand system! It was about how we have no juvenile detention centers in NZ, with crimes done by young people being dealt with through CYFs and the Family Group Conference system (haha you know what we think of FGC's!)
It was very thought provoking. Despite having family members and a few friends who have spent time 'on vacation' as they like to call it, I have never really thought about how many people go to jail.
The United States has the highest % of people who are sent to jail in the world. 1 out of every 10 children has a parent who has been in jail or is somehow under that system. Crazy!
The exhibits portrayal of an FGC was a bit of a fantasy- in reality we know that it doesn't end up working out with the ideal of everyone coming out of that room happy with the decisions that were made, having come up with them together. But obviously NZ is doing something right to be recognised like this.
And, almost anything is better than this:
Other than NZ being mentioned, the exhibit was also very interesting for Chad and I because of some things we are going through with the justice system at the moment.
The idea of alternatives to simply 'putting the bad people in jail' is very interesting and they are doing some amazing, progressive things around the world to do with this.
For myself, I had quite a 'moment' and while experiencing this exhibit I inspired to do some thing. It was like I was like a this idea came into my head and an it sat with me so well that it felt like it should have been there my whole life. Can't wait to get back and see if this idea can go any further!
So all in all, Alcatraz was a very different experience than we thought it would be. Chad and I both agreed that we came away feeling smarter and had lots to think about!
Teeny Tiny Cell
But you know what? These guys weren't heroes. They were murderers, rapists, robbers, and drug dealers. They committed crimes. And they hurt people. That hurt doesn't go away.
In a big hall, they had just started an exhibit called 'Life After Murder'. In it, they profiled 6 people who had committed 1st and 2nd degree murder, who had time in jail, and come out and formed some sort of normal life.
The pictures were nice, the men all dressed nicely with soft, kind looking faces. The blurbs talked about the ex-cons lives now. They were nice, talking about the jobs they now have, the families they re-joined, and the hobbies they do.
It was all very nice but left me with an eerie feeling. Chad too. We took a moment away from the crowd to talk together. They still committed the crime. It didn't make it OK. The blurbs didn't talk about the crimes that they had done, or if they felt any remorse or responsibility for what happened.
Because of some stuff we are going through at the moment, this struck a chord.
"If I saw ... in there, I'd be pretty f**king mad," said Chad.
"Yea,I wouldn't want to hear about how he works in his garden on Sundays or 'kisses his girlfriend under their Christmas lights' " I agreed.
As we exited the cellhouse there was an exhibit to the left called 'Restorative Justice- An Alternative to Prison". It was extremely interesting. We were super surprised to see a whole wall there about the New Zealand system! It was about how we have no juvenile detention centers in NZ, with crimes done by young people being dealt with through CYFs and the Family Group Conference system (haha you know what we think of FGC's!)
It was very thought provoking. Despite having family members and a few friends who have spent time 'on vacation' as they like to call it, I have never really thought about how many people go to jail.
The United States has the highest % of people who are sent to jail in the world. 1 out of every 10 children has a parent who has been in jail or is somehow under that system. Crazy!
The exhibits portrayal of an FGC was a bit of a fantasy- in reality we know that it doesn't end up working out with the ideal of everyone coming out of that room happy with the decisions that were made, having come up with them together. But obviously NZ is doing something right to be recognised like this.
And, almost anything is better than this:
Other than NZ being mentioned, the exhibit was also very interesting for Chad and I because of some things we are going through with the justice system at the moment.
The idea of alternatives to simply 'putting the bad people in jail' is very interesting and they are doing some amazing, progressive things around the world to do with this.
For myself, I had quite a 'moment' and while experiencing this exhibit I inspired to do some thing. It was like I was like a this idea came into my head and an it sat with me so well that it felt like it should have been there my whole life. Can't wait to get back and see if this idea can go any further!
So all in all, Alcatraz was a very different experience than we thought it would be. Chad and I both agreed that we came away feeling smarter and had lots to think about!
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