COLUMNS
Owning Justice
by JoAnn Garrett
Looking back over my life, I have always been waiting for something. Waiting in a traffic jam, waiting in line at the grocery store, in the doctor’s office or hair salon, even though I had a specific appointment time, or waiting by the phone for an important call. Right now I’m waiting along with the rest of my family for justice because my nephew has been wrongly accused of crime and given a harsh sentence. More.
November 3, 2006 my sister Diane Rogers called me at work. This call would change my life as well as the lives of other family members forever. I do not remember the exact words she used but I clearly remember hearing the fear and panic in her voice.
She called to tell me that she had just received a disturbing phone call from her daughter who tearfully and fearfully told her that the Forest Park police was at their home at that very moment. They were handcuffing and arresting Diane’s 19 year old son, Willie. More.
Unless you have experienced it first‐hand, you have no idea how devastating it is for families of the incarcerated, the entire family unit who is on the outside, trying to cope with the reality of a loved one on the inside of a prison. More.
Willie Rogers