Serendipity

Corruption...Fraud, Gambling, Prostitution, Extortion, Drugs, Physical/Emotional/Sexual abuse… It sounds like your everyday criminal activity, right? It is, but in a place you’d least expect it. Inside prison walls. The very place we send those to stop this kind of criminal activity. But it doesn’t stop them. They are criminals after all. I hate to burst your bubble but it’s not the inmates that I am talking about. I am referring to the criminal activities that are committed on a daily basis by the correction officers themselves. The very officers we hold to a higher standard and believe they risk their lives daily while working in these prisons, keeping control of the “criminals” sentenced there. Some of us look at these men and women officers with a high degree of respect. We have all seen commercials on TV or heard ads on the radio telling the state and every community how they risk their lives every day asking us to donate money and support these officers that work f...

[ Note: This was originally going to be published by me Oct. 3, 2015 but because of one thing or another, I hesitated on publishing it. It seems to be as good a time as any to get it out there. ] As many of you know, I have a son, Shawn, who is currently serving a 25-to-Life sentence for a crime he did not commit. He has been incarcerated for the past 14 years. With that said, he has 14 years of first hand knowledge of the corruption and fraud that goes on behind prison walls…corruption and fraud that costs New York State millions of dollars per year. Some of the details of the corruption is so sensitive that my son will not talk about it unless it’s with the proper people whom he has tried to reach out to and I will explain below. Some of the corruption consists of drugs, weapons, prostitutes and gambling. Most corrections officers can be “bought” for as little as a pack of cigarettes.  Anything can be bought within the prisons. At Wende Correctional F...

Nothing more can be said... The very word gets my blood boiling...and with good reason: I was raped when I was 18 and 7 months pregnant for my first child. The offender: a guy I knew from school and from my first husband. I did not report it. When you tell the man that is supposed to love and protect you that another man has raped you, and he laughs and replies: "Friends share with friends," how do you tell anyone else? Would THEY believe you? Here are some interesting and frightening statistics from RTS--rape trauma services : Only 16% of rapes are ever reported to the police. In a survey of victims who did not report rape or attempted rape to the police, the following was found as to why no report was made: 43% thought nothing could be done, 27% felt it was a private matter, 12% were afraid of police response, and 12% felt it was not important enough. Rape is the most underreported violent crime in the United States. I am one of the 43%. How ma...