Penalizing The Innocent

As mentioned in the last article/blog entry, I am in the process of cleaning out my barn and picking through papers from the 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's.

I came across a newspaper clipping of a story that caught my interest, followed by a letter to the editor, that I wrote circa July 1988.

The scenerio involved a man by the name of Fred Reyes, a custodial worker who was falsely accused of rape, robbery, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and unlawful restraint of a Millersville University student, in Millersville, PA, where I graduated with a Bachelors in Nursing just two years before.

The local newspaper wrote a beautiful piece about the mistreatment of Mr. Reyes which exonerated him before the Community where we lived.

I was originally drawn to this story because of the many questions and the myraid of ethical issues that were raised pertaining to the legal and penal system in the United States.

Firstly, at the time I felt that Millersville University made an error in terminating Mr. Reyes from his position of Janitor before his innocence could be proven.

However, now I think that if the crimes were truly committed, you wouldn't want to subject other young women to possible assaults.

One of our valued constitutional rights as citizens of this great country is a judgment of innocence until guilt can be proven in the wake of a crime accusation. The college obviously judged Mr. Reyes as guilty before he had the chance to prove his innocence.

The time that Mr. Reyes spent out of work awaiting what could have been a hung jury in the rape and robbery case was not overshadowed by the restitution of back pay and getting the old job back. The damage wrought by humiliation and shame will haunt him for many years to come.

Secondly, I remember cringing as I thought what could have happened if Mr. Reyes hadn't a nephew working on the police force who through persistance and influence, broke the case leading to the other arrest.

I was also relieved that Mr. Reyes was in jail only one night instead the 2 1/2 month period he could have spent awaiting his release, due to an inability to raise bail. I imagined that Mr. Reyes would have been subject to degradation by fellow inmates and prison employees alike.

Conceivably, the system would have created a hardened and broken man, who before was optimistic and hopeful about life's potential, but now would have a mentality devoid of respect for society and her dictates and rules.

He would see clearly the injustices and hypocricy inherent in the American Judicial System, an attitude that fosters a criminal mentality.

In other words, the system by a very dark age approach to criminal justice and rehabilitation, through heartless punishment, actually creates what it seeks to destroy: the hardened criminal, violent, unfeeling, robot-like and broken both inside and out.

Capitol punishment is a heinous act in a society which convicts and kills innocent people, and allows black men to wait on death row for crimes white men can pay to get out of, although plenty of innocent people of a wide diversity of ethnicity are put to death for crimes they did not commit.

The penal system in this country is inhumane. Rehabilitation is virtually nonexistant and jails today are merely holding pens at great cost to the tax payer. The light force of the soul is extinguished in most prisons in this country today.

The Fred Reyes story is a warning to honest people everywhere. Mr. Reyes is an important symbol of a man who was able to salvage his innocence, who was not raped by the system whose power could have stripped him of his dignity and worth.

I am reminded of the Alfred Hitchcock quote when asked what was his greatest fear: "To be caught up in the United States criminal justice system," which many of us think will never happen to us.

The Fred Reyes case creates an uncomfortable aura around our safety.

I only hope his story awakens us to our own vulnerabilities and elicits compassion for those who must battle the unthinkable.