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Unhealed Trauma

Coping mechanisms and prison

Aunty Jean
3 min readSep 12, 2022
Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash

I’ve been reading Chris Hedges’ book Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison. It’s eye-opening. The story especially resonates with me, as my husband has two brothers who have spent most of their adult lives in prison.

I am the daughter of a cop. I grew up thinking that the police were the “good guys.” I was like many Americans: I didn’t want to believe that there are lots of bad cops. I didn’t want to believe that cops lied. I didn’t have compassion for people in prison.

I stopped thinking that way years ago. But, this is not a story about cops, it is a story of my own transformation in thinking about prisoners and prisons. This daughter of a cop has become an advocate for prisoners.

More people are sent to prison in the United States for nonviolent drug offenses than for crimes of violence.

We have so many addicts in prison. “Well they should of stayed away from drugs,” I hear people say. Really? Just who are these people (to use the old folks’ term) “on drugs”?

Most drug offenders are white. Five times as many whites use drugs as blacks. But blacks comprise the great majority of drug offenders sent to prison. The solution to this racial inequity is

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Aunty Jean
Aunty Jean

Written by Aunty Jean

Constantly curious, dog-loving, politically progressive, book-loving, vegan lady. I want to keep learning every day, exploring other points of view.

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