A VISIT TO THE LOCAL PRISON
Yesterday, our class and some other schoolmates were given the unusual opportunity to visit the prison in our hometown. You may think that this is not the most recommended place for a group of teenagers to visit in their free time, but the truth is that this visit made us change our perspectives on life, in a good way.
We arrived at the prison at around 11 am and after a very close ransack, we were taken to some kind of a classroom in which prisoners that didn’t get the chance to go to school in their early ages, had primary classes, so that they could learn to read, write and learn basic numerical calculations. We took a seat and a nice lady presented us the general information about the prison, the prisoners and the rules that they have to keep.
Next, a group of 10 prisoners were brought in front of us to tell us about the crimes that they had committed and that had made them go through this painful experience. They had been sentenced to 2 to even 13 years of prison, depending on their crimes.
Their cases were absolutely incredible. I found it amazing how they managed to come in front of us and let us know about the mistakes that they had made in the past, basically admitting that they had done something bad, and that was not really the easiest thing someone could do.
One of the cases that were presented really shocked me. At a party, this guy was enjoying himself at the fullest and of course that included some drinks too, so after drinking and having a great time with his friends, he had to go home. He knew that he couldn’t drive after drinking alcohol so he asked a friend of his to give him a ride home. The problem was that his friend didn’t own a driver’s license and unluckily for both of them, they were caught by the police. Both he and his friend were arrested and had to pay the price of their illegal deed.
The thing that really caught my attention was that the man was pretty cautious and kept thinking about respecting the law, that’s why he didn’t drive the car himself. On the other hand, he committed a less important crime that ended up being his worst nightmare.
This thing made me realize how easy you can get in trouble with the law, even if you don’t have any intention and that the line between being an ordinary citizen, with a clean criminal record and being arrested is really thin.
By Marina, Romania