Dec 13, 2021 3 min read

Some criminals never feel remorse regarding their crimes.

They continue to harbor as much anger, hate, resentment and disregard for others’ well-being and rights as they did when they committed the offenses that resulted in their being locked up in a county jail, state prison or federal penitentiary.

However, hardened criminals do not represent the majority of individuals who are serving time for whatever the wrongdoings.

The majority of habitants of incarceration facilities do feel regret virtually every day for having succumbed to irresponsible, stupid, rash impulses, some of them aggravated by immaturity, alcohol, illegal drugs or “running with the wrong crowd.”

For most in that group, this time of year is extremely tough as they lament not being with their families or friends and not being able to otherwise enjoy what the holiday season offers, including the traditions they have known and loved, many since childhood.

Those are a significant price they continue to pay as a result of bad attitudes, hard-heartedness and influences that led them to stray from what is right and expected in a civilized society.

Many people refuse to feel sorry for such individuals, clinging firmly to the notion that those who have committed crimes had within their power the free will to make the right choices rather than wrong ones.

But, prisoners are human beings, and prisons are more than about punishment.

Besides punishment, prisons are about rehabilitation – eventually returning individuals to freedom with a mindset geared toward being productive, law-abiding citizens.

Prisons have the responsibility to do as much as possible to help incarcerated individuals avoid repeating criminal behavior described by the word “recidivism.”

The holiday season can be an ally toward helping to achieve that outcome by way of the sentimentality, conscience and generosity that the season generates.

Reflect on this example reported on Dec. 3 by WHYY News in Philadelphia:

According to the report, 18 men incarcerated at SCI Phoenix, a maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County, pooled together $1,450 recently to buy at least two science lab kits for students at Stephen Girard Elementary School in South Philadelphia.

One of the inmates, who has been in prison for 30 years for mistakes he made when he was 22, said, “If one of those lab kits can change a child’s life or peak their interest enough in science to have them do something other than come to prison, I think that’s a win.”

That opinion is unquestionably correct.

The gifts to the school represent a significant financial sacrifice. The inmates make only 19 cents to 51 cents an hour working in a variety of jobs at the prison. That means that thousands of working hours were necessary to raise the amount of money in question, although it is important to note that some of the inmates also borrowed from their families as well, in order to contribute.

That evokes a question regarding inmates at prisons in area counties: How might their lives be made more meaningful and charitable during this and future holiday seasons by projects aimed at helping the less fortunate or some other important cause?

Positive dialogue between prison staff and repentant – and, wherever possible, even hardened criminals who are experiencing some change of heart – might help open a path to something good not previously imagined.

It is worth finding out.