Overwhelmed

Oh my... Today is the kind of day that makes you extra grateful. It was the first time I visited prison. As a lawyer you are supposed to assist your client there but I have never been there before mostly because my specialties are civil and commercial law. 

As I entered the prison walls I was trying to remain calmed although I was completely overwhelmed. I guess I wasn't prepare... I found our client, shaking; I don't know if it was because of how cold it was or the lack of drug in her body. She was kind, educated and had a looooooong record. I thought about giving her my scarf but I red before joining her in her cell that her boyfriend tried to take his own life with a towel and didn't want to take any risk. 

In her record shit I also found out no one came to pick up her stuff when her boyfriend had his mum... It made me feel sad for her. How did you find yourself into that? I can't imagine... 

The second part of my day didn't get much better. The second client was an 18 year old boy... He confessed so nothing much to do about his case but we got to talk. The dad was missing, her mum had a second kid the second husband also left, her grandmother was feeding and taking care of all three. He was mostly ashamed... He couldn't look at me in the eyes, they set him free again and I couldn't help of thinking again about the first girl, she will be spending that night in jail. For a reason. But, in jail... 

At some point that girl had to make a choice between committing a crime and risk a few years of her life in jail or stay where she was and somehow she preferred taking the risk rather than staying where she was. Can you imagine how desperate she was? Today I learned to be grateful for being free. Because at some point we all had the choice... Being good or choosing the wrong path and ending in a bad place... I'm grateful because I always had a support system giving me in in the dark...