Sentenced

I’ve visited prisoners for 20 years. Mostly death row. I don’t know why. Maybe because few others visit them. They’re the least of the least. I visit Mike. At 19, sentenced to death. His death sentence was vacated because of prosecutorial misconduct. Another five years, a total of forty, they will set Mike free … whatever “free” might mean for Mike. Mike has limited reasoning, limited judgment. Mike has no job skills. They’re training Mike to be a janitor but Mike cannot read the labels on the cleaning products. I write and I visit. The hard stuff I leave to God.