Justice has been done

Victory of the system. Victory of a sick, inhuman system. 23, mother of 5, Latino background, previous offender, drug user.

Mom gets 99 years in prison for gluing tot's hands

Shouldn't this bring us all to a deep reflection... A system that vomits a girl of 23, 5-fold mother, with a criminal record, being so removed from her self that she beats up her 2-year old baby and glues her hands to a wall, while she is on drugs...

How did we all, as an evolved society, get to this?

How could we let this girl and her children slip through the gaps?

Was there no family around? Were there no friends? No neighbours? No teachers? No-one?

Self responsibility, yes. Of course. We are all responsible for our actions. But sometimes we need a little help. All of us.

We are social animals, we cannot live our lives separated from our social group. We LEARN from the group since we are babies. And this is exactly what is happening in our highly evolved society. No social groups any more. We live our lives by ourselves, we think that we are enough. But we are not.

Every aspect in our system pushes us towards “independence”... Independence? We have thorn apart the same fabric of our own nature, we think we can live in-humanly, but we can't. And these cases, thousands of them, are proof of it. Independence from the very early years, so very positive. Competition in each aspect of our lives, because there is not enough for everybody, not enough jobs, not enough opportunities, not enough money... Such a infamous lie. The only thing that there is really not enough of and that should get us worried, really worried, is that there is not enough love.

Where does that girl come from? Which environment, which kind of family? What did her parents and siblings teach her since she was a child? What did the society teach her? The father/s of her children? Her friends and relatives? Her bosses? Was there really nobody around who would accompany her on the path of the human choices? Teach her what living really is, what loving really is?

What chances did she really have not to end up with 5 children at the age of 23, with a criminal record, on drugs and abusing the very same beings that should be the most important things in her live? Why wasn't her natural instincts screaming?

Could there really have been another ending to her story?

Justice has been done. Victory for the system. This system that separates us, this system that prefers punishing people with 99 years of prison without questioning itself, not even one second. For the system, it is easier and more convenient sentencing people to life in prison, somebody earns much more money that way, then by giving real humane support to people and communities.

I don't know Elizabeth Escalona, I don't know if she would really have had a chance not to end up as she has, but... Shouldn't we all be thinking about her story and learn a lesson from it? How many Elizabeth Escalonas are in our lives, in our neighbourhood, in our working environment, within our family or friend circle? Will we do something about that?

It's too late for Elizabeth Escalona and her children. She will live her life within a correctional institution, and her children will live their lives without their mother, her 2-year-old daughter will have to learn to live with brain damage.

So it's up to us.