Voice of the voiceless: Obama, Pope pay historic visits to US prisons
US prisons hold 25% of world's inmate population, consisted mostly of underprivileged Americans. Groups like Equal Justice Initiative (link to site and Donation) provide legal representation to indigent defendants who have been denied fair treatment in the legal system. 2015 was the year in which President Obama and Pope Francis became, respectively and separately, the first ever President and Pope to meet US prison inmates. The two leaders who both come from humble underprivileged beginnings tried to shed light on one of the most pressing civil rights issues in America: the plight of often voiceless and neglected prisoners and their families in the US, which has the largest number of individuals behind bars as well as the highest rate of incarceration in the world.
In July, Barack Obama became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. He invited independent award-winning documentary film producer VICE along to film his historic visit to Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma, and his informal chat with some of the prisoners. The documentary titled "Fixing the system" aired on HBO.
Separately, earlier this year, as he wrapped up his trip to the United States - - Pope Francis visited the overcrowded prison facility in northeast Philadelphia and met and humbly greeted inmates and their families. This was historic as it was the first ever visit by a Pope to a US prison.
The Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility which was visited by Pope is a place where nearly 80 percent of inmates have not yet gone to trial for the crime they were charged with, and are detained only for being unable to make bail, according to a report in Huffington Post. The jail has come under fire in the past for overcrowding and guard abuse. Cells are designed to hold two inmates, but three are routinely placed together, requiring the extra inmate to sleep with his head next to the toilet, said David Rudovsky, a civil rights lawyer who is currently challenging the practice in a class action lawsuit filed in federal court.
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