A child grows up in the worst of conditions with no comprehension of what it means to be loved and nurtured, sleeping and eating with rats, and receiving regular beatings from the adults in his home. This existence drives him to the streets at 11, and then to prison, which is the best home he has ever had. Then, at 17 under the threat of the pyromaniac in his cellblock who has already lit three people on fire in their sleep, he lives in constant fear.

Another teenager is arrested and interrogated by police for seven or eight hours without a parent or attorney present until he confesses to a life-sentence crime. He is convicted in the court of public opinion and then in a court of law despite his subsequent denials of the crime and contradicting DNA evidence. Sixteen years later he is released after another inmate who matches the DNA evidence confesses to the crime.

Finally, a man without education, money, or connections, having grown up in poverty, abuse, and neglect is imprisoned wrongfully. He studies the law for twelve years without encouragement or instruction until he learns the law so well that he argues his own case in front of a judge who vacates his conviction.

Society does have a legitimate right and an obligation to protect its members from those who pose a threat to them through imprisoning those who have committed serious crimes. On the other hand, there are many in prison who are innocent, who primarily due to poverty, lack of education, and/or race have been wrongfully imprisoned.  There are also some that have committed crimes who become truly rehabilitated and after serving their time deserve support in their efforts to improve themselves and become productive and contributing members of society.

The purpose of The Powerless is to share stories about people who we feel truly deserve a second chance or who we feel have been or are in danger of being convicted and sentenced wrongfully. We will share these stories through this web site, through emails, and through occasional public presentations. The Powerless will never ask for monetary donations, and it will always attempt to present people’s situations with integrity and balance. Its purpose is to provide a public educational service and over time hopefully to change some attitudes and create compassion for those in our society who are “the least of these” in terms of what they have received in their lives or in terms of extreme and life-altering set backs they have faced, but who also are often courageous and heroic in their emergence from the conditions within which they have been placed.

The only request the Powerless will ever make is for people to show support for specific individuals through forwarding an email with a comment or writing an email to an appropriate individual with the ability to remove constraints and provide someone with a second chance. Our hope is that through the support of large numbers of people we can have a significant positive influence in changing public perceptions and in giving deserving people who face considerable and at times insurmountable road blocks the support they need.

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