Hello. My name is human.

Hello. My name is human. Not criminal, not ex-prisoner, and not number—60733772. I am not the “property of Corrections.” I am human, just like you. Except, for eight years in the last decade, I lived in a cell in a New Zealand women’s prison. 

So now that my incarceration is behind me and I have completed my rehabilitation programmes to an A+ level, I have one question for society that no one seems able to answer:

After doing everything asked of me to repay the debt I owe to society for the bad decisions I have made, when do I get to shed the label of “criminal” that infects every aspect of my freedom? When do I get to be just a human again? 

A dedicated daughter and sister. A passionate music enthusiast. A dog lover. An activist. A social scientist. A Dancer. A warrior woman. A creative artist!!!! When will these identities, I proudly claim, be what people see? Because my sentence was for only 12 years and 11 months. Not the rest of my life.

Every day, this world reminds me that my past mistakes will forever define me. “We have a two-page waiting list of people without a criminal record,” I get told, “so what do you think your chances are?”

Now, I’m not writing this for pity or to say, “Woe is me.” I went to prison because I broke the law, and I accepted that and served my time. My goal here is to raise awareness about the challenges of reintegration and institutionalisation. Mistakes are part of human nature. Some of us serve time for them and work hard to rebuild our lives, striving to contribute positively to our communities. But the reality is that society sees the label “criminal” as a permanent—a stain that keeps us at the bottom, reinforced by every application that asks, “Do you have a criminal record?

So, my call to action is this:

The next time you meet someone with a criminal record or hear the words, “I just got out of prison,” take a moment—ask questions, give them a chance. That ex-prisoner is also a human being who has endured immense hardship and built extraordinary resilience. They will probably work harder than anyone else in the room because they’re constantly fighting to prove they are more than their past—that they are worth believing in and investing in. 

Author: FREEBIRD