I admire Angie’s perseverance and determination to make the best of every situation. Her essay affected my views on the homeless by further emphasizing how much stereotypes are inaccurate. Although I am not very stereotypical, I never thought that someone with all her problems could be so strong. Furthermore, Angie’s story inspired me to keep an open mind and never judge people by their appearance. Their character, personality, and what’s on the inside should be all that matters.

The rest of society, outside of the community of prisoners, stereotypically describes convicts as dirty, mean, mentally ill men/women. Most of the men/women that go to prisons are there for nonviolent crimes. Baca explains to us, “The sad and most unforgivable thing of all is that most first-time felons could be rehabilitated if anyone cared or tried. But society opts for the quickest and least expensive alternative-stark confinement, with no attempt at help-that in the future will come to haunt them”(362). You would probably never guess that Baca was in fact a prisoner in San Quentin because of the man he has become today. He is a now a father, film writer, poet, and overall a free, successful man. He was able to overcome his prison sentence and move on, but he tells us that he will never totally escape the fear of his prison experience.

As he returned, the feelings all seemed to reestablish themselves again. He realized in the back of his mind, “I knew that I would be able to leave every night after filming, but the enclosing walls, barbed wire, and the guards in the towers shouldering their carbines made old feelings erupt in me” (358). Baca goes further on to explain the loss and corruption of the prisoners five senses, by the environment and guards. The prisoners would be treated like children with many restrictions that often would make one lose many skills of a normal life.

After reading Baca’s essay, I felt that I gained more compassion for the prisoners because of what they went through. I don’t think that it is right for people to commit crimes, and I also think that punishment is necessary. The characteristics of prisoners or former prisoners sometimes remain the same as before jail, but there are those who do change. Baca is just one of those people. We often overlook the fact that forgiveness is a choice for the criminals who committed minor offenses. Many of the prisoners need more than just the support of shelter and food. During the years of their sentence, so

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