I don’t feel like this should be held against me.
It’s not like I was arrested for prostitution or something.
I wasn’t arrested for doing anything that would anger God.
I got into a fight with my neighbor because she made fun of me.
But I don’t care. Not even if she got a loudspeaker and shouted it out loud for all the street to hear.

Because I did nothing wrong.
I did what I had to so no one would make fun of my orphan son.
I didn’t even forge a birth certificate. I just entered his name into the birth registry.
His parents died in an accident, and I adopted him through social services.
I mean, everyone’s in jail.
Look at Hosni Mubarak and the Prophet Joseph.

My siblings became distant, and my neighbors got it into their heads that jail was a shameful thing.
They don’t know that I did what I did for my son.
But what can I do? That’s how people see ex-prisoners.
No matter the crime they were jailed for.

Also, I’ve been out since 2007. So, how come my criminal history record says 2019, meaning twelve years?
They used to say you only got 3 or 4 years on your record if you’ve been to jail before.
So why’d I get twelve years? I was in jail for only 9 months.

No one will hire me because I’m an ex-con.
It’s not enough that we’re treated horribly and humiliated in jail, but now we have to deal with the same treatment outside, too?
It's like we’re still in prison even though we're free.