Felon’s Alphabet

Go to any self-help group attended by incarcerated individuals here in CCWF and I guarantee you the word accountability comes up at least once. It has become a buzzword, without which no conversation about rehabilitation is complete.

Accountability is, let me ask you something:

Do you know someone who is purportedly “fully accountable” for all aspects of their crime, yet is simply incapable of a simple “my bad” when it comes to taking accountability for missing group, taking out the trash, or even being inadvertently rude?

They can give you church-worthy sermons about how their actions during their crime were heinous and yet will engage in circular crazy-making conversations all in effort to deny, minimize, and rationalize minor incidents.

For those people, I have two words: stop it. Accountability simply means taking responsibility for deeds done or omitted. That’s it, nothing more, nothing less.

You are either a person who takes accountability or you are not. Selective accountability is not accountability.