Dear Santa,
My name is The Tartan Con, I don’t think you remember me as
you haven’t visited me for a few years. It could have been that I wasn’t staying
at my normal home and if you and your reindeer had flown over my, then residence,
you might have been mistaken for a drone.
However I am back now, and I thought I might write you a
letter about what I wanted for Christmas this year. Don’t worry, Santa, I don’t need anything delivered
to my house. I have absolutely everything that I could ever need in the love of
my wife and good friends. Oh Santa, she is the best present you ever gave me.
This year, could you visit Liz Truss and install into her a
sense of humanity for those worse off than she? Could you tell her that her prison
officers need her? Could you tell her that the men and women incarcerated in
her prisons need her? People are dying in her prisons, Santa and for every life
lost due to the crisis in her jails, the light goes out in that family’s
collective heart.
Could you visit her prison minister and tell him, that we know
that every man is born with goodness in his heart but sometimes it is so difficult
to see? Leave him a sense of duty, Santa, if you will. Leave him a note to tell
him that he needs to listen to those slightly more experienced than he. After
all, one learns a lot more from listening that talking.
Visit the members of the Justice Committee (yes all of them) and leave them a
louder voice. Tell them that they are our voice and that they must use that it
as it was dictated in times of old. Tell them “What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what
you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the
rooftops.” Their voice must be heard Santa, please.
Could you visit all those involved in the criminal justice
system and leave them a special dictionary? Leave only the words that they should
live their lives by; Compassion, Good will, Forgiveness, Peace, Justice and above
all ,HOPE. Make it a magical dictionary that appears every time they voice
their thoughts on the prison system, about those that work in it and those that
live in it.
Visit all of the families of those incarcerated and tell
them that their loved ones will be home soon. Tell them that we know that “Every
Saint has a past and every Sinner has a future” Tell them that they need to celebrate
this festive time with joy in their hearts. Tell them that prisoners need to
know that they are out there celebrating. It is us who have transgressed the
law, not them. If we think that they are sad then that is an extra punishment
for us.
Visit all those who work in the prisons and offer them our
thanks for keeping our loved ones safe and for helping them on the way to a
better life.
Visit all of our loved ones that are in the prisons and give
them hope. Make them understand that there is a better life waiting for them
out here and that in the meantime, we will do our damnedest to make their
current conditions better.
Oh and some chocolate would be nice.
I’ll leave some hot cocoa and cake out for you just in case.
After all one never knows, do one?
Wishing you all a heartfelt, Merry Christmas.
The Tartan Con