The Marshall Project

How My White Privilege Protected Me In Jail

Being locked up for a crime I didn’t commit was hard. But nothing compares to the humiliation and harassment that my elderly, disabled, Black cellmate experienced.

When I was framed for a crime by a White, male U.S. marshal and arrested by White, male cops, I came the closest I will likely ever come in my life to experiencing the feelings of powerlessness and despair that people like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor faced as part of their daily reality. It’s a horrifying, crushing feeling that leaves one wondering how a system could be so fucked up that it fails so epically.

Life Inside Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system. Sign up to receive "Life Inside" emailed to you every week. Related Stories

But I’m a White female, and my experience of jail and the justice system was, without a doubt, privileged. I

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