Sins of the Father by Mary E. Twomey was written with the mind of calling to light certain injustices in the United States’ current prison system. While there are many wonderful things about the United States of America, when I started digging into the current prison system, I knew I could not sit quietly in my befuddlement and rage. 

So I took to writing a story that turned into a trilogy. I’ve learned that if people read a dry account of facts about social injustices, that triggers a certain number of people into action. But when those same facts are told in story form, the statistics are given faces and backstories in a way that makes you care that the world is unjust. In order to play a part in changing my world, I decided to write a fantasy romance story that was littered with facts about our social injustice system. My hope is that when people read it, they will buy, vote and speak in a way that shows the true compassion they have for their fellow human. 

Here are a few of my main points throughout the series:

When taken into account that prisons are populated with more people of color because their neighborhoods are overpoliced, when companies take advantage of prison labor, they are effectually engaging in slavery-like behaviors. Prisoners are often paid pennies for jobs—wages that we rage about when they are paid to laborers overseas, yet this happens on our own soil. There is subpar medical care, including a lack of necessary feminine products for incarcerated women. The fact that we are okay treating humans like this in our own country is a mark of true failure.

I am, however, optimistic that failure can be undone. Wrongs can be set right. Humanity is worth saving and fighting for. We need to own our wrongs and change course. When we stop caring about the outcasts of society, however wrong they may be, we become the ones who are in the wrong. We are no better than criminals when we treat our fellow humans like slaves, unworthy of dignity or basic human needs. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this. It is my hope that in the future, humanity will have learned how to become more humane.

Sincerely, 

Tuesday Androsian,

Writing as Mary E. Twomey