Dr. C.: Still Here

     It has been eight years since my clinic, Colasante Clinic, PA, was raided, five since the feds indicted me, four since my trial and sentencing, three since I went to prison, and two since I was released from prison.

     If such a thing should happen to you, I'm here to say:  You can survive it.  

     I've had a lot of time to reflect on what happened to me.  Either I have a serious character disorder, or something went terribly wrong in our justice system, because I am still unable to "accept responsibility" or "feel remorse" for the events that transpired in my life and my family's lives, and which affected my patients' ability to rely on me and the survival of my clinic.  

     Instead, I have been moved to try to understand how the criminal system in this country operates and how it could go so wrong, so often, and in so many people's lives.  

     To that end, I am now in my second year of law school at Stetson College of Law.  

     One of the courses I'm taking this semester is "Criminal Law."  It's no more than a dip-of-the-toe in a river of lawmaking, and it's filled with stories of hardship and sordidness at the human level, and characterized by the valiant attempt by a governing body to uphold and revise methods for controlling a population's passions.  "The Law" is really scads of statutes and regulations--more than any group of people ever needs--and hundreds of years' worth of common-law decisions by courts here and in England.  It's fascinating material, but at this point in my training, it's like scrounging around under ten-foot weeds in my overgrown garden in a rainstorm and coming across a snail or two.  What happened to me in this country, and why?  I did not break the law, but a jury was made to think I did.  My friends in prison may have broken laws, but questions remain in their cases, too:  Should the laws they broke have been enacted in the first place?  Was their punishment in proportion to the harm--if any--they might have done?   What are we doing with so many Americans in prison, anyway?

     I have heard many stories, mainly from people in prison but also from those whose lives have forever been changed by a run-in with the law and a prison sentence--people who come forward with their stories when they know another person has been through a parallel ordeal.  I will tell you about some of them, if they give me permission.

     I'm going to relate, on this blog, what I experienced during my trial, at sentencing, while awaiting imprisonment, in prison, and since prison, as well as some of what I understand from law school.  I still garden, cook, study medicine, listen to politics, read books, raise bees, keep chickens, hang out with friends, and forage for wild food.  

     I hope what I relate might be helpful, or of interest, to someone, somewhere.