Friends With Time ⌛ (Tyler Galpin x Reader)

Author's Note

WOW!!!!

What a journey this has been! I'm sitting here in my dorm room, and I can't believe that we're finished!

First, I'd really like to thank all of you guys for being here. Thank you so much for all of your fun comments! You all are my motivation, and it has been so much fun getting to know all of you! It sounds super cheesy, but I'm going to miss you guys SO MUCH when this is over.

Special special special thanks to the people who were here ALL the way: @queenashofnarnia @ANNIETHEArSEHOLE Tsunami729 hyper-realistic-frog @PigeonsAreNotMafia @solarGVr @Auroras_tea @Ella_Enderian @Storytimer123 @roseInBlossom

(I'm sorry if your tag didn't work! I'm not sure why some went through and some didn't. also, my "r" key is sticky, so I have to copy-paste, and it won't let me do capital ones for some reason? Oh, well!)

Thank you all so, so much for reading this and supporting Friends With Time. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it!

The Author Gets Political Section

To write Friends With Time, I had to do some research, and I accidentally came out with a different point of view! If you don't mind, I'm going to share a bit of what I stumbled upon here. I'll be quick, I promise.

A lot of Friends With Time is focused on the contrasting goals of the prison system. One question I was forced to ask (first to myself and then to everyone around me) when I did research for this book is about the purpose of the prison system, in the US, in Europe, everywhere. What is the purpose of the prison system? Obviously it's necessary, but what is it supposed to do? I met a lot of people who told me that the purpose of the prison system was punishment: you commit a crime, you do the time! And that's good. But does it work? 

recidivism rates in the US right now are some of the highest in the world, with almost forty-four percent of people released returning to jail within their first year of freedom. And that's just the first year. Within three years, that statistic jumps to two out of every three people released being sent back to jail, and within five years, seventy percent of all released people will be back in jail. And then every year after that, the percentage gets higher. Is this working?

Another alternative is rehabilitation, and that's the one I came to favor as I did the research for and wrote this book. But rehab is tricky, and requires commitment that many prisons are not incentivized to give.

Let's talk about incentives. Did you know that there are "for-profit" prisons? I didn't, not before I wrote this book! For-profit prisons are privately-owned prisons paid by the government per inmate. This means that these jails are not only incentivized to not rehabilitate their prisoners, but actively incentivized to keep more people in jail and encourage high recidivism rates. The more people they keep in jail, and keep coming back to jail, the more they get paid.

Even in government prisons, the few rehab and life skill classes offered typically have months-long waiting lists, and the classes are encouraged to hurry up without offering in-depth teaching and rehabilitation to keep the lists moving.

However, it is possible to turn to a more rehabilitation-focused method of prisons. Punishment should focus more on rehabilitation and restitution, encouraging inmates to work to make up for what they have done to harm people (for example, thieves can work to help pay off what they stole from someone) while also working to help them. Using CBT and teaching resilience and coping mechanism classes regularly to inmates can help reduce rates of recidivism, as can increasing their social support and using 12-step programs for non-violent offenders. In addition, establishing so-called "therapeutic communities" in prisons can help inmates get the support and recovery that they need, and so can abolishing or changing the incentives for private prisons. (E.g., paid a small bonus for every year an inmate doesn't commit a crime.)

This doesn't mean that there is no place for punishment. You don't have to reduce sentences to rehabilitate, and violent offenders of any kind should still have safeguards on them once they leave jail.

One more topic! Solitary confinement is awful. Outside of an exercise period, where they are forbidden human contact, people in solitary are confined to small cells. They can't talk to anyone, receive any kind of social support, and are fed meals through a slot in the door. It's dehumanizing and has terrible effects on mental health, making these prisoners even more unstable. Imagine how awful it was for Tyler in the book- and then imagine if he didn't even have you. That's reality for 80,000-100,000 people each year.

The prison system has a lot of flaws, and it's easy to get overwhelmed. Don't get overwhelmed-we are small people, and that is okay. We can't change everything. But like I wanted to tell you with this book: we can do something. For some of you, if you want to, that might include writing a letter to or calling a lawmaker and asking about rehabilitation policies. If that seems scary (it always was to me growing up!), try doing some research about prisons and rehabilitation. If you meet anyone who has been through this, be empathetic, be kind, and do what you can, within reason. You are a powerful force for change, and even by just existing as a kind person, (which I know you are) you are a vote towards a kinder, better world. :)

End of political time! BACK TO THE AUTHOr'S NOTE :)

So anyway, I didn't know any of that before I wrote this book, so it's safe to say that this book significantly changed my views on a lot of things. Thank you for listening to what I learned during research!

Now back to the thank-yous:

This book has been incredible to write, and you all have been incredible to meet. :) Thank you thank you thank you so much for giving Friends With Time a chance, and thank you for letting me get to know you! My heart is so full as I write this note. I have so many blessings I wish I could give you for when I'm not here, but I'll settle for a couple I think we can all agree are fitting:

I wish you peace, happiness, the boldest sunsets, the softest sea-spray, good friends, and always enough on your path,

XOX,

This is DS Chickadee, signing off.

love you guys x <3