I really, really dislike talking to people about their convictions or trial. I go out of my way to avoid it and normally I manage to distance myself from it. However, this morning I was caught and was well and truly trapped. This is how the conversations go:

“I’ve been told by [lawyer/social worker/friend/etc etc] that [some detail] shouldn’t have happened so [some threat of legal action].” and they always add “They’re not going to get away with it.”

Well, clearly, there are some people in prison who are totally innocent of all criminality. However, it’s probably true that the vast majority of people in prison are guilty of at least some criminality. However, the bottom line is that I’m now bored of hearing those conversations because they’re all the same.

This morning, though, things were a little different. I spoke to someone who was still stunned because he is in prison for something he claims he didn’t do.

Now even when I write that I can feel the wrinkling that some readers will be doing, because there is a perception among some in society that courts always get it right and that they never send an innocent person to prison. Well, take it from me – they do send innocent people to prison.

So, back to this guy. He seemed in a feedback loop, just playing the same conversation round and around in his head. He simply couldn’t square the circle. How could he be convicted if he isn’t guilty? Why was he not allowed to lead certain evidence? Why didn’t his lawyer cross examine witnesses more robustly? Why did witnesses lie in court?

He had almost a childlike naivety about it all and one that I once had, too. Society has a blind faith in certain things and the legal system is something that people believe in despite all of the evidence that it is flawed, such as the Horizon case as an example. However people seem to bury their heads in the sand and refuse to even consider for a secone the imperfections of the system and the implications on people’s lives.

So this guy (if he’s telling the truth) is ow part of an ever growing club, which includes myself, of people who are having their lives destroyed by a broken system. He is in a state of shock, still.

But wouldn’t you be? If you were found guilty of something you hadn’t done, would you not be shocked? If that flaw in the system caused you to be imprisoned, would you not be really seriously psychologically damaged? And what about your friends and family? What would be the effect on them?

Would you not expect something so important to be the focus for the government and legal system? Well, the Criminal Justice Committee at Holyrood were recently asked what work is being done to address the potential for wrongful convictions. The shameful answer that came back was “nothing.” And do you know how much research is happening right now in Scottish universities into wrongful convictions? None.

If this isn’t shocking, I don’t know what is.