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After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

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Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#21

Post by downandout »

asveikau wrote: post #17
zalew wrote: post #2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_G._Santos While in prison, he divorced, got married, received a college degree from Mercer University in 1992, a master's degree from Hofstra University in 1995, began a doctorate, and developed programs and resources for inmates and their families. well, you can say he got a lot of time for that in there, but still, wow.

The whole time reading this article, I thought, sounds good, but having spent 25 years in jail he must have done something pretty bad. Then I read that Wikipedia article and it turns out he was caught selling cocaine in his 20s... Man, say whatever you want for drugs being bad, but that's kind of a BS reason to rob someone of their youth like that. For 25 years I thought maybe he'd killed a guy.

There are many people, mostly drug mules that weren't necessarily even aware of what/how much they had been assigned to carry, that are serving life in prison. It's all based on how much they had on them and what type of drug, and much of it is arbitrary. For example, until 2010, the sentence for simple possession of a single gram of crack carried a mandatory minimum of five years, whereas someone found with 100 grams of powder cocaine would likely face probation.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#22

Post by akandiah »

colmvp wrote: post #3
zalew wrote: post #2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_G._Santos While in prison, he divorced, got married, received a college degree from Mercer University in 1992, a master's degree from Hofstra University in 1995, began a doctorate, and developed programs and resources for inmates and their families. well, you can say he got a lot of time for that in there, but still, wow.

While in prison, he divorced, got married... Wow, even prisoners get more life progress than I do lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybristophilia

Obligatory Dilbert reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqzoxBBQ4pU&t=7m15s

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#24

Post by SeoxyS »

asveikau wrote: post #17
zalew wrote: post #2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_G._Santos While in prison, he divorced, got married, received a college degree from Mercer University in 1992, a master's degree from Hofstra University in 1995, began a doctorate, and developed programs and resources for inmates and their families. well, you can say he got a lot of time for that in there, but still, wow.

The whole time reading this article, I thought, sounds good, but having spent 25 years in jail he must have done something pretty bad. Then I read that Wikipedia article and it turns out he was caught selling cocaine in his 20s... Man, say whatever you want for drugs being bad, but that's kind of a BS reason to rob someone of their youth like that. For 25 years I thought maybe he'd killed a guy.

If you watch the video embedded, you'll see that he actually ran a large network that smuggled cocaine from Miami to Seattle. A little more serious than the kid who sells an 8-ball to his college classmate.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#25

Post by asveikau »

SeoxyS wrote: post #24
asveikau wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole time reading this article, I thought, sounds good, but having spent 25 years in jail he must have done something pretty bad. Then I read that Wikipedia article and it turns out he was caught selling cocaine in his 20s... Man, say whatever you want for drugs being bad, but that's kind of a BS reason to rob someone of their youth like that. For 25 years I thought maybe he'd killed a guy.

If you watch the video embedded, you'll see that he actually ran a large network that smuggled cocaine from Miami to Seattle. A little more serious than the kid who sells an 8-ball to his college classmate.

I don't know what the right punishment is for that, but the original sentence of 45 years seems too steep. As does 25.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#26

Post by yareally »

CatMtKing wrote: post #16

http://youtu.be/A1mhhtpmXfo -- last mile in Norway. Instead of condemning inmates, rehabilitate them.

It was Sweden (with a similar system to Norway) where Frank Abagnale[1] (Catch Me If You Can) spent some time and spoke highly of the penal system of the Scandinavian countries. I think he mentioned they were paid a fair wage, able to take real college courses (not just correspondence) and made other attempts at real rehabilitation.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#27

Post by SeoxyS »

asveikau wrote: post #25
SeoxyS wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you watch the video embedded, you'll see that he actually ran a large network that smuggled cocaine from Miami to Seattle. A little more serious than the kid who sells an 8-ball to his college classmate.

I don't know what the right punishment is for that, but the original sentence of 45 years seems too steep. As does 25.

I agree, but that also depends on the offender.

In a way, you could make an argument that prison should not have timed sentences, but rather that it should be "you stay until it is deemed that you will not offend again, and that you can be a productive member of society."

After all the word "corrections" implies that something should be corrected, not that somebody should be punished.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#28

Post by atechnerd »

mardix wrote: post #6

This article has been posted so many times now... c'mon people...

I thought I had seen it on HN as well, but I just searched around and realized it was a Quora post from 3 months ago that I was thinking of by the same guy. Apparently Santos went from knowing zero about technology to being a viral marketing master.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#29

Post by flexie »

asveikau wrote: post #17
zalew wrote: post #2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_G._Santos While in prison, he divorced, got married, received a college degree from Mercer University in 1992, a master's degree from Hofstra University in 1995, began a doctorate, and developed programs and resources for inmates and their families. well, you can say he got a lot of time for that in there, but still, wow.

The whole time reading this article, I thought, sounds good, but having spent 25 years in jail he must have done something pretty bad. Then I read that Wikipedia article and it turns out he was caught selling cocaine in his 20s... Man, say whatever you want for drugs being bad, but that's kind of a BS reason to rob someone of their youth like that. For 25 years I thought maybe he'd killed a guy.

Yes, that's all I could focus on as well when reading the article. What kind of non-violent crime deserves 25 years in prison: Cocaine dealing? Where I am from, selling cocaine on a grand scale (huge amounts, running an organization, smuggling etc.) would put you behind bars for maybe 6-10 years, although in theory you could receive a 16 year sentence.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#30

Post by atechnerd »

asveikau wrote: post #25
SeoxyS wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you watch the video embedded, you'll see that he actually ran a large network that smuggled cocaine from Miami to Seattle. A little more serious than the kid who sells an 8-ball to his college classmate.

I don't know what the right punishment is for that, but the original sentence of 45 years seems too steep. As does 25.

Cocaine use was a major problem in the 80's, which also gave rise to the crack epidemic which was even worse: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_epidemic

Santos was considered a "King Pin" under the law, which essentially meant that he had several people working under him and was also dealing with very large financial transactions (this by his own admission in the UC Berkeley video).

By today's standards the punishment may seem harsh, but at the time it was probably appropriate.

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