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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

#101

Post by yoster »

flexie wrote: post #29
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.

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.

Back in the 80's the punishment was deemed appropriate.

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

#102

Post by yoster »

sliverstorm wrote: post #99
cheeseprocedure wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this reaction too, but if an offender is given opportunities to become a more conscientious and educated human being through hard work, it seems reasonable that we would want them released (and contributing to society in a positive way) sooner rather than later.

That already happens. "Released early for good behavior", early parole, etc.

Federal time is different. It is day by day. Only way you can get time off of your sentence is by going through drug classes.

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

#103

Post by benaiah »

dspeyer wrote: post #81
tokenadult wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you really sure that if there were no poverty and everyone had lots of education that there wouldn't be that kind of crime? Where are your real-world data to back up that idea?

Draw a map of drug-related violence. Draw a map of poverty. Same map?

Correlation != causation. Come on - you're not even trying.

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

#104

Post by yoster »

ed209 wrote: post #42
asveikau wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

until you see the many lives destroyed by drugs. from mothers abandoning their children, to ending up homeless and alone, to deaths and murders. Sure he's just one cog in a giant machine, but he's also responsible for death and hardship as a result of the drugs he moved. Society in general also carries some of the responsibility, as do those involved in his upbringing. But I know that if my child came to any harm as…

The reason why federal inmates say they committed their current offense to obtain money for drugs is because they get their sentence reduced for going to drug classes while incarcerated. For example, if you get arrested for a kilo of cocaine, you get a 5 year federal sentence. If you say you are a drug addict, and attend drug classes, you get 2 years of your sentence.

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

#106

Post by mistercow »

yoster wrote: post #100
unimpressive wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd believe that.

It would be harder to monitor inmates. Prisons have to monitor written letters, phone calls, and visits. As a taxpayer, would you want to allocate more of your hard earned money for computers for prisoners?

>As a taxpayer, would you want to allocate more of your hard earned money for computers for prisoners?

Yes. Helping prisoners build skill sets that allow them to get jobs outside of crime prevents recidivism. Considering that computer hardware becomes obsolete at a breakneck rate, the ROI of throwing old hardware at prisoners is pretty high.

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

#107

Post by gijjk »

sliverstorm wrote: post #41
SeoxyS wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do you really want prison times to be completely flexible? There is a lot of potential for abuse there.

Parole exists, which makes prison times extremely flexible, The exception is mandatory minimums, which are generally only for murder and for handling drugs that non-white/rich people tend to be disproportionately involved with.

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

#108

Post by gijjk »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #56
mike_esspe wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In modern society it is implied, that person taking drugs is losing their free will and requires guardianship. Whether it is scientifically correct is a question.

Doesn't change the fact that the person, in most cases, had to make a choice to start taking the drugs. It's not as if you wake up one day, and you're now instantly addicted to cocaine and are destroying your life. You had to make the choice to start using the drugs.

All people make small mistakes all the time, and usually can recover. Few of them involve falling into an abyss, but tasting meth or heroin or maybe crack are among them.

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

#109

Post by sliverstorm »

gijjk wrote: post #107
sliverstorm wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really want prison times to be completely flexible? There is a lot of potential for abuse there.

Parole exists, which makes prison times extremely flexible, The exception is mandatory minimums, which are generally only for murder and for handling drugs that non-white/rich people tend to be disproportionately involved with.

I was thinking about maximum times, not minimums. There is no opposite of parole to extend their sentence, that I know of.
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