[GCFL-discuss] Hi Siarlys

Sat Apr 17 23:45:45 CDT 2004

Hello Siarlys,
I agree that there are parole provisions at time of sentencing and it is up to the parole board to decide who gets out and when based on their time in prison and the way they answer questions put to them.  They must accept responsibility for what they did and the parole board is there to determine if they really are ready to hit the streets again.

As to those in prison, I agree, many are there because of circumstances that got them caught and many others are not that should be.  

You may be able to identify the scams but many others, not familiar with the prison system and how the games work, would not.  And, not all the prisoners are just like the rest of us.  Some are truely evil and did exactly what they wanted to do because they wanted to do so.  They are not repentent and would kill you in a heartbeat. 

I have seen all kinds of offenders, good and bad, wrong place at the wrong time and deliberate crime perpetrators.  One of the nicest seeming guys I met at the prison where I worked was a rapist, torturer and killer of women and this was when he got out after his first two times down.

Jesus also expects us to use wisdom and discernment in all things.

Nance

gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net wrote:
Dear Nance,

Again, I am not Carla, I was offering an answer to Carla's question. I am
sure there are prisons with good law libraries. No doubt you know what
you are talking about. But not all prison law libraries are that good. I
find it is good to go back to the really OLD cases, when law was more a
matter of principle and less a matter of quotes from quotes from quotes
burying a real question under layers and layers of words that add up to
very little -- most "well equipped" prison libraries don't go back that
far.

A bigger problem is access. In many prisons, an inmate has to sit in a
cubicle, write down the book they want, wait for staff to bring it, give
that back before requesting another, and that is only available a few
hours a week. When I walk into a local law library, I hop from a
reference in one book to another, which leads to another, then I compare
all three, go get another book to see if they are good law, xerox a few
key pages... you can't make these connections the way many prison
libraries are run.

A basic question I have been dealing with is, IF a state provided for
parole eligibility at the time a crime was committed, then a person's
sentence INCLUDES parole eligibility. It is not true that they must serve
out their entire sentence for what they did before, no matter how much
they have cleaned up their act. The parole commission is SUPPOSED to
examine how much they have changed and how good a risk they are NOW, it
is NOT part of their job to talk about what the individual did to be
sentenced. That was taken care of years ago by a sentencing court. We
don't have parole commissioners, at some expense to taxpayers, just to
sit there and say, people need to serve out their entire sentence. We
could get that at much less cost without a parole commission.

It is true that many prisoners run scams. But scams are not that hard to
recognize. It takes many years to build up a record that could impress a
parole commissioner or a reviewing court. They see it all. There are also
some very GOOD people in prison. Prisoners are not a different class of
people. They are people like the rest of us who made some bad choices,
got caught up in some bad situations, or, were unlucky enough to get
caught, unlike many who never went to trial because they were not caught.

Some people really can't get their act together without constant
supervision, like they get in prison. We need a long-term process for
them that provides the supervision and control but is not punitive, just,
hey jack, you can't function without this level of supervision, so you
can work and have visits and buy your own things, but, not out there,
because you always screw up.

And remember, Jesus said he came to open the door of the prison house.

Siarlys

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 19:31:40 -0700 (PDT) gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net writes:

>Carla, you are definately not up to date on what is in prisons. I 
>worked for the deparment of corrections for 15 years. The law 
>libraries in the prisons are better than many lawyers have. The 
>reason people are not released is not because the parole board cannot 
>see that they have changed, but because they must serve out their 
>sentences for what they did before they changed. Also, be aware that 
>the biggest and most serious game in all prisons is the game of "see 
>how much you can con others into believing you are better than you are 
>and are reformed and being abused, etc" Be careful before you buy any 
>stories you are told. 

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Nance

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