Prison report: The laws are wrongEditors note: Just A Guy is an inmate in a California state prison. His blogs typically run on Mondays and Thursdays, although it's sometimes hard to communicate from prison.
By Just A Guy
Today Brett Pedroia, the brother of Boston Red Sox all-star Dustin Pedroia, received one year in jail and eight years probation for the molestation of a nine-year-old boy.
Last month, Dante Stallworth received 30 days in jail, community service, and probation for killing a man inFlorida while driving while intoxicated.
And here I sit, among many others, serving multiple years in prison for possession of a controlled substance -- which is a victimless crime. Yes, I know that friends and family get hurt by our behavior if we’re addicts, but let’s face it – the emotional pain an addict causes to friends and family is not too different that caused by a verbally abusive spouse, parent or boss. Yet those people aren’t generally considered criminals.
Now that the governor has signed the budget, and part of the budget cuts more than $1 billion from corrections, it’s likely that a lot of us will be released. Remember thought, we are only released from prison, not from the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. We will be on parole, which is change in custody status.
Let me ask you, would you rather have Brett Pedroia living next to you (a convicted child molester) or me, a recovering addict clean and sober for two years and eight months?
And what about Stallworth? Sure, he isn’t likely to rob you or molest your child, but will he drive drunk and kill your kid or someone else?
The Republicans are whining about potential releases, but that’s pure political posturing. Really, what’s the big deal? We’re all going to get out anyway. Do you really think the recidivism rate will be higher if we get out a little early?
What do you think is going to cause a high rate of crime – releasing inmates early or taking away education, health and welfare funding?
These questions are merely rhetorical -- the answers are self evident.
If you put people in a situation where their chances of success have been greatly hindered because of economic conditions, most likely a good number of these people will resort to drugs or crime, or both -- either to try to live or to bury the sad reality that they’re miserable.
Sure, it’s the responsibility of people to make proper choices and live decent lives, but we’re people and we don’t always see beyond ourselves or our families or comfort level. We make more decisions based on economics than on any other external factors.
Nine billion from education and one billion from corrections. It’s pretty obvious that something’s not right with numbers so skewed in favor of hurting your children’s future.
Now a large number of prison programs that are rehabilitative in nature will be shut down, and this will result in an even higher recidivism rate -- thereby proving all the pundits right -- that “early releases were a mistake.”
I cannot even image what the prison system will look like in five years. It’s going to get really bad, though, I promise.
What has become a prison state is going to be the laughing stock of the United States (even more than it is now). You cannot keep creating an environment conducive to higher crime rates without the resulting effects of higher crime.
Wise up, California -- the mess of the prisons system was not created by 170,000 bad people but by silly laws. We just can’t seem to get it right -- which is obvious because Brett Pedroia is getting a year for child molestation and I’m doing four years, more than 3 of them in state prison, for possession of a gram of coke.
I wonder if Pedroia’s arrest report lists the State of California as the victim
Howdy, neighbor.
digg •
del.icio.us •
sphere •
google
•
