Tag: jail

Misc Rambling

Pure stupidity at its finest

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Today I attended my CPR/first aid certification course. I arrived and a man with a keg beer belly and long white hair was in the back of the room, also a participant. I being friendly Fran spoke to this ass hat and asked him where he worked in our organization. He informed me he is a crew chief for one of our offender work crews. Ok I am passionate about rehabilitation and second chances so I engaged in a very brief conversation.

What the hell, this dude in 3 minutes asked how long I worked for our company. When I replied that I relocated from Idaho. The first thing out of his mouth was how could I move from such a beautiful state with such wonderful Trumpster conservatives. Ugh that’s exactly the reason I moved to get away from the bigots I watched treat non white and LGBTQ like shit my entire life.

It got worse, he refused to participate in the CPR portion of the course and sat for 4 hours doing absolutely nothing other than watching us. He stated he was only interested in the first aid portion of the course. What?

The point of this post is to demonstrate the quality of people we have working with men trying to rebuild their lives. I cannot imagine how he treats the work crew participants and know for certain in just 3 minutes it is horrible. We have to identify and stop allowing people like this man to have any power or influence with anyone coming out of the criminal justice system.

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Misc Rambling

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Sucks

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So today on my blog I am going to be serious because I’m mad as hell and need to talk about the legal system in this country.

Mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses is the most asinine law on the books to date and does nothing but cause massive overcrowding of all prisons and shifts power away from judges and into the hands of prosecutors.

If you don’t know what this is here’s a quick overview:

Mandatory minimum sentencing laws are laws which force a judge to hand down a minimum prison sentence for certain crimes, such as drug possession. These mandatory minimum sentences are set for possession of a drug over a certain amount and are set by Congress, not judges. Judges cannot lower these sentences, even for extenuating circumstances that would otherwise lessen the punishment.

This proves to be the biggest problem with mandatory minimum sentencing. Originally, these laws were passed to ensure that certain criminals served long prison sentences; these laws are cruel and ineffective. They have pointed out that these laws often unfairly target low-level offenders while the worst offenders tend to evade the system.

The saddest part of this whole equation is that this disproportionately impacts people of color.

One Example:

Texas law assigns penalties based on the weight of certain types of drugs, dividing the drugs into penalty groups to determine the type of felony and punishment range.

In Texas, possessing less than 1 gram of cocaine is a state jail felony with up to 2 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Whereas possessing 1 – 4 grams is a 2nd degree felony with possible punishment of 2 – 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Under federal law, selling 28 grams of crack cocaine triggers a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison, regardless of what a judge believes is a fair sentence.

One scenario;

  • 26 year old man with no criminal history:
  • College graduate
  • Given opioids by the truck load by doctors and coaches to be able to participate in athletics and “play through injuries”.
  • Young man graduates but is a full blown prescription med addict, how could he not be?
  • Can’t get prescriptions now so moves onto cheaper options to try and not be dope sick
  • Young man arrested in Idaho with just over 2 grams of whatever drug for personal use
  • Young man charged with drug trafficking and facing mandatory 3 years to life in prison based solely on amount of drug in his possession
    • The prosecutor does not have to prove this person was selling
    • The prosecutor does not care what circumstances led to the drug use
    • Wasn’t the intent to use mandatory minimums against “kingpins” and “middle-level dealers,” not the minor offenders to whom they have been applied

You can be certain that I will be standing in front of the legislature during the upcoming joint session to scream as loudly as possible about this idiotic law and try to change the incarceration of drug users who need treatment not prison.

If we spent the amount of money on treatment that we do on the incarceration of nonviolent low level drug offenders due to mandatory minimums the prisons in the United States wouldn’t be bursting at the seams.

Here are some articles or you can do a google search and find thousands or outcry’s for change

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/5-charts-show-mandatory-minimum-sentences-dont-work

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/05/15/mandatory-minimum-sentences-are-cruel-and-ineffective-sessions-wants-them-back/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.20b23d66a7d1

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/mandatory-minimum-sentencing-girlfriend-problem-757690/

 

Misc Rambling

Dishonesty

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 honesty

This year thus far has been very interesting; we have had 2 hit and run totaled vehicles.

  • First question, would you hit someone and not stop, what if they are injured, could you live with yourself not knowing?
  • Second if you leave and are found that is a criminal offense, do you want to go to jail or worse be charged with multiple felonies.
    • Or is it that these people are already criminals and they simply don’t care?

Due to the hit and run drivers we then are forced to car shop and I think I have expressed previously just how much I loathe car salesmen, and I say men because that is the majority who work in the industry.

  • Is there a reason I am treated like I am stupid and have never purchased a vehicle before because I am a female?
  • Yes I know where the battery is, hello and a whole lot more since I have purchased well over 20 vehicles in my lifetime, yes again me NOT my husband, he refuses to go.
  • When you say the car is discounted as far as it can be because that is what you have in it, I know this is a flat out lie because you bought it at auction and have marked it up to the retail price, yes I know this too.

Story: Just purchased a replacement vehicle from Kia of Portland. Let me give you their name so you will know who NOT to deal with. My son and I were told that the used vehicle we were interested in was the best possible price. We purchased the car and drove it off the lot.

  • The next day I get an alert that the car price has been reduced on the website by $1000. Really?
  • Being the follow up person I am, I immediately sent the dealer and email and ask for my $1000 back, that seems fair right?
  • They knew the vehicle was sold but reduced it to attract customers on their website, is this not dishonest? Yes same vin number and vehicle photos..

Last let’s talk the federal budget. I see that the reductions are all coming out of the programs that impact the middle class, elderly, and below poverty level population.

  • How is it that the rich will receive even more tax breaks and the people who really need the help are being penalized?
    • The dishonesty of this particular administration thus far is mind boggling.
    • If I made over 5 hundred thousand dollars a year I would be throwing money at programs to benefit those less fortunate and be happy to pay more taxes, come on what has happened to helping your fellow citizen?
    • So the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, do we want another depression in this country?
    • Where has common sense gone?