Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Unconditional Jail Time

While watching the movie, "Unconditional," that I thought was filmed in Texas, it brought to my attention the irrationality of our penal system. We incarcerate more per capita than most other western nations.
https://www.google.com/search q=us+incarceration+rate&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa= &ei=ACa0UYWOF4TmygHng4G4Bw&sqi=2&ved=0CEkQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=677

I had a client that told me he got 10 years in prison in Texas because he was mad about losing his kids so he took and ax and broke the porch at his ex-wives home. I thought, your not telling me the whole story, your kids or ex must have been put into danger or some other thing. Well, I got his records, and that's what happened. He was busting up the porch. The sheriff told him to stop and he wouldn't. He got ten years.

I got his records from high school and a family history. He had severe learning disabilities because he got dropped on his head as an infant. He never secured any assistance. I don't want to justify anything nor minimize his behavior, but it makes me wonder, ten years and as far as I can tell he had no significant criminal history.

Comment 1: Loren M. Lambert - Maybe prisons should be ranked based on their recidivism rate and scholastic/vocational achievement rate--No Inmate Left Behind.

Loren M. Lambert © June 8, 2013

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