5 ms·

disclosure: I spent four and a half years in a state correctional facility as an inmate. Reducing 3 strikes from minimum life to 25 is fine, but it does nothin

disclosure: I spent four and a half years in a state correctional facility as an inmate. Reducing 3 strikes from minimum life to 25 is fine, but it does nothing to address the fact that expanding judicial discretion just gets you screwed in an election year. Theres nothing to keep people from getting multiple consecutive terms until its just the same as life. The bill also doesnt address perpetual parole. When I was released after having served time, I was sentenced immediately to additional "parole" for a year and a half. This cuts into your ability to go to work in some cases (construction hours start early.) my job as an automotive mechanic started at 4 AM and school ended at 10. parole says i need to check in and be home by 6 pm, so i have to apply for extensions and variances every week. miss one and I go back to a jail term I technically already served. $300 million dollars is nice for training, but training generally sucks in private prison and you have no recourse. For example, in a state run correctional facility you can learn shop math (trigonometry) and a trade. At the private prison I spent a year at (before it went bankrupt and transferred us all to state anyhow) my "education" consisted of painting the floor and laundry detail. you learn nothing, and surprise, are paid nothing because its education not work (work details like this in prison are supposed to be paid.) as for the tampons and sanitary napkins, fine, its not like those were actually much of an issue from what i gather. Did you know inmates have to purchase things like soap and shit tickets? (toilet paper) There are freebies from commissary like those stab-proof pens for visitation, but use too many or upset a guard and youll get a strike for 'commissary abuse' and be restricted from buying things for a month or two. Ever wiped with a piece of receipt paper? not fun.

jedberg 8y ago
This right here is why ex-felons should be allowed to vote. Because you still have opinions that matter.
- bdcravens 8y ago
  Only 10 states prevent felons from voting. Many do restrict that right until after sentence/parole is completed. https://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000286 https://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=...
  - inscionent 8y ago
    Plus the additional 23 states where you are out but cannot vote because you are on parole.
    - bdcravens 8y ago
      That's what I meant by "after sentence/parole is completed" But in general, many still believe that all felons are 100% restricted from ever voting again, which isn't accurate.
  - DesiLurker 8y ago
    without even looking at it I can tell most of this will be swing states because .. reasons!
- xbryanx 8y ago
  I agree. Actually active prisoners should be allowed to vote too. Especially when prison populations are factored into district representation population formulas.
  - jedberg 8y ago
    Yes that too. But I figure we should start with the ex-felons and work out way out.
- TimTheTinker 8y ago
  Not just that. Politicians not having any accountability to felons is part of the reason the US treats many felons unconstitutionally.
EpicEng 8y ago
>The bill also doesnt address perpetual parole. When I was released after having served time, I was sentenced immediately to additional "parole" for a year and a half... parole says i miss one and I go back to a jail term I technically already served I'm nitpicking one detail of your overall point here, but you didn't serve the time; that's why you're on parole. If you had served the full sentence there would be no parole. So you pay an inconvenience tax in exchange for being released. If you violate those terms you go back to serve the remainder of your sentence. No one is saying it's easy, or that there aren't aspects that couldn't be improved, but I don't see the overarching problem here.
- ams6110 8y ago
  Why is this being downvoted? It's the same thought I had. Parole is early release. You are not on parole if you serve your full sentence. I don't know how good behavior credits factor into this. Typically a prisoner can get a significant reduction in time served for good behavior, but I don't know if that really means early parole or actually full release from the sentence.
  - iseeyoubydesign 8y ago
    people are down voting because there is a political war going on between "criminals" and "prudes". People that want strong decency laws and those that want freedom regardless of decency. Simply put , there are many gray areas on many different dimensions
- excalibur 8y ago
  The overarching problem is that it is usually excessively inconvenient, to the point that parolees are being set up to fail. Rather than being designed to keep people on the straight and narrow, many systems appear designed to funnel people back into prison. When they get there they then face the remainder of their original sentence, meaning that it was effectively EXTENDED by the length of time they were on parole rather than shortened.
  - EpicEng 8y ago
deogeo 8y ago
> When I was released after having served time, I was sentenced immediately to additional "parole" for a year and a half. Could you expand on this? It sounds like you served your full sentence, then got additional parole on top of that. And, 'sentenced' - without a new trial/charges?
rayiner 8y ago
> The bill also doesnt address perpetual parole. This bill is addressed to federal prisons. There is no parole in the federal system.
- mchannon 8y ago
  No parole, but there is probation, halfway house, home confinement, supervised release, and even the occasional furlough. And his gripes about parole can certainly apply to US Probation Officers, US Marshalls, and other BOP designates, depending on the one you get assigned.
gregw134 8y ago
The multiple consecutive terms business has always bothered me. I read about somebody who made the poor decision to drive while drunk and high, and ended up killing somebody. He ended up being charged with something like 6 charges--manslaughter, manslaughter w/alcohol, manslaughter w/drugs, reckless endangerment, etc. Since all of these had minimum prison terms and were served consecutively, he ended up going away for 25+ years. It doesn't seem right to charge someone for 6 different crimes as the result of one bad judgement.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
masonic 8y ago
When I was released after having served time, I was sentenced immediately to additional "parole" for a year and a half. Isn't parole duration limited to one's original sentence? If one is sentenced to, say, 3 years but released after 2 years with 8 months' parole, that's not "additional" time per se.
Fjolsvith 8y ago
I've done time with a state system and also with the federal system. I decided during my second incarceration to get my act together and I cakewalked my release supervision. The post-release supervision is there for a reason. People in prison talk about how they're going to have a blast when they get out. Live it up. Do exactly the kind of things that led to them breaking the law in the first place. I got a saying for those people who cry about prison and cry about the "bs" they gotta put up with on release: "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
Fnoord 8y ago
> Ever wiped with a piece of receipt paper? not fun. In Suriname people wash their ass after they took a dump. They also wash their hands afterwards.

jedberg 8y ago

This right here is why ex-felons should be allowed to vote. Because you still have opinions that matter.

bdcravens 8y ago
Only 10 states prevent felons from voting. Many do restrict that right until after sentence/parole is completed. https://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000286 https://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=...
- inscionent 8y ago
  Plus the additional 23 states where you are out but cannot vote because you are on parole.
  - bdcravens 8y ago
    That's what I meant by "after sentence/parole is completed" But in general, many still believe that all felons are 100% restricted from ever voting again, which isn't accurate.
- DesiLurker 8y ago
  without even looking at it I can tell most of this will be swing states because .. reasons!
xbryanx 8y ago
I agree. Actually active prisoners should be allowed to vote too. Especially when prison populations are factored into district representation population formulas.
- jedberg 8y ago
  Yes that too. But I figure we should start with the ex-felons and work out way out.
TimTheTinker 8y ago
Not just that. Politicians not having any accountability to felons is part of the reason the US treats many felons unconstitutionally.

EpicEng 8y ago

>The bill also doesnt address perpetual parole. When I was released after having served time, I was sentenced immediately to additional "parole" for a year and a half... parole says i miss one and I go back to a jail term I technically already served I'm nitpicking one detail of your overall point here, but you didn't serve the time; that's why you're on parole. If you had served the full sentence there would be no parole. So you pay an inconvenience tax in exchange for being released. If you violate those terms you go back to serve the remainder of your sentence. No one is saying it's easy, or that there aren't aspects that couldn't be improved, but I don't see the overarching problem here.

ams6110 8y ago
Why is this being downvoted? It's the same thought I had. Parole is early release. You are not on parole if you serve your full sentence. I don't know how good behavior credits factor into this. Typically a prisoner can get a significant reduction in time served for good behavior, but I don't know if that really means early parole or actually full release from the sentence.
- iseeyoubydesign 8y ago
  people are down voting because there is a political war going on between "criminals" and "prudes". People that want strong decency laws and those that want freedom regardless of decency. Simply put , there are many gray areas on many different dimensions
excalibur 8y ago
The overarching problem is that it is usually excessively inconvenient, to the point that parolees are being set up to fail. Rather than being designed to keep people on the straight and narrow, many systems appear designed to funnel people back into prison. When they get there they then face the remainder of their original sentence, meaning that it was effectively EXTENDED by the length of time they were on parole rather than shortened.
- EpicEng 8y ago

deogeo 8y ago

> When I was released after having served time, I was sentenced immediately to additional "parole" for a year and a half. Could you expand on this? It sounds like you served your full sentence, then got additional parole on top of that. And, 'sentenced' - without a new trial/charges?

rayiner 8y ago

> The bill also doesnt address perpetual parole. This bill is addressed to federal prisons. There is no parole in the federal system.

mchannon 8y ago
No parole, but there is probation, halfway house, home confinement, supervised release, and even the occasional furlough. And his gripes about parole can certainly apply to US Probation Officers, US Marshalls, and other BOP designates, depending on the one you get assigned.

gregw134 8y ago

The multiple consecutive terms business has always bothered me. I read about somebody who made the poor decision to drive while drunk and high, and ended up killing somebody. He ended up being charged with something like 6 charges--manslaughter, manslaughter w/alcohol, manslaughter w/drugs, reckless endangerment, etc. Since all of these had minimum prison terms and were served consecutively, he ended up going away for 25+ years. It doesn't seem right to charge someone for 6 different crimes as the result of one bad judgement.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

masonic 8y ago

When I was released after having served time, I was sentenced immediately to additional "parole" for a year and a half. Isn't parole duration limited to one's original sentence? If one is sentenced to, say, 3 years but released after 2 years with 8 months' parole, that's not "additional" time per se.

Fjolsvith 8y ago

I've done time with a state system and also with the federal system. I decided during my second incarceration to get my act together and I cakewalked my release supervision. The post-release supervision is there for a reason. People in prison talk about how they're going to have a blast when they get out. Live it up. Do exactly the kind of things that led to them breaking the law in the first place. I got a saying for those people who cry about prison and cry about the "bs" they gotta put up with on release: "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

Fnoord 8y ago

> Ever wiped with a piece of receipt paper? not fun. In Suriname people wash their ass after they took a dump. They also wash their hands afterwards.