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Wow. I know firsthand from family how this can severely destroy someone's mental health in what may not be so obvious; it is extremely heavy on someone every mo
by TexasfoldsEm 6y ago
Wow. I know firsthand from family how this can severely destroy someone's mental health in what may not be so obvious; it is extremely heavy on someone every moment past the first hour they go past their release time, then the first day followed by a variety of things that will then be taken advantage of by other inmate and guards while one's defenses are down. The fun poked at by other jealous inmates and cruel guards constantly will also weigh down hard on another human being. Arizona penal system puts you into almost always into very nasty and dangerous places of incarceration. frompdx made a statement that truly made my gut feel as if I was at the top of a roller coaster I did not want to get on in the first place.
- WalterBright 6y agoIf a prisoner knows he's past his release date, can't he contact his lawyer?
- mulmen 6y agoDepends on if the computer has taken away phone privileges. I suppose a good lawyer would already know the release date and take action without being contacted? But I have no idea.
- chordalkeyboard 6y agoMost people who can afford good lawyers never spend a day in custody.
- omginternets 6y agoI'm worried this question might get written off. I would actually like to know the answer to this as well. My immediate reaction is that either (1) it is possible, and the story is therefore more nuanced that might appear at first glance, or (2) it is not possible, and this is an even more egregious problem.
- mulmen 6y agoThe comment that spawned this thread is here and suggests phone privileges can also be taken away by mistake in this system: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26227031 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26227031
- omginternets 6y agoI know very little about the prison system, but surely the suspension of phone privileged cannot prevent an inmate from contacting his legal representation, right?
- chordalkeyboard 6y agoHow do you propose for an inmate to contact his representation?
- lazyasciiart 6y agoMail, or asking another prisoner with communication to the outside to ask their contact to call the lawyer and have them come visit.
- lazyasciiart 6y agoIf somebody is objecting to this comment based on it being wrong, I'd love to hear any corrections. Perhaps unfairly, I suspect it's more of an objection to the setup being described.
- chordalkeyboard 6y agoI’m not sure why you’re being downvoted. You did offer a reasonable answer. I think other people are reacting emotionally, the same way I did, because they are morally outraged at the perceived situation.
- omginternets 6y ago
- alistairSH 6y agoYou assume people who are jailed have lawyers on retainer. They largely don't.
- kar5pt 6y agoFrom reading the article it sounds like laws dictating when a prisoner is released are pretty complicated and many prisoners may not know if they should be released early based on good behavior or changing laws. That's just my assumption. Remeber prisoners tend to be from less privileged backgrounds and some may be very ignorant of how the law works or even functionally illiterate. So things that seem "obvious" to educated engineers may not be obvious to them.
- oh_sigh 6y agoSure, that still takes time to get through the system though. Probably months between scheduling and final release. More commonly though the people wouldn't even know to contact their lawyer, because they are credited for time served pre-conviction.