Bill of Rights said:
I've made no secret of my incarceration. I was locked up for precisely 362 days. The County in which I did my term does not do releases on the weekend, so if your actual release date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, you are released on a Friday. In those 362 days, I personally saw 4 stabbings. One of which was with a chicken bone. Yes, that's right. Some ingenious fellow held onto a cracked chicken bone until it dried out, then used it to knife a man in the guts.
These threads tend to baffle and bemuse me. Seems to me that everyone is an expert on offenders, rehabilitation, recidivism...the whole 9 yards.I had no idea that we had so many people on INGO who work with offenders as part of their career, and who are qualified to assess whether or not a released offender should be allowed to defend him/herself.
For the record, I firmly support the Constitution. If you fully support the Constitution, then you support the idea that when offenders are released, they are to be restored their rights that are affirmed by the Constitution. Not "given", AFFIRMED.
That being said, I think we should do away with "good time" and other such nonsense. You do the crime, you pay the time---the FULL duration. Plain and simple.
I agree with you. Be done with good time, be done with parole. On the same account, be done with mandatory minimums. Allow judges to make decisions as to the aspects of the case, not some set of criteria developed by politicians. If there are mitigating circumstances, let the sentence reflect that. If there are aggravated or overtly malicious circumstances, make the penalty harsher. Make the criminal do every day of their sentence. I also don't think they should have access to television or any other media other than books. I am a believer in offering educational opportunities to convicts though. An educated man may use his judgement more carefully than an ignorant one.
