Ranting

One man I met was visiting two of his sons in prison. How many times must he have asked himself what he did wrong. Prison is filled with this kind of sadness. Families implode, inmates get killed, kids have no father—--

I don’t know the circumstances of his son’s imprisonment because I didn’t ask. It was none of my business. However, he was in pain.

People do cruel things and deserve punishment—-yes. But is the punishment dealt out with regard to anything other than the law? When families are torn apart, is that a consideration? What if each case was treated differently, maybe allow prisoners with nonviolent crimes monthly furrows for a weekend? They could wear monitors to keep track. Would it work? I don’t know but why not try? Anything is better than what we have. And what the hell is the point of giving someone who has committed a nonviolent crime   20 or 30 years in prison? Most of these laws we have, such as RICO, that provide such long sentences were because the feds wanted to punish the members of organized crime, so they bundled things together to make sure of a conviction.

Have you ever smoked marijuana or tasted cocaine? If you had been caught with a pound of weed or a gram of coke, do you think it would’ve made society a safer place if you had been locked up? Laws are important, I understand, but they need to be reasonably, and yes—-compassionately, implemented.

Okay, this is my last ranting post for a while—promise.