Slashdot Mirror
Blogging All the Way to Jail
Glyn writes "Time magazine is reporting on Josh Wolf the 'first blogger to be targeted by federal authorities for not cooperating with a grand jury.' Josh would have normally been protected from government coercion by California state shield laws but the prosecutors have argued its a federal matter, using quite shaky logic. Josh's blog is being updated by his mother, providing updates on what is happening. From the article: '"Not only does this logic seem silly," Wolf told TIME in June after receiving his final subpoena, "but if unchallenged it will have a deleterious effect on the state protections afforded to many journalists, both independent and those that are part of the established media." Judge William Alsup of Federal District Court rejected Wolf's arguments, and declared him in contempt of court. So he is now being held in a detention center in Dublin, Calif, where he could remain until next July.'"
When I was in prison, there was funny guy next to me by the name of Brian, who was stupid and illiterate but a real character and all around good guy. He was in there for... get this... "Terroristic Threats". Yes, I met a real life terrorist.
Apparently while somewhate inebriated as he was prone to do, he got into an arguement with his mom, and threatened her with a butterknife.
So the bogus arguement was, since he threatened her, he was 'creating fear' in a person of the population, therefore 'terroristic threats'.
I think according to his story in the end his mom ended up stabbing him with the same knife. So anyway here was this plain old guy who is really just joe blow common guy of the street, in there as a terrorist, doing 5 years! The sad thing was, he had a hernia which was in a pretty bad condition, and trapped in there like that, and let me tell you, those people don't do shit for you medically wise.
Another guy Edison who turned out to be a good friend and protected me from some very dangerous guy who was deadset on punking me out and making me making his bed (I wasn't down with that), had gone blind in one eye from cataracts and was losing sight in the other. He was a regular bonefide family guy but was in there for "assault on a police officer", when he went to a pawn shop to get his tools back that his crackhead wife had pawned for drugs, and the pawn shop wouldn't do it even though the tools hadn't been hers to sell, and apparently the police were called and the policeman was a real dick and a shoving match ensused. A shoving match. So he was in there for 10 years for assault on a police officer (and is still in there today).
I myself won my appeal after a two year wait on the beauracracy... I was in there for 12 years for child molestation. I was going about my life one day when a friend invited me to his house for a cookout. Ok fine free food. Only it turned out to be less than free! While I was there the mom started yelling at their kid to take a bath who didn't want to do it. Apparently in the bathroom the mom jumped on the kid about wearing their clothes funny which the kid always did, and the kid decided to blame it on me as a suddenly convient excuse, and from there the panic reaction set in and the story grew to fit. Suffice it to say there was no evidence and nobody saw any such thing, and they were out of their mind to think I would do anything like that, but irregardless it was a straight ticket for me into prison. Because let me tell you, if you have never had any experience in front of the public or put on trial, you are scared out of your mind and come across as such. I said over and over again I did not do anything of that sort, and plainly stated things as calmly as I could, but hey, if I wasn't guilty I shouldn't be on trial right? Because the police never make mistakes. We watch Cops! (which by the way is all edited for tv bullcrap).
The thing is this, what most slashdotters don't understand, because they still believe all that propaganda we were told in highschool history class. There is no justice in the justice system. Its just a convient lie to justify a very big, big business of criminalizing people and projecting power. I'm talking obscene profits here, profits that pay people's salaries. For every year they can put someone in prison, they can bill the public back anywhere from $35,000 to $50,000. Make that 50,000 prisoners in one state with each an average of ten year sentences, at $35,000 a year, and we are talking obsene obsene amounts of money. Whatever industry you think is the biggest in your state, forget it, the prison industry is.
I'm not saying there are not some very bad people in prison, I met quite a few hardened street thugs who should be in there for life. I'd say about a third should never be let go, a third were borderline that if given some kind of chance would do ok and probably repeat crime but mostly it would be silly harmless crimes, and then another third had absolutlely no business