How much time is time enough for an inmate to be imprisoned for a heinous crime she/he has committed? I've been wrestling with that question for a long time. That's why I prefer Wisconsin's present system, introduced by Governor Scott Walker when he was a member of the state legislature: Truth in sentencing. A convict does the time the judge gave her/him. No parole. No early out.
The reason I haven't been lying horizontally inside a coffin under six feet of terra firma these past thirty one years is due to the intervention of a convicted murderer. He saved my life by putting his life on the line during a prison riot. That's why Myles Marshall's name is on the dedication page In my novel, A Price to Pay, along with those of my wife, Major Kahelski, and Captain Elliott.
More than a year after the riot, I went to bat for Mister Marshall, a convicted murderer. I attended a Governor's pardon hearing. Because I felt Marshall deserved my support, I refused to abide by my immediate supervisor's order, telling me I could not attend the hearing. I went anyway. Myles was not given a pardon but his time was commuted to thirty years. A year later, the state paroled him. As far as I know, he has not returned to a life of crime.
During a powerful part of an intense riot when inmates were ready to stand together and face an onslaught of armed Wisconsin lawmen and correctional officers, Marshall grabbed me. I was blindfolded, handcuffed, and my legs were wired so I couldn't walk. He removed the blindfold. "I won't let them kill you," he shouted. "You're a good man. You don't deserve this." He stood by my side and faced fellow black inmates who screamed, "Kill the peckerwood." I was the peckerwood.
Myles wasn't a big, muscular man; he was thin, sinewy. Highly respected by staff and inmates, his word was his bond. He knew he'd done wrong and was paying the price. He didn't bellyache about his life sentence. He screamed at those inmates calling for my death that if they killed me, they would have to kill him. They knew he meant it. Their lives were now as endangered as squarely as mine.
Compare Mister Marshall to a contemporary incarcerated killer, convicted of shooting a victim during an armed robbery. Sentenced under the old law of permissive parole, he was lately highlighted in state newspapers. He's been locked up for more than twenty years for shooting an unarmed victim in the robbery. He was the first to shoot. His victim down, a fellow robber pumped additional bullets into the man he initially shot.
A pro-inmate group of citizens is urging Wisconsin citizens and their politicians via the media to prompt the release of this fellow who has supposedly paid his dues. One member of the group held up a one-word sign that read, "Torture." "He's been locked up long enough," stated their official spokesman, a former Department of Justice attorney and now a Protestant minister, dedicated to prison reform.
Undoubtedly, the inmate for whom he is advocating has been a "good" inmate, which means he's followed institution rules for the most part and kept his nose clean. No longer a maximum security inmate, he milks cows on a farm in the camp system somewhere near Madison. He says he's not the same person he was when he shot the victim. I hope not. But I say this to him: Don't depict yourself as a victim because you're still locked up after all these years. As to the man you shot, his family, his friends, his fellow employees have not been able to enjoy his companionship ever since you and your compatriots carried out your illegal deed. He's gone. Forevermore. And that's a hell of a lot more time than you've done or will do in the future. Man up. Accept your responsibility. Undoubtedly, you are taking advantage of us now because you know we are a caring people. And we are a forgiving people. That's why some folks among us agree with you that you should be released to society.
I don’t agree with them at all. There are reasons why the Department of Corrections has not released you. Paramount among its concerns is society's safety, our safety. And that is a good thing. That's why we should continue to permit Corrections professionals to decide when you are ready to re-join free society. Not you. Not do-gooders who carry signs and shout, "What do we want? Freedom. When do we want it? Now."
They mean well.
Since Wisconsin doesn't have the death penalty, you might want to ponder the meaning of the time the judge gave you: "Life in prison." Stop whining. Also, if you've changed as you say you have, you might want to warn other would-be robber-murderers: "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime." It's simplicity at its finest.
The reason I haven't been lying horizontally inside a coffin under six feet of terra firma these past thirty one years is due to the intervention of a convicted murderer. He saved my life by putting his life on the line during a prison riot. That's why Myles Marshall's name is on the dedication page In my novel, A Price to Pay, along with those of my wife, Major Kahelski, and Captain Elliott.
More than a year after the riot, I went to bat for Mister Marshall, a convicted murderer. I attended a Governor's pardon hearing. Because I felt Marshall deserved my support, I refused to abide by my immediate supervisor's order, telling me I could not attend the hearing. I went anyway. Myles was not given a pardon but his time was commuted to thirty years. A year later, the state paroled him. As far as I know, he has not returned to a life of crime.
During a powerful part of an intense riot when inmates were ready to stand together and face an onslaught of armed Wisconsin lawmen and correctional officers, Marshall grabbed me. I was blindfolded, handcuffed, and my legs were wired so I couldn't walk. He removed the blindfold. "I won't let them kill you," he shouted. "You're a good man. You don't deserve this." He stood by my side and faced fellow black inmates who screamed, "Kill the peckerwood." I was the peckerwood.
Myles wasn't a big, muscular man; he was thin, sinewy. Highly respected by staff and inmates, his word was his bond. He knew he'd done wrong and was paying the price. He didn't bellyache about his life sentence. He screamed at those inmates calling for my death that if they killed me, they would have to kill him. They knew he meant it. Their lives were now as endangered as squarely as mine.
Compare Mister Marshall to a contemporary incarcerated killer, convicted of shooting a victim during an armed robbery. Sentenced under the old law of permissive parole, he was lately highlighted in state newspapers. He's been locked up for more than twenty years for shooting an unarmed victim in the robbery. He was the first to shoot. His victim down, a fellow robber pumped additional bullets into the man he initially shot.
A pro-inmate group of citizens is urging Wisconsin citizens and their politicians via the media to prompt the release of this fellow who has supposedly paid his dues. One member of the group held up a one-word sign that read, "Torture." "He's been locked up long enough," stated their official spokesman, a former Department of Justice attorney and now a Protestant minister, dedicated to prison reform.
Undoubtedly, the inmate for whom he is advocating has been a "good" inmate, which means he's followed institution rules for the most part and kept his nose clean. No longer a maximum security inmate, he milks cows on a farm in the camp system somewhere near Madison. He says he's not the same person he was when he shot the victim. I hope not. But I say this to him: Don't depict yourself as a victim because you're still locked up after all these years. As to the man you shot, his family, his friends, his fellow employees have not been able to enjoy his companionship ever since you and your compatriots carried out your illegal deed. He's gone. Forevermore. And that's a hell of a lot more time than you've done or will do in the future. Man up. Accept your responsibility. Undoubtedly, you are taking advantage of us now because you know we are a caring people. And we are a forgiving people. That's why some folks among us agree with you that you should be released to society.
I don’t agree with them at all. There are reasons why the Department of Corrections has not released you. Paramount among its concerns is society's safety, our safety. And that is a good thing. That's why we should continue to permit Corrections professionals to decide when you are ready to re-join free society. Not you. Not do-gooders who carry signs and shout, "What do we want? Freedom. When do we want it? Now."
They mean well.
Since Wisconsin doesn't have the death penalty, you might want to ponder the meaning of the time the judge gave you: "Life in prison." Stop whining. Also, if you've changed as you say you have, you might want to warn other would-be robber-murderers: "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime." It's simplicity at its finest.
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