We'd go berserk if zoo animals were treated the same way.

number of people with prison records. We must do something to give these people back their lives and dignity.

it would round out the story a bit

of what she did. Fraudsters wreck people's lives, force people in poverty and misery for the rest of their lives. She went to prison for it twice, which might mean she habitually preys on the weak and vulnerable.

Our prisons should have decent conditions, no matter what. But I suspect this woman's narrative would not be so sympathetic if we knew the details--and that's why she omitted them.

The story she is writing about is the lack of a way back into society for released felons. Dumping them on the streets, penniless and homeless, without any way for them to make a living is a guarantee that they will have few choices to survive. The life she describes gives many formerly incarcerated people two choices - starve on the streets or turn back to crime.

It doesn't matter if the crime was fraud, murder or assault - if we're going to let people out of prison we need to provide tools for them to re-enter society and to earn a living. (This comment ignores the for profit prison system that seems designed to make sure that recidivism is high so that the system will have plenty of prisoners in the future.)

If we want to reduce prison populations we as a society need to supply a route to employment and to housing. A halfway house with no phones, no computer access and restricted time out of the house is no way to prepare someone to get a job and to find somewhere to live.

Ever get out.
Never walk out, that is.
A life sentence should mean just that.

How severe the punishment chosen is not part of the subject of the article in the OP and is a whole other conversation.

The problem is that if society has decided that people should be let out after serving their sentences then it is in society's best interest to prepare the released felons for life in society. Dumping them out on the streets without the tools to make a living just encourages them to committing more crimes.

Back to the sentencing - some people should never be allowed out in society. I will agree to that idea.

I don't think most of us have any idea how isolated and terrifying it is to be in prison - at any age. And this woman's story is truly heartbreaking.

...one of the saddest things I've read recently.

Everyone should read her story and try to put themselves in her place.

take the plea deal if no jail time...especially for a non-violent crime.

Innocence doesn't matter in the "system". Had she taken the deal, she wouldn't have lost her
apartment...or been in solitary...or have the migraines.

Is the system totally messed up? Yes, of course. But she's not the first--and won't be the last--
to go to jail for being innocent. Stay out of jail at all costs.

sometimes the pragmatic thing to do is not the accurate thing to do

i have learned from a couple stints on jury duty in my very red area, it is probably a
good idea to take a plea.

the loyal gop jurors in my county take the prosecutions word perhaps more seriously than they would take the pope's

innocent til guilty does not really exist...if the infallible cops arrested you and the infallible da charged you
You are obviously guilty.

the defense team is just an extension of the obviously criminal defendant.

an attorney present. Lots of innocent people have found out the hard
way about that one.

"Am I under arrest, if not then NO I AM NOT".

People do not realize never to trust the police.

Pay your taxes next time.

The classic, self-righteous, "You made your bed, now lie in it!" response.

If we all had to lie in the proverbial beds we've made, we'd never arise from them.

My grandma was rich as hell back in the 40s, the family had a very successful very high end motel. They didn't pay all their taxes for a period, she did prison time, ruined everything that was built. To this day she constantly complains about her state of not having money... we just say that's what happens when you don't pay your taxes.

It sucks for her the most, but my mom and aunt and their children (including me) are stuck with splitting property taxes on an expensive lot of land that is more useless than a used condom. Rich people, just pay your effing taxes when you are rich.

She clearly deserved it anyway.

Gotcha

Did you go "Boo hoo don't sell cigarettes illegally" when Eric Garner was choked to death?

#2. I can't think of any valid reason for putting a non-violent offender in solitary for 7 weeks at a time.

Any time the government removes someone from society and takes away most of their rights, we should be held to high standards with respect to their care.

My ordeal began when the U.S. Attorney from the Eastern District of New York charged that my “live-in lesbian lover” had received money from me and that these funds were part of a scheme to evade taxes. This alleged “live-in lesbian lover” was the government’s key witness, who received immunity from prosecution. But she wasn't my lover. Nor did I ever live with her. But at the time of my arrest in 1997, the cultural and legislative climate was deeply homophobic: The Defense of Marriage Act had just been passed and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was still resonating after its passing in 1993. Thus the strategy of the U.S. Attorney’s office was to use the “climate” of anti-LGBTQ legislation to put my lifestyle on trial, hoping the jury would convict an openly queer woman—and disregard the truth of the tax evasion allegations.

So it came as a shock to me when Ms. Rees, a white and very racist manager for the orientation unit (the first sleeping space for all new inmates), called me into her office for a conversation. I sat across her having no clue as to why I was called in for a meeting fewer than 10 days after my arrival.

Ms. Rees knew how angry I was and she didn’t care or believe a word I said; she had already made up her mind. She didn't want a queer person in her lily white unit—and she had the authority to move me. So, within just a few hours, that's exactly what she did—into a loud unit referred to as "the ghetto." It was her way of punishing me for being queer.

to keep the prisoners safe

it is inhumane

It should never be used for 7 weeks! That is incredibly inhumane. Most of us would not want to treat animals this way, much less people.

I can't imagine what a tax evaded did to earn solitary. It's not a violent crime. It seems like they use it to punish the smallest infractions. It is outrageous and should not be allowed.