to candy, that could work.

the taxpayers are on the hook for how many hundreds of thousands for this bullshit? All to benefit the prison industry.

... Trouble before would risk it all for candy.

Doesn't seem to me to be the kind of offender to keep locked up forever.

Risk vs reward...

there is much - he wants candy, he takes it.

Modern day version of Jim Crow laws to punish Blacks who don't "know their place".

They should do how Georgia does it. He would just the maximum sentence for the particular class of felony without parole. Which means he should have gotten five years without parole. Georgia law states

(a) A person convicted of a violation of Code Sections 16-8-2 through 16-8-9 shall be punished as for a misdemeanor except:

(1) (A) If the property which was the subject of the theft exceeded $24,999.99 in value, by imprisonment for not less than two nor more than 20 years;

(B) If the property which was the subject of the theft was at least $5,000.00 in value but was less than $25,000.00 in value, by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years and, in the discretion of the trial judge, as for a misdemeanor;

(C) If the property which was the subject of the theft was at least $1,500.01 in value but was less than $5,000.00 in value, by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years and, in the discretion of the trial judge, as for a misdemeanor; and

(D) If the defendant has two prior convictions for a violation of Code Sections 16-8-2 through 16-8-9, upon a third conviction or subsequent conviction, such defendant shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years and, in the discretion of the trial judge, as for a misdemeanor;

In the Golden State, where I live, this guy would have two years for priors (one year per prior offense) plus the upper term of three years. Just as many years as Georgia Statue but he would serve half of the sentence in the county jail. In Georgia, he would do the entire five years.

even more profits.

Actually pretty much all the private prisons in the US are Federal.

Louisiana does make money off prisoners, though, through their public prisons.

Just stop it. This man does not deserve a life sentence.

I am quite impressed by the ability to put that much candy on ones' person.

On a serious note, at least CA's "three-strikes" law requires the first two qualified felonies to be violent.

While the offender here does deserve to spend time in jail, prison is overkill. Life in prison is a tragedy.

This guy seems to be a serial shoplifter, so I would just max out his sentence and get him some mental help.

If he were a habitual violent criminal, I'd throw away the key.

If it were up to me.

It's obvious that the punishment he got for the last 4 crimes wasn't enough to deter him. He deserves a jail sentence of some kind and mental health treatment, but life is absurd and helps no one.