Alcohol Consumption
Unveiling Unjust Practices, Hidden Costs, and the Human Toll of Legal Decisions in Wisconsin
Wisconsin passed a law clamping down on second offense drunk driving penalties which makes it a possible felony. The last time I got drunk was on my home brew while in prison so I have a few questions: Do you want to brand someone a felon for life if they had a blood alcohol content of .08? Don’t most accidents happen at 2 or 3 times that amount?
They say alcohol is a drug. If so, why don’t manufactures print the side on the containers and state the dangers on commercials? Excessive drinking does have the potential to cause sexual assaults, wife beatings and other violent behavior to name just a few. I know. I’ve seen it. And that’s why I ended up in prison.
Some people go out drinking with a friend. They take turns buying drinks. On the way home the driver is stopped for drunk driving. Shouldn’t the friend be charge with aiding and abetting in drunk driving, since he aided and abetting in getting the driver drunk?
One thing I am totally apposed to is for the state to increase the penalty for those convicted of drunk driving 20 days or 20 years before a new law is past. Wisconsin has been known to do that.
Back in the year 2000 Wisconsin started Truth in Sentencing. If someone got a 10 year sentence, they did 10 years. Only people convicted before 2000 and those convicted of murder are now eligible for parole. Because the prison population is exploding there are over 23,000 inmates. Those who could be paroled are about 3000. However, if you put yourself in the place of a member of the parole board, if you grant more paroles you threaten your job security. It would be interesting to know when a new parole member is hired, is he or she told if you want to keep your job, we must grant very few paroles.
Before the year 2000 more people were granted paroles after doing less time on their sentences, but after 2000 more inmates had to do a more years behind bars. Inmates convicted before 2000 under the old law should rightfully have their cases processed according to old law mandates but the lines are blurred right now. If over the last 18 years only 5000 inmates had to do an extra two years in prison, that would cost us $350,000,000. If 10,000 inmates had to do an extra three years, the cost would be $1,050,000,000. Some may be doing an extra 10 or 20 years. Truth in Sentencing is only for those convicted after 2000. Making those convicted before 2000 do a larger portion of their sentence is WRONG.
Before the year 1990, people on parole did not have to pay any supervision fees. Then the law changed around 1990. Then everyone on parole had to pay $20 a month. The actual amount was gaged on your income. As your income increased it jumped to $40 per month. This was not a part of the punishment handed down by the judge in the courtroom. The state increased the punishment without prior notification or a trial. At first we had to call a certain phone number from a ground line and the fee would be deducted. Then they said they would accept money orders. And now, if you don’t pay it they automatically deduct it from your income taxes. The problem is, if you are married your spouse is equally penalized. Rightfully the state needs to give that money back to those sentenced under the old law before.
In the late 1990’s Wisconsin passed a law that gave the state power to take a man convicted of a sexual assault who completed his time in prison and further incarcerate him at Sand Ridge indefinitely. His evaluation is based on humanistic theory defying God’s healing power to change heart and soul, and withholds releasing him under the pretense that he could possibly commit another such crime. This law includes those convicted decades before this law was past. Again, how can they do this? I thought someone had to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt based on factual evidence? If a person did 20 or more years in prison, don’t you think they have changed?When other nations do some of the stuff our state does, we condemn them for human rights violation.
What happens if this incarceration is proven illegal and the state is ordered to compensate all those wrongly committed to Sand Ridge? I suppose taxpayer will have to help pay for that too. The longer you wait the higher the compensation will be. Now it’s probably between $50,000,000 and $100,000,000. Sand Ridge was built in 2000 for violent sex offenders. Since it’s opening there were about 650 men incarcerated and about 350 still remaining. About 300 released in over 18 years. Some have been there since the place opened.
They have the same problem as the parole board. If they release too many the place may have to close down and the people working there would loose their jobs. Their salaries must be higher since the cost per man per year is $147,000.
Some men at Sand Ridge are old and disabled. I don’t think any woman has to be afraid of them. They do provide geriatric care for them for $147,000 a year. If they were to release them, then they would have to keep others longer.
The state sends some sex offenders to Sand Ridge after they finish their stay in prison. Why not send them their five years earlier for treatment? They would still be confined in a prison, and could get out five years earlier, thus saving taxpayers money.
Once released from Sand Ridge they are either discharged or placed on supervision with an ankle bracelet. The state provides them with a house to live in. They are not permitted to leave the house unless their monitor is with them. A monitor is their slave master. One man loved gardening and left the house to go work in his garden. He was sent back to Sand Ridge for going outside. So who takes out the garbage? A case worker goes to the store with them, takes them to appointments, monitors their movements outside while some can drive to and from work since the monitor is timed and attached to their ankle. But sadly they are restricted from spiritual fellowship with others. As a result, some become suicidal due to confinement restrictions.
Does the state place two child rapists in one house and two woman rapists in another? Couldn’t one corrupt the other and all that time at Sand Ridge would have been wasted? If they did seven years at Sand Ridge, that’s over $1,000,000 down the government’s toilet.
Does the state plant listening devices in the houses when they’re gone and pick them up another day when they’re gone?
Big question: Why is the supervision fee for one year $119,000? Who wouldn’t want to be a Case Monitor for two men for $238,000 a year, minus the rental on the house?
One thing I would do is start a faith base treatment for drugs, alcohol, sexual crimes and other problems prisoners may have.