Federal Prison Sentences are out of Whack

El Reno Federal Correctional Facility, Oklahoma, courtesy Huffington Post

An article appeared yesterday in the Huffington Post that says the prisons are in crisis over overcrowding and skyrocketing costs associated in housing so many people including elderly non violent offenders. It is basically overkill. The Federal Prison tab has now reached 7.5 billion. See article here...  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/federal-prisons-colson-report-drug-war_us_56a66df4e4b0d8cc109ae9c9

In my humble opinion since I sat in prison myself for 1316 days, it is pure punishment. There is no such animal as rehabilitation. Take myself, for example, I was an immigration lawyer before I got busted. When I took a guilty plea, my law license was revoked, I got a five year prison sentence and a 2.5 million dollar forfeiture judgment and I got this without looking at even one piece of discovery. So what do they expect me to do? Wash floors? Clean dishes? If there was rehabilitation, you give me back my law license and part of my time I dedicate , pro bono, to helping the vulnerable of society.  If not for my family supporting me, I would be a homeless person.

There has to be a better and more humane way of dealing with people.

When I was in Fort Dix, I saw dozens of elderly people with walkers and wheelchairs. What threat are these people to society? Absolutely zero. I was with someone named David Solan in building 5802,  sentenced to a 30 year prison sentence. The man is now 72 years old with several heart attacks in tow. He had issues with his sister 22 years ago. The past is the past. What kind of threat is this old man? He is a great teacher. Someone like this you put him to teach on community service and you can easily monitor him on the outside. Instead, millions of dollars are being spent on housing people like this. Does this make any sense? Wake up, America. This brutal and harsh treatment of our fellow human beings must stop. See his release date below...

David Solan on BOP inmate locator

You don't need multiple year sentences on fraud cases. People either get the message the first day the handcuffs come on or they never get the message. I got the message on day 1 and even before, when they raided my former office with over 50 agents spanning the New York area. I thought my life was over. Did it have to come to that? Surely not. In Canada, I was made out as the biggest flight risk in the world. Another madness to my case. There has to be a better way, there has to be.

While sitting in MCC, Manhattan, awaiting sentencing I read in the NY Times that the biggest issue of criminal justice was the federal plea and how important it is in the system. I say, wrong. The most important issue is the mandatory minimums and the 20 year prison terms noted in criminal statutes. Why cannot the terms be 30 days? 60 days? 90 days? Can you imagine how families are destroyed over this? Children separated from their parents. Husband and wives separated from each other. It is horrifying to even think about this. There has to be a better way, there has to be.

What is really disgusting is how some companies are profiting over someone's suffering. What do
you mean? You have the rip off phone companies charging inmates a lot of money for phone calls. There are stories that the phone companies are making billions of dollars in profit over prisoner phone calls and there was a story in the Wall Street Journal how companies that supply commissary are making over 250 million dollars a year in profit. All this at the expense of people sitting in jail with nothing.      

To read the hell I went through, read this and 7 related volumes, all short....except the sentencing letter....http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011GTWLOG