Judge Says Man Too Small For Prison

May 25, 2006 3:54 PM

According to this article and a judge in Nebraska, short people have a different legal system than tall people.
posted by ashcan (44 comments total)

Short people got 1 reason...
posted by yoink at 3:59 PM on May 25, 2006

damn, beat me to it, yoink.
posted by 40 Watt at 4:07 PM on May 25, 2006

According to a judge in Nebraska, the American prison system is such an uncontrolled fucking disgrace that it's unable to function as intended. Which isn't quite as funny.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 4:14 PM on May 25, 2006

Yeah, what Armitage Shanks said.
posted by yoink at 4:15 PM on May 25, 2006

And further--the only thing wrong about this judge's decision is that it assumes that subjecting taller people to the Hobbesian disaster that is the US prison system is somehow "fair."
posted by yoink at 4:18 PM on May 25, 2006

agreed, i've always felt it's extremely dishonest of us to say we're sentencing people to x years in prison without also admitting that we're sentencing them to rape, beatings, etc. i hate all the stupid prison rape jokes that you see everywhere. if we as a society are ok with the horrific things that go on in prisons (things totally apart from forced confinement) then let's at least include that in the description of the criminal's sentence.
posted by jcruelty at 4:29 PM on May 25, 2006

What is this, fark?

What the judge said made a lot of sense, sadly It's not any more fair to put tall people in there, but at least they have a better chance of defending themselves.
posted by delmoi at 4:53 PM on May 25, 2006

He's no Bushwick Bill.
posted by bardic at 4:57 PM on May 25, 2006

delmoi, you and that judge both clearly have no idea what it's like inside a prison. survival has nothing to do with your size, and everything to do with who's on your side and how far you'll go to protect and make a name for yourself. the old adage about killing a man on your first day isn't far from the truth.
posted by bizwank at 5:21 PM on May 25, 2006

I've always said "eat a live rat on your first day." Easier than killing a man, and you look even scarier.
posted by EarBucket at 5:24 PM on May 25, 2006

This is bad news for me, as a 6'5" long legged-giant. I should probably put my bank robbing plans on hold for a while.
posted by rossination at 5:35 PM on May 25, 2006

While the prison system is in need of correcting, mostly it just needs more cells.
However, the answer is to not do the crime which requires them to do the time.

Another case of abstinence, which sadly for the Leftist Libs actually works.
posted by garficher at 5:43 PM on May 25, 2006

My limited knowledge of this kind of thing suggests that the defendant being 5'1' is secondary to him being 50 years old -- he probably wouldn't have been a desirable punk in jail anyway. And if he was going to get shanked for being a child molester, size and age may not have all that much to do with it either.

Having said that, sexual abuse in prison, with the complicity of the guards, is an absolute scandal and if this judge thinks it is a problem to the extent that this guy gets probation to avoid it, then you'd hope she would also be fighting a more general fight against the general evil in question.

Bizwank -- if no-one is on your side, like on your first day, you can get raped before the alliances start to form. And a lot of the alliances and who is on your side is, in fact, structured by who you are having sex with or being raped by.
posted by Rumple at 5:47 PM on May 25, 2006

This is bad news for me, as a 6'5" long legged-giant. I should probably put my bank robbing plans on hold for a while.

I am only 5'4". Time to go on a whirlwind crime spree in Nebraska!
posted by briank at 5:49 PM on May 25, 2006

Another case of abstinence, which sadly for the Leftist Libs actually works.

Leftist Libs aren't the only people who think that institutionalized rape reflects poorly on a supposedly civilized society. You dumb jackass.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 5:53 PM on May 25, 2006

"Leftist Libs aren't the only people who think that institutionalized rape reflects poorly on a supposedly civilized society. You dumb jackass."

I'm no jackass!
posted by garficher at 5:55 PM on May 25, 2006

While the prison system is in need of correcting, mostly it just needs more cells. However, the answer is to not do the crime which requires them to do the time.

So you support forced homosexual rape?
posted by delmoi at 6:01 PM on May 25, 2006

No. Actually my thought is that if the act of rape is committed the perpatrator should be re-arrested and tried for that crime also.
THEN when the sentence is meted out [no pun intended - honestly]
That person should be held in solitary confinement w/o privelges of any description.
posted by garficher at 6:05 PM on May 25, 2006

Despite obvious flaws in our penal system, letting a child molester go free because he might be harmed in jail seems a bit asinine. I am against the death penalty, but I could care less if a child molester has a rough time in prison.
posted by ashcan at 6:11 PM on May 25, 2006

What, was the judge afraid the guy was just gonna walk out between the bars?
posted by MrBadExample at 6:16 PM on May 25, 2006

Less than a hundred years ago, in the Southwestern corner of Missouri a man found to be guilty [without the inconveinience of a court] of rape or child molest [outside the bonds of matrimony] would have had his 'unit' placed in the crack created when a wedge was driven into a hickory stump. then the wedge was removed.
The incidence of child molest and rape was pretty small.
The authorities in the area frowned on the practice - officially
but rape and child molest were not real common. although some girls did get married kinda young. say at the age of 10-12.
posted by garficher at 6:20 PM on May 25, 2006

Marrying a 10 year old is rape, or leads to it inevitably. And pedophilia. The good old days were pretty awful.

And solitary confinement is a privilege itself in most prisons, if you think about it. If America is going to have the highest percentage of its population imprisoned among industrialized countries, you'd think there'd be some push to rehabilitate non-violent offenders, rather than turning them into the frightened sociopaths that we currently produce in abundance.
posted by bardic at 6:31 PM on May 25, 2006

garfincher: what is your point? it's an entertaining anecdote, but do you actually think rape was less prevalent as a result or less prevalent than it is now? this seems like maybe it's not based on accurate statistics.
posted by snofoam at 6:39 PM on May 25, 2006

anecdotal only when looked at from outside my family back there.
my point is this. Like Det. Barretta used to say.
"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time"

Oh thats right, he didn't do the time either.
posted by garficher at 6:42 PM on May 25, 2006

So as a short(er) person of length, I can touch your ex-wifes daughter and get away with it? That cocks.

Prison is a tiny piece of piss. It is a coming of age, a ceremony or moment of respect. It is a time when you can make your own devices and be left with them. For the first time no means no and now means now.

Oh so so TV tells me.
posted by econous at 7:44 PM on May 25, 2006

The hardcore feminist judge: "..also ordered Thompson to get rid of his pornography"

Man that's just harsh.
posted by econous at 7:54 PM on May 25, 2006

So you support forced homosexual rape?

As opposed to non-forced rape?

And it's not "short", it's "horizontally challenged".
posted by spazzm at 7:59 PM on May 25, 2006

Er, "vertically challenged", you mean.
posted by junesix at 8:03 PM on May 25, 2006

Bullshit.
Stick the runt kiddie raper in with the rest of them and announce Sharpened Toothbrush Day.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:26 PM on May 25, 2006

This is right on par with all the other lenient sentences for sexual crimes these days. What a mess. These kinds of judges need to wake up.
posted by tomplus2 at 8:41 PM on May 25, 2006

Er, right. Thanks junesix.
I guess horizontally challenged people would be very, very narrow.

Anyways, just don't use the "S-word".
posted by spazzm at 8:46 PM on May 25, 2006

No in prison jargon, it's known as either a penile or an anal challenge. In the 'olden days' it was called a duel. If you think far too long about it, it still is a duel of sorts. Should prison be a place of safety or, perhaps more about challenges. Where then is the room for lube?
posted by econous at 8:46 PM on May 25, 2006

Obv jargon == parlance == vernacular. Penile == horiz and anal == verti.
posted by econous at 8:49 PM on May 25, 2006

Have any of you guys actually been to prison? Some people in this thread speak as if they are experts. Just curious.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:17 PM on May 25, 2006

I've been in and out of prisons more times than I can count. Just not, you know, as a resident.
posted by anotherpanacea at 11:42 PM on May 25, 2006

Thing is.. HRW/2001
posted by econous at 11:53 PM on May 25, 2006

Bloody Hell, econous - those stories made grim reading. Are prison conditions a big political issue in the US?
posted by jack_mo at 5:41 AM on May 26, 2006

So if he breaks the terms of his probation and he gets 30 days in jail per year? Somehow that doesn't sound so compelling.

And 5'1" is too short? I know a guy who's 5'2" and he's facing 10 to 15 years in federal prison. Maybe his counsel should use this "too short" rationale at sentencing.
posted by effwerd at 7:01 AM on May 26, 2006

Are prison conditions a big political issue in the US?
posted by jack_mo

In a word--no.

By and large, people in the U.S. aren't concerned about prisoners in any way except how to create more of them. Harsher sentencing, draconian drug laws, and "lock 'em up and throw away the key" mentality seem to be the mentality of the day.

In addition, a lot of people have the mindset that jails and prisons are too comfortable right now and that we shouldn't coddle prisoners.

It's a strange country.
posted by leftcoastbob at 7:35 AM on May 26, 2006

So if he breaks the terms of his probation and he gets 30 days in jail per year? Somehow that doesn't sound so compelling. - effwerd

By that metric 10 yrs probation = 300 days jail. That's less than a year. And he's not even electronically monitored during the probation? Weak.
posted by raedyn at 8:46 AM on May 26, 2006

One thing I'm curious about is this quote:

""You are a sex offender, and you did it to a child," she said.

But, she said, "That doesn't make you a hunter. You do not fit in that category.""

How, exactly, do you have sex with a child and NOT be a hunter? I'm sorry, but you obviously are seeking it out. It just doesn't make sense.

That said, I understand her logic, but it's kind of absurd.

Also, there is a movement against prisons, but it usually comes from minority groups, people aligned with the original Black Panthers/Free Mumia, that type of stuff, is in a struggle against prisons..

Certainly there is a strong anti-corporate-prisons movement.

Here's a nifty little article about it... Not so little, but you know...
posted by symbioid at 11:14 AM on May 26, 2006

Umm, by "strong" anti-corporate-prison movement, I guess I really mean "about as effective as the anti-war movement"
posted by symbioid at 11:15 AM on May 26, 2006

This isn't the short guy they caught on that "60 minutes" expose' on internet predation, is it? At the time that he went to the house thinking he was meeting a minor, he was already on trial for sexually assaulting a minor. Or something like that.
posted by squarehead at 1:13 PM on May 26, 2006

I understand both sides of this argument, but strongly lean towards putting a person in jail for their crime. It's this sort of numbnut decision that leads to stripping judges of any discretion in sentencing. You know, for when there really are extenuating circumstances. Child molesters have a bad time in jail. Pretty much the lowest spot on the totem pole, and no one has their back. Can't a single solitary cell be found in this country of 2 million prison seats?
posted by Busithoth at 1:02 PM on May 27, 2006