Strollerderby : prison

American Incest Dad Gets 109 Years In Jail

Brett Singer — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 04:55:00 GMT

Austrian Incest Dad, meet American Incest Dad.

Josef Fritzl's American counterpart, Lindolfo Thibes of Los Angeles, was sentenced to 109 years in prison for having a sexual relationship with his own daughter and fathering three children with her.

"I hope he suffers," the daughter said. "I want him to die in there in jail because that's what he did to me. He confined me." She is 29 now; her father began abusing her when she was 6. He threatened to kill her if she told anyone, and used surveillance cameras to keep track of her. Thibes physically abused her as well.

Well, I guess this time, justice was served. Horrible story but now he'll be off the streets and out of his poor daughter's life. Physically, at least.

Source: Times of India

Image: SXC

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UPDATE - Josef Fritzl Sentenced To Life In Psychiatric Institution

Brett Singer — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:35:00 GMT

UPDATE: Josef Fritzl has been sentenced to life in a psychiatric institution. While onthe surface this seems like justice has been served, The Scotsman says that the ruling means he could be free in 15 years if a doctor says he's been cured of whatever they decide is wrong with him. Basically, Fritzl is eligible for parole in 15 years. It's not a big chance, but it could happen. Which would be bad. The Scotsman's Stephen McGinty does say that, "It is likely...that [Fritzl] will die in prison," since he is 73 years old.

Earlier posts follow.

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Josef Fritzl's daughter Elisabeth testified against him on Tuesday, according to CNN. Thankfully, it was by videotape. Elisabeth and the children she had as a result of her father's abuse are living in an undisclosed location with new identities.

How do you go on after something like that? I'm amazed and oddly impressed that Elisabeth has the strength to go on living, much less testify against her father. Of course, I imagine she would like nothing more than to see him go to prison for the rest of his life.

The case has become a major media event in Austria, with crowds gathering in and out of the courtroom. Press has been barred from certain parts of the trial, including Elisabeth's testimony.

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CNN is reporting that Josef Fritzl will plead guilty to rape and incest on Monday. He will not plead guilty to charges of "murder, enslavement and assault." Fritzl's lawyer says that his client "expects to spend the rest of his life in prison." Um, yeah, that sounds right. That said, the charges he's pleading guilty to carry relatively short prison terms -- five to fifteen years for rape, one year for incest. The biggest is the murder charge, which, as discussed below, some experts think will be tough to prove. I guess it's a good thing that Fritzl will definitely be found guilty of something, although if he goes to jail for only a couple of years, that would be tragic.

Original post follows.

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Josef Fritzl, the man who kept his daughter locked in the basement for more than 20 years and impregnated her multiple times, is finally going on trial.

Disturbingly, he may spend only 15 years in jail. Or less.

According to London's Times Online, the "Austrian incest monster" is about to stand trial for "murder, incest, unlawful imprisonment and enslavement." Fritzl thinks that he could receive less than 10 years in prison.

He may be right. Some lawyers feel that the murder charge, which is based on the fact that he allowed one of the children he had with his own daughter to die, won't stick. That leaves rape as the biggest charge, which under Austrian law carries a 15 year sentence. Parole, good behavior -- he could be out in five years.

I know that everyone is entitled to a defense, but the one that Fritzl and his lawyer are offering is almost as disturbing as what he did. Fritzl is "claiming that his daughter was having sex when she was barely out of her teens. She smoked. She took drugs. She drank. He wanted to save her." His lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, says of his client: "He is not a monster. He loved his daughter in his own way." The father also says that he took good care of his "captives", citing the fact that the bird he bought them lived as evidence of good air quality in their underground prison. (This is at least consistent with the insane statements he made last year.)

As a quick reminder, Fritzl kept his daughter Elisabeth in the basement, along with some of the children they had together. Three of them were allowed to live upstairs -- the "upstairs children". The cellar was equipped with soundproof walls. Elisabeth was forced to write a letter saying that she had run away and joined a cult. This was a well thought out crime. Fritzl says that he is "not normal," but that's as close as he's come to an apology.

Making matters worse, prosecutors may cut a deal that will allow Fritzl to choose the prison where he serves his short sentence. One that lets him sing in a choir and take cooking lessons. When he gets out, he wants to go back home and live with his wife.

According to the Times, many feel that this situation could have been avoided if social workers had done their jobs. That may be the case, but the idea that this monster could get off with a light jail sentence in a country club prison is horrible. Not as horrible as what he did. But it's pretty close.

Source: timesonline.co.uk

Image: BBC

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Fox Asks, “Would You Want Terrorists Living in Your Backyard?”

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:30:00 GMT

In response to President Obama’s executive order to close Guantanamo, give the remaining detainees fair trials, and ban torture (you know, the kinds of basic civil liberties that have governed civilized societies since the Magna Carta), Fox News has responded with unprecedented fear mongering.

As you can see in the clip below, they sent a reporter to Pennsylvania, armed with photos of apparently Muslim men—some in turbans, some simply dark-skinned. They showed these photos to people on the street and asked, “Would you want terrorists living in your backyard?”

Let's quickly unpack a few blatant problems with this question. First, the vast majority of the remaining men at Guantanamo have been held for seven years with ever being charged with a crime. The Pentagon admits that only five percent of them were picked up on a battlefield, and has already cleared many of them for release. They are no more convicted terrorists than I am.

And who said anything about housing Guantanamo detainees in a backyard? If these men are brought to the U.S., they will be housed in maximum security prisons. America’s criminal justice system is the best in the world. Federal courts have convicted 145 people on international terrorism charges since 9/11—while Guantanamo’s military commissions have made all of TWO convictions.

Perhaps most egregious of Fox was to associate photos of random dark-skinned men with terrorists. Let’s remember that many men who look exactly like the people in these photographs are American citizens. Their kids attend school with the same kids who watched this outrageous segment on Fox.

Knowing that this level of irrational fear and hatred exists in millions of families in the U.S., those parents who do not watch Fox News have a special responsibility to teach their children tolerance and the courage to impart tolerance to their peers.

The best part of this clip is at the end, when the anchors all decide that the remaining Guantanamo detainees should be held at Alcatraz—you know, with all those West Coasters who hate America. Um, I hate to be a nitpicker, but Alcatraz is a theme park. Would you rather have suspected terrorists held at a theme park than at a maximum-security prison?

Photo: viralpolitics.com

Program Helps Incarcerated Dads Keep In Touch

Amy Kuras — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Imagine that you’ve done some stupid stuff, made some mistakes, and now are incarcerated for your crimes. But instead of being sent to the state pen that’s in your actual state, you’re shipped 3000 miles away.

That’s the situation facing prisoners at the Saguaro Correctional Facility in Eloy, Arizona. They are all from Hawaii, which has contracted out some of its correctional functions to a private company called Corrections Corporation of America. CCA runs several facilities in and near Eloy.

Many of these men have children, and their only option to keep in touch -- and even make sure they are remembered by their kids – has been expensive phone calls home and monthly 15-minute videoconference calls.

But thanks to a federal grant, inmates can now participate in the “Fathers Bridging the Miles” program. Fathers can choose two books per month for each of their children, and read the books themselves aloud on CD. Kids can pop in the CD and read along with their father whenever they want to.

Fathers participating also are required to take a yearlong parenting class and work with a social worker at the prison. If they fulfill the requirements, they get an additional half-hour video visit each quarter.

Men with a history of domestic abuse or crimes against children are barred from participating.

Although it must be difficult for these men to be so far away from their families and never get visitors, they did the crime. Imagine how hard it must be for their innocent kids. And if anything is going to set these guys on the straight and narrow, being a better example to their children is probably it.

Mob Mol Who Smuggled Sperm Says Prison System Hates Her Child for Being Born

JeanneSager — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:32:00 GMT

She foiled the federal prison system in 1999 when she snuck a vial of her husband's sperm out of a Pennsylvania penitentiary, but now Regina Granato says the feds hate her daughter for ever being born. The government is keeping Kevin Granato, a one-time Colombo mob associate, as far from the family's New York City home as possible. So far that the 9-year-old daughter with a heart condition (conceived with that vial of sperm) never gets to see her father.

Since being transferred out of the Allenwood Federal Penetentiary, Granato has spent three and a half years in solitary confinement and seen daughter Gianna only once. Kevin was 13 years into a 25-year sentence for drug dealing and racketeering when his wife appeared at the prison, showing off a baby girl she said was her husband's. Strange, thought prison officials. Since the early 1990s, federal prison inmates have been denied conjugal visits. Gianna was born in 1999.

Since then, Granato has been bounced around. He served time in Oregon, including the stint in solitary, before being moved to West Virginia. Repeated requests to be moved to a facility within 50 miles of home have been denied. The cryogenic sperm kit used by the then 35-year-old Regina Granato earned her husband an extra 16 months in prison, which means he won't be released until 2013. If visiting Dad were as simple as hopping in a car, Regina would make the trip with Gianna. But she told a Staten Island, N.Y. newspaper that her daughter has been diagnosed with "a mild case of mitral valve prolapse, a genetic heart condition that causes a racing arrhythmic heartbeat, dizziness, shortness of breath and chest pain."

"She can't be in a car for more than two hours," Regina says. "I want to, but the cardiologist urges me not to take her in a car that long." Regina served her own sentence - nine months probation and 100 hours of community service - for the sperm smuggling. But she says it's her daughter who is being punished now. "State prisons can have conjugal visits. I didn't want a conjugal visit," she said. "I wanted a child. But they hate us for what we did. They hate us just because she was born."

I can't help but point out that Kevin Granato is in prison for a reason. And his wife knew it when she decided to have his baby. Her clock was ticking, yes, and chances are without committing a crime, she never would have had the baby she always wanted. But shouldn't she have known her husband's fate was up to the prison system? Should the federal government really be expected to make allowances for two convicted criminals and the baby they had illegally?

Image: eHow

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Update: Praying Parents Charged With Homicide

Cole Gamble — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT

The Wisconsin couple whose 11-year-old daughter died of treatable diabetes after said parents eschewed medical attention for prayer were charged Monday with second-degree reckless homicide. The father has stated he thought his daughter's illness was a “test of faith”, and I have no doubt he and his wife prayed until they could pray no more, but I wonder that now they have failed this “test” where their faith stands. Well, I guess you could always ask Job. The mother and father both face 25 years years in prison if convicted.

The main question that will come out of this trial, and the one you'll definitely hear from the attorneys for the defenses is this: is trying this couple a form of religious persecution? After all this couple did seek help in the best way they knew how, spiritually. Does it really count as criminal neglect if modern medicine doesn't factor into their belief system?

You can look at my original article for my stance on belief versus reality and where the two can work together.

What do you think: if a parent does what they believe is right, is that grounds for homicide? Extreme faith certainly isn't illegal, and it seems like we are dealing with a similar case of the state's idea of child welfare versus the tenets of faith in the case of the Texas polygamy sect.

Perhaps you think actively choosing ignorance might be a criminal offense. My question is, why do some religious people find common sense so antithetical to faith?

Did You Know Disposable Diapers Can Hold An Eight Ball of Cocaine?

makeitadouble — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:30:00 GMT

Whatever happened to baking a hacksaw blade into a birthday cake? Smuggling contraband into prisons has gotten slightly more inventive and slightly less moral since the days of hiding weapons, drugs and pornography in baked goods; although there is still a healthy market in penal complexes for Pot Brownies and Polaroids of muffin tops concealed in muffin tops. No longer is Betty Crocker the subterfuge of choice for narcotics and other penitentiary currency, that slot is now occupied by the least likely of delivery methods: Babies.

It appears that inmates are getting creative in the ways they sneaking their illicit goods by the security guards. More increasingly children are being used as mules to transport unlawful objects including cocaine and crystal meth into prisons and this is encouraged by the practice of not searching kids before visitations. This discovery is resulting in stricter security measures and searching practices in many prisons.

“Federal penitentiaries are awash in drugs," said Gord Robertson a security guard union representative "We have an opportunity here to protect the most vulnerable of society's members, its children, while stopping sources of drugs in our prisons”

Convicts however are outraged at the increased measures claiming that families do not deserve to be “mugged at the gate” before visiting. Here’s an idea, if you don’t want your family patted down then stop committing crimes. My family goes months without being patted down and when they are it’s usually because I’m looking for the remote to the television which I almost always find tucked into my oldest son’s sock.

That being said, if I was incarcerated I’d probably step down off my pedestal long enough for a pack of Marlboros to be smuggled in to me using my youngest child’s diaper; that is if it meant my cellmate wouldn’t stick me with a shiv between the ribs in the laundry room. Kind of like Clue: The Inmate Version. I might draw the line at asking my kids to swallow balloon animals filled with heroin, but prison changes a man; from what I hear. Shit who am I to judge, I’ve used a diaper bag to smuggle McDonalds into the movies; and I’ll tell you those theater ushers frisk worse than any prison guard.