Young black man jailed since April for alleged $5 theft found dead in cell

I thought this is somewhat fitting here. Let the punishment fit the crimes. I like to see more of this behavior. There is a danger of over board, but I think it's better than the current system of just lock everyone up.

 

Oops..

http://abc13.com/news/judge-uses-unusual-punishments-to-keep-people-out-of-jail/964840/

Spoiler

 

I think what he is doing is a good start to initiating a change in the mindset of people coming into his court, instead of just sitting in jail they can provide something positive that might make them think and break-up their mindset that led them to commit the crime in the first place. I thought it was fitting he ordered the woman who bailed on a 30-mile cab ride to walk 30 miles lmao

 

"House arrest" for someone with a pattern of criminal behavior with a diagnosed mental condition that isn't beat treated adequately? Not an option.

That's so adorably naive. Thank you for posting it, you might not believe me, but it made my day.

LOL

 

I'm pretty sure there was a judge in Houston that would do weird sentences at one point. I remember seeing a kid that couldn't have been more than 20 wearing a sign that said something like "I tried to steal ____ from ____" or something like that outside of the Astrodome on Kirby either for a football game or the Rodeo when there was just a ton of traffic.

 

How hard is it to consider that if he's been certifiably crazy before, there must've been some breakthrough to make him eat or take his meds?

Getting the doctor or administrator he knew would've been a start. Or even his loved ones who could've given better guidance as he started slipping away. Had he been sent to the hospital in time, they would've handled the issue with his hunger strike. Prisons fall under different practices and are ill equipped for this.

Typical weird question with less than significant value.

 

Is there any evidence that he tried to starve himself to death before?

 

Does it matter?

 

Well, yeah, if you are suggesting that they got him to eat before.....I mean it's only relevant if he tried to starve himself to death in the past and they found a way to talk him out of it. This very well could have been his only attempt at starving himself to death.

 

Is that incredibly naive? How much experience do you have with counseling the mentally ill? From what I've read it doesn't sound like too much.

If it made your day then great, but the fact that you think things like this don't happen is what's silly, not the idea that I addressed the problem with things that counselors do all the time.

 

Black lives matter!! I agree wholeheartedly!!! The question is when should I be outraged????

From my observations from reading this forum and mainstream media:

When I should be outraged -

1) When a white man kills a black person then I should be outraged
2) When a cop shoots a black person, whether it is justified or not, I should be outraged.
3) If a black person dies while in police custody or incarcerated then I should be outraged

When I should look the other way -

1) When a black person kills another black person then I should just ignore it
2) When a pregnant black woman decides to kill the baby in her womb, I should ignore it.

I think I am finally starting to understand!!!!!!

 

...come again? It's "hard to tell who's responsible?"

I get that failures of bureaucracy happen, but like... seriously? That is in no way an acceptable answer.

And "couldn't explain why he wasn't given the opportunity to be released on bail?" Again... REALLY? Give a reason. Any reason. Even a bad one.

I mean, just forget the racial proponent of this for a second. There's no reason anyone, on any part of the ideological spectrum, should be okay with either of those answers. Absolutely ridiculous.

Could they give those answers and keep their jobs if the kid had had rich parents? I doubt it.

 

I'm sure there are rules against letting mentally ill prisoners with a history of criminal actions out into the public. I'm pretty sure we'd be asking "WHY WOULD THEY RELEASE HIM!!!!!!!" if he was to hurt someone after being released.

 

Just like there are rules about prisons giving inmates proper medical attention if they need it.

Letting the mentally ill person die w/o ever giving him the proper medical attention he needs (i.e. professional help) is a complete failure on the prison system.

 

They made attempts to medicate the guy, and they tried to give him food. Also important to remember is that this is a really small town. There's only so many resources at their disposal.

 

That's not my point. My point is the court, the cops, and the prison were all asked, and they mustered up... nothing. No reason at all. If they'd said "because he was mentally ill, and so was ineligible," then fine. "Meh, who knows" is NOT fine. We pay these people's salaries.

Having no earthly idea who was supposed to get him to the hospital is even worse.

 

It's not the kind of thing you want to go on the record about. At some point, there will be an official statement and that's when answers will be given. I imagine a situation when you have a mentally incompetent criminal and no space in the mental hospital is pretty rare. In a real city you probably wouldn't have this issue, but out in the sticks there are limited resources.

This was sort of a perfect storm of a suicidal mentally incompetent criminal with a full mental hospital out in the sticks.

 

"It's hard to tell who's responsible for it" isn't what you say when you don't want to go on record about something. Examples of that would be "we're unable to comment on that at this time" or "the matter is pending an internal investigation."

I don't see how any reasonable person can take that comment to mean anything besides "our processes are completely broken," and/or "no one around here cares enough to take responsibility for the health of those in our care."

Also note the first part I cited, where the hospital didn't have any record that any request was ever made to have him transferred at all, or that there was a shortage of beds.